The Traveling Pine

A wise man once said that Afghanistan is “the crossroads of migration, conquest, and trade.” Why? The country itself is poor, with harsh lands incapable of most types of agriculture, and no other natural resources to draw anyone here. It must be its location - right between India, China, Northern Africa, and Europe. Smack dab in the center between numerous giant civilizations, and tons of history. The USA isn’t the first foreign military presence in this country, not by a long shot. You can look back to Alexander the great in 330BC, Genghis Kahn in 1220AD, Britain in the 1800s, and Russia in 1970… several millennia of foreign actors here for one reason or another. Bagram Air Base itself is built upon several generations of foreign occupation. Buried beneath the sand are remnants of the ancient city Alexandria on the Caucasus . Scattered across the surface, slowly being reclaimed by nature, are ruins from the Russian airbase that once sat here. I took a trip away from the Commpoun...

Beautiful mountains surround the base 360° (not recommended to take a hike up there though!) You can tell winter is coming, as the snow reaches lower on the peaks each day. The internet is a fantastic thing, especially when you're nearly 7,000 miles from home. Everyone on the installation - several thousand of us - rely on WiFi for entertainment, talking to loved ones back home, some of us even for ongoing college education. The entire WiFi system is managed by one man here in the comm squadron - arguably the most important man on the whole base - and it runs great. What else is the 'net great for? Expeditionary home improvement! It's highly recommended to pack lightly for deployments. You don't want to be lugging around several hundred pounds of stuff, especially when they add a sack full of body armor to the pile. So, I restricted myself to just the bare essentials, and ordered a "welcome kit" for myself prior to departing Milwaukee. Amazon Prime is ...