The last day on Mehtar Lam

It is now Thursday 19 Feb. I am looking forward to getting out of here with in the next 24 hours. We are going to go to JAF (Jalalabad Air Field) for a link up with the Red ring flight. This is going to take us to the next mission site. This place is nice, but, there is no need for us to be here. We have not done much in the way of helping the war effort here. My guys are getting restless and are looking to go someplace that we can feel useful. I do not blame them.

We did have a little bit of excitement here the other night. It was late evening, and dark out side. And when I say dark, I mean dark. You can not see you own hands in front of your face, kind of dark. There was no moon and the clouds blocked out the Star light, so there was no type of ambient light to work off of. I was here in the MWR computer room when, all of the sudden, there was an explosion and the entire are shook. We all logged off and ran out with the weapons in hand and ready to do what was needed. But, there was not sign of any thing being wrong. Then a few seconds later, more like around 15-20 Seconds, there was a bright light in the sky. As it turns out, the 13F guys fired off a Howitzer Illumination round as a test fire. They just neglected to tell the rest of us that they were going to do it. Slowly but surely, every one went back to what they were doing.

I do not mind being here. I love the idea of being able to help these people. It is difficult not to love it once you see the people and see how they live. Not to mention the fact that most of them want to better their lives and that of their children. Unfortunately, the news media will not show you the places that the people come up to us and the kids and the fathers come up and shake our hands. They tell us, in rather mutilated and broken, English. "We know you left you families behind to help us, and we want to thank you." The first time I heard that, it gave me goose bumps all over. I never expected to hear that coming from any one here. Of course, the only thing I had to go on, was what I was hearing in the news media.

It is pretty sad that you can have thousands of people cheering us on, on one end of town and have 10 people yelling death to America at the other and the only one you see back home is the death to America crowd. This is why I quit believing anything I see or hear in the news. They have an agenda and will cater the news to fit that agenda. They do not report the news. They manufacture it. I am not saying that they are liars, just that they report half truths to make it fit their templates. Maybe, now the the "Messiah" is in Office, it will change. Sorry, did not mean to rant on about the media. I am sure you all have heard it before.

Well, today is going to be the last day of rest for us, for quite some time. The packing is almost done. Not that there was much to pack up, since we never really unpacked. I still have to coordinate the times, but it is looking like it is going to be a "go" for this trip. Once we arrive at the next site, we have our work cut out for us. I am actually looking forward to doing something a little more productive, for a change.

I look forward to seeing a new region and working with a new group of people. It is rather interesting how every region is different. I do not just mean different in surroundings. They are different in culture and religion. Yes they are Muslim, but, the are not all the same. The language is different, the interpretation of the religion is different, based on the Imam or Mullah, since most of the country is illiterate. If I remember correctly, only about 20% of the people here can read and write. This gives the religious leaders a lot of power, a lot of control over the people.

Well, it is time for me to go to chow. I will try to write again in a few days. I do not know if I will have access along the way to our next site. But, if I do, I will keep you all informed as to how things are progressing with the trip.