1st Hike of the New Year

The kids and I went out to t he Trestle trail this afternoon. What a nice mild beginning to the year!

From Team Chief to Custodian...

Christmas Eve with the Team

Yet some more from Qargha

Meeting to discuss security at the new campus

Doesn't even need a caption...

This one was funny...the gate guards cut out a the head of a female officer from a recruiting poster and taped it to their guard shack. Gotta love the bravery of just letting your weapon peek out of the window.

A very cool panoramic shot of the campus

Clear days are rare...you can see the typical dusty air in the background

Some Qargha Pictures

Is this not a beautiful place for a campus? The quad of buildings at bottom right is the gymnasium complex. The academic buildings are behind and to the left.

I was less than pleased with the rate of work...but tried not to show it

Loading mattresses onto the second floor of a barracks...the Afghan way

A guard tower and an old tank on the perimeter of Qargha

Life in Qargha for young men

Unwanted Office Mate

This guy somehow made it into our office and tried to crawl into my Command Sergeant Major's body armor. He lost the battle with the CSM's boot and was not doing well when this picture was taken.
(about 5" long end to end)

Thankgiving and other pics

A little blurry but a great picture of the mountains from our base.

Two beautiful little girls. We gave them pens, candy and some money and they followed us all the way to the Embassy. Not sure who the creepy guy in the SUV is...one can only imagine.

Busted for being on the Blackberry during our Thanksgiving dinner...