A couple of interesting days 30 Jan 2009

Good morning,

We dressed in our full battle gear on Wednesday as we had to conduct some surveys off base which required the mandatory wearing of everything that is issued for protecting oneself. Here it was hovering around 20 degrees and I was sweating, I wonder how it will be when it's over 100 degrees. We took care of our surveying and then walked around a small village that has built up outside the main gate. I took several pictures which will be both sad yet fun to look at when I can upload them for you. The poverty is almost overwhelming. The small village is both good and bad as it has been known to harbor those who work on the Base for us and others who want to cause harm to any none Muslim. So, as you can guess we had some pretty high interest from those we walked among. Several wanted to take pictures with us, offer us tea (we didn't accept) or shake our hands which others would run from our presence or just peak around corners. It was a weird feeling. Yesterday evening we had the first for our trip of what hopefully will be the last Mortar attack on our Base. The mortars were a shock, quite loud even though they were a quite a long ways off. The living areas are very secure and far enough away from where mortars can land that it's not an issue. We were however required to take shelter in the bunkers until the all clear was sounded. The all clear was sounded when the Taliban were caught which occurred in less than an hour. The country here is so barren that once the helicopter took off its night vision capability was able to see those who fired the mortars instantly. All night long the good guys kept flying around I guess to ensure that there were no others snooping around the base, It actually make one feel okay. So, all is going great, I have no current worries and continue to enjoy what I'm doing. Talk to you all in a couple of day.

Love Lincoln