Afghan by air

Sorry for the delay in posting. I was at FOB Salerno. Stuck there for 8 days. It is about 125 miles south east and 10 miles from Pakistan. It was hot and had thunderstorms every day but two we were there. The Friday before we went to Ghanzi to deliver a laptop and training from there we learned that Salerno had been down for two days. Hopped a chopper and went there the pilot said we had 2 hours. We ran to see what we could do. We had only my Gerber. We had no spare parts either. Nothing we could do so we ran back to the chopper, got on and went back to Ghanzi, refueled and on to Bahgram That was 5 hours on a Blackhawk. I would not recommend that to anyone. AT Ghaniz I relearned a rookie lesson. If something is not tied down it can and will blow out the open windows. So my nice glasses went out the window and into a minefield. Thusly I am wearing my cheap pair, and since I have them on I went all the way and got a crew cut. Now I sort of look like Drew Carry. Anyway I took some picture on the way from Ghaniz to Salerno. I did not take any from Bahgram to Ghaniz because I ended up on the General’s Chopper, and didn’t want to offend. We came back very sick and sore. Got a flight on a Chinook back to Salerno a few days later. Fixed everything and hoped to be gone the next day. No plane, they were scheduled but never came. Finally we hopped a mail plane this morning. Best ride in country thus far. So there we were, stuck. Day two the cell phones died no charger, day three my IPod died, day four my cell went for a swim, really dead now. I did read 6 books there, and strained my neck and back carrying the damn tool boxes back and forth to the terminal. They weigh 80 pounds each, plus our gear, and packs. We took three days worth of clothes, luckily found washers and bought a tshirt and socks. I guess I lost a little because XL fits ok and my pants size is down 4 inches. Don’t get me wrong I’m still a fat turd just not as fat. I think. Still have several other small places to go, I tell you after the fact, secret squirrel stuff and all. The excitement we missed was a Russian cargo plane came in on fire, the other day. It was the load for the store and the whole thing burned to the ground. The pilots landed and ran from the plane right into a minefield. They lucked out twice they did not find any mines. Next time the place once called the mountain garden renamed Salerno for some reason.

My partner the hardware guy Pez

Little settlement in a valley

Long road through the rough mountains

entering the mountains

Dry river bed

Most of the compounds are like this sun baked bricks surrounding a garden and houses