Afghan Blues
16 Feb 2009
Well, today was my birthday and it was a hoot! My birthday dinner was not the steak I had hoped for, but it was dinner in bed. I had a Chicken Fajita MRE (Meal-ready-to-eat)(See Pic).
Let me try to describe this meal.
Imagine being on the side of a mountain in a cold tent on a cot, just to start the mood.
Now for the dinner.
Think back to a Mexican restaurant that you tried on a recommendation, and found it to be so absolutely horrible, that you ended the friendship with the person that recommended it to you.
Serve that same Mexican meal on cardboard instead of dishware.
Before eating this meal, scrape the meal into the garbage and eat the cardboard soaked with the bad Mexican meal flavor,
and VOILA!
You had just experienced my dinner in bed.
The best part of the meal is the hermetically sealed cheese whiz that we squeeze out of the tube straight into our mouths, and then bite a stale cracker.
The sad part is that it is still better then the meals they are now serving at the main base near the airport.
NATO got to choose this caterer, and they did not want to spend a penny over minimum daily requirements.
I believe their cost is $3 a meal, so go imagine what that tastes like.
We 7 merry men all prefer to eat meals that were packaged 5 years ago instead of those meals at the main base.
A bit about my FOB.
We are sharing the base with several hundred Afghan Military, a few American soldiers, and a few Romanian soldiers.
When I say a few, I mean a few.
Today we got mortared again. That is twice in the last four days, for a total of 13 mortars incoming.
We took a direct hit in the camp and it destroyed a heating unit and a tent. The Afghan Army returned fire with their artillery and got a direct hit on the Taliban launch site, killing 16 of the scumbags.
These mortars throw a ton of shrapnel. If you look at the pics, you will see all the holes gone through solid steel shipping containers.
We waited in the bunker until the air support arrived; which were a couple of F-16’s.
When you hear them arrive, feel all warm and safe…,
Like a freshly washed Wooby.
Sometimes it takes them more than a few minutes to arrive, so we hunker down and sit tight (today it took twenty, which is an eternity when you are getting rocked).
These jets come screaming in at mach plus, and the thunder scares the hell out of the enemy, but we all come out of our rat holes and cheer.
They arrive and start circling like vultures looking for prey at twenty thousand feet.
I do not know what kind of electronics that they have to see the ground forces of the enemy, but they must have something great.
After about 3 or 4 hard power circles.., the kind where you see the vapor trails coming off the wingtips, they must have spotted some remnants of taliban that were still kicking.
They came nose diving out of the sky toward the earth in all their full glory and then leveled out about 100 feet off the ground for a strafing run.
WOW!!!
When you watch them blast just over your head and engage in that maneuver, it takes your breath away, and blows your hearing for a second or two.
They come in so much faster than what you might see at an air show.
It really is hard to describe without being here.
The Romanians are supposed to be our security force for the camp, and that is one large fiasco.
They have done nothing during either of the mortar attacks, except run faster than us for the bunkers.
If we had the Romanian artillery, we would have fired on the Taliban ourselves, since they are worthless here.
The Romanian commander told us that they never saw combat before, and that is one of the reasons they are not fighting.
OH yes.., I should mention that standing NATO orders are not to engage.
Something about calling in for approval to respond during an attack.
You have to love these alliances that we pay for but get nothing out of, just higher risk.
I’ll talk more about that later.
The Taliban recently killed a bunch of Afghanis’ who were paving a road.
NATO approved funds to asphalt the main road through this area so the people have a real road and the military has an access route.
Well the Taliban did not like that idea and slaughtered 60 local Afghanis who were just trying to make a living.
These creatures are beneath humanity and beyond deprogramming. Their brainwashing and fanaticism is too deeply embedded.
I would ask everyone who gets this newsletter to respond to me and let me know if you would like me to keep you on the list.
And do NOT forward my letters without my permission.
Nothing I have talked about here is classified, but it is personal and only meant for people I know.
Have a great day everyone.
Jimmy B.