What is there to be Thankful for in Afghanistan?

Thanksgiving has come and gone and we are almost in December. The start of a new month brings significant joy as it means we're that much closer to returning to those we love and care about. That much closer to leaving all of this behind and returning to some degree of normalcy. I'm sure that returning will bring with it as much confusion and adjustment as when I left, but that's another thought for another time.

Thanksgiving here was nice, but mostly like any other day. We had a half day off, which allowed me the time to go to the gym before heading into work. Our command reserved a tent at one of the American chow halls so we could all dine together. The meal options were fairly traditional, although the pomp and circumstance of putting out the fine silverware and carving the turkey and lounging around with full bellies was definitely lost. Oh, there was turkey - pre sliced in a pan beneath a sneeze-guard. There were glazed yams and green beans and ham and pecan pie and all those things you would expect, but vastly different than anyone would remember from life at home. Paper plates, plastic forks, and hair nets have never before been a part of my traditional Thanksgiving, and I honestly hope they never are again. To further reinforce the fact that I was not at a regular Thanksgiving, I had to eat quickly and leave early to make it to a meeting - the war does not stop for Thanksgiving and neither do those that support it.

Overall the food was pretty good, but Thanksgiving is one of those days built up in the mind where "pretty good" just doesn't cut it. No turkey will ever be as good as Mom's turkey, no pie ever as delicious. To eat this meal almost felt like a mockery of what it was actually supposed to be - although at its core, the message was still the same. I sat on a wooden bench in a vinyl tent eating my Thanksgiving meal with what can only be equated to my family here. It was a time to come together and enjoy a little slice of life different from the norm. For that, I was thankful. It has also served to lend a great deal of perspective on what I had come to take for granted as "normal life" back home.

Before dinner, I took a number of the guys from my office out to the smoke pit to enjoy a cigar (Thank you to the Zent family!) and asked all the guys about traditions they shared back home. A risky topic, as thoughts of home can sometimes invoke strong emotions on either side of the spectrum. My Chief shared that this type of Thanksgiving had become the norm for him. He had spent a total of one Thanksgiving with his family in the past fourteen years, the rest being spent deployed to ungodly locations or simply stationed too far from home to return. If that doesn't make one sit down and think about things in their own life...

So what is there to be thankful for in Afghanistan? The fact that I'm only here for 6 months, the fact that I'm still in one piece and mostly no worse for the wear. The fact that I have friends and family to return to back home. The fact that, as hard as it may be, I am learning a lot out here, and not all of it exclusive to the military. As much as I'd rather be home, I'm thankful that I'm here. This is an experience not often afforded to people, and there is no doubt in my mind that I will come out a better person because of it. And next year, wherever I may be on Thanksgiving, I will remember my time here and be thankful that countless other men and women are sitting on wooden benches eating mere visages of a Thanksgiving meal some place far from home.

In other news, I have completed my Fire Administration class and started Chemistry. I received extremely good reviews from my students at the conclusion of their last class, but I am not so confident about this one. Teaching chemistry in Afghanistan without chemicals or a lab will be a feat in and of itself. The students do not have text books, and I do not have an instructors guide. This course may be the end of me... Work continues to be grueling and intense, I rarely leave the office before 2200 and have not been making it to the gym as much as before. Gary Sinise came to KAF with his LT Dan Band and performed quite a few songs for a USO concert, it was a great break from normal life here. I also receive two boxes full of goodies from my co-workers back in San Diego; it was a very nice gesture and brightened the mood in the office. A photo of us is below - and yes, that is a Beer magazine in my hands. I will be buying a subscription when I get back!

Hazardous Duty Pay

I'm not sure what of tonight's events will make it to the news, nor what I'm allowed to share, but whatever anyone hears about the goings on in the area - I'm OK.


**** UPDATE ****
Apparently US media doesn't care too much because no US troops were involved, but I was referencing this story: http://www.roumanie.com/romania-news-1001987.html I think this was the closest I've been to an impact since I've been here. Still doing great though, and there's no reason to be concerned about me, even though I know my saying that doesn't help. Over half way until I get to go home!

Quick Update

It's been a long while since I updated. All is well, I am safe and in good spirits. A little sick, but with the rapid weather change we've experienced over the week, it's to be expected. It's now into the 30s during the evenings and up to the 60s or 70s during the day.

Work is the same - still busy as could be. I was optimistic when this all started that once we got our feet beneath us and figured things out, it would slow down. Not so much. It feels like we're just as hectic as when we got here, only now I know more of what I'm doing than I did before.

Classes are good, teaching is definitely a new experience to say the least. Having spent so much of my life actually in school, the fact that I'm now on the other side of the desk is unique. Grading papers and being the one spilling red ink all over the place - I feel a little guilty, like I shouldn't be doing this because I was so recently on the receiving end. The course is almost over and it will be time for the final exam and then Chemistry - I'm not sure how I'm going to teach chemistry without chemicals or a lab or anything like that, but there's only one way to find out!

Anyway, all is well here, tomorrow marks 90 days in Afghanistan, and our "over the hump" party is on the 21st. I think we're more than half way overall, but it's definitely depressing to know we've been here so long and have just as much time to suffer through. Everyone I've talked to who has been through deployments before says that the mid-point is always rough, but that things pick up pace and I'll be home before I know it. I'm not sure if I believe that, but I am looking forward to my return trip!

Professor Me

By and in large the effort of this blog has been intended to focus more on what life out here is like and less on me. It has never been my goal to wax on and on about myself, focusing more on the goal of making people feel the experience almost as though it were their own. This post will not be like that.

I have been busy the past week and a half working on a side project that came out of nowhere and makes next to no sense overall. I am now officially a college professor.

Yes - you read that right.

What the hell am I talking about? How did this come about? What has this world come to? I'm glad you asked.

About a week and a half ago, a KAF-ALL email (an email sent to all US service members on KAF) was sent out asking for help with something. I deleted it, but my boss read it and forwarded it to me thinking it would be a good opportunity. It was sent by a representative of the Central Texas College - they have a program here teaching vocational skills (criminal justice, EMT training, etc) and they needed an instructor. The surprising part that just seems uncanny is that they needed a professor for their Fire Prevention Technologies class. They were looking for someone to fill in for their previous instructor who found greener pastures and left KAF. Their requirements were someone with an associates degree in a related field and 5 years experience.

I called and told the gentleman that I had a BS in Fire Protection Engineering, over 4 years experience, and was a licensed FPE - did that qualify? I guess so, because the guy sounded impressed, so I asked my command if it was OK to do it and met with the guy to get some more information. It's a paid position, but my command said that I have to donate the income (minus taxes and any expenses if I buy some books etc) to a noble cause, yet to be determined.

So they hired me and tonight I taught my first class. Coming in mid-term was tough, especially because the previous instructor had no lesson plan, kept no records, and overall sucked at making my life easier. Having no idea what they had learned and where they were, I didn't prepare anything. The class we are in right now is a class about management in the fire service and the operational side of a fire department - something I know exactly ZILCH about. Luckily one of the chapters they hadn't covered was about the fire prevention side of the department. That I could talk about and I think I did a decent job.

Oh - did I mention that my class has 7 students and 4 of them were out for various reasons. Teaching in a combat zone does not bode too well for high attendance. I also had an interesting moment during my introduction / orientation while going over the standard stuff - "Bathrooms are down stairs, no tobacco use in the building, exits are here and here, and in the event of a rocket attack we'll execute the following procedures..." Never had an instructor tell me THAT back at UMD.

So this semester is slated to end around Thanksgiving and the next class is Fire Chemistry. We meet 3 hours a night, 3 times a week, although my Thursday classes are cut short by my need to go attend a painful 2+ hour meeting with the big-wigs. Depending on how the rest of this course does to my sanity, health, and regular work load - maybe I'll teach the next one. I know I'd be ALL over that class, and have already asked if I can do labs, to include the gratuitous burning of whatever I can find - in the name of science, of course!

So there you have it - I am now a college professor. Teaching things about fire. In Afghanistan. My life is a strange, strange thing.