MORE photos

Look More AWESOME photos by me... the first are from the Mairne christmas party, and the there are some i took the night of christmas.

I'm in the left side of the photo, they were auctioning off prizes such as no shave for a week civilian cloths for a month, 3 free hair cuts and so on... as you can see it was fun

these where the bar maids, they were getting drinks for us all night, lets see from left to right, Sarah, Cindy, Jasmine and Jane

And look even Santa payed us a visit

The night of Christmas was an AWESOME half moon so i went out to get these night shots, it was 9 at night when i took them and they havnt been edited in any way they are just as i took them, and there was only moon light no additional light was used.

This one was my favorite i beleive i am going to get a print and frame this one when i get home.

Its a photo day

So i went out into the country of Afghanistan and got some photos so i will be posting them for your viewing pleasure. and there will be more but i'm still editing and getting approved so there will be more in a few days.

Its been a while

So its been a while but i have been busy, first i escorted a reporter to the Afghan National Army Commando training camp, then they sent me here to Herat where i will be for the next month or so. i am doing well sorry i didnt write but because i'm on a base with only 4 computers on the internet there is a strickt time limit. But for now I love you all and i hope Thanksgivings was good for all of you.

It hurts all over

Ok so some updates on my life.

First I now work the night shift so I get to work at 9 p.m. and work until 9:30 a.m. just so you understand thats 9:30 a.m. AZ time to 10 p.m. AZ time (because of daylight savings i'm not sure how everyones time is affected so you can make the adjustments) and the night shift is pretty boring most days but others its very very busy. For example last week when the helicopters crashed I was here and I wrote the initial press release to send to our higher Public Affairs office who sent it to the U.S. media. That was a very busy night but nights like tonight i had 3 small tasks to do.

Second and your probibly wontering to yourself why title this blog "It hurts all over"... well it does almost every muscle in my body aches I started P90X two days ago and ouch, but its the good excersicing ouch.

Now just some rambelings.

I really miss my family, its so different being here then on a mission or at grandpa hatch's for the summer with those i never got home sick but being here has made me really home sick. I have come to have a lot of respect for the Men who left behind wifes and children to go on missions back in the early days of the church. Its hard for me and i have almost daily conversations with Hazel but they only had letters and most of those took weeks if not months to reach them. It had to be very hard . and its not just Hazel and Lorraine i miss, its everyone. Thanksgiving is coming up and i should be going to a thanksgiving dinner some where be it Mom and Dads new house in New Mexico or to Hazels family's thanksgiving both of which would really like to be at.

Its hard but I know I only have a couple of months left I am being told that I should be home in the middle of January sometime the exact date is unknown but I will let people know when I know. Which might not be until my plane lands in the US. See it goes like this I leave here and go to a different base to wait for a flight to the states. That flight will land somewhere in the eastern US. when I get there I will get my ticket to Phoenix (if i don't have it already) and that would be the latest I know but if my arrangements are all made a month in advance to include my flight to Phoenix well thats when I will post my "I will be home the ## of Jan" blog.

well nothing much happens here it boring but I have some photos I took of the Afghanistan sun rise and here they are........

both those were taken the same day notice the mountains

This was taken the next day see the mountains?? thats dust and dirt in the air some days the mountains are clear the next you cant even see them at all

if you remember i once said they burn trash... well here it is and this is light its usually much bigger.

And it Shook

As you may or my not know there was a 6.2 magnitude earthquake in Afghanistan yesterday. It happened about 100 miles from here. That was my first earthquake and let me tell you it was weird.

I was in my office with one of the other guys, he was just getting on the internet to e-mail his wife and hes getting on he says "Hey hatch come look at this" so i walk over to his desk and lean on it look over his screen. Well as i lean down the desk starts to shake and i say "What are you shaking the desk for?" and i stand back up... but the shaking doesn't stop. He looks at me and says "Dude i think its an earthquake." then it stopped nothing major happened other then the building shook but...

so that was cool.

Oh and Angie to reply to your comment Yes the cookies where Moms chocolate chip ones and yes Ryan was dropped on his head because hes the only person i know that doesn't like those cookies.

Heart burn, carpal tunnel, Headache and back pain

What do all the above have in common...?

Me.

This is going to be very short as I have very little time.

First i got heart burn from lunch... i was given a TUMS heartburn from a friend.

I will soon have carpal tunnel from typing to much (I have been working for 3 hours transcribing an interview the Commander had with 60 min, they released a clip of him and used it in a bad way, so now he wants the transcript.) like i said i have been typing for 3 hours and have only transcribed the first 17 min og an hour and a half interviw ahhhhhhhhh i'm not good at typing i'm slow and never learned the proper keyboarding so i look at my fingers..... stupid interview that lasted 1 hour 49 min.

I have a headache because... dont know i just have one and its getting worse, Maybe because i have been behind the computer screen for three hours with out a break. also the thing thats making my back hurt.

I think i will go for a walk to at least get out of this chair.

Everyone loves my Mom

Everyone loves my moms cookies, really i have heard conversations that go like this

"Have you tried Hatch's moms cookies, they are amazing, best cookies ever!!!"

Mom i got your box Friday, the cookies where gone Saturday afternoon. and i'm supposto ask if you could send more some people didnt get some and they really want to try the best cookies in the world. Also i shared some of the fruit leather, and the people i shared with said its amazing they had never had home made fruit leather. Yeah the people here LOVE YOU Mom.

I did enjoy the M&Ms as well, i havnt made the Apple crisp yet i just open the bag and smell it, it reminds me of the house in Clarkdale and coming in the house after picking apples and you making us kids apple crisp.... ummm its a tastey memory.

but i'm doing fine, yes the news is reporting all kinds of bad things but i'm not in danger all the fighting happens far from here.

I hope everyone is doing well, and cant wait to see you all again when i get home.

Thank you Angie

Well my internet connection got fixed today for a while it was very very slow but it gots fixed.

Angie i got your package thank you and thank your kids for smashing the bowling pins they might not have fit :) i liked your letter and if you watch the Super Coke Brothers video the second to last frame has the army men and the ninja you sent. And the candies have kept me awake during many boring meetings.

Its starting to get colder here its still in the 80s. I'm not looking forward to the cold i'm told it snows here, and that will make it worse ... brrrrrr i get chills just thinking about it. But i got super Army cold weather gear, its good to -40 so i think i should be warm.

I dub thy Sir... Coke

First I am sorry for not posting for a while life was really busy the last couple weeks. Ok so on to a story.

I went to the chow hall to get some more coke (I keep two... one at my desk and one in the fridge to stay cold, and I replace the cold one with the one at my desk and then I replace the one at my desk with one from the chow hall) ok so I go to get more and people have been stealing my cokes so I plan on taking as many as I can carry. So I’m stuffing my pockets with cans of coke and one of the chow hall guys walks by and says "you know I can just give you a case" so I thought AWESOME and said ok. so as I follow him to get my case he asked me where I worked I told him Public Affairs. He told me they had been looking for someone from PA to help them with a project they where doing. I said I would and he gave me two 24 packs of coke, on top of the eight I had in my pocket.

When I got back to the office Ryan and I started taking photos. Then we came up with an idea that idea is below .........

then i had to find some where to put my coke so others couldn't come by and steal all my stash so .....

This time

I have been trying to post for a while but our internet went down sort of... we went to dial up or worse speed. yeah imagin trying to find relevint news in the morning but it takes 20 minutes to open the NY Times home page and another 20 min to open an article.

Any way it should be fixed now so i wanted to post a few photos i have been unable to for a while

This is the camp lawn mower. we had another one but the kabab master cooked him up.

Here is a photo of part of the camp i live on.

Closer view, the building you see is the laundry room, and a you may not know there are locals from the nearby village that were hired to come and do the laundry, they wash dry and fold, all you do is drop it off. yep we have a full service laundry.

that a view of the village from my window throught a scope.


this is what passes for milk here, if you look at the top of the box you see two sets of numbers the one that says 210410 thats the exp date April 21 2010 yep and i took this photo Aug 21 2009

To make it better heres a side view... its 1% milk

this is a can of coke yeah it had the cool 50s-60s tab tops...

I really like how they mesure the "energy" in kilocalories... thats Awesome. whats even better you ask some drinks "energy" are mesured in kilojoules.... yeah look that on up...

I call this post Anger

So this morning I woke up and was tired very tired, I guess that’s what happens when you don’t get days off and you work 13 hours everyday. I digress, woke up tired- went through my morning routine shower, shave, brush teeth, take malaria pill, go to work. I stop by the chow hall to grab a pre-packaged cereal and a carton of milk, while there I also grabbed two Cokes one for me and one for the Major. went to work to start my work morning routine. Log on both computers to start gathering news for the commanders morning brief. Up to this point it was a regular day. Started reading headlines for the news that came out over the last 12 hours, the headlines really is what began my anger, here is a list of things I have problems with from the news.

1. The security guards in Kabul did a bad thing drop it your making your county look like Homosexual fools.

2. Really there’s a war going on I didn’t know..... thanks for telling me the daily body count, how about we start a body count for something that matters LIKE... smoking kills more Americans in a month, or more people are killed by drunk drivers.. These are problems in your own face deal with then the media has power just look...

3. I'm not a democrat I didn’t vote for Obama BUT he’s the president now I have excepted that, I have no complaints. But to my point, He promised to end this war... now he’s asking for more troops... lets look at this with just a hint of logic.

He promised we would leave a year ago
Now we need to increase troops
(Assuming he has Americas interest and safety in mind)
What could have changed his mind? just think about it...
Maybe he knows something now he didn’t know before, for a democratic man like Obama to be going the Republican party for help with a troop increase... hummm

I am tired of political bull, I sit behind my desk all day and I read the news the world is reading, then I read the Press releases our people are sending out, let me tell you something that’s not a STUPID body count.

before I begin on telling some stories I forgot some things. Here are some things I didn’t even know before I came here. Afghanistan has a "now" well trained army for the 8 years we where in Iraq small groups of troops were here training a better Army, and police force. We have had an such an impact on local villages that the locals came to us to get training to defend THEMSELFS. that grew into the Afghan Public Protection Program, they are a glorified neighborhood watch they ant police or soldiers just regular civilians willing to protect their village... Ok to the stories..

a few days ago there was a large flood it affected 18,000 people and destroyed 600 homes. The Afghan Army Commandos (like a special forces unit) by themselves, without help from the UN the US of anyone else, responded to the flooded area and administered medical aid (something they had learned in the training received by Coalition forces) After getting the assessment of the area from elders the commandos, coordinated with the red cross UNAMA, world food program and other agencies to help get food and shelter to the villagers.

They did it, not the UN not the US.

This is what we are trying to build here, a government and military structure so the people oppressed by warlords, drug smugglers and Taliban can stand up against them.

Really I guess I’m sick of everyone acting like kindergarteners, this last week I have had to deal with more childish things from "Americans" than I care for. If my daughter were to act like how some of these people have. she would get a smacked bum and a time out.

for example we had embedded media for CBS and FOX coming we set them up with what they wanted one would be here and the other would be there but then like happens in life things changed and a day before they got here both ended up being at the same place at the same time. a very childish fight insued were my office, particularly my Maj. took a brunt of the stupidity it was like two children fighting over a toy complete with tantrums and name calling. and the men from CBS and FOX both are at least 35 to 45, what I thought was "Adult".

but really I’m learning a lot like... there are more stupid people in the world then I thought... dad was right "if your going to do it do it right" I have seen half a$$ work and really I’m getting sick of it. Its really not hard to stay busy and do your job unless you don’t care then you just sit on you all to fat rear and play video games.

And I think last I just want to say I am sick of hearing the following, "Oh they work me to hard, Oh I can believe I have to be here for 4 whole months, Oh I’m so tired I cant wait for my day off, Oh its to hot in the building, Oh why cant I have... why cant I..." I might just rip peoples heads off most of the people I hear saying things like this don’t have a real job anyway like the guy who’s job it is to STAND at the end of the salad bar to tell the Afghans what to bring out, that’s it... that’s all he does, stands there and says "hay go get more lettuce". Just so you know this is not a complaint it is fact and I deal with it. I work 13- 15 hour days every day, on Sundays I get a break (I get to sleep in until 7:30 instead of waking up at 5:30). I don’t get days off, I sit in a hot office all day behind a desk for six months. That’s my current situation so I deal with it.

this has gone on for a very long time but I just thought of one more thing RACIAL Slurs, every war has one but I hear it all the time and it really make me angry, the Taliban tell the people we are rude and we don’t care about them, then the fact is reaffirmed in their minds as ignorant people call the locals to their face, and mind you these are locals that work on the base. I got so mad one day I walked by an African American soldier who was calling a man who's job it is to wash laundry, yes we have locals who will wash dry and fold your laundry. anyway this soldier is calling this nice old man in a very rude tone the racial term. I stopped walked back to him and said you need to just shut your mouth N*****." after he put his jaw back in I said " if you don’t like racial terms don’t use them on others, if you use one they all become expectable." I know but I really have issues with double standards... but I’ll save that for a different blog.

This was forwarded to me by my Major some are very funny

Random Thoughts of the Day:
1. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

2. More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

3. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

4. I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

5. Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk. (or check you pockets)

6. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

7. The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.

8. Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no Internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

9. There is a great need for sarcasm font. (oh yes there does, I get in trouble for being E-mail sarcastic)

10. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f*** was going on when I first saw it. (like Dune, Top Gun, the pink panther, and countless others I have rewatched thinking “I though this was cool when I was a kid” only to find out it was really stupid or vulgar)

11. I think everyone has a movie that they love so much; it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

12. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

13. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in. (especially when you live through the garage and down the stairs, ahh don’t miss the basement apartment)

14. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die. (Hazel that’s you job)

15. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

16. A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

17. Was learning cursive really necessary? (good one.. why not learn typing)

18. Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

19. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger. (Ummm I’m hungry or am I bored… I’m at work so probably bored)

20. Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

21. My brother's Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, "Cuz we beat you, and you hate us." Classy, bro.

22. Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

23. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

24. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

25. While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart. (O’Doyle Rules!!!)

26. MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood. (Or to the nearest freeway as well)

27. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

28. I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

29. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever. (True Story)

30. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

31. Bad decisions make good stories. (Like telling your parents “Yes I will drive to Cedar to pick up missy from girls camp, and I’ll take troy with me.”)

32. Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their
profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

33. Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?

34. If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

35. Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from; this shouldn't be a problem....

36. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day. (like just now… I think I will leave after this blog)

37. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs & Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection. (Or pay the ridicules amount of money to upgrade)

38. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

39. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to. (Argh what did I change… did I mean to change it.. did I hit a key so it not says by Hatvch…)

40. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

41. I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching his. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

42. While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China and USA . No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that when Chinese athletes don't win, they are executed.

43. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Darnit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away? (This wouldn’t be so funny if it hasn’t happened to me all the time)

44. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

45. When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

46. I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

47. Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...

48. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists. (Like the lady who wont use the LARGE bike lane in my sub-division but rides in the middle of the road)

49. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

50. It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

51. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

52. I think that if, years down the road when I'm trying to have a kid, I find out that I'm sterile, most of my disappointment will stem from the fact that I was not aware of my condition in college.

53. Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

54. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my a$$ everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...

55. My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that? (Son you really can run over a ninja they are to quick, hes probably under the car listening to us now… oh he just jumped to the car behind us.)

56. It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

57. I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

58. I think the freezer deserves a light as well. (Freezer Rights TODAY)

59. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

60. The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimate d that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There's nothing like being made to feel like a fat slob before dinner.

Its insane

If anyone would like to show there love, you can send me a four pack of the sharpie pens the ones with red, green, blue and black. I have already used the ink in mine. Silly putty is also AWESOME, or just about anything fun.

My address is

Chris Hatch
3-F
APO AE, 09354

P.S. post office flat rate boxes are super AWESOME the larges one is $11 to send. It could weigh 400 lbs, and still be $11.

Tyipical Day

0900- 1000 I arrived at work. I sat down logged in my computers. Then I arranged a playlist to work to (because if I don’t listen to music people like to interrupt and talk to me)Then I looked to see if there where any new press releases posted by Sgt Richardson in Kandahar, there were two. I downloaded said releases and started editing. Sgt Hill came in with four releases from yesterday that had been approved by the Colonel, I had to make changes on and send to Col Williams. I also checked Hazels Blog, checked my Army e-mail and deleted the 150 new e-mails I had.

1000 – 1100 Continued to edit press releases, got bored so I updated the slide show that tells us what everyone is working on. I took a screen shot of a cool Media Player visualization and used it as a background. I would say it now 50 times cooler then the old black writing on a white background. Then I downloaded 13 photos to go with one of the releases. Had to download them one at a time grrr. Was slap bet commissioner for crane and vans bet on the briefing slide. Crane bet Van that the slide was different then he clamed, Van won but was guilty of premature slapulation so Crane was awarded one slap of equal force.

1100-1130 Still downloading photos, 1120 Finished downloading photos and e-mail Sgt. Richardson for the cutline’s.

1130-1230 WENT TO LUNCH, ate; Corn beef, Afghani Rice and fries. Eat with Muller and Crane talked about stupid thing not related to work.

1225-1300 received email from Col Williams press releases disapproved… oh well they where stupid anyway. After restarting my playlist I began working on press releases again. Talked with Sgt Hill about current projects and how close to finished they are.

1300 – 1400 Finished my press releases, argued with Van because he’s an idiot, and needs to be destroyed. Listened to Live and the Beatles to calm down. Wrote on the white board, just wrote what each color marker we have. E-mail Richardson to get cutline’s for photos.

1400-1500 worked on a Photoshop document I have been trying. Also worked on Flash so I can relearn to make flash animations. Got e-mails from the Maj disseminated the work to Van as he hasn’t done anything all day… or week for that matter.

1500-1600 Worked on Flash thing, got to where I can make small movies where things fly in and out. Took Muller to the Store, he needed some boxes as he is moving to a different base in country.

1600-1630 At the store with Muller, waiting for dinner to start. Listened to Across the Universe soundtrack.

1630-1730 – Ate Dinner its Italian night yeah….

1730-1830 – Continued to play with flash, then went back to my room to read Artimis Fowel

Yeah I'm THAT COOL!!!!!

Think twice before taking the last step

well its been while, but due to the elections it was a little crazy. Things have calmed down now as Ramadan started.

As for me I am doing well the last week was a little tiring so i slept in this morning seeing i dint have a 9 am meeting. It was AWESOME. it was beyond AWESOME it was.....BeAWSOME..

I think for my next blog i will go through my day hour by hour discribing in great detail what i did and the maner in which it was done. it sounds like a superb idea.

The office penguin, hes in a time out for eating people.

My Office

This is a camel spide it has a venom that numbs the area it chews on, this one is small.

This is Lorraines Afghan dress.

The silk pants and head scarf.

Bazaar Photos

This is the infamous Surfing Camel only $5 to stand on him.

Some of the stuff sold at bazaars click for a larger view to see the genie lamps



Yet more stuff, these people just pile things on tables, don't ask where they get it but there's a lot.

You can find anything from belly dancer clothes to rugs..

to sets of swords. The best part is the swords are so dull I couldn't cut beach sand.

That very nice man sold me a very nice silk dress for Lorraine, he started his price at $60 but we came to an agreement at $40.

Well after a busy week the Public Affairs office is now "caught up" I'm told so i wont have to "work as hard" ... yeah that will last for tonight. if you hadn't guessed it was very busy this week and there was the day I was sick. The whole week really feels like it started yesterday there has been so much to do. If anything it made time go by quick, but I was only here or in bed asleep. If i was at work i was trying to get something done.

well i was planning on posting a video today but I fell asleep in my chair in front of my computer after work today like 7 pm and one of my roommates came in and woke me up at 9pm. I forgot to grab my camera as I left to come post, so no movie. Maybe tomorrow.

Other then being tired I am good, I hope everyone is doing well.

Sick of sanity

So i got sick yesterday and the day before was just to busy to write. So now I'm back and can write again.

Well things here are uneventful so let me describe what its like. I'm on a small camp that's part of Bagram Airfield (you have to have a special badge to get in). So i live on this camp, we have a sand volleyball court next to the chapel and the rec building. in the rec building we have morale phones to call home, a big screen TV to watch movies, pool table, ping pong, a barber, the Movie shop (any movie $3, but more are burned copy's or copy's of movies in the theater like harry potter 5). and then you leave there and behind it is the gym. as you walk away from the gym and to the left are the metal storage containers turned into rooms and straight past that the dining facility, its a good building except on Tuesday when they serve spaghetti.
I work i a larger building with the commander and his staff and a lot of other people.

This is me in an ARMY uniform

It’s difficult to explain

So I woke up this morning thinking everythings just fine, I dont have a morning breifing, I can go to church. So I got ready and I went to church. It was good, and I got a song stuck in my head, its been there all day, "Come Thou Fount".

Well I got back to the PAO shop and everyones a little on edge, as you may know because its been all over the news three more american troops died today.

I had the Honor to go to the ceremony as they get on the plane to return to the states. This is where it gets hard to explain. As I stood and photographey the whole thing happen I began to hum the song again. As they past me and started walking up into the C-17 I stopped and seluted those brave men.

As i was leaving i looked back at that C-17 fully light on the inside and three flags inside with thier friends and team mates slowly seluting and then kneeling to say their final good byes, its sad but yet noble and touching. Its hard to tell the way it is not even a photo could do it justice, I know this wont be the last but i dont imagine it gets easier.


Hazel To My Girls

Transformers

So today was somewhat of a slow day so I went out to shoot photos of the camp, well as I was walking around I spied some of my friends from Ft. McCoy I went over to talk. they told me

"we are going to go see the c-130 from the movie Transformers." (the big gin ship that fires on the scorpion in the desert).

So just being out to take photos I said

"Cool can I go and get photos?"

"Sure" they replied

So i went out and took photos for them.

below is a photo of me sitting in the back of the plane and below that is the decepticon symbol they put on during the movie. (Click the photos for a larger view)

By the way the little painted men each one stands for 5 men killed

Bazaar of insanity

I had an interesting experience today I went to a large bazaar held on Fridays here. I do believe next time I will take my camera there were a lot of ummmm interesting things there was also a lot of junk. Just a couple observations that make me think I’m not so insane. I say a guy attaching a Katana (sword) to his 9mm holster like he was starting a new fashion... because everyone will soon be fighting with cheap made swords that aren’t even sharp?

We saw a live camel, you could take a photo of the camel for $3 you could take your picture with the camel or sitting on it for $5, Last you could take your picture STANDING ON the camel, how AWSOME is that it’s like a new sport Camel Surfing. There will even be songs…

If everybody had a Camel
Across the U.S.A
Then everybody’d be surfin
Like Afghan i-a
You’d seem em wearing their burkes
Huarachi sandals too
A bushy bushy Brown Turban
Surfin U.S.A.
Watch somehow weird al will get a hold of this and it will be a Hit song.

Insanity continues

1. And it came to pass Airman hatch spent his days in disbelief... of the fact that somehow the sun is brighter here and there is sand blowing everywhere... therefor being a wise person he wears sunglasses everywhere to inhibit the sun and sand from ruining his eyes. Nevertheless he can help but breath in all the burning trash and human waste that the locals burn every Thursday, and if the wind blows the right way it lingers over his camp. Forget every being able to give blood again.

2. Despite missing his beautiful wife and daughter Airman Hatch thinks Afghanistan looks a lot like the stretch of highway between Vegas And L.A.

3. Hazel Check this For My Girls

First post to insanity

Dear family and friends

As part of my journey into a slow spiral of insanity I have decided to document the process for the good of mankind.

This journey began in a place called Manas Airfield, where I waited for 3 days to get a flight to Afghanistan. Below are the living arrangements I was given upon arriving.

If the sun wasnt up the lights where on, it was never dark, there where always people coming and going, I mannaged a whole 8 hours sleep in the 3 days we where there. It did however help me ajust to the time diffrence in Afghanistan (its 11 and a half hours ahead of Arizona)