Excitement of Thursday

Not much happened today since it was Friday. Fridays are the only thing we have which could remotely be called a weekend. Not much happens on Fridays because the Afghan National Army (ANA) doesn't work on Friday. As a result, we have local nationals come in an put on a bazzar for us. Basically there are a lot of Afghan crafts, rugs, cheap electronics and "Antique" watches from China and Dubai (Antique meaning valuable in the Afghan English vernacular). I did pick up a couple of knock off watches a few weeks ago, a nice Omega and an awesome Brietling, both for under $100. They look authentic, but of course they are fake since real ones would cost several thousand dollars. No one else would know, though because they look that good. My friend Doc picked up a Tag Hauer knock-off for, get this, 16 packets of Nestle hot chocolate mix! Now that's true bartering. So basically Fridays are slow and not much happens, which brings me to yesterday.



One of our teams had a vehicular accident while driving one of the Cougars. The Cougar is a huge truck that looks like a van the size of a tractor trailor. An Afghan driving a van failed to move over on the road like he was supposed, and the Cougar driver attempted to swerve. The van hit the Cougar and the Cougar rolled on it's side. The Afghan was killed, but luckily no Americans were hurt or killed. Goofy accidents usually end up with dead or injured soldiers. Thank God for the Cougars with their armor and four point seat belts!



When the Cougar came in, it was the spectical of the day. Everyone went out to see it. (Check out the large piece of the Afghan van stuck in the front bumper!) Amazingly, my maintenance crew and the contract mechanics may be able to get it running again. No wonder we are the greatest army in the world!