One Week with the Army

A week down in my new location and officially/unofficially (depends who you talk to) attached to the Army unit here.  I sit with the battalion commander’s staff which is a great way to become completely indoctrinated in Army life.  I won’t even try to update my acronym list.  I’ll stand by my previous post about it being one big PowerPoint shop.  But it’s also full of a pretty great crew.  They all admit they weren’t sure how it was going to be to have me (female, JAG, Air Force, all together foreign…) in their midst.  Now that they have realized that I have a sense of humor, am not easily offended, and that they can continue to dip, cuss, etc. in my presence, all is well.  And there are a couple other Ohioans – and from NE Ohio to boot.  

I spent this week pretty much gathering data about the two provincial districts and province seat I will be covering, talking to the BSO and civilian experts (read: Department of State, USAID, USDA) that have been here for a long time.  And now I am ready to get going already!  Oh and I had my second Afghan lunch today with the ABP.  I told my commander that I was going to attack it with more gusto and hope for better results than last time.

My FOB is almost completely surrounded by snow-topped mountains.  Whenever you are flying around Afghanistan, it’s impossible not to contrast the beauty of the terrain (mountain peaks and narrow valleys) with how dangerous it is on the ground.  The last few nights illumination has been near 100% -- night time walking back to my room and when I first wake up to the sun rising as I go work out, just for a second I almost forget where I am.