Over the Hump!!!!

Clearly, this blog is not meeting it expectations. I should have kept you posted about all of the many things I have done here. All of the sudden it has been over three months and I am now counting down instead of up. Here is a picture of me hanging out at the Swiss compound.

Anyway, it has been a crazy two months. I have been so stressed out, and so busy, but yet it has been very rewarding at the same time. We built an aircraft parking apron, some places for people to work, and I am now in the process of moving a work area for a squadron here on the base to a different location. So far I have been at Camp Bastion for my entire time in Afghanistan.

Here is a picture of me out helping to build the parking ramp.

We also made a big wall around the parking ramp with the help of some locals.

I will leave you with that. I am surviving. It has been a crazy road so far, but
incredibly rewarding. I'm a little short on words at the moment, so I will call this post good.

One Month Down!

It has been an eventful couple of weeks. Probably the most important couple of weeks of why I was sent to Camp Bastion. We built a small medical center and I even got to do quite a bit of manual labor. Here I am working on the generator for the medical center.

We also needed some gravel to put down to reduce dust, mud, and ponding. We paid a contractor to bring the gravel in and dump it. This is a picture of one of the dump trucks that came in. There are lots of trucks that look like this both here and at KAF. Everybody calls them "jingle trucks". The operators get very creative with their jingle trucks.

We brought in a team of Civil Engineer troops to help me build the medical center. Here are some of the guys and myself posing by the medical transport bus.

Church is a huge refresher for me. We meet every Sunday at 12:30 in the afternoon, and then all go to lunch together afterwards. It is always good to gather with the Saints. There between 10-20 folks that show up every week. Here is a picture of the chapel we have sacrament meeting in.

One month has come and gone. Hopefully another month will come and go soon as well. I am very grateful to have this experience. Everyday is challenging and rewarding. So far I know I will look back on this and be very proud to be a part of it.

Camp Bastion Continues...

Well, I am still here working at Camp Bastion. How long will I be here? It is unclear. Could be a week, could be 3 months. I think I like it here better than KAF though. We needed a tent of our own to work out of so two sundays ago we enjoyed the labors of constructing a tent floor.

I also thought I would send some more "living conditions" pictures. This how the showers are configured, as well as the royal throne. I still wince for a moment everytime I sit on it, although I am slowly adapting and accepting.

Well, there is not a lot of beauty to Bastion. Just alot of military stuff and lots of desert. I will try to get some good pics for next time. I am still having a great time, and meeting some great people. Later.

Part of the Surge

Here I am at BWI standing in a long line getting ready to head to the desert. I felt like I was an ant marching in line.

This other picture is me in my gear leaving Kyrgyzstan and heading to Kandahar. I know, I look rather goofy.

Once I made it to Kandahar (also known as KAF), my boss informed me that I was to go to Camp Bastion and do some work there. So after a week at KAF I was already on another plane to go off on another adventure. This is a picture of me in a C-130, on my way to camp Bastion.

Camp Bastion is a British air base, and they share a little bit of it with the U.S. The British was nice enough to let me sleep in their tents. Here is the outside and inside of the section of tents that I sleep in.

Well so far it has been very exciting and busy. I have been sleeping in tents and don't get much time to relax. But that's good, because the time will go by fast. Thanks for all of your support and will post again sometime.

My Bags are Packed and I'm Ready to Go

The first post for the new Bert Liddell Afghanistan experience. I am heading for the airport in Oklahoma City. Adreann and I are leaving the kids behind so that we can have a night on the town in big OKC before I leave in the morning.