Afghan Independence Day...No Fireworks!!!

Rocket Status: None today.

This morning I was the first one at the logistics depot at about 6:50am.  Personnel started to arrive at around 7:10am.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the ANA Colonel show up at 7:00am.

We couldn't get things started until about 8:10 for some reason.  You'd think the workers would want to get moving, since we aren't using a forklift...well, we did, but not for the intended purpose...see later.  The temps this morning were great...it was 79F, so you'd really think they'd want to work early since they can't drink water during Ramadan.  We really have to work on this pallet and forklift issue...maybe we could convince them to do it on some items.

Okay, today went pretty well.  The loading went very well and everyone showed up, so today was a good day for progress.  They could have refused, but they did the responsible thing when a war is going on and came in to support the Army when they needed them.  This gives me hope that all isn't lost and they do get it...they just don't always know what to do with 'it' LOL.

The loading looked pretty back breaking and to top it off, a lot of the guys were barefoot since they can't afford good shoes.  I watched these guys heave the 100lb bag up to the guys in the back of the truck, then the guys in the back of the truck would have a guy lean over and they'd put it on his back, and then he'd lean over and carry the bag to the back of the truck...don't worry, he said...there's only like 1,999 more!!! LOL.

Here are some pics of the good day...

It's like Indiana Jones.  I feel like we're in the 1500s.

These guys holding hands is unusual to our culture, but very normal here.  Still makes me chuckle.

This is the inside of a Jingle truck.  Haven't posted any for a while.

Here's how they use the forklift.  The person that came to fix the roll-up door  parked in front of the door we needed to get into to start loading.  He didn't have the keys for the vehicle...how does that happen.  We couldn't believe we were getting held up because there weren't any keys again.  They decided to use the forklift...why didn't they just get the 30 guys to pickup the vehicle...that'd be ridiculous :)