Aaron Allen's Blog

We leave Afghanistan tomorrow!

2010-07-11T02:39:00.000-07:00

Finally! We are getting out of this place and heading home! Tomorrow, hopefully we will get out smoothly. First stop, Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan. Next stop, make our way to crazy old Fort Dix, NJ. Then, get out of that place and go home!!!

Here are a couple pictures of the chapel band team that I had the pleaser of getting to know, jamming with, becoming friends with, and leading for a time. Praise God for the friendships and for the good times we had together in this war forsaken country.

This is a picture of some of us from today, the last Sunday for me here at KAF.

This is a picture from a week ago, the last Sunday I lead worship with them for chapel.

Here is a picture of the thermometer on the boardwalk in the shade showing 110 degrees. Hot! That is about average during the day here at this time...

14 More Days!!

2010-06-28T07:36:00.000-07:00

Only 14 more days - 2 weeks - left until I finally leave this place to head back to the USA!! It cannot come soon enough! I cannot wait to be home and with my family again. It has been a year now since I left home. By the time I am home it will have been about 13 months that I was away from home. Way too long to be away from home! Last year this past weekend we had a farewell ceremony at our reserve station in Tacoma, and then caught a plane to Ft. Dix (not a favorite place, nor is most of NJ).

It is really only by God's grace that my family and I have been able to get through this.

Spin Buldak

2010-06-11T11:34:00.000-07:00

I went down to FOB Spin Buldak for just over a week recently, I got back here to KAF yesterday. Below is a link to some photos I got of the convoy I went on going down and of around the FOB and the area our people work at over there. Spin B, that's what we call it, is only a couple miles from the Pakistan border. It is about a 2 hr drive from KAF south east to get there on highway 4. Our people work in a holding yard a couple miles outside the FOB that the jingle trucks have to go to after coming across the Pakistan border. The FOB is quiet and pretty peaceful. It's really dark at night there, so I was able to really see the stars. The darkness can be so thick outside sometimes that you can feel it in front of you and around you it seems. I got to see some different things and meet some of the locals and the Afghan Boarder Patrol people there that we work with. I hope you enjoy seeing these pictures.

Spin Buldak

Chapel Band

2010-05-14T12:22:00.000-07:00

I kept forgetting to email myself (from my Army work computer) a couple photos of the chapel band from Good Friday and Easter that Chen had took and emailed me. Here are those photos, finally... The first one is of us after doing the Good Friday service. The second one is of us after the Easter service. The Easter service was Chen's last Sunday leading the band before he left. After that Sunday, I took over leading the band, or 'took the reigns' as they say...

Steven, our drummer, his last week was this last week. Bittersweet to see him go. He got here after me and is leaving before me... I kept giving him a hard time about that! It's good he is heading back home. He left to head back to Washington yesterday, and I believe they got out without a problem. He worked for the IMPs - International Military Police. He is an MP in the Air Force. They planned a going home BBQ and party this last Wednesday night and asked the contemporary chapel band to play a live show! We have been usually hanging out at the British Cafe' and jamming over some of our favorite old songs, classics and such. We just transferred that over with a little more practice and put it live with a full band! Thanks to some of the MWR gear and sound system. This is a picture of us just before we hit the stage and played through a bunch of songs. The party was on top of the roof of the MP building, and it was windy! It was totally fun too. I hope to get some more photos of this to put on here sometime as there were some people in the crowd taking pictures. If I do, you will see an update to this probably! Interesting note as well, Steven does play drums in a band back home in Tacoma.

New Photos

2010-05-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

Today I went on a quest for some new photos to add to my collection. I got a few good shots. More, really, just of interesting things over here. Some aren't from today, like the tracked vehicle shot was a week or so ago and the pictures of Steven and I on the roof of his office - the MP building - and the shots from his roof are from a couple days ago.

It was really hot today...upper 90s at least, maybe over 100!

First I will start with some bazaar photos. Not that they are 'odd' per se, but they are of the actual bazaar here. I went today to get a couple items, and with the goal to get some more shots of some people there and what it looks like for you back home to get a glimpse of this place.

This local allowed me to take a picture of him at his shop. There is a boy hiding behind him.

This is a shop I bought something from. Nice local. Him & his wife & family make a lot of the clothing hanging there by hand, from what he said.

This picture above, and the one below are of the DVD shop where I've got some of my movies from. This is one of many DVD shops here. There are probably a dozen.

This is that DVD shop again, but here is a vendor on the outside of it who sells souvenirs of sort. He always has a bunch of Zippo lighters that you can see laid out there on the table to the right.

Here is a stand that sells the Pasmika shawls - there are many of these stands.

This is looking down one isle of many at the bazaar.

Interesting marble and wood carved objects for sale.

Here is one of the 'designer' purses stands.

Another view of an isle of vendors at the bazaar.

Here are some other photos from around here:

Steven and I on the roof of his office- the MP building. He is the drummer in the chapel band. He's from back home in Tacoma.

Shade break house on top of the building.

View from the top of the roof towards the road.

Another view from the roof towards the British area.

Fighter jet flying overhead from the roof.

The fighter jets about to cross paths. See the dots?

C-17 from McChord Air Force Base back home, on the flightline

Bell tower, or chant tower, connected to a church-like building in an Air Force compound.

I thought this was funny- The Rocket Club bunker!

You can see a new control tower in the background. I remember when it was just starting to be built with the foundation and some sides. There is a story on that at the ISAF Regional Command South Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Kandahar-Airfield-Afghanistan/ISAF-Regional-Command-South/171441696587?ref=mf

The Kandahar Fire Department.

View from in front of the fire department towards the flight line.

Another view of the TLS (taliban last stand) building.

Since it was so hot, ice cream sounded good. While I was waiting for it I saw this guy in the middle of the boardwalk courtyard practicing twirling these things like fire throwing. This is the picture of him from where I was standing in the shade waiting for the ice cream. Below are a couple pictures of him when I came up to him and asked to take a picture of him practicing. If those were really on fire, and it was night, they would look pretty cool.

This is the inside of Tim Horton's.

View from standing on the boardwalk outside Tim Horton's down the road.

This is a tracked vehicle, foreign, that was rolling down the road one day.

Bazaar, Pond

2010-04-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to the bazaar that goes on every Saturday. It's a really big bazaar with a lot of vendors. It's like a huge street fair except there is no food and you are with a bunch of local nationals in Afghanistan. I went a different way to the bazaar than I would usually go. I think they refer to this as the back entrance.

In the picture: bazaar straight ahead, pond to right.

On the way I took a picture of this pond which had a bunch of weird objects sticking out of it. I don't think this is poo pond #2, but I wouldn't want to touch that water. Those must be some pretty hardy plants. Probably mutated too.

It has been hot out during the day. In the 90s. At night it is in the 70s down to the 60s. Sometimes I wish there was a pool here to go swimming in. That would be nice on hot days. It was a thought to take a dunk in this pond, but that thought was only for a very brief instant. Who knows what kind of radioactive-bio-hazard-mutant water is in that pond. I will stick with good AC and a cool shower...

Happy Easter!

2010-04-08T11:46:00.000-07:00

The tomb is empty! He is risen! Easter is one of the most important holidays of remembrance for us Christians. I hope your day was blessed that day remembering what our Lord did in our place on the cross being crucified (Good Friday - the beautiful scandalous night), dying, and then raising from the grave Easter Sunday!

Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. "He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. "Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you." And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me." -Matthew 28:1-10

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. -1 John 1:9

This post is a few days after the fact...belated. But, I'm posting something nevertheless!

I wasn't able to get many pictures Easter Day for the services here in Kandahar that we did other than this one from out in the crowd at the Easter sunrise service. There was some media at the different services, so I hope to get some more pictures and possibly video. At the sunrise service I lead a group of us from the chapel Next contemporary Protestant service worship band in a song that morning, one of my favorites, 'How Deep The Father's Love'. We did it in D so one of my friends could play her penny whistle to it. It sounded beautiful! This song is also important to Barby and I because it was performed at our wedding when we took communion together. This picture is after we did the song and one of the chaplains was giving a message. This was out on the big stage at the boardwalk. It was a really nice morning Sunday.

Here is an interesting picture from earlier last week. On my way out of the office at the end of a work day it was really hazy outside. It was so hazy that the sun was really blocked out and you could look at the sun without hurting your eyes. It was really interesting and I thought was a good opportunity for a picture.

A post for Spring

2010-03-21T05:42:00.000-07:00

Back home it is now officially the first day of Spring! Over here, however, it feels more like summer. It's been averaging in the 80s getting into the 90s the past week or two.

Here are a few different photos from over these past weeks:

This first one is of me having pizza at the new pizza/Italian restaurant that opened up here. The pizza really wasn't that good. It was a bit weird. $13 for that small pizza! I figured I would try the place to see what it was like once. That will probably be the last time.

Here's an interesting photo. I was walking to dinner one day and noticed some police lights flashing not too far down the road from my room. The commotion was about this used up ordinance. Someone threw this away, which caused EOD to be called. Fins like a bomb sticking out of a dumpster usually will alarm someone. You can see someone wrote on it, "Hey Dumbass Butts Only No Trash!" I guess this was being used as a butt can before it became garbage...

Here are a couple pictures of a moth I found. I was getting ready to go to bed a few days ago when I saw this large bug fly from beam to beam on the ceiling in our room. I was curious what the heck it was, and also wanted to make sure it wasn't in our room while I slept. It turned out to be this big moth. Using a broom to brush it off of the ceiling beam it hung out there long enough for me to take some pictures and let it outside.

March Update

2010-03-07T03:09:00.000-08:00

Today felt like an early summer day, like in May, in Seattle. It was a blue sky clear day (every day here pretty much), the sun was warm, and there was a little breeze keeping you cooled just right. I was walking on the boardwalk back to my room from chapel, and there was a BBQ going on. The smell of BBQ in the air with the way the day felt reminded me of an early summer day. It was an encouraging feeling because that means I am getting a lot closer to being done over here and getting home! We have the rest of this month, and about 3 more months to go...

Last Sunday I went to TGI Fridays over here for the first time. I got a mudslide, boneless buffalo wings, and chicken tenders. Unfortunately, they were out of hot sauce, so the buffalo wings were just popcorn chicken, basically. The mudslide was virgin, of course. The food wasn't that bad, but WAY over priced for here and what you get. They had real silverware and nice plates, which was surprising. Below are some pictures from dinner there with Chen and one of his friends/co-worker.

A couple days ago I was coming back to my room from work. I noticed the sunset and the clouds looked really cool. I went to take some pictures of it and noticed a C130 was coming in for landing right under the sunset with the rays going through the clouds. It was pretty cool. I got a pretty good picture of the C130 coming in with the rays going over it. If you zoom in on the picture you can see the rotors. I like the picture of the sunset with the clouds blocking the sun and the rays peeking through around it. It almost looks like an explosion in the sky.

Here is a link to some of the photos I took on the way home for leave on the different planes and in Kuwait, and heading back going through Shannon, Ireland and Kuwait. The first aerial shots are coming into Seattle, the last ones are leaving Seattle (you can see the Cascades, Glacier, the Columbia and Vantage), and some of Ireland:

Home on Leave Feb 2010

Home on Leave

2010-02-28T02:18:00.000-08:00

It was wonderful to be home for a couple weeks in February. Here is a picture of Barby, Violet and I together thanks to our photographer friend Megan and Barby's mom friends.

After enjoying time with my family on different adventures going to a few places around the Northwest, eating some good food I haven't had in about 5 months, relaxing with my family enjoying being home, and catching up with a few people, I had to go back to Kandahar, Afghanistan. I got back here on Sunday February 21st after 5 days of travel and waiting in Kuwait.

It was hard to leave again, but this last time will be the last time I have to do that. I have about 4 months left until I come home for good. The latest I can be here is mid-July, but I'm hoping we leave sometime in June.

Happy Birthday!

2010-01-24T04:58:00.000-08:00

Today is my 28th Birthday! Of course, I would rather be home with my family and friends celebrating it there instead of here in Afghanistan. However, only about 5 more days to go and I will be in the process of heading back home for R&R to be with my family!

I was reading some of 1 Corinthians today and these verses stood out to me in light of my birthday, chapter 1 verses 26-31:

For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that just as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord."

It is by God's grace and mercy that I am here to celebrate another wonderful year of life. More importantly, that I am able to continue to grow closer to Him with the Holy Spirit working me through my salvation. I fear God's judgement, because I am a wretched sinner, and have to give an account for my family and my sins and actions. Only through Jesus' blood am I confident in His forgiveness and grace.

While separated over here I am learning a lot more about trust and faith. God is also teaching me more in humility through the people and circumstances I deal with over here.

A good friend directed me to this familiar verse in Philippians chapter 1 verses 3-6:

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

What an interesting year this last one has been. I now embark on the next new year. The first half of which is going to be anything from the ordinary back home since that is about how much time I have left in this deployment.

Here is a picture of me today, on my birthday, with the 'It's My Birthday' ribbon on that my mom sent me.

Yesterday, as I was walking back from my office to my room, I noticed a giant rainbow from the NE. It had rained not too long before I had left. I felt some of the final rain drops as the rain clouds were just about past, and you could see them sweeping by in the distance with more rain. This is the first rainbow I've seen over here. I am always reminded of what God did as a covenant promise in the sign of a rainbow in the story of Noah written in Genesis 9. It's a beautiful sign.

Left side of the rainbow

Right side of the rainbow.

I couldn't capture the whole thing since I didn't have far or wide enough of an angle to get it all on one shot, but it was a complete rainbow left to right.

Smoking my birthday celebratory cigar

One Week To Go!

2010-01-22T08:07:00.000-08:00

Only one week from today to go until I begin the process to start R&R/leave, and to no better place than home! I really cannot wait to be home with my bride and baby girl for 15 precious days. It is going to be a nice break.

Some of the people in my unit that have already gone and come back tell of their experience traveling back home that a VFW chapter in Texas provides a very warm welcome reception once they arrived in Dallas at the gate and in the terminal. That will be an interesting experience. The airlines were generous to our people also by upgrading them to First Class. The one thing that is a for sure consensus from the people who have already gone and come back is that it is a long ride there and back. That First Class flight from Dallas to home probably feels great after flying government until Europe and then commercial to the US. We'll see what my experience is and I may write about it.

After I get back from R&R I will only have about 4 months left until my unit and I come home for good!

This Sunday, the 24th, is my 28th birthday! It is going to probably feel like another day being over here. A good birthday present is that not too many days after my birthday I get to come home to see my family. I did get a package from my mom and a special one from Barby with some wonderful birthday gifts in it! Not just gifts from her, but from many of you - friends and family - back home contributing. Thank you very much!

Many of you may have noticed this in some of the pictures of me. One of my goals to take advantage of while over here was to lose Barby's baby weight, about 30 lbs. It was also my baby weight ;). In the Fall of 2008 I weighed about 220, at least I found that recorded on a weigh-in sheet in my Army records. When I was at Ft. Dix in August I weighed in at 213. By this last November I was in the 190s. I'm officially at about 190 now! I'm pretty close to the weight I was at when Barby and I got married in 2006. I've lost over 20 lbs since Ft. Dix, and just about that 30 lbs since the Fall of 2008! I feel great that I was able to do that and get better fit and healthier during this tour so far. It was one thing I could do to make the best out of this deployment.

I'll leave this post with a few photos of TGI Fridays that just got completed this week. In fact, they are opening it for service tonight. For my birthday this weekend some of us in the unit are hoping to go there for lunch sometime and check it out. We don't have much else to do around here! I'll get some pictures of the food and it busy during operating hours if we go. It is going to be busy these next few days of it first opening, for sure. All of us are still perplexed how a TGI Fridays got over here.

The front entrance, right off the boardwalk

Another view of front with the other sign

These signs are all lit up at night

This is right as you come inside and looking to the left. Notice the bar ready to be setup for all the booze. However, instead of booze it is stacked full of just mixes for their virgin blended smoothies. No booze here...

More pictures of the inside. It really looks like one from back home inside. This will be the nicest spot in Kandahar for awhile.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-02T07:43:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! Goodbye 2009, hello 2010! This means the end of my time over here in Afghanistan and the beginning of me being back home for good is getting closer. January is our half-way point. In about 27 days I go on R&R leave also! It can't come soon enough...

For New Year's Eve I planned a big party for our unit plus other friends we invited. We had a small ceremony for promotion and reenlistment, and then a lot of food, music, karaoke, smoking cigars, and having fun bringing in the New Year!

A funny thing happened with our food that night. I had ordered a lot of food from this one dining facility that is more American called Harvest Falcon. A guy with a thick accent from the UK (sounds Scottish) is the manager. I ordered the BBQ menu, which provided BBQ ribs, hot dogs, hot wings, salad, dessert, drinks, etc. not a bad setup. So, all food is suppose to leave the DFACs "cooked," even BBQs now. They failed to mention that meant cooked but chilled. We had picked up all the food, brought it back, set everything out, and were pulling the trays out of the hot pack box that holds all the cooked meat about ready to dig in and enjoy dinner when I realized, as I was handling the trays, that they were all ice cold along with the meat! We were given fully cooked chilled meat. What an important detail to forget to mention to us. We then scrambled to figure out how to heat the meat up. While our new acting commander ran to the PX to find BBQ briquettes, I searched around the compound we were in for a BBQ. Thankfully, there was one nearby and I grabbed some of our guys to carry if over. Soon after moving the BBQ the briquettes arrived. Next was figuring out how to light them. Use JP8, diesel, gasoline, or is there lighter fluid somewhere? It just so happens that hand sanitizer gel is flammable, and kinda worked for lighting the coals. Thankfully, I found another BBQ that had some matchlight briquettes in it which allowed us to properly light the coals. About 2 hours later after figuring out all the meat was cold we had found a BBQ, got coals, started it, and got all the meat cooked! And the ribs, hot dogs, and hot wings were really good.

I hope you had a good New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Happy New Year from Kandahar, Afghanistan! May God bless you this New Year.

Cheers,
~Aaron

Here are some pictures from New Year's Eve:

Setting up

Part of the spread of food

Salinas reenlistment

Baker having fun being dj with his ipod

Cigars that night thanks to Thompson Cigar

Karaoke

This is interesting- there is a TGI Fridays being built here in Kandahar on the boardwalk! We all noticed it just this week. I wonder if they are going to serve any of their mixed drinks?...That would be nice, but probably not. Who would have thought a TGI Fridays would be built over here?

Earlier in the week there was a thunder storm with rain and hail. These are a couple shots of the hail that day:

Out front of our office building

Hail on the ground.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T06:37:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone from Kandahar, Afghanistan! Since I am 12.5 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time, while you all are sleeping, or up really late (or really early, however you see it), I get to celebrate Christmas before everyone back home! Christmas eve and Christmas day was just another day for us around here honestly. The only resemblance of it being Christmas around here are the decorations around. It's hard to feel connected into the season without being around my family.
Even though I am in Afghanistan, what a wonderful day today is though! We celebrate today the remembrance of Jesus Christ's birth!

"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace." -Isaiah 9:6

God coming down humbling Himself taking on the body of a man. Fulfilling Scripture, the prophecies of His coming. Ultimately dying on the cross in my place saving me from my sin and death - the only way for forgiveness of sin. What an amazingly beautiful gift!
I hope you have a wonderful Christmas day. I wish I could be home with Barby and Violet, my family celebrating today. Soon I will get my R&R leave to come home. A week from today it will be the New Year too!

Merry Christmas!
~Aaron

Here are some photos from today (some from during this week too):

Opening some gifts Christmas day.

In the morning on Christmas. A Christmas tree, thanks to the Romanians, outside & near our office. I don't know where they got an evergreen tree.

Christmas dinner

Me during the day on Christmas

The day on Christmas. If you look above that tent in the distance, near that power pole, and at the edge of the ridge in the distance, you can see a chinook helicopter coming in. This road gets really muddy after it rains BTW.

Sunset on Christmas.

Opening a gift on Christmas eve. This was really wrapped with many many layers.

We put together a simple party/hang out for us that help in the chapel worship band Wednesday night. This is the spread of treats and food. A lot of this came from care packages that were sent to us. We like to share to help eat a lot of the goodies we got. Just mine alone took up the left corner of this table and that small little table to the left!

Some of us in the chapel worship band frosting the Christmas sugar cookies thanks to the 'Allen Girls'.

Afghanistan Photo Contest, Billy Ray Cyrus, & the British Cafe'

2009-12-20T04:20:00.000-08:00

In September, when I was in Bagram, I heard about a photo contest for photos of Bagram and around Afghanistan. AAFES, Nikon, and Exchange new car sales sponsored the contest. It had 7 different categories: on duty, off duty, aerial, macro, people, action, and ground ops (a couple were added during the contest). Winners got digital cameras, t-shirts, and gift cards. It ran from September until December 15th, a few days ago. Since it started I've been submitting a number of photos that I've taken while here. The judging happened this last week and the final results were in. It turns out one of my photos got First Place! It was one of my macro shots (macro category). I personally thought it was going to be the 'Razor's Edge' photo I took of the razor wire, but to my surprise it ended up being my picture of the 'Big Bee' that I came upon one day hanging from our gator. Below is my winning photo for the macro category.

Here is the link to the winning photos from the photo contest: http://picasaweb.google.com/BagramPhoto/BagramMWRDigitalPhotographyContestWinners#
And this is the link to see all the photos that were submitted for the contest, including the different categories: http://picasaweb.google.com/BagramPhoto

Last week, on Wednesday December 16th, we had a Holiday Variety Show put on by the USO. Billy Ray Cyrus, Dave Attell, Nick Bollettieri, & Anna Kournikova were the special guests who came to see us. That evening they put a simple show on for us. Dave Attell mc'd the evening with his comedy, Anna just came to support, Nick gave us a motivational message, and Billy (with a couple other guitars and singers) played 'unplugged' on acoustic for us some old country songs with some twang, including Aiky Breaky Heart!

Me and Billy Ray Cyrus

Me with Anna Kournikova

Me with Nick Bollettieri

Me and Dave Attell

I'm not sure if I put a photo of this place up before, but this is the British Cafe'. It's like a Starbucks for us out here how nice it is decorated inside. It's a warm and inviting place - a good place to get away and escape for a few hours. Tom, Chen, me and others who play in the chapel 'next' worship band meet here about every Monday night for coffee, and the newly added cigars and guitars. After hanging out here it almost seems like we aren't in a war oppressed area like Afghanistan.

This week is Christmas...wow! Soon it will be the New Year too, which means I go on leave not too far afterwards! Time seems to be moving by quicker for us, and that is good.

Until later, cheers and Merry Christmas!
~Aaron

December Update

2009-12-13T02:39:00.000-08:00

Since Thanksgiving I've took a few good pictures to share. I've got some pictures of scenery from around here, some of decorations for Christmas, pictures of me with some friends, our unit picture, and some shots from an event the British sponsored that went on yesterday night December 12th.

It is interesting being here through Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. I would have never thought that I would be away from my family during the holidays, let alone being in a war zone. A lot of people have gotten into the spirit and really decorated their office or building. I think we are all trying to make the best of our situation here. We've also got a good number of packages from different organizations wanting to support us from home. This is really nice. A couple people in our unit have friends and businesses back home that have sent care packages for each of us in the unit. I am very grateful for those that do what they can to support us over here, and our families back home.

The first picture below is of Tom (on left), Chen (on right), and me. Air Force, Navy, and Army all represented here. We all play on the worship team for the contemporary chapel here on KAF. We also play for the monthly worship concert and prayer event that started a couple months ago called 'Ignite' (based on Acts 2). Tom is from Alaska and Chen is from Texas, originally NY. Tom has been leading the worship team here also. We hang out together usually every Monday night at the British cafe' over coffee. This picture is from Monday this last week and we had cigars, coffee, and jammed together outside.

Chen (chief) jamming on the guitar.

Clouds over the boardwalk

View from South Park, Harvest Falcon DFAC area

This is what the rain left over, standing water and mud...

Nice sunset

Christmas decorations in the MWR

Letters to the troops from supporters, posted up in the MWR

My work area and desk in our small 'closet' office.

Our office decorated

Friday I got a box in the mail from the Thompson Cigar Company. I opened it to find it FULL of cigars, and many that look to be nice at that! This was a cool surprise to get donated a giant supply of decent cigars. Thanks Thompson Cigar!

This is a picture of most all of the 804th on December 11th out at ECP4

Our humvee, 'Jingle'. I guess we could say it's "Jingle all the way" during this season! (see the bottom right windshield)

Me and Chen with the guitars we got from Guitar Gallery. Thanks again Guitar Gallery!

These are a few photos from the event the British sponsored last night. Charlie Boorman and Ross Noble. Charlie Boorman travels on these bikes with Ewan McGregor. Unfortunately, Ewan wasn't there.

These gals opened up the event dancing in their leather outfits with metal plates around their waists doing these grinder displays with sparks to the music playing over the system. Crazy English.

Ross Noble on left & Charlie Boorman in the middle.

You can see all of these photos and more in my Picasa Web Album located here: http://picasaweb.google.com/amallen/KandaharAfghanistan?feat=directlink

Until later, cheers and Merry Christmas!
~Aaron

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T10:55:00.000-08:00

From Kandahar, Afghanistan, Happy Thanksgiving everyone! All of us wish we could be home with our family sharing this day. I especially wish I could spend it with Barby and Violet. However, I am very thankful to be alive by God's grace and mercy today. I'm thankful for a country that allows us freedom and for the cost so many before us in uniform have paid to make us free. I'm reminded of the first pilgrim thanksgiving and some of the foundational and patriarchal traditions that were passed down from it. Thanksgiving is a time to remember. May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and your family today as we are also reminded to be thankful for the price He paid for us on the cross in our place.

Cheers,

Aaron

Me about to enjoy the spread of food. We had a US Military only 'dinner' serving time of 11am-12:30pm at the DFAC I went to, so it was a big lunch.

Gary Sinise serving us

Me with Gary Sinise

Me with Kristy Swanson and Kevin Farley

Giant cake that says 'Hanks Giving'! Thanks Hank! Not sure if someone took the T or if this is what they really meant. Reminds me of poor English translations we see of other languages.

Eagle ice sculpture. Not sure how they kept it ice...

Sunset on Thanksgiving.

Viewing North. It's mostly always blue sky and sunny. We don't get too many cloudy days around here.

Happy 3 Year Anniversary!

2009-11-22T10:35:00.000-08:00

November 18th, 3 years ago, Barby and I were wed! Happy Anniversary my beautiful precious dove!

This is me the morning of the 18th:

Smoking the really nice cigar Barby sent to me:

Kandahar Update

2009-11-17T08:12:00.000-08:00

Kandahar is an interesting place. I wish I could explain or show all the different and weird things that go on here. Crazy things also. Especially since this base is a coalition/joint operated base. I'm keeping a journal, so maybe once this deployment is over will I be able to share more. War is hell.

After living in a nasty transient tent (nastier were the latrine and shower containers), a couple weeks ago we were moved to a 20 person tent just for the guys in our unit. That was a little more comfortable and secure. Even better were the cleaner latrines and showers, plus good hot water. We were relatively comfortable there, but yesterday we found out there was permanent housing for us guys in the MOD container buildings! These are long, single level container buildings with about 7 6-man rooms plus indoor plumbing. They saved 2 rooms for us 12 guys.

Yesterday we spent the better part of the morning moving our stuff over and trying to rearrange the furniture in the room. Each 6-man room comes with 6 beds ready to setup as bunk beds, 4 large wall lockers, 4 night stands, and a small fridge. The number of beds and wall lockers don't add up, that's what we thought. We believe the rooms were really meant for 4 people. However, there is enough room for all 6 of us to be relatively comfortable.

In re-arranging the furniture we ended up setting up 2 single beds, and 2 bunk beds. The guys who got the top bunk got a wall locker in exchange for being on the top. I am on the top of a bunk, so I have a wall locker. It is a nice trade, actually. I am really glad to finally be able to spread my things out and organize them in the place that we will stay living in. We were tired of moving around. Unfortunately, the fridge had leftover food that had been sitting in it while unplugged for about 2 months and had molded over pretty good. We regretted opening it how strong the smell was from it. That got put outside.

The MOD housing also come with good LAN line internet connections ready to be setup. Today I went to the internet shop and finally got a decent internet connection to communicate home. It's crazy, actually, the different prices for the packages don't compare to what we pay and get in the states. We are getting ripped off here, honestly, but we are at least able to get a connection. The packages are $35, $70, or $100 per month (30 days). The lowest package connection is about 80 down/30 up kbps, middle 120 down/60 up kbps, and highest 120 down/80 up kbps. I got the middle, $70, package. We are paying a lot for what we get. I hope I will be able to Skype good enough on it. I think I will for sure be writing a lot of these 'work' expenses off on my taxes after I am home next Summer.

About a week and a half ago it started to get a lot cooler at night, and even during the day. It still stays pretty clear blue skies and sunny during the day, but it is in the 60s or 70s usually. At night it's been getting in the 30s. We've been turning the heat on during the night and the days now. We have these really slick AC/Heater units that help keep the temperature good. I've never heard of the brand Chigo before, but they honestly make a pretty good small unit that does AC and heat. We really haven't seen many clouds here also unlike back home in Seattle right now. It's weird because it kinda feels like a late winter in Eastern Washington.

The holidays are going to be interesting around here. I'm not quite sure what we are going to do. I know we will, at least I will, make the most of it.

I have a few more photos from around here. I will put some more up soon, now that I have good internet. To be honest, there doesn't seem to be as many interesting things to take pictures of here in KAF compared to BAF. Maybe I just haven't explored around here enough.

Tomorrow, November 18th, is Barby and I's 3rd year anniversary! I really wish I was home to celebrate with her. We are trying to make the most of it while I am away.

Any help anyone can bring to Barby and Violet would be greatly appreciated. Especially through the holidays.

Photos of Kandahar

2009-11-06T07:30:00.001-08:00

Here is a link to my Picasa Web Album with some photos of Kandahar. I am thankful for the LAN line connection that I am able to use while here for a day in Bagram. It used to be in my b-hut room, but now I am living in Kandahar. Thankfully while I crashed here for the day in that same room I was able to use the connection. It would be nice to have a connection like this in KAF. Enjoy some of the photos.

Kandahar

2009-10-22T09:27:00.000-07:00

Oh boy, getting a nice whiff of the poo pond right now. Feels like you're sitting inside of a septic tank. Thank you British. I'm in Kandahar now. So, conveniently on the boardwalk here there is some decent free wifi. Funny thing is when I was pulling up my site here everything on the top banner bar was in Arabic, or something (what we like to call 'durkas'). I think I may have flagged my site accidentally when I was trying to log into my dashboard to create this post. I couldn't read the durkas to find the link to click. So, for all of you reading, this is not an inappropriate site. I hope any flag doesn't stay there. I may have to figure out how to clear it.

I haven't took as many pictures of KAF here yet, but when I get some I'll post them here if I can get a good wifi connection to upload them.

Kandahar...what an interesting place so far. This place is coalition ran, so a different country runs it in a rotation after a certain period of time. Right now the Canadians are running it (Kanada-har, ha ha!). All the food here is European based. Us Americans are naturally guests here since we don't really run the show on base. The food here isn't the best because of that. At the least, the selection isn't as good. There is some good stuff - I've become a master at the panini grill for sandwichs - but it doesn't compare to the good food and variety in Bagram. However, I had a really great steak last night thanks to the chaplain BBQ. I'm in a transient tent that is meant only for people staying a few days either waiting for R&R, leave, for a job trip, or to get into permanent housing. We're waiting for permanent housing, but the tent has become "permanent" to us for the time being. I've created my own little fort/man cave over 2 bunk beds trying to keep privacy and security. The rest of the guys have a large man cave compound.

Who would have thought, after going through Kyrgyzstan and Bagram having hot showers there, that they can't figure out how to keep hot water to the showers here in KAF. I've had luke-warm and cool showers a few times since getting here. Thankfully, this morning I had a nice hot shower. That was nice for a change. You don't want to know what the condition of the showers & bathrooms are like either. Hopefully soon we will be getting into permanent housing in a mod or something. Mods are like converted metal container buildings. The rooms are setup 4-6 people to a room, I think. They have indoor plumbing which is pretty sweet. They also come with internet connection packages.

Something that is nice about this place being coalition ran is there are different PXs for different countries. There's a small French PX, small British PX, Dutch PX, American, and there's even a duty free shop. It's pretty cool to be able to get some European favorites if I want to try something. Chocolate in particular. The Brits have their own nice cafe' and coffee shop that has a Starbucks feel. It's a pretty nice place. We have something called Green Beans Coffee. Their coffee is pretty good despite where we're at. They have gift cards you can get through their website and send to us. Feel free to hook us up, if anyone is interested in sending gift cards www.greenbeanscoffee.com.

Cheers for now,
Aaron

New Guitar!

2009-10-11T09:23:00.000-07:00

On Thursday I had a few packages come for me in the mail. There was a really big package. Inside was a brand new Takamine G-series acoustic/electric guitar! It is a beautiful guitar and sounds really, really nice. Thank you to the wonderful people at Guitar Gallery www.guitargal.com and the donor that was able to make this happen for me here in Afghanistan! The guitar will be used well. I actually used it this morning to play in the worship band for the chapel service.

Saturday Rain and Sunday Clouds

2009-10-11T08:50:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, a week ago yesterday now, it rained pretty hard. Below are a couple pictures from right outside the Bagram office.

This was a pretty cool shot at the end of the day last Sunday. The sun was setting and the beams shot out over the clouds that were blocking the sun. It was pretty.

I also got this cool shot of the knarly thunder clouds rolling in. These clouds provided a nice lightning display as it got dark.

This is a shot of the moon Sunday night. On my way to get some dinner I took this shot. It was really cool because the thunder clouds were blocking part of the moon out, so it seemed like the moon was rising from the clouds. The picture wasn't the best to show how cool it looked, but it did turn out better than I thought it would. It is hard to get good night shots.

Cuban

2009-10-11T08:49:00.000-07:00

Friends of ours that we work with in a unit from Puerto Rico were nice enough to share some good cigars. A pic of the cigar before smoking it last Sunday night, and a pic of me smoking it. It was a good Cuban cigar.

Macro Shots

2009-09-30T08:05:00.000-07:00

I had to post these two from today. I woke up this morning and stepped outside of our hooch about to head to breakfast. My buddy was smoking right out front and called me over to look at this bug on the wall. I was able to get really close to it without it moving and took this shot. I have no idea what type of bug it is, but it looks like some large grasshopper.

After work I took this shot of the razor wire all wrapped around the perimeter line.
I call this 'The Razor's Edge'.

Sunday Afternoon

2009-09-29T08:54:00.000-07:00

This is a picture I took outside of my office area Sunday. It rained some that day. There was some lightning and thunder also. The power went out in our building for awhile too. This is looking West. You can see the cool clounds with the layers of mountains in the background.

View of the mountains

2009-09-26T09:07:00.000-07:00

These are a couple photos I took of the mountains to the East when the sun was setting yesterday. The sunset was pretty and it was really clear. Since it was clear I was able to get a couple good pictures of the mountains. This is a view from an outdoor stairway entering into the stack of 40' containers which are the shower and bathroom for us men!

About NE

E - SE

Where I live

2009-09-24T05:17:00.001-07:00

Here is a picture of what the building I live in looks like from outside:

And this is what my room looks like. It is about 7'x10'.

Afghanistan Update...

2009-09-22T22:30:00.000-07:00

Since the beginning of September I've been in Bagram, Afghanistan at Bagram Air Field (BAF). This last weekend I finally moved out of the tents we were sleeping in and into what we call "B-Huts" or "Hooches". Translation= a large shack. It is much better to have a space to my own verses an open bay style tent with cots. I actually have a boarded up space that I can lock and secure my things in! The b-huts have rooms separated within it. There are about 8 in my hooch. It feels kinda like dorm life all over again, except it's like a spec house under construction with a twist of a threat from bad terrorists that we are here to fight off! I will post some pictures of the our hooch sometime in another post.

Thankfully we have a sweet satellite right outside our hooch for our internet. I was able to hook a RJ-45 line into a spot on the router and run a line to my area. There are wireless interent options available here, but nothing compares in speed to the satellite connection that we got.

I have a bunch of photos of Bagram that I posted on my Facebook profile. I thought it would be quicker, but uploading to my Picasa Web Album was much quicker (see that link below). Facebook has been giving me trouble trying to upload these photos. I thought I didn't have enough time to post the photos here and write about them, but with how long it has been taking to load them on Facebook I guess I could have! There are a bunch of photos, and I will continue to take more.

Take a look at my Facebook profile here: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=10734466&ref=profile

Or look at them on my Picasa Web Album:

BAF is a "coalition base" or "joint forces" base, which means we are surrounded by other countries military forces. I've seen French, Polish, Czech, Australian, Spanish, British, and Canadian I think so far. There are others. I hope to get some photos of their uniforms sometime. There are local civilian people working here called LNs or local nationals. Plus, you have people from other countries working here too, from Kyrgyzstan, China, Russia, etc. called TCNs or third country nationals. You may see some of those in my photos.

It is interesting to feel like I am a part of history in some way. I continue to write about things that happen here and my thoughts in my journal. Maybe this will be informative to some in the future. At least it will be interesting to reflect upon for me and my family in years to come.

I will leave you with a photo that I thought was particularly good of a sunset here one night. The horizon line in the background that looks like a cloud line is not that, it is the top of a nearby mountain range.

Kyrgyzstan

2009-09-02T09:39:00.000-07:00

Kyrgyzstan money, called a Com, pronunced like "psalm"

Interesting trucks. Its a little dark, but they are on the road.

You can kinda see the mountains in the distance

Sunset

Interesting looking chapel

Clamshell tent

Some Soviet beer and a canned cocktail.

A black russian tastes kinda like Dr Pepper.

Heading Overseas

2009-09-02T09:25:00.000-07:00

Sitting in the terminal waiting to fly out

Leipzig, Germany

Enjoying a Coke and Lindt dark chocolate in Germany

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