I finally made it in country and I am now getting situated with everything. It basically took the better part of 8 days to get from Camp Atterbury, Indiana to Nuristan Afghanistan. Myself and three others were part of our team's advance party, sent forward a couple weeks early to assist in turnover. The following is the stages of our travels.

1) Stuck in Atterbury for an extra day because the C-5 was "broken" (better to be broken on the ground than broken in the air though). This almost killed us as we watched the rest of the team head home for a week of leave (some of them left in style!). After three months of "army" training, we finally took off and landed.....in Dover, Delaware.

2) Stuck at Dover Air Base for two days- but at least we were put up in a Sheraton hotel for the night. Just before boarding the plane (ie on the tarmac and ready to get on) we get the message that they put too much fuel in and that some would have to be removed. This resulted in us spending about two hours just standing on the tarmac (at 2 am) waiting to get on the plane. John and Chief had the right idea....

3) Stuck at Rhine Ordinance Base in Germany for two days after an 8 hour flight. Normally I would jump at the opportunity to be in Germany for a couple days, but since the Army rule was "no alcohol", this translated to "no fun." That and we were put up in a warehouse full of bunk beds.

4) Stuck in Manas Air Base for 18 hours after another 8 hour flight This wasn't too bad since the end was in sight. All that was left was a final flight to Bagram.

5) Stuck in Bagram for 2 days. Bagram is a pretty hectic place, and we were relegated to a tent far on the outskirts of the base. Sleep was the order of the day as we waited for our helicopter ride to our base in Nuristan.

Now I'm here....kind of a fluf post. More to follow after I get situated.

The Final Countdown

After spending the past few months in Indiana, my training is now complete and I will soon be arriving in Afghanistan. As the engineering officer for PRT Nuristan, I will be managing construction projects that are awarded to local Afghan contractors. In accordance with local culture norms, the job will require me to drink lots of tea prior to conducting any type of business. I'm working on learning Dari (similar to Farsi) in the hopes of not being too dependent on interpreters. I'll throw out an occaisional Dari phrase with each blog (transcripted in English of course). For today, I will imagine that you all are saying 'safar bakhayr!' to me (bon voyage!).

Situated on the Pakistan border and nestled in the Hindu Kush, Nuristan has many unique characteristics that set it apart from other provinces within Afghanistan. These include:

• 11+ local dialects spoken throughout the province

• less than 5 km of asphalt roads

• Elevation ranges from 3000 feet to over 18000 feet- the province is essentially composed of three valleys that are separated by towering mountain ranges.

More to follow once I have reached my new home for the next 9 months: FOB Kalagush!