i-have-nightmares:

This is a different war.  I personally feel safer here than where I was in Iraq as my post has a very safe track record (knock on wood), someone said you can tell the people who were at XYZ because they jump at every little bump.  True as I hit the floor this afternoon when I heard a door slam but had headphones on so I couldn’t tell what it was.  Where we were, if you heard the jackals yelping in the fields, you knew you were in for a long night as people were planting rockets in the fields, now its just something to add to the beauty of this stunningly magnificent terrain.

The sad truth is, however, that this is a bloddy, bloody place.  You can see it on people’s faces, you can feel it in the air, you can touch it in the vehicle graveyard on the way to work, you hear it in the stories.  In Iraq, an insurgent would place an IED or attack American forces because someone more powerful than he would give his family money just for doing so. They often did has assed jobs just to get their paycheck.  Here, an insurgent will kill you because he fundamentally hates you. They don’t go after vehicles, aircraft, or bases, they go after people.

Looking out from our post high above the world, the scale of this conflict is also evident. Air traffic constantly skimming by, cargo, bombers, helos.   Tethered to the ground are almost countless aero-stat ballons, or surveillance blimps at coalition bases.  Seeing them high in the windswept peaks makes you hod true respect, almost pity those who are stationed in little 30 man forward operating bases. 

Took the photo above today on my way to pick up a pallet of water for the office. 

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