520 AM

Its 5 AM here and I just spent the last 7 hours sorting through hundreds of files on my computer. I had 8 or 9 CDs full of information about our ANA partners- training, cultural, logistical, weapons, maintenance procedures.  Some of the discs had duplicate files on them, so some of what I was doing was sifting through and getting rid of older versions of duplicate files. Im about 90 percent there, now, and I intend to finish the work later this morning, after I sleep.

The Afghans we usually work with were not at work today, as Fridays are the equivalent of our Sunday.  They call this day "Juma". They dont come to work on Fridays, even in the middle of a war!  I therfore took the opportunity to organize some of my papers (I have, ahem, a lot of papers).  I did a load of laundry tonight as well, which was interrupted when the power on our base went out at midnight.  This happens 2-3 times a week and is very annoying.  You will be sitting at a computer, ordering your files, getting stuff done, seeing daylight at the end of the tunnel, when it just wirrrrsssss down, and then the lights go out.  The blackouts usually last 90 minutes to 2 hours.

I am working on getting some more pictures of the Afghans I have worked with here. In June, I was in Kabul for three weeks with a team of our Soldiers, training with one of our partner units.  After their training was completed, I and several of our Soldiers convoyed south to Kandahar with the convoy, a distance of close to 400 miles.  It took us 9 days.  I kept my notes from the trip and will post a blog from that time shortly.  We had some adventures on the way south.

I am headed out to one of our bases for a rehearsal tomorrow. Not sure if I will be back in time to post, but I will do my best to post again soon.  I sort of like this.

                                         Some of our Soldiers at the terminal the day we deployed