Photo Update

Due to the difficulty of gaining internet access whilaveling, I was unable to post all of the photos of our journey from Kandahar to Shank, so I am going to take the opportunity now. When we left Kandahar we went to Bagram, which is 30 minute flight North of Shank, first because the living conditions were not adequate. When we first arrived in Bagram, we were in a large transient tent with about 100 cots in it. Everyday soldiers from various nations would come and go in these tents, while we just waited for the word to leave for Shank. Unfortunately, these tents were a 30 minute drive from the helicopters, so after a few days we were moved to other accomodations. The building we were in was a B-hut that is usually sectioned-off into rooms for 8 people per building. We, however shoved 20 people into the building pictured on the right, with cots almost on top of each other. Luckily we were only there for a couple more days before we got the call to leave for Shank.

We then moved into the green GP Mediums pictured on the right. We slept 10 to a tent, each person had their own bunkbed, but there were no walls/rooms, and the electricity had to be shared by a 50 foot extension cord that ran to one of the generators. Unfortunately, these tents become very hot during the day with the sun beating down on them, even with the a/c up full blast. They eventually decided to cover one with spray on foam insulation to keep it cool. As I soon after went onto the night shift, I was lucky enough to move into this tent. The insulation works very well, and we were able to sleep comfortably during the day. The foam tent was an off-white color and the sides of the tent became stiff. Almost like battering and then deep-frying something. There I am posing in front of the foam-insulated tent.

All this while we were waiting for the Alaskan tents to be set up so that we could fit 6 per tent and build rooms into them. The crew chiefs soon began to build under the direction of 1SG Horn.