Typical Day

Thought I would describe a typical day on the FOB, but first a little bit about the picture above. The Army and the Afghan police are prepping for a trip outside the wire. This shows the difference between our equipment and theirs. The Afghan police are driving the small pickups with a gunner in the bed of the truck. The US are in the big sand colored vehicles, however, they are usually the lead vehicles.

A typical day - starts at 6-6:30 when I get up and then off to breakfast at 7:00 or a call home. We are usually in the office by 8:00 and work until around 5:00. The contractors start to show up around 8:30-9:00, it takes an hour or better for them to get through the gate. They are not allowed to drive on base, just the vehicles needed to do the job, otherwise they walk on base. Then to get them home before dark, they start to wrap things up at 3:00. Quitting time will be later in the day as we start to see more hours of sun. So, in a typical day we are lucky if we get 5 hours of work from the contractors. Some would say that's not a lot different than at home, but I will say the 5 hours at home are usually more productive than they are here.

Our day is spent checking on the contractor's progress, putting together new projects, establishing priorities, requesting the funding, and attending meetings. Most of the meetings are on Saturday, Monday and Sunday. The days are pretty full and we keep busy, which helps the day go fast. We do go to the office every day, but the level of work varies. We have to take time to go to the bazaar, get hair cuts (some of us more often than others), and do PT (physical training).

I usually do my PT after work, with not a lot of other things to do, it fills another hour or so. I have been able to motivate myself to go to the gym 6 days a week in our first weeks here, we'll see if I can keep that up. I thought I was seeing the results of my efforts last night when I noticed a tear in my PT t-shirt under my arm. My first thought was I must have ripped through when I was lifting weights, but then I looked closer. It was just the stitching coming out of the seem of the cheap, low-bid AF t-shirt. Guess I'll have to keep working on it.

By the time I get done at the gym and clean up, it's dinner time and then back to the room, usually by 8 pm. The rest of the evening is spent calling home (Skyp-ing), e-mailing or typing this blog, or reading a book and lights out at 10 (by choice).

Next day, start at the beginning, repeat.