Beauty surrounding the chaos

I'm sure many people have commented on how beautiful parts of Afghanistan can be. That is one of the positive things my buddy Stoney told me I would appreciate when I came here, and he was right. The mountains that surround this base are gorgeous. Having been in Colorado Springs with a contstant view of Pike's Peak, this place can definitely compete. Now, I have to say that a good deal of my view is ruined by the constant chaos of vehicle and Soldier traffic going on around the base. The generators and heaters and trucks and planes and jets going all over the place make for an unhealthy cloud of smog and noise on a constant basis.

I suppose that's one thing I am looking forward to getting to my FOB for...I want to get away from the huge base and somewhere a little more peaceful. Now, that may seem a little contradictory since the place I'll be going will likely be more violent in the scheme of the war...but in between those generally short periods of violence that interupt things, the place should be more peaceful than here.

Today I got to go to the range and zero my weapon again. It's a good thing I did, because apparently the company had taken my optic off the weapon for the deployment ceremony and when I tried to shoot with it, the bullets were hitting off the target! So, after a few adjustments and 12 or so rounds later, I'm hitting back at center mass with a nice shot group:)

I'm hoping that when we get to our FOB, I'll be able to upgrade my M68 red dot sight for an ACOG though. They're supposed to have some extra and there's nothing better in my opinion than having an ACOG to shoot with. No batteries needed, no fiddling, and a magnification to help you hit those hard to reach places:) Anyways, I doubt I will ever need to use the thing in my job, but, I would prefer to have the best shot at hitting what I shoot at in case I do need to use it.

Yesterday we had rollover training and IED training too. The rollover training was kind of fun in a scary way. They have vehicle hulls mounted on big wheels that they can rollover...it's just like the real up-armored vehicles we'll be riding in around the battlefield, so you get the real experience of rolling over and trying to get out when the vehicle is on it's side or upside down! I had to hold onto the gunner to keep him from bouncing off the ceiling...pretty difficult when the dude weighs about 260 pounds with his gear on.

The IED training was pretty good. They showed us a bunch of current things the bad guys do and what to look out for. I found the land mine awareness training the most interesting. I really didn't realize just how many land mines the Russians left here. Millions of them all over the place. I took some pictures of a few mine fields they still have here on base that haven't been cleared yet! Hopefully I'll be able to upload them later when I get to my FOB and get some connectivity for my own laptop. The other thing that was good to hear was how the enemy isn't penetrating our armor and is getting frustrated by it. Makes you feel good to know that the vehicles we're using are working!

But, with that training complete, it's just waiting for the next stop on the trip in getting where I need to go. So, back to limbo until then! I'll try to post pictures of the beauty soon:)