More Travel!

In the next couple of days I'll be heading back down to the same FOB I spent a couple of days at last month. Back to the fireside, the music, the sunrises.

I mentioned to a troop how beautiful it was in that valley, and he replied, "beautiful? It's all death and destruction in that valley." And he's right. From up on the mountainside, you don't get a sense of what is happening down there, but they see action every day. While I was there last time, I watched Kiowa Warrior helicopters diving and strafing in the streets of a village that must have been miles away. I couldn't hear them, I just saw them swooping back and forth.

I once got an up close look at a Kiowa. They're tiny as helicopters go--I'm pretty sure I could fit one in my garage if I could fold the rotors up. When they were taxiing for takeoff, they just hovered three feet off the ground, and seemed like hovercars as they floated down the taxiway, took 90°, turns and floated on down the road. Three feet. It was impressive. Plus, they're armed to the teeth with rockets and various and sundry other nasty things.

So I'll be out of communications for a bit. Cell phones don't work down there, blogspot and facebook are both blocked, so I'll just be available via Gmail and my work Email. Don't worry, I'll be safe as houses where I am.