aadler | Entries tagged with afghanistan

10:35AM Central Afghan Time

The last several days have been eventful, if not precisely exciting. The morning of the 23rd, a rocket hit a row of conexes (big metal storage/shipping containers) thirty or forty yards from where I was sleeping. No, not exciting: you hear the boom, it didn’t hit you, it’s already over. All the same, we had to get up and report to stations, then a couple of hours later we marched to the airfield before dawn for a ramp ceremony. I spent the rest of the day operating on lost sleep.

The 24th, there was a brief problem regarding property transfer. Months ago, I received and signed for various night vision scopes, and signed them out to the various teams; most were signed over to our replacements, a few were brought back. One of them, however, had slipped off the grid. Guess what? Sensitive item, very expensive, major ruckus. It took less than two hours to establish that it had indeed been transferred to one of the incoming personnel, but during the interim I took considerable heat and deserved almost all of it. Sign for something, you’re responsible for it; sign it over to an approved other person, the responsibility shifts to them; but misplace the hand receipt, and you have no proof that you didn’t lose, destroy, or sell the original item yourself. I learned some harsh lessons very quickly, without lasting damage but in terms that I’ll never forget.

The 25th, we flew to BAF (Bagram Air Field), and have spent the days since in paperwork, exit briefs, customs inspection, gear palletized and sealed. (I’m currently living out of a single bag. And my laptop stopped working again. It does NOT like flying military air.) A number of us have flown to a transitional base in Kyrgyzstan, BAF being somewhat crowded just now.

I’ve continued to work on “Learning Curve”, though less steadily. Right now it’s just under 9,500 words.

This afternoon, I’ll try to see a recruiter about early re-enlistment. (And maybe switching to a different specialty, one that accommodates my recent experience with, and desire to continue, the study of Middle Eastern languages.)

With one thing or another, we should be back at Fort Bragg within seven to ten days. Then they can really start messing with us.

10:30PM Central Afghan Time

Another few days of relative inactivity, all but one of our field team personnel back here at KAF, and that much closer to leaving country.

Going back home … mixed feelings about that. I miss my kids, and there are all kinds of things I love to do back in “the world”. The thing is, while I’m on orders I have a purpose. Everything is clear and straightforward. Since 1) I’m a Reservist rather than regular Army, and 2) I like the life so much I’m committed to staying on active duty as much as possible for the next eight years, that means time between deployments is time spent trying to get into something else. In other words, a transition period by definition. Rest and relaxation at best. (This time through, of course, R&R includes a stopover at WriterCon.)

I pretty much had my course set. From the start I planned, once this deployment ended, to go to the Defense Language Institute to study Arabic. Now that’s been called into question. There’s discussion of reorganizing my specialty according to affiliation: all active-duty units will stay with the Special Operations Command, whereas Reserve units will be officially filed in with the rest of the Army Reserve. If that’s carried through, it could signally affect our priority when it comes to getting into premier schools … like DLI.

I’ve been wanting to go there for years. I passed up a DLI slot in order to be with my unit on this Afghanistan tour, and theoretically a demonstrated willingness to serve out on the sharp end should factor to my credit when it comes to getting schools. But I don’t know. These things are so frequently in someone else’s hands.

I’ve continued to write while I wait for the flight to BAF (and eventually home). I’m at 7,500 words on “Learning Curve”; right now it looks like it will end up between 10,000 and 12,000 words, and I’m gaining momentum. At 1,000 to 1,500 words a day, I should definitely finish before we leave the country; maybe (hopefully) before time for us to transition to second-class citizenship at BAF.

Once we leave here, Internet access may be more chancy. That means that, even with the story finished, I might or might not be able to get it posted before we return to the States. I’ll just have to see how that works out.

5:40PM Central Afghan Time

I did some more writing after my post last night, followed by more today, so I’m now at the 3,000-word mark on “Learning Curve”. As is often the case, I’m not quite sure just what I’m doing with this story (while I know the broad outlines, I have only a vague idea where the story itself is leading me), but I’ve been through that before and I’m willing to follow the narrative and have some confidence in the eventual result.

Whatever work they’ve been doing on the power situation must be finished; electricity stayed on all day. I got up early, came in before breakfast to do lots of Net-browsing before the daily cut arrived, and then it didn’t; I ate breakfast, returned to the B-hut, and slept until noon. In relative comfort. Because the building didn’t turn into a dry sauna.

Something like three weeks before we’re back in the States. For now, nothing but laying around and relaxing. Might as well enjoy it before we have to deal with the black pit of arbitrary oppressive rules and toxic personalities that is BAF.

6:45PM Central Afghan Time

I found a cure for lack of writing inspiration: boredom. Massive boredom.

The power outage I reported a few days ago, thinking it was a passing phenomenon? Nope. They’ve been turning off the power every day during breakfast, leaving it off until early suppertime. Theoretically it’s because a new system of lines is being installed, with different generators to power them, which makes sense. But it means that the MWR (Morale, Welfare & Recreation) area, where we have Internet connection, is down twelve hours a day; there are no lights in our quarters (and no A/C); even the office, which retains lights, gets uncomfortably warm.

Plus, our replacements have now taken over all our duties. We spent a couple of days showing them what we did and how we did it, then gave them a couple of days to do the job with us following and prompting them, then monitored them for a few days more, and now that’s it. I’ve signed over my pistol, my Palm Pilot (the one I was issued, not the one I brought with me), and my room; I’ve completed the last of all the things I was supposed to do for the handoff. Now it’s their baby, I’m back in the B-hut, and I spend all day long bored out of my skull.

I was also coming down sick for awhile, but I got over that. So today, body back in tune and absolutely nothing to do, I carried in a folding chair, sat down with a clipboard, and turned out 1,000-odd words on a story I’ll be calling “Learning Curve”.

As of yet, I’m still not entirely sure how the story will go, but past experience tells me I have enough to start in and discover it as I proceed. This one shouldn’t be very long — there’s just not that much to it — but I’m ready to discover a surprise waiting for me in there somewhere. (Again, voice of experience.) With maybe three weeks remaining in Afghanistan, a steady 1,000 words a day will definitely allow me to finish my ninth story before time for me to leave.

Ganked from bellatemple, I tried the following quiz, with the following results:

English Genius

You scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 100% Expert!

You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go!

Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it!

For the complete Answer Key, visit my blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com/.

My test tracked 4 variables.
How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 52% on Beginner

You scored higher than 31% on Intermediate

You scored higher than 59% on Advanced

You scored higher than 92% on Expert

Link: The Commonly Confused Words Test written by shortredhead78 on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Am I surprised? Not at all. I may abuse the language occasionally, but I know it thoroughly.

12:30AM Central Afghan Time

Our replacements — the first wave of them, at any rate — did at last arrive, and it quickly became clear that a lot of the problems I previously cited had sprung from our own higher headquarters at BAF. Yes, the intrepid REMF Rangers of whom I will no doubt be a member by the time of our next deployment. The full crew should get here tomorrow, and we have a week or so to get them oriented.

I’ve already been notified that I need to pack my gear and be ready to shift over to the B-hut (transitional quarters) while we wait to fly to BAF and start the process to return home. On one hand it’s a bit annoying (our predecessors remained in their rooms until the day they left), and on the other perfectly reasonable (the outgoing personnel should give way to guys coming to start their tour). Mainly, as always, I dislike having to change. I get a routine in place and, reasonably or not, hate to shift out of it.

One of our generators went out this morning, and it took forever to get it repaired; power didn’t come back till after supper, and then the water was out. I’d been planning to do my laundry, that being one of the things necessary for departure prep, but had to defer it all day. Then, when things were working again, the washing machines were filling so slowly that, after twenty minutes, I lost patience and hastened the process by ferrying water from the lavatories in discarded bottles. This prompted a certain amount of curiosity from observers, but no disapproval. It required time and motion, but no real labor. Trust me, you cannot comprehend the hardships of life in a combat theater until you’ve experienced them.

I haven’t done any writing. I haven’t even started. My mind just isn’t there. I’m about ready to jump in and try to force the process; I am wary of such an approach, but waiting certainly isn’t accomplishing anything. I foundered at the beginning of “Yet to Be Seen” — worst block I’ve had in nearly a year, every time I set to write I churned out garbage that not only wasn’t good enough, it didn’t even shake off the rust so I could get moving, it just kept being crap — but then when I came back to it, things started moving again. Not well or quickly, but it did happen at last. With luck and focus, maybe I can do that again.

The White Knight Awards and the Serenity on the Hellmouth Awards should finish judging about the time I leave Afghanistan. I know we’re not supposed to let our ego get caught up in such things, but it’s been so long since I was nominated anywhere (I stayed active, but everybody else seemed to shift their activity elsewhere) that I can’t help getting excited. I love this stuff, and I feel delight at the thought that someone might love my contribution to it.

Past midnight. Get laundry from dryer, go to bed. More combat hardships.

10:30AM Central Afghan Time

We have less than a month remaining in our Afghanistan deployment, but things are not going well. The problem isn’t ours — as in, we not only aren’t the source of the problem, we also aren’t the ones who will be affected by it — but with our replacements. When I saw the schedule for their arrival, compared with that for our departure, I believed we would have almost a month to do an organized handover, show them how we’d been doing things, put them in touch with the people who handle different aspects of operations here, work alongside them for a few weeks while they became accustomed to the procedures …

Nope. They’ve been in BAF for three days now, and it appears that it will be another four before any of them make it here to KAF. Meanwhile, the schedules for air transport over here are so volatile that we have to get our own teams back here at the earliest opportunity, in order to be sure they’ll be on hand for travel to BAF by the time we have to be there for customs inspection. We’re drawing ever closer to a “high-five” handoff, wherein we (outgoing) wave to our replacements (incoming) as we pass in opposite directions.

This isn’t the way it should be done. It isn’t the way we planned doing it. And we won’t be the ones living with the consequences. Why in the world did those people wait until they arrived in Afghanistan to start deciding which teams they would send to which locations?

Meanwhile, I’ve spent the last ten days intending (and expecting) to begin my next story any moment now. I have a bit over three weeks to meet my self-appointed goal of nine stories during this deployment, which should be more than enough, if I ever get started. Just one of those things.

I haven’t made or attempted to make reservations for WriterCon II; somehow it just doesn’t seem like a good idea while I’m still on a different continent. The moment I clear Fort Bragg, though — and I might do it as soon as I hit the States — I’m jumping on the program. With the advantage of LJ activity and interaction, I’ll know a few more people than I did at the first one, and I’m happily anticipating the opportunity to talk and party with like minds.

On my return from Iraq, I wrote only one story over the course of an entire year. (It wasn’t a really big story, either; it took me two days.) I have some ideas I’m wanting to tackle — including one which is long overdue — so I believe I can do better than last time out. I’ll have other things also to do, and I actually pushed myself harder here than I should have (given my duties, six stories over a year’s time should have been sufficient), but I still believe I can manage three or four stories in a year. That seems not only achievable but respectable.

Once I do begin the story currently in planning, it will be #30 for me. (Drabbles don’t count; they’re fun, but I don’t take them seriously.) Which will mean, in turn, that almost a third of my total output will have been produced in the past year.

I can live with that.

So, okay, it’s been awhile since I posted. This being the beginning of a new month, it seemed a good time to update.

Recent developments:

They’re still imposing a news blackout on my single-handed capture of Osama Bin Laden. Nobody wants to make a premature announcement until his identity has been absolutely established, plus I’m not their ideal poster boy for American heroism. It’ll get out eventually, and I want to make it clear in advance that I only did what any other soldier would have done.

(On the other hand, I will take credit for the whole SuperGlue wedgie idea. I was inspired that day, and the look on his face … priceless.)

Because of the preceding, they’re almost certainly going to drop the whole business about the hookers. Drop it, bury it, make it officially not exist. I’m naturally relieved, but at the same time I feel that I would have had a decent defense. Come on: Twins? Asian twins? Blonde Asian twins? Everybody has his breaking point, and that was definitely mine. And they weren’t underage … just under my daughter’s age.

In ficwriting news, my Giles/Xander/Spike/Oz four-way is almost finished, but I think I may be losing steam. Sure, it’s close to the end of the deployment and I deserve to relax a bit, but it still seems to me that I should have attempted something … I don’t know … less ordinary. Even adding the electrical attachments didn’t seem to put any zing into the narrative. I may have to let that one go entirely. Just not edgy enough.

I’ve got the false bottom installed now on the third of the big toolboxes. Put in enough foam padding, the difference in linear dimensions doesn’t show at all from the outside. That should give me space enough for nearly half of the little extras I’ve managed to accumulate over the past ten months; I’ll have to decide what to leave behind, and then there’s the matter of locating the right buyers once I get back to the States (Which is the best way to go? Archeological wholesaling, or straight currency exchange?), but either way I don’t think I’ll need to be worrying about my retirement.

Basically, same old, same-old.

Happy First of April to everybody.

10:20PM Central Afghan Time

We got rocketed night before last — as usual, I slept through it — and tonight we had another ramp ceremony. That’s by far the easiest duty I totally hate being called for. I was so far back in ranks (and it was dark), I couldn’t really tell whether it was one casket being loaded aboard the plane, or more. We don’t always know these things. I only know the losing unit was Canadian.

They close down Internet access here whenever there’s a fatality, to keep anyone from revealing the person’s name before his/her next of kin can be notified. My being able to post this means the notification has been completed. Somebody somewhere got bad news, and tomorrow we’ll go on about our day.

– – – – – – – –

I, too, have been nominated in the White Knight Awards (in a couple of categories, I think, not enough to put me in the big leagues). Like others on my flist, I take this opportunity to thank whoever it was who nominated me. I’ll be interested to see the winners; back when I closely followed the Halo Awards, that was a great way to find great new stories and authors, or new efforts by familiar names.

Six weeks till I get home, another three months after that until WriterCon II. Things to anticipate, and I do.

9:15PM Central Afghan Time

Had to be away for awhile; I got sent to support a limited operation in Gereshk, and when a lieutenant colonel decided that his presence back at KAF was more important than waiting for things to finish up, the choppers left without me and four other men. The task force at Gereshk put us up overnight, so I didn’t suffer any discomfort, but it did put me temporarily out of touch.

We weren’t expecting to be able to return for awhile — scheduling air transport can be tricky — but staged all our gear at the opcen just in case. Good move: I was suddenly told, “Let’s go!”, and just like that we were running to get on board a pair of Blackhawks we hadn’t even known were coming in. I wound up in the “wind seat”: there’s a spot in the back of a Blackhawk, the right rear seat facing forward, that catches all the turbulence from the rotor wash, and that’s no fun at all. I couldn’t open my eyes, I had to hold my nose closed to prevent the blast from slamming up my nostrils and causing a nosebleed, and the wind kept trying to pull the helmet off my head, straps notwithstanding. At the first refueling stop, another man pulled his backpack over into the wind seat and I took the center rear-facing seat, and everything was fine after that.

It’s now expected that we’ll be back in the States around May 7, with a week or so of out-processing. So we’re now below the six-week mark remaining in-country.

I finished the editing on my most recent Buffyfic, and I expect to be posting it tomorrow. Now I need to begin determining which story I’ll attempt in my time remaining. I’ve learned to be wary of starting something before I have a good feel for it inside my head, and right now nothing quite feels ready to be addressed.

Prompted by liz_marcs’ LJ, I checked a remix (“the Ballad of Charles Whitman”) of her story “Revelations”. I was impressed and surprised by the quality. “Revelations” was one of Liz’ first, and she herself said it was far from being her best, so the amount of improvement is understandable, but the final product really was impressive. The next time a remix challenge or program or whatever comes up, I’ll definitely look into becoming part of it. It seems unlikely that I’d have as much luck as Liz did — whoever tackled hers was just plain good — but it could be interesting either way.

Luck and best wishes to everybody enjoying life at home.

9:15PM Central Afghan Time

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to sroni, who continues (though not at AadlerSpeed) to produce copy for our joint project, “Queen’s Gambit”. No definitive word yet on whether I’ll see her at WriterCon II, but I continue to hope.

I’m back from my furlough to Germany, and relieved to be settled in again. I departed KAF the evening of 20 February, and returned the morning of 21 March, so I was gone a full month. Since only 15 days of that was taken up by the furlough itself, that will offer some idea of just how much time one spends traveling or waiting for travel.

I stayed ten days at a resort at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, then five at a hotel in Freising (sort of a suburb of Munich). I went on tours, and spent a day learning to ski, but mostly I just relaxed. (Relaxation included a certain amount of alcohol indulgence, but the plain fact is that I don’t drink that much when I’m off on my own; that’s for group partying.) I also wrote a new fic, which I had deliberately delayed beginning because I wanted to do the whole thing in Germany … and, upon finishing it, was so happy that I wrote a drabble in the Munich airport.

(That still leaves me one short of my self-chosen goal of doing nine stories during this deployment, but actually I’ve already beaten my Iraq performance. While on orders for that deployment, I finished one story and wrote seven more in entirety, for a total of eight; this time through, I’ve so far finished one story, written seven more in entirety, and done a drabble and a short Alias fic. I still intend to produce one more in the Buffyverse — and have five weeks to do so — but I’m pretty happy with things as they stand.)

The major problem came when it was time for me to return to duty. I had a several-hour layover in Amsterdam, followed by almost six hours in the air to Kuwait, and then had to sit at the Kuwait airport for something like four more hours before the bus took us to the transition base; I didn’t get to bed till 6:30 AM. Out again late enough in the evening that I didn’t arrive at Bagram (Afghanistan) until 10:30 PM, by which point it was too late to call anyone at our HQ to come get me, so I slept at the USO facility next door to the terminal. I had already checked with the Air Force people as to when I should show up for a flight to KAF; I called twice more to confirm, got a night’s sleep, reported as arranged … and was told roll call had been two hours before, and the plane was taxiing for takeoff as we spoke. I was so disgusted that I parked at the USO for the next 43 hours, eating potato chips and MREs and napping on the couches, walking to the terminal every three or four hours to check flight updates. Two were scheduled and then canceled; I caught the first that actually got off the ground, landed at 9:00 AM, then went through the rest of the day without sleep so I could get a normal bedtime.

I have some things to catch up on, but I’ll spend the next couple of days keying in and editing the single story and the drabble, for posting here. I also will devote some time to answering feedback posts to “First Do No Harm”; the last two weeks, I didn’t have enough Internet access to be able to respond.

Our replacements are to begin arriving within a couple of weeks, and we should be back in the States the first week of May. I can’t believe it’s almost over.

Man, I’m glad to be back!

5:00PM Central Afghan Time

Interesting times. I arrived in Bagram early-early the 21st, and was due to leave this morning, which would have meant four days here. The flight out got bumped back a day, however, so I won’t actually depart until tomorrow. In the meantime I succeeded in making reservations at a winter resort in Garmisch of which I had heard several people speak favorably (good), and got a couple of prescriptions refilled (good), but the one-day delay — with the inevitable stopover in Kuwait — means that I might or might not arrive at the time reserved (less than good).

So, this will be my fifth night in the transient barracks at BAF. A room, a light, a bed, nothing else. I brought a travel pillow (and exercised the standard GI trick of wrapping it in clothes and a towel, then tucking the assemblage inside my laundry bag, to increase its size), but unwisely failed to include the poncho liner that serves as a surprisingly effective blanket. As a result, I’ve been sleeping fully clothed, except for boots, with a fleece parka for cover; adequate, if not optimal. Tonight I’ll try the ultralight emergency sleeping bag I’ve carried since Fort Bragg, just to see how well it works.

Once I get to Garmisch and settle in, I’ll investigate how workable it will be to start uploading my most recent fic (“First Do No Harm”). And, on that note:

1. I used some of my downtime to post three of my stories to I Need a Parrot. I’m afraid those are the only explicitly Xander-centered stories I have, but I’m happy to make myself a part of that community.

2. How many of those who read this plan to go to WriterCon II?

Here’s my late late LATE notice of participation in ( The Great Write Meme )

(I don’t know from whom). Sorry, I’ve been restricted on terminal time!

Further details on my journey — because I know there are multitudes just panting for the news — as it progresses.

1:40PM Central Afghan Time

Okay, I’m at Bagram. I had to wait eight hours at the air terminal at KAF last night (starting at 9:00PM), then a flight of just over an hour, after which I waited at the USO hut for another couple of hours until I knew someone would be at the office. Once I put in a call, they had a guy there to pick me up in fifteen minutes, then I slept for three hours in the transient quarters, and now I’m settling in for several days of nothing.

Good news: I have easy access to Internet terminals here. Not-so-good news: they’re terminals only, I can’t plug in my memory stick, or even use basic text-editing programs; that will definitely limit my capacities. Good news: ludditerobot has already done one run-through of “First Do No Harm” (my newest fic), and expressed general approval, with another inspection and further commentary pending. Not-so-good news: as things stand, there’s only so much I can do as far as editing, altering, or even posting what's there.

On the other hand, it appears that I’ll have plenty of free time. Maybe I’ll start another story.

10:40PM Central Afghan Time

So, naturally, after complaining yesterday that my latest story was resisting me, I finished it today. I had to write almost 5,000 words to do it (it came out to over 24,000 words, slightly more than the outer limit I had anticipated), but I’m done.

Now comes Phase 2, keying it in and printing out a draft and starting the first major edit. I have to be on a plane to BAF no later than the 21st — I’ll probably go the 20th — so it’s unlikely that I’ll manage more than the text inputting, if that much.

Still, the story itself is complete, if not yet in its final form. ludditerobot accepted my open invitation to look over what I have, preliminary to posting, so that gives me an added motivation. And, of course, it’s always possible that I can do work at BAF and post if from there. We’ll see.

So, 28 stories now. Seven done during this deployment. And I already know which two I intend to tackle next.

Feeling pretty good about myself right now.

9:20PM Central Afghan Time

For some reason my latest story has been fighting me. Or more probably it’s not the story, it’s just my own mood and habits. Every time I sit down to write, it goes well and easily, but I’ve had the hardest time getting myself to start; I’ll take on all kinds of tasks — valid, necessary tasks, but still excuses — to put off the actual writing.

Well, I’m getting there nonetheless. I’m past 19,000 words now, and from my internal sense of things I believe the story probably won’t run much past 22,000. I’m more hopeful now about the possibility of getting it finished before I head to Bagram to process for leave; since I compose in longhand, however, that will still leave the process of inputting what I’ve done, and printing it out for editing.

Is there anyone who might like to do a preliminary read-through, and offer commentary and possible corrections, before I’m ready to post the full work? I was a one-man show for years, but bellatemple and nwhepcat gave me valuable advance feedback while I was finalizing “Beg to Differ”. It’s made me a believer in the advantages of the approach.

I’ll probably do the flight to BAF on the 20th. Let’s see if I can have enough to look at by then.

4:20 PM Central Afghan Time

The last few days have kept me a little preoccupied. One of the elements in the task force to which I’m currently attached had a truck hit by an IED on the 13th, with fatalities. We held the ramp ceremony Tuesday, and the memorial service yesterday.

Meanwhile, I need to start prepping for transport to Bagram. It used to be possible to depart directly from here to go on leave, but since the Airborne unit across the road went back home, they’re not doing those flights anymore. As a result, I have to spend nearly a week at BAF getting briefings and filling out paperwork before I can hop a flight to Germany. The people at BAF are scary; they’re the headquarters element, and we’re the ones actually out in the field doing the job, and when we get back within their reach, they seem to go out of their way to make sure we don’t think we’re better than them. (Not having the chip on their shoulders to begin with would make a good start.)

When a guy is more worried about his HQ than about the rockets and mortar rounds that occasionally drop in, it says something. Just have to figure out what that might mean.

Let’s see, what else? I’m back up to Army standard for the 2-mile run. sroni got me an update on “Queen’s Gambit”; I could have hoped for more, but at least she’s still turning out copy. I wrote a letter to my son yesterday, and updated and posted it today.

I’m tired of time passing without me getting any writing done. I’m about to go start. Maybe, if I push, I can finish my current story before time to land at BAF.

9:50PM Central Afghan Time

Okay, current activities.

I’m exercising again. I’ll have to check my run time (I was going for calorie burn today), but I believe I’m already at passing level for the Army physical fitness test, and it’s just a matter of how much better I can make myself. I’m also working on weight loss. I did not, fortunately, gain as much as I was afraid I might have during my slack months.

I’m about to start Disk 3 of Alias Season 4. Not really as enthusiastic as I was when I first began viewing the series DVDs, but we’ll see how that goes.

I watched two movies the last couple of days. The first — the Producers — was a huge disappointment. I’ve seen and enjoyed other Mel Brooks movies, but this one was just too broad and obvious. Despite my having picked it up on the recommendation of someone I respect (

honorh), I’ll have to give it a decided thumbs-down. The second was Bride and Prejudice, Gurinder Chadha’s Hollywood/Bollywood rendition of the Jane Austen tale. It was fun, captivating, and unforgettable, so much so that I’ve already ordered more of her movies.

We may go back to the States as early as the beginning of April, or as late as the middle of May. Either way, we’re on the downhill slope now, and I need to begin making plans for what I’ll do when I return. WriterCon II, of course, heads the list.

It was fairly chilly while I was at Tarin Kowt, but I’m back in a warmer section of Afghanistan, and we’re probably at the peak of winter right now, so it’ll just continue to get warmer. With luck, we’ll leave right about the time it begins to really heat up.

I got a confirmation on my leave dates. I already know the place in Germany I plan to visit, so I’ll need to look at making reservations as soon as I get a bit more info. (Wish there was some way I could call on

selenak, but that would be presumptuous of me as well as logistically difficult.) I definitely will be making the acquaintance of certain quantities of beer. When I was in Iraq, you could buy liquor from eight-year-old kids by the side of the road; here, conditions are more stringent and the Army is more serious about enforcing its rules, so — except for a sip of wine at morning Mass — I haven’t had alcohol of any type since June. Without going overboard (I have no desire to spend my entire leave hung over), I plan to relax a bit.

And, finally and most hearteningly: it took me awhile to get back into the rhythm, but I’m writing again. I added a couple of thousand words to the story I started three weeks ago; it’s at 14,000 words right now, and it doesn’t look like it’ll go much past 20,000 (if that). That will make seven stories I’ve done in-theater, most of the way to my goal of turning out at least nine.

Feeling pretty good.

7:45 PM Central Afghan Time

Last night I arrived back at Kandahar Airfield, with great relief. Life at Tarin Kowt was fun, but very high-tempo; I think I may have done more direct hands-on field ops during 24 days at TK than I did in my entire year in Iraq. KAF is a bit more tedious but a lot more comfortable.

Two things in particular help my current frame of mind. First, the guy who was filling in for me left on the same ring flight that brought me back, so I don’t have to share an office with him, and — much more importantly — he vacated the quarters I had been using before I left, so I’m right back where I started with very little changed. Second … the laptop problem I had at Tarin Kowt? where it wouldn’t power up, wouldn’t do anything? Once again the problem simply vanished, with no apparent cause and certainly no explanation. So, I’ll once again be able to work on personal projects at my leisure, watch my remaining DVDs (I haven’t even started on Alias Season 4 yet), and resume writing without wondering when and how I’ll ever be able to key in the text.

It also doesn’t hurt that the supply of Red Bull here is both more plentiful and more readily accessible.

I didn’t do much of anything today, just sort of drifted around and let myself settle back into the routine. Tomorrow I intend to resume writing on the story that (at 12,000 words) I let languish while I waited for conditions — and my mood — to improve.

7:00PM Central Afghan Time

It appears that I’ll be returning to Kandahar in the next several days; my unit did another personnel restructuring, and they want me back at the detachment level. I thought I’d be here till time to go on leave, but apparently not.

I’ll cope. Tarin Kowt is more fun but more demanding; Kandahar is duller but more comfortable.

Meanwhile, I got some welcome feedback on a recent story. I couldn’t figure out why it had languished without response, and then I understood: I keyed it in one night as a Private post when I had limited time, then updated it and made it public when I was ready for it to be seen … but those gymnastics seem to have rendered it invisible to various flists. So, here once again:

Alias fic

Unfortunately, I haven’t done any more on my current Buffy fic. Not a real problem, but an annoyance. I’ll get it done when the right time comes; until then I’ll just feel guilty for not being more industrious.

6:30AM Central Afghan Time

I spent most of yesterday morning putting off attempts at writing. I engaged myself in things that actually did need to be done, but I knew I was stalling, because I had no idea what to do next. Then I ran out of excuses, settled down to try to work … and ran out 4,000 words without effort. I love my life.

I’m going to be occupied today with actual military duties, but in the meantime I took the opportunity yesterday to key in the short fic to which I referred a couple of weeks ago (next entry). Hope it suits.

6:40PM Central Afghan Time

I haven’t managed to do any writing since my last post, but I have a few slow days to myself and I’m hoping to make good use of them. We did a foot patrol into Tarin Kowt and a couple of village assessments into a very Taliban-friendly area, plus there was a visit from a retired four-star general; that’s enough to keep you preoccupied.

On a pleasant note, my story “All Ye Who Enter” was nominated in the Best Joyce category in the “Serenity on the Hellmouth Awards”. (Considering that Liz Estrada’s “the Way, Way Back” — Best Kate — was another nominee, I hold myself to be in exalted company. Other familiar names are Roseveare and NWHepcat.) I wrote that story almost four years ago; I’m surprised — but not at all displeased — that it’s still receiving notice.

Enough for now. Let’s go see if I can do anything creative.

On All My Motions

“All that is not eternal is eternally out of date.” – C.S. Lewis

Entries tagged with afghanistan

Back at BAF, and closer to home

The countdown continues

On with the waiting game

Composing in limbo

Almost done

Coming into the home stretch

First of the Month greetings

(no subject)

Checking back in

R&R leave completed, return to duty

Just one more fricken day …

Sitting in the Black Hole of Doom

And another one gone

Struggling with the Muse

Latest update

This is me today

Back in the groove

Touching base

Continuing

News, such as it is