End of Week 3...

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Children of All Ages...welcome to the greatest show on earth..." If you are familiar with this opening line, then you know you are about to witness a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey three ring circus. Well, let's just say that life at Camp Leatherneck can be best described as a 300 ring circus...with each ring representing a different organization anxiously awaiting for a project to be completed so that they can either move-in, relocate or expand operations. It is also a great description for the office I share with my partner in crime here at Leatherneck, 2Lt A.J. Harris. At one point this week, 2Lt Harris and I were host to 10 different people in our 12ft x 12ft office, each carrying on a independent conversation with one or both of us...sometimes at the same time. Some jobs are described as being many hours of boredom while you await 30 seconds of exhilaration (like fire fighting)...our job here is more like many hours of sheer chaos with 30 seconds of the peaceful silence of no visitors. It is almost as if this office as assumed the title of "Place to go if you just want to go shoot the bull and, oh by the way, ask about a project completion date". We take it all in stride...and have used this unofficial hang-out location to work many "back office" deals with those folks who can help us out.

Enough about that...this week I had the pleasure of traveling out to one of the outlying forward operating bases (FOB) to meet 3 of the members of my team who are providing facility engineering support to the marines at that location. I, along with 2 other members of the engineering office here at Leatherneck, flew out on Wednesday morning on a USMC C-130. It was a short 30 minute flight with nothing exciting to report. We accompanied a pallet full of merchandise destined for the Post Exchange at the FOB, which included about 100 cases of Red Bull and other energy drinks. Turns out that these drinks are an absolute necessity here in Afghanistan. The marines on the flight with us were trying to figure out if they could remove a case or 2 from the pallet without anyone noticing...fortunately the plane landed before they could devise a plan. The FOB we visited is on the front edge of our push into the next focus of our war effort here in Afghanistan. As we drove around the FOB, the reality of what we are doing here was very evident. There were several convoys of military vehicles preparing to head out into harms way to "kick in doors and kill bad guys". Regardless what you may think about this war, seeing the faces of the men and women who are fighting this war makes it all very real. I'm just glad the US Marine Corps is on my side!

I didn't get a chance to take many pictures this week...probably because I left my camera sitting in my office all week. However, some of the folks who are involved in engineering work on Leatherneck did pose for a picture with a banner that a 5th grade class sent over around the holidays. The man dressed in civilian clothes on the right works for one of the construction companies that is doing a lot of work on Leatherneck. His son is in the class, and his dad promised that he would take a picture with "soldiers" in Afghanistan. What is really neat about this picture is that 3 out of the 4 military services are represented...Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, which is a great representation of how this war is being fought: completely joint with all services working along side one another.

I'll do a better job of getting some pictures of projects and sites this week...

The best news of the week is that the latrine facilities right outside of my tent were "turned on"! So far, word has not spread that there are functioning showers with hot water on the Seabees' compound. The 10 of us that actually live on the Seabee compound are hoping to keep it this way. One of my tent-mates and I were scheming up some signage for the doors to discourage visitors. We'll see how long we can keep the secret under wraps.

The second best news of the week is that my close friend and "blogger extraordanaire" Todd Hirneisen welcomed into the world his baby girl, Abigail Hope on Friday the 29th (sorry Todd - latrines less than 50 ft from my tent is just too exciting). The prayers of 100s of folks were answered that Todd was able to get home from his 6-months here in Afghanistan to witness the birth of his third child! I did remind Todd that he will be eligible for his AARP card when Abigail is in 9th grade...

As always, your thoughts, prayers, kind words and care packages are most greatly appreciated! I have been sharing the bounty of my care packages with my fellow engineers...though I readily admit that I scavenge thru them first to pull out my favorites.

Until I blog again...