..like using a fire hydrant to brush your teeth..

12 16 11 Jim after AFG

It is now Friday and that is 'surf and turf' night at the DFAC...no, seriously they do usually serve steak and lobster tails at the large DFAC at Pasab...the steak is really well done and the lobster (or crab cakes or shrimp scampi) is also really well done, but edible.

We do not get weekends here...it is pretty much a 7 day work week with a requested break for relaxation time or personal stuff like laundry. I have a lot of respect for the soldiers here...civilian workers too! It is a steady pace. I usually get a bit more of a chance to relax at the COPs. George B and I have had the chance to watch several movies at the MRW since I arrived.

Now that I have my foot in the door and am a 'registered contractor' with the Federal Government I can have as much or as little to do with the US Army as I wish. I can wait and see what they contact me to do, or I can offer my services based upon contract bids. There is also a lot of non-military work that I may be asked to do, if I'm interested...my ability to train people in the field (as in anywhere in the world, no matter how primitive the situation) in any number of areas is considered a very valuable skill. Interesting to note is that the skills sets for anyone in the world for practical things is either missing entirely or very narrow in scope...kind of scary in a way that the "I will make something that will work for you" ethic is almost entirely missing. For me to be writing the 'handouts' on how to blow up trees for the leaders of a COP is typical of how narrow they are going. For now, I'm going to go home and discuss this with my family and try to work out short stints at companies and military bases in the US. I will be around Woodhenge this spring and summer for the bulk of the time.

I visited the Maiwand Electrical Power system yesterday and today to do an evaluation and series of recommendations on how they could better use their present system and how to introduce renewable power in the form of photovoltaics and wind. Someone did an estimate for the region and got them a 450kW diesel generator (think really big!) for a system that presently requires something on the part of a 50kW generator...the difference is kind of like using a fire hydrant to brush your teeth...the generator uses 25 liters (just around 6 gallons) of fuel per hour instead of just over a gallon to do the same job...the infrastructure to deliver the power is mostly junk wire strung from bamboo poles or just compound to compound. I will be discussing, in a 'storyboard' (how the commissioned officers communicate ideas and situations) several differing scenarios for Maiwand and Afghanistan in general as far as electrical power production could be further developed for stability and sustainability.

I am in good health and spirits...keeping active mentally and physically, but looking forward to a bathroom that is in one location (as in I don't have to walk to one building for a shower and another for use of a chemical outhouse and wash myself and brush my teeth with a bottle of water...all while being cold or having a lot of people around me. That and more!

Have a great day! Love, -Jim-