Christmas in Afghanistan. Woke up about 0530Z (1030 local) and made myself some oatmeal and espresso. Ate my oatmeal and enjoyed a cigar with the espresso. We had a soccer game with the Romanians starting at 0700Z. Let me start with the soccer field. We’re not talking a field of grass here. We’re not even talking a field of dirt. The soccer field is about 50 yards long and about 20 wide. The goals are slightly miniaturized too. They’re approximately 8-feet wide and 6-feet high. Tents and bunkers surround the field. There’s exposed tent stakes and grounding rods down the sidelines. Ropes run from the tent stakes to their respective attachment point on their tents. The field itself is half gravel, ¼ mud and ¼ dirt. The gravel is large, sharp shale. Any fall will certainly end in a loss of blood. The parts that are dirt have tire tracks baked into them. Rough 6-inch slits waiting to break an ankle. Before the game we all take to the field and try to “smooth” out the tire tracks with our feet. In front of the southern-most goal is a huge puddle of mud and water. It’s approximately 12-feet across and sits 6-feet from the front of the goal. If the Air Force safety Nazis were to see us playing on this field, they’d have a hey-day. They’d literally stop the game and ask, “What the hell were you thinking?” The size of the field limits each team to 6 players plus a goalie. There’s no uniforms, no jerseys, just a bunch of guys that want to have some fun and share a little Christmas camaraderie. The game starts with me in the goal. Later on I switch with someone and play in the field. Before switching though, I do leave a small amount of my blood in front of the goal. Payment extracted by the gravel and my competitive nature. The Romanians kick our ass 12-to-4. We all had fun though and surprisingly, no one got hurt. It’s about 1000Z and we just arrived in line at the chow tent. We get the call “rescue on alert-15”. We all run back to camp and scramble for the airplanes. Apparently a 3-year old girl was playing with unexploded ordinance. It’s no longer “unexploded”. The Army MEDEVAC helo’s take off. We pull backup. The little girl is not hurt to bad but will probably lose her right eye. A miracle considering the circumstances. After about 45-minutes of “alert-15” we herd back to the chow tent. The menu: roast beef, turkey (canned), ham, Alaskan king crab, collard greens, mixed vegetables, dressing and corn on the cob. Inside there’s pasta salad, boiled shrimp, cranberry sauce and several types of pies. A great meal considering. We’re now back in our tactical operations center, just hanging out. Later, some of the SEAL’s from across the base stop by and invite us to their Christmas party. They have turkey’s (real ones), roast beef and ham, some awesome beans with sausage in them and rice. We hang out for awhile bullshitting and eating. I manage to sneak in a beer. We head back to the ops tent for a showing of Lord of the Rings. Get to bed about 2330. All-in-all, a great Christmas spent with a great group of people. One that I’ll remember forever. I hope yours was half as good as mine spent with those you love. Come to think of it, as good as today was that’s the one thing missing. Those I love. Peace.

Bob

David Lettermen stopped by Air Force Hill yesterday (24 Dec) and mingled with the troops. Cool. The Air Force contingent here is fairly small, approximately 200 folks. Dave brought Paul Schaffer and Biff with him too. We all just stood around and bullshit for about 30-minutes. Dave signed some autographs and we all took pictures. I went up and asked him to trade cigars. He gladly agreed. So, I now have a cigar from David Letterman. I plan on smoking that one tomorrow morning. I was going to smoke it today (Christmas) but the soccer game with the Romanians took longer than expected and then we got scrambled to pick up a 3-year old girl who was playing with unexploded ordinance. The ordinance, needless to say is no longer unexploded. We didn't actually get launced, one of the Army medevac helo's got her. She will probably lose her right eye. I'll right about Christmas day under a separate email. For now, Peace.

Bob

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Letterman with the Afghan PJ Contingent

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Afghan PJs geared up for battle with the evil ones!

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