updates.

As most of you probably assumed, our pace has picked up in the past few days, hence the lack of recent posts. Our workload is and will remain, erratic and unpredictable.

For the most part, everything is going well. 2/34 Brigade soldiers and equipment continue to arrive from Iowa, and within the next few days, we should have everything here on the ground necessary to begin our training. I say for ‘the most part’, because there is the ever present chaos that seems to accompany such large operations as this. In the Army, we refer to this chaos as "Murphy" (I must admit, sometimes I wonder if Murphy and I are blood relatives…but that’s for another post).

A few highlights from the last few days include…

Our Company Headquarters was struck by lightning a few days ago. Guys inside the building said that they literally felt the hair on the back of their necks begin to stand up in the second prior to the strike. We’ve had quite a few thunderstorms in recent days, and many inches of rain.

Apparently, Brett Farve is here in town (Hattiesburg), going through his now familiar pre season ritual of throwing footballs to the local high school football team, while deciding whether or not to play another year in the NFL. No sightings of him here on Post yet.

Two mornings ago, I was shaving in the latrine (bathroom), and began to put my face down into the sink to rinse off my face when a huge beetle crawled out of the overflow hole in the sink. I managed somehow not to scream like a little girl, and a good friend (and new hero), MSG Mike Van Pelt, proceeded to smash the beetle with a bottle of bodywash. Thanks Mike!

Which leads into the next story…last night, I woke up at about 1am to, well, use the latrine. After opening the door to our barracks, I was a little paranoid about walking around without my shoes, given the beetles (which now seem to be everywhere, and are following me I think). I looked left, straight ahead, and then as I turned to the right, there was a skunk 3 feet away. It began to bristle up, and I quickly eased back into the barracks. Being that I was half awake and full of beetle paranoia, I decided to wait another 2 hours before daring to leave the barracks again.

One tragic story of note to pass along regarding a Christian doctor who was recently murdered. The story is a good reminder of the fear that continues to grip Afghanistan, and demonstrates the treacherous conditions that persist. These are stories that give our mission in Afghanistan additional meaning, well beyond killing terrorists and denying them the terrain they require for training and staging future attacks. It is my sincere hope that our mission/presence in Afghanistan has many other benefits, such as alleviating some of the dangers as depicted in this story.

Last note, we were recently issued our new equipment, which came in the newest camouflage pattern, MULTICAM. The camouflage was designed specifically for Afghanistan. I'll try to get some pics up soon.