Living on the Air Field

I finally made it.  I'm working on Kandahar Air Field (KAF).  It has taken me months to get here and for what?  To work twelve hour days seven days a week.  To cook in 100 degree heat in May.  To not see any green vegetation at all, I mean none, big fat zero.  Actually life on the air field is not so bad.  It is a melting pot with armed forces, civilians, and other personnel from more than twenty countries.  I estimate there to be 30,000 people on the base.  There are enormous dining halls all catering to different tastes.  There's European, British, Canadian/American, and South Asian dining facilities.  There is a really nice gym, and one not so nice one.  There is a large store, a TGI Fridays (built out of containers I think), and other restaurants.  The thing that is most absent from the base is the Afghan people.

There are many quirks/oddities living here.  First, the few women that are here, maybe ten percent of the total, are treated like queens.  But they do so while tolerating a lot of stares.  So good for a one to one ratio.  A brightly colored reflective belt must be worn at night or you will get fined.  No alcohol is allowed.  A veritable air show is constantly going on overhead with several different fighter jets zipping around, the occasional predator drone humming lazily by, and fat cargo planes barely getting off the runway.  The loudspeakers for incoming or rocket attack are called either "the big voice" or "the giant voice"  and speak in a British lady's voice.

There is one stinking oddity about the airfield.  The "poo" pond was built upwind of the camps (the Russians seem to be to blame, or at least that is what I'm being told). The stink has been pretty bad some days, so I can imagine it will only get worse as it gets hotter.  And to think, the pond was designed for about half the population that is currently using it.  I think nose plugs might be more important than ear plugs here.

Rocket attacks are a fairly frequent event on the base, though I haven't experienced one yet.  The base is pretty easy to hit since it covers some thirty square miles or so.  Since I haven't experienced an attack yet, I don't know what they sound like.  I have been getting laughed at, because I keep ducking when I hear fighter jets hitting their brakes overtop of the base.  To me it sounds just like a rocket coming in should sound.  At least I haven't hit the deck yet for no reason.