What a day today. For three days now we have been fighting the weather, other forces, and challenges that seem to stand in our way. We knock over an obstacle and another appears, knock that one down and from nowhere another and so on. Then today we receive warnings that some evil deed will occur. We move on and refuse to be stymied by such talk. All systems appear to be a go when one of our water trucks which faithfully deliver water to our site is inspected and has a wire found in an unusual place. All go to battle stations and scramble without reason. We inspect the vehicle and pull the 2-foot loose wire from the truck. Mind you - this is a 5,000 gallon truck and no one has bothered to look inside the tank but when a wire is found in a place it should not be it has to be the worst thing that can be imagined. Then, two men have "troublesome irregularities" on their ID cards. One has no birthday listed and the other's birth year is listed as 2008. Again, and with no reason it is immediately assumed that these must be men are out to commit some heinous act - even though we explain that we don't hire one year olds and people without birthdays, and they have been entering the base for several months with these same IDs. Regardless, they are cuffed, interrogated like seasoned and hardened criminals, and treated harshly. Very immature behavior indeed by the MPs! At the end, as with the "wire," everyone realizes the idiocy of what they do and they return to their duty stations providing so-called protection of the flight line. You just can't make this stuff up.
We returned to camp. Meanwhile, with the heightened security our trucks were not allowed onto the base to remove our blackwater. Since the tanks are full, the water has been cut off. we will sleep dirty tonight.
Now to the subject of my Blog today... I am fortunate to have a friend like a brother, Sergey. He is one of the most inquisitive people I know. Aside from being a brilliant engineer, he applies reason to perform his engineering and his practicality brings sense to our work. He is loyal without question. There are few people that know me as a brother (except my own brothers, of course), and Sergey is one of them. From the Kyrgyz Republic, he spends some time teaching me Russian each day - it is one hard language to learn and challenges my mind. I met him in the Kyrgyz Republic in 2007 and to work with him again here in Afghanistan is a real joy. It's a relationship I will value forever.
One day, on the shores of Lake Issa Kul, and in the shadows of the Tien Shen Mountains, I hope to reminisce these times over a beer with Sergey - my friend, my brother! And I hope my wife and his can meet. That will be one good time!
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01 Jul 2009
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