Update from Afghanistan

Hey guys, sorry its been so long. In case you're wondering about the field, we don't ever go out there. We stay on the Base the whole time. I work in a decent sized brick and mortar building. We just wait and wait, until someone (American or Afghan Army Troops) gets attacked. Then, we do our job. Whether it be, shoot at the enemy, smoke to conceal friendly movements, or just obscure the enemy's view so they cant attack anymore. We also have what is basically a huge flare that we can shoot. It lasts about 120 seconds and will illuminate roughly 1000 meter x 1000 meter area. I might have already told you guys some of that stuff, but oh well.


I have gotten to see a little bit of the local culture. I don't get to go outside of the wire (off the Base or Fob), so i just get to see the people that live and work on the base. Most of the people are really friendly. They don't speak a whole lot of English, but most of them can say "Whats up man!?! or What's goin on dude!?!?." It's pretty funny really. They aren't much into personal hygiene, so they smell pretty bad.
They have a special Armed Forces Network, that plays regular American cable, but instead of real commercials, they have lame military commercials. I don't ever watch it. I did however, watch the Super Bowl and the Olympics.
We have Coca-Cola, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, Pepsi, Orange something or other, Green tea, energy drinks, and a few other assorted drinks.
I honestly couldn't give you guys an exact number for the temperature. The climate is different here and our elevation is so high as we are in the mountains, that it feels a lot hotter and colder than what it is. If i had to guess, I would say it's about low 60's at night and probably high 80's low 90's during the day. Keep in mind, that I work nights. I sleep during the day, so I am not really sure. Hope you guys enjoy. Keep in touch.

Dog days of winter

i really wish i had a lot to write about, but there hasn't been a whole lot going on lately


we got a bit of snow there for a while, probably about 6 inches or so

one of our observation posts got 3-5 feet!!!!!

but i guess thats too be expected when your at around 9,000 feet elevation

its been raining a lot the past few days which bums me out a little, but I'm inside all the time so oh well

Mr. Williams asked me about the food we eat here

its the same kind of things that we would eat back home, except, we have the same things all the time and there is never a guarantee that it will be good

the only meal i can really tell you about is breakfast, because it's the only meal that i am actually awake for

we have eggs (all different kinds), omelets, cereal, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, all different kinds of fruit, bagels, doughnuts, different juices, milk, soda, Gatorade, chips, pop tarts, coffee and a select few other things that are always kind of "the cooks choice"

i apologize that this was poorly written, but i'm starving and really want to go get some food

take care everyone

Hello from Afghanistan

Hey guys. Hope everything is going well back in the states. Things aren't too bad here. It rained today. That was a first. It's been really dry since I have been here. I am a field artilleryman in 18th fires brigade. We are part of the 82nd Airborne Division, which I'm sure some of you have heard of. My platoon is located in north eastern Afghanistan, right near the Pakistan border. We also have two other platoons that are at two other bases. Our job is to support the infantry. Whether it be convoys, checkpoints, oberservation points, etc. When they get in a bind they count on us to help them out. We fire the M777A2 howitzer. You can google or youtube it. It's pretty sweet really. It shoots 155mm round that weighs roughly 100 pounds. We have several different types of rounds that we can fire. We have a standard high explosive round, smoke, white phosphorus, illumination (like a huge flare), and an ex caliber round (which is accurate up to 3 meters). Keep in mind we hit targets 1000's of meters away, so the ex cal round is extremely accurate and expensive too haha. I would love to post more, but i need to get back to work. I'll post more when I can. If you guys have any questions, just let Mr. Williams know and I will try to answer them the best that I can.