Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy Channukah. I haven't had a chance to update my blog recently but everything here continues to be okay. On the evening of Christmas day, the FOB got hit with 3 rockets made from 107mm (Soviet/Russian?) shells. No one was injured but one of the rockets came close to an ordnance magazine and another put a pot-hole in the runway.
Their targeting accuracy is no better than a water balloon slingshot, but every once in a while the Hadjis can score a hit on something important. Not this time however. That was the first time we've been hit by anything at all at this FOB in the 2 mos. I've been here.
There's a whole lot of construction on the base going on. Most of it is for increasing the habitability for those already here. I don't think that the surge will increase our numbers too much at this base. Most of the surge will supplant troop numbers in the southern part of the country which has been much more kinetic.
I've been working in 2 disparate areas, the IED pattern assessment work and a set of metrics to measure Afghan population attitudes and perceptions. We'll be sampling a set of chosen districts in our AO which consists of the provinces of Nangarhar, Kunar, Laghman, and Nuristan on a quarterly basis. I created the first set of metrics using the famous principles of good MOEs.
I just started another task on my own volition, that of designing a curriculum for the Afghan Police in our AO based on an operational scenario tied to tracking down IED emplacers. That one is interesting and I'm working with some law enforcement professionals (LEPs as we call them) who are former FBI agents.
I've been running and lifting weights, and trying to eat well. I've definitely lost weight but it's a slow process.
The family's good. Greg's ship is supposed to go in the yards but they keep getting bumped by CSG escorts. Being that the FFGs don't generally deploy with a CSG they're in the back of the line. I'm hoping his skipper does something to keep the JOs working towards their quals. Greg passed his CICWO board on the first try which tells me that the command has confidence in him.
Matt's home from ASU until after the winter break. He's doing well in school and becoming a serious student. He's also becoming a lean, mean fighting machine!
Chris's campaign continues to move forward smartly. She seems to be the frontrunner, attending close to 90 campaign events since declaring her candidacy!.
That's about it. Have a very happy, healthy, and hopefully prosperous New Year.
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