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 ...

I've been here for just over a week, and am starting to get the lay of the land. It might be something they're putting in our kool-aid, but it's honestly pretty nice over here - especially considering it's a deployed location! I've only deployed once before, and compared to that location, this is like winning the lottery. We have our own dedicated comm compound (aka "The Commpound") where we spend the majority of our days and nights, away from the rest of the base. We sleep here, work here, and play here. Literally the only thing we need to leave our compound for is food, since we don't have a dedicated dining facility ... and I don't want to survive 6 months off pop-tarts and rip-its! We're actually working on an outdoor patio/kitchen setup in our free time, so we may be totally self sufficient very soon! If nothing else, being able to grill our own grub now and again will be an awesome addition to the quality of life here. My room is o...

Once I landed in Baltimore, I rode the shuttle to my hotel for the night, checked in, then went wandering amongst the endless rows of hotels and restaurants in the area, eventually finding a tasty hibachi lunch – yum! I spent the rest of the night relaxing and triple-checking my luggage, making sure everything was ready for all the upcoming travel. The night wrapped up with an overpriced (but tasty!) falafel and portobello burger from the hotel restaurant, the Packers on the bar TV, and finally a luxurious night of sleep. I woke up at 6am for one last decent shower, and to do some more exploring around the hotel before it was time to go. I found myself in the National Electronics Museum, spent a few hours strolling amongst the vacuum tubes and gadgets. A bunch of hands-on exhibits, Jacob’s ladder, laptops with built-in printers (dubbed “typewriters,”) and some great military tech too. Imagine the tech that goes into a ship’s anti-missile defense system: all the sensors and calcu...

After a few months of recess, the pine is ready for adventure once again. This time, it's a six month quest to Afghanistan, so get ready to cross another country or two off the list! I signed up for this deployment what seems like forever ago, and the departure date had always seemed so far away - until now! I'm looking forward to some adventure, challenge, culture, and perhaps even some renewal. Thanks to everyone who showed up! I tried to keep the departure as low-key as possible, y'all didn't need to spend your Monday at the boring airport (especially after the long and exciting weekend) but it was nice to see you, I'll miss you, and be back before you know it. MKE airport was awesome as always - quiet, quick, and clean. The hop to Baltimore was easy and short, and now I wait 24 hours for my next jet. It's gray and rainy here, more rain than I'll probably see for the next six months. Tomorrow's travel promises to be a doozie, I'll g...

Cheeky and I have a few adventures to talk about because I've been lazy with writing blog posts! This will also be my last post before heading home. Yay!! I've been in Germany just about 6 months now and I am ever so anxious to get back home to friends and family. More on the summary of my trip later. For now, let me tell you what I've been up to the past two weeks! Cochem Castle One of the guys that works next to me has been trying to get to this castle for almost the entire deployment. He's signed up with the on base tour groups a few times, but for one reason or another it just didn't work out. Finally, we gathered a small group, made reservations and went on our own.  The castle at Cochem was built around the year 1000. After quite a history, it burned almost completely down in 1689. 200 years later, it was purchased by a Frenchman and restored to the way it looks today. The castle is owned by the city of Cochem and is a nice destination for tourists, incl...

Greetings! Did you all celebrate Pi day? Cheeky hopes you didn't sacrifice any pineapples to enjoy this nerdy day. The commissary didn't have any "traditional" pies such as apple or cherry, so we had a strawberry cheesecake, pecan pie, and Reese's pie. Still delicious! I wrote a few pi jokes on our whiteboard as well. We all had a good laugh and good treats! But this post isn't about pie or pi. It IS about wine and running, which is way better! M ary and Alfred's Winery Last week Saturday about a dozen of us stuffed into three cars and headed an hour and a half north to the tiny town of Briedel. It's situated on the Mosel river, which is a fantastic place to grow grapes. We went to Mary and Alfred Eigelshoven's winery. Now, when I think of a winery, this is not what I pictured. Their entire operation is at their home in a garage that might fit 4 vehicles. When we arrived, Mary was waiting for us in this garage with a long table that had a ...