TMG in Afghanistan: Day 12

Looksie! a video!

TMG in Afghanistan: Day 11

Well it seems im cursed! Not only did the guy I work with get sent home on compassionate, but my boss is being medivaced back to the UK tomorrow, I think someone is trying to test me!

In other news, I got my webcam today, not attempted a video blog yet but may try one tomorrow, all I managed to do it get it installed, ive not tested the volume of the mic or anything yet since I wanted to get onto MSN but nobody seems to be on….. BAH!

Its sunday tomorrow which meant that I got the afternoon off but I doubt it will go ahead now since the boss has to get taken to the airhead tomorrow for 3, ill nab some time off as and when I can, but tomorrow is probably a no.
Looks like I wont be heading down to Bastion till we get some more staff then….. ah well ill soldier on.

Right now im sat on the boardwalk since its great signal for the internet, its a great place to chill out and just relax.

Works plodding onwards I get it now but ill just have to wing anything thats a bit obscure, thats the best way forward I reckon.

So if I get time I may nab a couple of hours off tomorrow but at the moment it seems unlikely.

Rock on!

TMG in Afghanistan: Days 9 and 10

Day 9 (I think)

I am pretty sure that I typed day 8 directly into the wordpress site and not into Word beforehand therefore I cannot read what I had previously put due to there being yet another……. communications outage. By the time you read this it is safe to say that another two Royal Marines died today… hence the comms blackout, we cant talk to anyone outside the base till family have been informed.

So yet again today was spent driving mostly, which is great for me since im starting to autonomously drive without thinking and enjoy it too!! I also got my first letter today and it was from my good old dad. He sent me an E-Bluey which bypasses the usual mail and gets sent to a computer out here which prints it out and gets it to me in a day. When comms are bad with the deaths an E-Bluey is an awesome way to stay in contact. I sent him a reply and look forward to other letters and packages coming for me in the post soon!

We actually had ANOTHER rocket attack today which makes 3 total attacks in 9 days… shocking! Nothing was hit again and I counted my blessings once more that I made it through alright.

Ive just been for a shower to mark the wind down period of the day and feel all relaxed and calm now, ooh oooh oooh HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL MY NORTH AMERICAN FRIENDS!! TOday at lunchtime I went to the American mess since it was Thanksgiving and we all know that the yanks pull out all the stops for holidays! Well the mess was decorated in thanksgiving decorations and turkeys in the middle of the table, I ate so much I was full to bursting at the end but there was everything you could expect: Ham, Turkey, Yams, Lamb, Mashed Potatoes, Mack n Cheese, Vegetables, Gravy and all the wonderful desserts, Pumpkin pie, cherry pie, apple pie, spiced pumkin cake….. it was all gorgeous and I had a damn fine meal. I just hope the brit mess do as good a job at christmas or ill be eatin in the american one again!

Well its nearly the weekend again which for most people means they can relax and get any jobs done that need doing, for me its more of the same, since the Taliban wont just stop since its a weekend, I hope all of you out there stay safe and have a great weekend, ill do my best 🙂

Day 10?

Well wasnt today an interesting day then…. firstly the guy I was working with has got sent home on compassionate leaving me with all his work….. and not a clue what to do HAHAHA

The say was spent fumbling through everything as best I could in order to get it in some form of order, I did my best but I think its going to be damage limitations for the next week or so before the new guy comes out.

I got a bluey from my mum today too, which is great I know she is taking this the worst out of everyone and to read her words is great, shes also said shes sent me some more pants so WOOHOOO!!!

Comms got knocked off again yesterday due to another poor guy dying, its so sombre that it hurts.

Still tonight im going to grab a coffee and continue to piggyback off of the canadians internet, ill drop my latop in just before I go for coffee then it should be done charging by the time I come out and I can go back on. This is ace!

I forgot to say that our computers at work had to get cleaned for viruses due to someone using unsecure USB disks in them meaning we have no computers for 3 days….. not good, im gonna be so busy when they come back!!!

TMG in Afghanistan: Day 8

Day 8 has been and gone with nothing remotely interesting to report, its still as dusty as ever and as pointless as ever! PAH!

I havent recieved any mail since being here which goes to show how hard it is to get stuff out here, I know for a fact of some friends who have written some mail for me to get.

I got the access codes for the canadian network today too but ill be a monkeys uncle if i can get them to work, I can connect to the network fine but it says im connected “local only” and I cant find an option to put the password in anywhere since its an unsecured network… bloody vista! I BLAME VISTA!

Some good news though, I had my movement notification through today showing that ill be coming home on the 10th of March, this is a full 10 days shorter than I thought I was so im happy as a clam, now all I want to see is my replacements flight details and ill be dead happy.  The way im working it is the following:
November is nearly over so lets get into decemeber, once into december its one month then January, ill have my R&R at the end of Jan meaning I have a short month of Feb and 10 days of march to do!!! FUCKING YES!

Yeah yeah yeah I know ive only been here 8 days and all but Im feeling it already, never again do I want to put my family through this again, and god help me I wont, after this im done…

So today went as fast as it always does, if it keep on at this rate im a happy camper!  Got a trip to Camp Bastion maybe next week, will have to see. 

Mrs B has told me she just sent me some games including Neverwinter Nights2 and Dungeon Siege so at least ill have that to keep me occupied once The Unit finishes, I got extra internet time tonight since im all pissed off about the canadians, so 2 hours tonight for me!

Looking forward to my bed to be hoenst, I know I shouldnt wish my life away but right now I just want this 4 months done!  THen I can get back to being the Twentysomething MMO Gamer and stop being the Twentysomething Soldier…. screw that for a game of marbles.

Anyhoo, not a lot else to report other than im looking forward to my next half day so I can sleep…. MMM SLEEP GOOD!

Rock on!

Days to go: Roughly 102… ish… ill have to check

TMG in Afghanistan: Days 6 and 7

Day 6

This post WILL be coming to you late and they are for reasons I cannot give you now, if ever. I have no access to the internet and no access to any outside phones at all, I hope my family understands that I am ok and not to worry.

Today was my first day back in after the weekend and how did it go then? Pretty well actually, im getting the hang of the basic tasks easily the few odd ones that I have will get fumbled through I am sure.

There seemed to be some sort of show going on earlier, the Canadians were all out in force and there was a live band playing, I didnt have time to go look properly so I wonder what it was all about.

Im generally in the swing of the whole deployment thing now, I face up to the fact that I am here now and wont be going home till im done, so why not just get on with it. The days go awesomely fast, the nights can drag if they want to, thats me time!

As I didnt have time to install anything on my laptop before I went im contenting myself with watching the first three seasons of “The Unit” which is actually pretty good, I also play Mahjong.

On the work front again, I have to take a trip down to Camp Bastion at some point, maybe this week, maybe next. We shall see how that goes!

Days to go: Roughly 114.. maybe less….. 😉

Day 7:

Well today was the same as ever, its getting harder to find things to write about, we had a double rocket attack today and I worked till late at night, I cant wait for the guy who i work with goes home, then maybe the next guy wont be so anal about work that can wait till the next day. Anyway typing this while I should be on MSN!!!

Days to go: 113

TMG in Afghanistan: Days 4 and 5

Read day 3 too!!!

 

Day 4

Today is saturday which means one thing on the base…. Jingly Market day!! Yes indeed all the locals from the village (who have been throughly searched and security vetted) are allowed onto the base to peddle their wares. Since it was my first saturday I went down to take a look. Well to be honest there is a lot of tat there but some good stuff cna be found. The pashminas look awesome, as do some of the blankets. Most stalls however consisted of knocked off DvDs (Yes I could buy all the shit at the cinema now 6 for ten dollar!!) or stalls selling rugs, oh and a ton of them selling very evil looking knives. I didnt get anything this time but I have seen some things that I will probably get people as presents.

Work wise it was my first day “in the chair” and it went fine, did the work that came my way (apart from some shit that came in at 1745 which ill do in the morning and some other stuff which I need our main computer system to work to be able to do… gotta love JPA (All you military people know what I mean lol)

Since im typing this BEFORE I go onto the internet later on, I have technically caught up with myself so I can do the daily updates, ON THE DAY!.

We get one afternoon off a week while out here, time to recharge and grab anything from the shops which you may need. As far as I am aware, tomorrow is my afternoon off in which case ill spend a little time exploring the boardwalk and such. Maybe think of some things which I need to get abd go get them. It was a fairly run of the mill day though, not much happening, no attacks, no anything really. It can carry on like that thankyou very much.

I called home and spoke to Mrs B, she tells me miniest B is all better from her sniffles which is good and mini B didnt wake up crying for his daddy either, which is also good. Im trying to get my R&R sorted so I can get back to the UK for a week in January but my boss is off sick at the moment meaning I cant get it authorised but seeing as I work in the same office with the guy who sorts out the flights for people I can pretty much get what I want.

Im looking forward to getting on the internet tonight since ive now sorted out Trillian which took a lot of time yesterday (Slow downloads ftw) so I can spend more time catching up with all me peoples.

Bring on tomorrow, Rock on!

Day 5

Well today was a nice short one! Nothing significant to report other than I spent my half day getting my work out of the way and then I went back to my room, ive been chilling ever since watcing DVDs and typing this. Since there is little to report I wont go on much. I really hope the internet is working today, with any luck it will be then I can chat to my friends.

Days to go: 116

TMG in Afghanistan: Day 3

Day 3

Well its the end of day three and before I stick a film on to try to lul myself to sleep ill just fill you in on the days events so far.

The person who I took over form flew back today, well I say flew back today she hasnt actually gone yet, she flies at midnight which is when I hope to be asleep in my bed, If I manage to sleep at all, ive been told it can take up to 4 days to sort myself out so we shall see. Tomorrow is a relatively easy day ive been told, which should be ok.

So today then, it was more of the same form yesterdya, learning my way around the unit, learning the one job I had left then kate left to go pack and i was in the chair, not a lot happened my end which is fine and with the main computer system that I use offline there was little I could do. Im looking forward to my half day off as it means I can explore the base a little better and grab anything that I need. Oh I must say this, I found a Marco Borsatto DvD in the dutch BX and I think im gonna get it for my mate Melvin, class!!

Work wise nothing much happened and nothing much to report on the weather front (its still warm during the day and cold at night!) But something interesting did happen, the attack alarms went off telling us that we were being rocketted, my first attack since being out here, I dont know if they hit anything, I probably wont find out till tomorrow but im safe and sound.

I managed to get onto the internet and get trillian installed since MSN was being a bitch, I see a lot of members from my guild have been suspended for something, no doubt it will be an SOE error, I got told it was something to do with a vendor giving you plat for shit items, LOL!

The internet out here is some weird thing where you can connect to it but then need to put in a username and password from the shop in order to actually USE it, therefore I found that WoW wont connect and EQ2, well Vista is being a cunt and even though im running it as administrator it wont run, I put it down to the shit connection speed out here. Anyway, lets see what tomorrow brings: 3 Down, 118 to go!

Mini update

The internet went down on the base last night meaning I couldnt upload my latest entry.  So expect days 3 4 and 5 tonight if the net is back up.

(Typing this from my desk, entries are on my Laptop)

TMG in Afghanistan: Days 1&2

Note: There is a 1 day time delay between posts so although the post I posted now is say day 54, its actually day 55.

Day 1 Well there is no day 1, I flew all day.

Day 2

I have been here for a little over 9 hours and things could have gone better. The flight itself was straightforward and uneventful, the pitch black landing was the only concernig thing but that over with I arrived at Kandahar and looked on to getting myself sorted. Only once I got here my escort was nowhere to be seen. Feeling somewhat unwanted I made my over to the RSOI tent with the full intentions of heading to J1 in the morning to announce my arrival. Luckily for me my escort had been looking for me as they were told my flight was delayed!! (We actually arrived 30 mins early) so I was quickly shown to my accommodation for the next week at least.
I find myself sharing with 3 SNCOs. One of which works nights so I may not get to meet much of him but the other two were about. Not much was said no matter how much I tried to get a conversation going and so I quickly stowed my gear and climbed onto my bunk. It wasn’t 5 mins before I realised I wasnt going to sleep so well….. they both snore… like freight trains…..FUCK! A night of snatching 10 mins here or there and they got up at 0520. I dont need to be up till half 7 but still how can two rhinos who snore possibly be quiet enough to let you sleep while they sod about getting their kit on? SO here I am, sat at 0611 typing my thoughts so far. Cant find any internet access ports so far but there is a internet suite just across the road from my bunk, ill take a wander over there later on once ive gotten myself familiarised with some of the base…. cant wait to move rooms though…..

Day two officially over work wise, just learnt the basics of the job and listened to two guys in the office bitch at each other all day… oh the joys. Back in the room now, the others arent here meaning I have some “quiet time” to type this and also to finally sort out my bed! Yes we have a bed at last goodbye sleeping bag. Still cant find any easily accessible wifi but will go for a wander later on with the laptop to see what I can pick up, you never know! so, two down 119 days to go, if they all go as fast as today has then it should be great, Its all an experience though, and who knows maybe I will be a better person for it. I managed to call home to let Tracy know I was ok, she told me that Luke came in crying to the bedroom this morning saying he “wanted his daddy back” not something I want to hear on day 2 since it really tears at you. So anyway im off for a bit of food at 7 in the mess then ill see what takes my fancy, I feel a trip to the shop WILL be in order as will the aforementioned trip to find some connectivity, till then all I can do is chill really, not much else doing. I didnt install any ofline games on the laptop meaning im stuck with solitaire… if im not a solitarie god in 4 months then something is wrong haha!

Well im back from my walk now to find a note telling me to move rooms…. ho hum a bit of an arse wants me to move so fair enough, new room looks a lot better anyway. I managed to get access to the internet but the clever fuckers have put a block on it so you need to have some sort of account or something to get onto it. Im going to have to investigate that tomorrow with Kate, im sure she will be able to tell me how to sort it out. But for now im just chilling in the room, waiting for yet another day. Fairly tired today so im hoping that ill be able to drop off to sleep tonight and wake up when im supposed to. Fingers crossed aye??

An update!

Wow, it always happens with me, I get into a week or two of daily updates and then work and gaming get in the way of my blogging!  Where to start.  Well the major piece of news is that I am going to Afghanistan next week, in fact at this time next week ill be in the air!
What does this mean for the twentysomething gamer?  Well for starters as long as I can get my laptop to find a network out there then the posts will continue.  Im aiming to do video blogs if I can be bothered to give an update on mainly the war and my life while out there.  Some gaming will definitly get done though!  I started again with Diablo 1 and 2 last night and am also going to install Fallout 2 since its a great game to while away some time with.  Also on my gaming agenda is EQ1, but only as long as I can find a network which will allow me to connect for extended periods, im not sure if they charge by the hour out there in which case ill need to restrict my usage!

On the EQ2 front I got hold of the Mythical Dragons Temper!  Many thanks to my guild “The Harpers of Norrath” for taking me along to get hold of it, its a great going away present!

So what am I going to miss then?  Well mainly the launches of new expansion packs for games, Wrath of the Lich King is released tomorrow (I think) and also The Shadow Odyssee (However you spell it)  Im not so concerned about Wrath since ive not touched WoW for a while and dont intend to really, its just not the game I want to play.  TSO is the biggest kick in the pants for me, I wont be back for 4 months and by that time my guild will probably be plodding through the content and wont want to “babysit” me through all the stuff they have already done.  Mind you I DO have some very good friends who will help me out so thats all good.

Not sure if ill get to blog again before I go so ill say catch you later now!  Rock on!!