Real quick US Air Force Note: We were talking with a US Marine Colonel today and discussing our deployment tempo and he wasn't aware that the US Air Force deployed so often. The US Air Force has loads of vehicle operators that deliver goods by convoy all over Afghanistan and Logistics Officers that are spread out all over filling various US Army positions; they both deploy as frequently as 6 months deployed and then 6 months at home and then 6 months deployed...and on and on and then there are quite a few 365 day deployments these folks complete. I'm lucky with a 179 day deployment, but almost everyone is required to attend a 2.5 month combat skills training at a site that is not your home station. When it's all said and done, a 6 month deployment turns into a 8.5 month and 12 month turns into a 14.5 month with the training involved. Of course the training is not counted as the time deployed, even though you're away from your family...not happy about that part...it should all count.
On to today's events:
No rockets/mortars as of yet today...well, except the ones below.
I hadn't planned on going back out to the ammo site today, but I had a visitor that would benefit from the experience. Let me preface this by telling you it was 106F, so it was hot. I know it will hit upwards of around 130F here when it gets hot, but 106F feels pretty hot for now.
As we do our walk around, the first storage container we opened was a little startling. These are loose mortar rounds just piled into a container in temps of 106F...a little scary. I told them to please not slam the door, but they just smile.
The next one we looked in was a little better, but still a little unsettling. Apparently this is a Chinese mortar or something like that. You can see the stack behind him. He was very happy to show them off. He turned it upside down and the internal piece slid to the other end and made a bang...wish they wouldn't do that.
Here is some type of high explosive munition. Again, I asked them to please not pick it up and that was the first thing they did. This is one heck of a munition that could cause someone a really bad day. Of course, he's fearless.
He wasn't done yet. When I asked what was in the crates (I should never do that!) of this container, he jumped up on top of the crates and tore the lid off the top and man-handled this munition shell to show us. I don't know what it was, but he started taking it apart and dug his hand into some type of grease looking substance, which I can only assume is explosive...not sure, but was not feeling comfortable. He had a smile on his face the entire time.
We went back to the supply depot and this is what we saw. We had been asking for these things to be moved and they did move them, but the way they move things is sometimes unique. I guess they wanted to take personnel along to help unload it or they just wanted to get a free ride. Either way, it's a little funny!
This is a Russian helicopter being used by the Afghan National Air Force...Pretty Interesting!!!
Here are some leftover Russian (I assume) armored personnel carriers, since they are in the trash pile behind the supply depot. If someone knows they are a different nation's armored personnel carrier, please post a comment with a correction...thanks.
On our trip to get a coffee during lunch, we saw this Jingle truck. This is an old style one with a little more painting on it.
Finally, last but not least, this is the cool looking new MATV (armored replacement for the Hummer). It just looks mean. It's an awesome machine.
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