Christmas in Kandahar
Well, it’s not quite the trenches of WWI, or the Battle of the Bulge, but Christmas in Kandahar is special in its own way.
In a previous blog I noted that holidays are not the same when you are deployed, and that is true. Some holidays are even more special, more meaningful, when you are deployed, especially to a war zone. Christmas must be the biggest, and the hardest, holiday to spend deployed. There is nothing like Christmas with family and friends, but as you can see we do have our deployed family and our deployed friends to lean on during this time of year.
Tonight at the Christmas Eve service the chaplain talked about Peace on Earth, and how far away it seems in this place. Yesterday we spent an hour in the bunkers during a rocket attack. Tonight we’ve got three patients in the operating room, injured while the tried to emplace an IED. Sometimes it seems peace has forgotten Afghanistan, and some other places as well. I guess the best we can do, the place we can start, is finding peace in our own hearts.
I will be spending Christmas Day at the flight line and passenger terminal, welcoming a new contingent of Jordanian Army forces, then flying with them out to Camp Eagle, a remote ANA/Jordanian camp in southern Afghanistan. I will miss the traditional Christmas dinner, but I will have a traditional Jordanian/Arab feast to welcome the new Jordanian commander. I don’t think we will have turkey, but I’m sure there will be goat, rice, yogurt and fruit, among other things.
For anyone who is wondering, I was not fired from my other job. I was always scheduled to come down to Kandahar and Qalat after my unit finished it’s mission at FOB Salerno. For a number of reasons I was needed here earlier than expected, so I departed FOB Salerno on short notice and arrived here at KAF on 17 Dec. Now, with the arrival of the new Jordanian forces I will move to FOB Lagman, near Qalat, Afghanistan to assume duties as the liaison officer for the Jordanian Field Hospital.
I will be incommunicado for almost a week, while I am travelling to some places without internet access. Once I’ve settled again I’ll let you know where I am and how the mission went, and how the traditional arab dinner went as well!
Until later.
Phillips, out.
Well, it’s not quite the trenches of WWI, or the Battle of the Bulge, but Christmas in Kandahar is special in its own way.
In a previous blog I noted that holidays are not the same when you are deployed, and that is true. Some holidays are even more special, more meaningful, when you are deployed, especially to a war zone. Christmas must be the biggest, and the hardest, holiday to spend deployed. There is nothing like Christmas with family and friends, but as you can see we do have our deployed family and our deployed friends to lean on during this time of year.
Tonight at the Christmas Eve service the chaplain talked about Peace on Earth, and how far away it seems in this place. Yesterday we spent an hour in the bunkers during a rocket attack. Tonight we’ve got three patients in the operating room, injured while the tried to emplace an IED. Sometimes it seems peace has forgotten Afghanistan, and some other places as well. I guess the best we can do, the place we can start, is finding peace in our own hearts.
I will be spending Christmas Day at the flight line and passenger terminal, welcoming a new contingent of Jordanian Army forces, then flying with them out to Camp Eagle, a remote ANA/Jordanian camp in southern Afghanistan. I will miss the traditional Christmas dinner, but I will have a traditional Jordanian/Arab feast to welcome the new Jordanian commander. I don’t think we will have turkey, but I’m sure there will be goat, rice, yogurt and fruit, among other things.
For anyone who is wondering, I was not fired from my other job. I was always scheduled to come down to Kandahar and Qalat after my unit finished it’s mission at FOB Salerno. For a number of reasons I was needed here earlier than expected, so I departed FOB Salerno on short notice and arrived here at KAF on 17 Dec. Now, with the arrival of the new Jordanian forces I will move to FOB Lagman, near Qalat, Afghanistan to assume duties as the liaison officer for the Jordanian Field Hospital.
I will be incommunicado for almost a week, while I am travelling to some places without internet access. Once I’ve settled again I’ll let you know where I am and how the mission went, and how the traditional arab dinner went as well!
Until later.
Phillips, out.
3 comments:
Peace in our hearts. Very profound words. And, like they say, everything begins at home. So as you and so many of our selfless military personnel and your families spend this Christmas and holiday season apart - continuing the amazing work you are doing - I can only hope that those of us here at home and around the world will consider those words - Peace in our hearts.
Safe travels. Always look forward to your updates.
FOB Lagman
2-22, Ton we have NEVER FORGOTTEN.
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Rich,
We're looking forward to hearing more about the new mission.
thanks for all you do.
You're really keeping RSS hopping.
I hate the giving of the hand unless the whole man accompanies it. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
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