Tag Archives: Hindu Kush

Dawn Over the Hindu Kush

Posted on by Melissa M

The early morning winter skies can be quite lovely here at Bagram Air Field.

Here’s a view toward the east earlier this week:

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The thing that looks like a fish floating in the sky is a balloon called the “Eye in the Sky”.  It’s tethered to the ground at BAF and holds all sorts of high-tech cameras and other sensing equipment used to monitor everything on and around the base.

Here’s a view to the west from last month as the full moon was setting just after sunrise:

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Sometimes it’s hard to find beauty in this place, especially when you have to keep your eyes on the ground all the time due to ice slicks and ankle-twisting gravel everywhere, but it can be found.

MM

Walk to Work with Me

Posted on by Melissa M

My office is just a 5 minute walk from my dorm, and now that I’m no longer wearing The Most Hated Boots In Bagram, it’s quite a pleasant stroll.

As I leave my dorm room, I get a spectacular view of the mighty Hindu Kush mountains if it’s a clear morning:

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When I go down the stairs from my second-storey dorm room, I see these monstrous concrete things:

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They’re called T-walls and they range in height from a few feet to over 20 feet depending on where they’re placed.  Their main purpose is to provide protection from small arms fire and IDF attacks.  IDF stands for Indirect Fire, which is when insurgents fire a projectile (typically a rocket) without a direct line of sight to the target — they just hope they hit something.  IDF attacks happen frequently here depending on the time of year and political situations locally and around the world.  Most of the time IDFs do little harm, but they can be quite dangerous if they hit the right target.  On Thanksgiving night, an IDF killed two people here at Bagram Airfield.  It was a scary night and a somber Black Friday.

There are a few static displays tucked here and there, and I walk by this one featuring Russian-era guns going to the Garrison headquarters building:

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Here’s the back of the Garrison HQ building where I work:

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It’s not exactly an architectural tour du force, but what it lacks in curb appeal it makes up for in sturdiness which is what you want when the IDFs are flying.  The front of the building is all torn up due to construction activities, so I’ll have to show you a picture of that later.  But here’s the T-wall signage that greets passers-by on Disney Drive:

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My office is up the stairs:

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And down this hall on the right:

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I’ve hung a shingle, so Garrison Environmental is open for business:

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That’s right, I’m the Chief!  Here’s my office-mate David, and what I think is the fourth iteration of our office furniture arrangement (we’re test-driving different configurations until we get it perfect):

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I don’t care to sit by the window; the view just isn’t worth it:

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Even with the window open you can see I’m not missing much:

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And here I am at my desk taking a brief break from what is undoubtably important Environmental Chief business:

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That unruly mop of bed-head doesn’t detract from my chiefly authority, does it?  (I blame the requirement to wear a hat with the uniform.)

MM