Hockey

This is a pic of the Canadians hockey rink, concrete base. The stuff that looks like snow is actually dust reflected in the flash. The dust is generally heaviest at dusk, it is best to run in the Morning if you run outside. --Karl

Sunday in Kandahar

It is 0630 and I just finished Skyping with my Parents, Chris, Flavia and Aunt Christel. I was a little foggy at first but warmed up. I am normal up by 0600 but last night we had our 'traditional' (if anything you have done twice is a tradition) Saturday movie night. I came in late and the Movie, a true classic (Joe Dirt) was over. But I did get to see the Ultimate Fighting Championship. So I stayed up a bit later than normal.

It was good to see the Milwaukee folks and we chatted about a host of things. Oma's new apartment, Christels new apartment and their up coming moves. I think everyone is ready for the change. It will be nice for them, right in the heart of the City.

I just read the Thanksgiving note from Erica, the party sounded like a lot of fun.

KAF photos, the "Frat house"

Here is a photo of the common room in our "frat house" on either side of the common room behind the plywood walls are our rooms, small but warm and comfortable.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

I hope everyone had an enjoyable day surrounded by family, friends and other loved ones. We missed sharing the day with our families. We have come to look forward to our Milwaukee Thanksgivings, so we were a bit sad not to be with everyone there. Though it was nice skyping with Klaus, Ange, Flavia and Christopher.

The girls and I had a very nice day shared with our friends on the 9th floor. In all, we hosted a beautiful, traditional Thanksgiving dinner for about 30 folks. I'll post some pictures when I receive them. Everyone picked a few favorites to cook. Half of the hallway was set up as a movie theater for the kids (featuring Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving and the Christmas Story); the other half our dining area complete with silk linens, fine china, and stunning floral arrangements. After feasting on deep fried turkey, five different potato options such as wasabi mashed potatoes, other family favorites and out of this world pies, everyone (including the kids) took a stab at karaoke. The girls are becoming very good!. I was in the hallway cleaning up and heard a kid singing a fairly good rendition of "We will Rock You". I peaked in and was shocked to see it was Ella.

The kids made placecards and turkey candleholders early in the day.

Movie Time.

Karl had a good Thanksgiving as well. Though I didn't hear much mentioned about turkey; rather how many helpings of pecan and pumpkin pie he enjoyed! He received the computer this week, which has been wonderful. We've been skyping just before the kids bedtime almost every night. Meghan just expects it, "I can't go to bed yet; daddy hasn't called on the computer!"

I do have to mention Thanksgiving was also a bit somber for all of us. A fellow Marine, Capt Warren Frank was killed on Tuesday in Iraq. He leaves behind his wife Allie and two very young little girls (a year and half and six month old). We recieved the news early on Thursday morning. Mary spent the day with her and will fly with her to Arlington next week for the funeral. We all found it hard to be cheerful which such sad news. Please pray for Allie and her family as they deal with this difficult situation.

-Erica

Karl - Saturday Nov 22

I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has written comments, sent letters and or care packages. Everything is appreciated and nothing goes to waste. I’ve been here around 20 days now, the time moves quickly as we are busy, but the days tend to be a blur. They are a blend of crazy acronym sentences for instance “ FOB MSQ sends report EF SAF, L launches QRF, QRF engages EF with 1 Mark 12, EF neutralized, NSTR further.” That is an easy one.

There are hosts of international agencies all over the country. We provide support to the World Food Program, not direct as they don’t like to associate with us, but indirect we watch their convoys and are prepared to send out the Cavalry to rescue them in the event one of the local insurgent and or criminal groups try to attack them and steal from them. We work directly with Provincial Reconstruction teams to provide infrastructure repair, and security for contract workers, mostly local construction companies. As well we provide support to the farmers as we try to wean them off of poppy with wheat and other consumables. It is an uphill battle.

Some of you have asked what you could send in a care package. I asked around and the answers vary of course. Books and magazines are good. I prefer history and political science. The Marines already have lots of Maxim, Stuff and every hot rod magazine known to man. There is a book written by Martin Ewans, I believe the title is a Brief History of Afghanistan, I read it a while ago and gave away my copy, many of the troops here want more information on the history of the place so that is a good book to send. It would also give any of you who want to know more a solid base of information about this very interesting country.

Erica mailed me my personal laptop and I will be able to hook it up in my quarters here once it arrives. The exchange service has WIFI established so I’ll be able to write directly to the blog. As of now I can use my gov’t computer to write emails only no web access. I am excited about that as I will be able to skype at times. I’ll also be able to load pictures so you can see some of the terrain over here. Though if you’ve ever been in the desert southwest (US) you already have a good idea.

Kid Killer Park

Our neighbors, all wonderful folks, ensured Karl not to worry about his family while deployed -- they would take care of us. Little did they know just how soon the girls and I would put them to the test. A week hadn't even passed yet and we required a trip to the ER. We went to the Sullivan's upstairs for dinner. Afterwards the kids were watching a movie and Carolyn decided to sit on the top of the sofa. Ella didn't appreciate Carolyn's legs in her face, so Ella pushed her off the couch. Carolyn landed straight on the floor, no time to react to the fall; smacking the back of her head on the concrete floor. She seems a bit dazed to us and her eyes didn't exactly dilate. We felt she was on the verge of a concussion, but not exactly. After a few minutes on my lap, she went out into the hallway to play. She came in a few minutes later to tell me she was seeing stars and two of me. That was it, to the emergency room. I really didn't want to take my chances since it was so close to bedtime. Our wonderful neighbors went into action. Mary Holt drove us to the hospital (@ 30 minute drive) while Marta Sullivan bathed and put Ella and Meghan to sleep. In the end Carolyn had a mild concussion. I wrote to a bunch of friends that I hoped this was our only trip to the ER while in Oki. I'm sure our neighbors were thinking the same thing. Little did we all know, one week later we would be back there.......

One of the great perks of Okinawa are the playgrounds. They are a throw back to the 70's parks of our childhood. Chipped off paint; metal equipment; rocky hard landing surfaces, etc. Mary and I took advantage of a day off from school and took the kids to the Civic Center Park or Yaejima Koen. It is perfect for the child who wants a little bit of everything, including a toddler park. But the highlights are a roller slide and drop-slide. The roller slide is a blast!! You slide down on cardboard pieces. We've seen a few kids with second degree burns from the metal rollers this summer. We were all grateful it was an overcast, damp day.

After a while on the rollers we decided to check out the drop-slide. They aren't kidding when they call it drop-slide. It is literally a sheer drop that bottoms out about 9 feet later and then starts again. Your feet literally dangle in front of you as you hold on to a bar. The slide is positioned on a rocky hill, so if you were to catch and fly off; expect severe broken bones.

We all were terrified to try it - no one wanted another trip to the ER. I think Mary and I were ready to pack it in, but Aidan, Mary's 6 year old son, was determined to try it. He slid down with great ease. Our fears dismayed, Carolyn and I then gave it a shot. Great, no problem. Even Meghan was willing to give it a try. Not a good idea. Something happened and Meghan and I became speeding bullets. We hit the middle section, caught air and smacked both of our heads on the slide and kept going. At the bottom, we both apparently started staggering, holding our heads in opposite directions. Poor Mary - yet again, she had visions of taking the Rohr's to the hospital! Meghan and I were able to shake it off; continuing on to the toddler playground.

Things just continued to go down hill. It was so bad it became funny. Not to be left out. Ella completed the family's injuries by smacking her face on the see-saw. The classic one kid gets off and sends the other flying injury. This time though Ella wasn't on the see-saw, she was just trying to get a closer look. The playground was coated with a slick layer of wet moss. The other kids kept slipping trying to run/walk to the equipment. We called it a day and headed for Starbucks to nurse our wounds.

Post note: that night my necked seized up. I got WHIPLASH from a slide!!! Crazy!!! But that was just how fast we were going. Thankfully my neck healed in a few days. I think we'll avoid the kid killer park for a while.

Sunday the 16 of Nov

Hi,

Slow morning today, I have been busy the last couple days. I am in charge of the future plans to include what we call mission analysis where you dissect the higher headquarters order, dig deep into the intelligence estimate for our AO and then build a campaign plan that should last in place at least two years. It is a labor intensive project but well worth it and not overly tedious. I get a lot of say in what we do and how we fight.

So that is what keeps me active over here. I just have to remember to go running and hit the gym. Unfortunately the chowhall is a lot closer!

The base itself is dry and dusty, a ramshackle of hesco (large prefab wire square containers filled with dirt) walls and concrete jersey barriers forming fortified compounds with various forms of hard buildings, tents and containers as offices, shops, houses. Everything you could need is here. We have an AFFES store and a German Duty Free (no booze though) store, they do have Cuban cigars. A barber shop, two coffee houses, several shops. They have a suit maker which I found odd since all we wear is camo utility uniforms. Couple rug shops (will send pics for orders soon). Oh yeah and a outdoor street hockey rink for the Canadians, they already had to send at least five soldiers home do to hockey injuries, that hasn’t stopped play though.

Erica sent me my lap top in the mail so in a few weeks I should be able to SKYPE and comment on the blog from here. They offer highspeed internet for $100 a month, it is Afghanistan afterall the infrastructure is crap. [Note, Karl can't access the blog or our yahoo email until he has access to non-government computers.]

I heard from SgtMaj Kasal and MSgt Corwin. They are doing great, the old RS is flying along. Sounds like all the work we did is holding strong.

I got the green light to start working on my plan, mimicking Dad’s strike force concept. It starts small, focused on building rapor and good will with the various agencies, services and nations. Luckily our reputation as go getters has preceded us and everyone wants to work with us. We provided air for a combined op yesterday, highly successful so it should boost our rep—give us credibility. I really can’t say any more then that, just know that we have good things working.

I’ll call and write as soon as I can. Erica sends me the blog comments when they come in.Thank you to all who comment, except Coach the EAGLES will win in the Meadowlands! That was a good game, I saw most of it on NFL replay.

Love -Karl

Powerpoints and Hockey Rinks

I've combined a few of Karl's emails to me this week to give you an idea of his life right now....

Hi Erica, well I came to the conclusion last night that you might as well box up my laptop and send it. I’m here for a while and if I have my own computer I will be able to log on in my room via wifi and utilize Skype. Time moves very slowly out here and the days drag. So maybe this will help speed it up a bit. I am doing well and getting the hang of what I need to do job wise. It is fun, particularly meeting the foreign services. British Marines, Canadians, French, Dutch, Germans, Latvians, Estonians,. The Canadians even built a hockey rink and play all night, roller hockey now ice hockey once it freezes. Weird. --Karl

The weather is nice here today, cool sunny, not too much dust in the air. I need to got to the gym though as I couldn’t get my butt out f bed this morning.

Do you now anyone who likes cigars? They have a German Duty Free store here that offers Cubans. J I am not a fan but that’s alright.

I am staying busy, lots of PPT slides and briefings to give and receive. It does remind me why I like being in command though. A commander provides the impetus behind the presentation, the guidance to create a good program but the staff does the work of building it. I am the staff now, so there I am building slides and working with my old nemesis the excel spreadsheet. Good skills but I am rusty.

The bazaar is this weekend and I plan on going out there with my camera and taking pictures of what is available. Make your x-mas list!

--Karl

Hello from sunny Kandahar

Hello from sunny Kandahar. Been here a few days and am enjoying the activity. There appears to be folks from every nation in the world here. From Koreans to Latvians, it is a real international mix. One of the nice amenities the Canadians brought are high speed espresso machines in the chowhall. Not bad. Down right civilized. You really shouldn’t fight a war with a bad latte. The Germans have a store next door to the Kyrgyz gift shop. I’m finding my way around and getting to know the team I am working with. We have a long way to go to get organized but things are promising. Not much activity from the bad guys so that is good, nice of them to let us get settled. I was able to catch most of the Eagles Giants game at the gym this morning too bad that one got away. In any event just wanted to let you know I was doing well and am looking forward to letters and or emails. I’ll be busy but I do get free time and that is a good time to read. I can sit out on our porch, to read, bs and or just watch the endless stream of beat up pick-up trucks and suv’s roll by. No Yuengling, but a cup of good coffee will pass for now. Thinking of you --Karl

Club Med

Once we found out Karl was deploying we decided we needed some good quality family time were we all could relax, reconnect and forge some new memories. Our travel agent suggested Club Med's Kabira resort an hour away by plane, located on the southern most Okinawan island. We spent three very relaxing days there swimming, snorkeling, and eating way too much. The first night we took in a show where Carolyn was asked to show her dance moves on stage. And of course did she ever! The next day Karl and I spent the day and evening together reliving life prior to kids, while the kids spent the time playing at Club Med's kids learning to juggle (or attempting to learn). Our last day, we lounged around the beach. At first, Meghan didn't like the fish following us around, but eventually got into it and she and I had a blast hunting for Nemo and his friends who we did find.

Views from hotel room

Carolyn's encore performance

Hello from Kuwait

Made it to Kuwait, been a long flight, still have several more to go to get to final destination. I was very happy that the Phils won when they did as I flew out the next day. Would have loved to have taken the girls to the parade. Even with Utley's classic, PHunny gaff. Before I left, in honor of the victory, I cooked up some cheesesteaks and listend to WIP on the internet, the steaks were good, but the bread; eh not so much. - Karl