So, here I am, almost three months into a six month tour in Kabul, Afghanistan.... Not too bad if you ask me. I'm working on a NATO base and get the opportunity to interact with quite a few different nationalities. Life here is pretty routine and, some would say, boring. Punctuated, of course, by the odd rocket attack or two. I can honestly say that we haven't had any rocket attacks this month. Pretty good feeling.

Mom sent me a package which arrived today. Great stuff. Pictures of the girls (looking good!) some Oreos and some excellent chocolate chip cookies. I'm not much of one for cookies but they really hit the spot. A few months of sugar deprivation will really make you appreciate a good ol' American preservative laced sugar high. I shared the chocolate chip cookies with some of the other folks here and we had a grand time.

We started watching the miniseries "Band of Brothers." I can't believe I hadn't taken the time before to watch it. Really good stuff.

We had a planned terrorist attack last week. Two remote controlled improvised explosive devices. I had the chance to play first string on the team that reacted to that one. Some good work on everybody's part and three bad guys and two IEDs were taken out of business. We're happy that nobody was hurt. The potential damage was incredible.... Sadly, that really seems to be the way life goes around here. A small group of bad guys do things that directly affect the lives of others in ways that are incredibly ugly. And they don't care about the consequences. Sad.

We're working between 14 and 18 hours a day on a routine basis. It was the same thing in Kosovo. There's just not much else to do. We have the opportunity to go over to the bar and chat with folks and have a drink or two but that gets old real quick. One runs the danger of becoming a raging alcholic if not kept busy. Then again, we have an incredibly great bunch of guys here. Dedicated and hard working. Love their jobs and are very, very good at it. I don't think I could have ever asked to work with better folks. My hat's off to them.

Sure miss the family though. I'm hopefully going to take a week's mid-tour leave soon. Maybe within the next week or two. I'll return home and visit with the family. That'll really be nice. There's a lot that goes on in three months. I hate to miss that.

Not much else to say. I'll sign off and get some sleep. Try to make an early night of it. First time in a long time.

God bless and have lots of fun.