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From: Iain
Sent: 09 April 2006 13:47
Subject: Muddy Boots
I'm back in KAF after an interesting week out in the rhubarb. I was at an austere Forward
Operating Base (FOB), living with an Engineer Troop attached to an infantry company.
Each day was a little different.
The trip out was long. We had halted along a highway due to a breakdown. We were not
letting any vehicles through, and I had ended up as the lone dismount at the end of the
convoy. Cars were bypassing out in the desert but a bus full of people stopped. A group
got out and tried to convince me to let them through (some spoke English). A crowd of
about thirty formed around me. I tried to be firm but polite. I wasn't worried, but it was good
when four infantrymen joined me.
The FOB was very dusty, but I slept well under the stars. I could spend all my time in those
places if they had phones, internet and a computer to write and send my reports! KAF
seems a little strange when you come back to it.
Later in the week I was waist deep in irrigation ditches which also served as sewers. Not the
most pleasant experience. When I got back to the FOB I stripped down and tried to wash
with a 500ml bottle of water, a washbasin and some shampoo. My laundry bag smelled
quite disgusting this morning when I turned it in, even by Afghanistan standards. Didn't
expect to get muddy boots here! Dusty, yes. I had a beard by the time I got back, and I
suppose I didn't present a very soldierly appearance as I trudged to my tent from the flight
line (rode a Chinook home, great ride). I felt bad leaving the Troop, but I needed to write
and make sure that my previous reports were being sent, plus I had to talk to the next group
coming over. It was fun being in a Bison crew again, living and cooking out of a vehicle.
It was fascinating to read the Globe and Mail piece, especially the pictures. They pretty
much captured the experience. The reporters were all good sports and they certainly
earned their stories. I got along quite well with the Globe photographer. He's a fisherman
and has travelled widely. We spent a few nights by the fire in Gumbad telling tales.
Well, I'd better go.
Take care,
Iain
prepare for convoy
operations
Canadian Military's
Quick Reaction Force
form a defensive
position in a field after
dismounting from a
Chinook helicopter
outside the wire at the
remotely located
Gombad safe house
outside the city of
Kandahar.
Globe and Mail
photographer
