Settling In at FOB Tombstone

One good thing about Helmand Province - we're not in the mountains here so it's a lot warmer. The extreme cold weather gear I used all the time up in Kunduz I don't really need here. By mid-morning I don't even need a jacket. The flipside of that is by March it's going to be hot here and we'll see temperatures of up to 125 Fahrenheit this Summer which won't be fun in full individual body armor carrying a basic load of ammunition, water, etc. My little command consists of myself and two Corps of Engineers civilians in our very own fenced in compound a few hundred meters away from FOB Tombstone. There's a small US and British military contingent in Tombstone and the three of us across the way. Sometimes I feel like a carrot on a stick out here. I can see why the Corps of Engineers wouldn't allow these guys to be left without a soldier stationed with them. Both compounds are inside the Afghan National Army's perimeter wall, but we lock our gate every night just the same and bolt our room doors too. Lot of good it will do. The British have a firing range nearby so all you hear in the background is the constant sound of tank rounds and small arms fire at all times of the day and night. No one would even know we were under attack with the noise from all that going on.

Of course, we're also next to a brigade of the Afghan National Army but I'm not going to rely on them. Up in Herat one of the ANA soldiers came home from a month's leave during which time he was manipulated by the Taliban (most likely they threatened his family) into staging a one man jihad on the base. He killed one American, 4-5 Afghan soldiers, and wounded another 10 or 11 before his AK-47 jammed. I sleep with my pistol close by every night - I figure better safe than sorry. In the meantime one of our projects is to build ourselves a new office and living quarters inside Tombstone so that will certainly be a security improvement. Meantime I've inventoried and signed for all the military and computer equipment here and am familiarizing myself with the construction projects this office is engaged in. Next week I'll start getting out to the sites to see where we're at, most likely by helicopter as whatever direction you take from here is headed into Taliban controlled areas so I don't plan on using road convoys unless there's no other option available. The vehicle I would use, our HMMWV armored gun truck, is no good to me without at least one other soldier to man it and I'm waiting on our 240B machine gun to be delivered first anyway.

Photo One: The view outside the ANA perimeter wall - not a whole lot of cover for anyone trying to sneak up unnoticed.

Photo Two: Another load of British soldiers landing on the moon, er, I mean, at Camp Bastion..... Air is our primary means of traveling from place to place here due to the ambush and IED threats.

Photo Three: No, it's not Tombstone, Arizona. I've been there too by the way.