Friday off - No Rockets tonight

Today I drove to main base and saw a very vigilant police force.  Of course it was pretty hot, but they just don't have the right posture.  The guys in the back are apparently exhausted...I guess because Friday is normally their day off.  Photo is a little on the low quality side, since I took it out my window while driving and then enlarged it.

Of course I had to stop and look at carpet runners today.  Here's one I was contemplating. It's a 2.5x9 foot runner.  I think I must have it :)

This is just plain wrong and torturous.  I think I'd rather not see any beer at all versus seeing something that looks so real.

On my way home to my FOB, I saw this guy cruising on a tractor.  Don't see much farming around here, so I don't know what he uses it for.  I guess it could be his main source of transportation...who knows.

Now for the 1960s pics from Afghanistan:

This looks like some type of presidential parade.

Look at the pride the Afghan Nat'l Army had.  Also, you could tell it was before the Taliban, because the person on the lower right was wearing shorts.

Friday...Our Day Off!

With our day off, I slept in a little and then went to the boardwalk for a coffee at Tim Hortons...Yum!!!  This is the view while sipping my coffee today.

 I then went to the carpet shop and bought a 1x3 meter or 3x9 foot runner. The price started at $500, but we agreed, after a lengthy discussion, on $350.  I took it straight to the post office and mailed it home...it was $45 w/insurance.  I didn't get a pic of the rug, but it was similar to the one below. It wasn't a top quality carpet, since it'll be used near the entry way and in high traffic areas.

On my way to back to my base after shopping and coffee, I saw a nicely painted jingle truck.  He almost got away, before I snapped a pic of the back end. You can click on it to make it bigger, as you can with all the pics.

I also was driving by the Afghan Police with their mounted weapons.  They always make me nervous, because they're not as safety conscious as we are with weapons.  They have a lot of accidental discharges.  Here he's riding standing up, hanging on to the weapon, with his hand very near the trigger. ..don't hit a bump. This is a very common picture.

Back to the village.  We had to do this operation on Thursday afternoon/Friday, so we wouldn't have any Afghan National Army (ANA) interference (it's their day off).  We moved the toilet and shower units off the location to junk them...they were falling apart and not usable.  They were spilling sewage onto the ground and were a biohazard; 90 percent of each unit was non-functional.  The ANA personnel wanted us to keep them, so someone (meaning us) could fix them. The ANA didn't want to do anything with them to include stopping the soldiers from using them.  The septic tank was full and dried into an un-pumpable brick and they offered no help...now they're gone to the junk yard.  The ANA will typically not let trucks with garbage leave their base, because they want to sell it...My team got'em off the base and here's the before and after pics.