Another day, another base

In the last week I’ve already slept in four different beds, and tonight we’ll make it five. I headed up north to Kabul today to get my press stuff squared away, and I’ll be moving back south tomorrow to actually embed with my unit and start working. (Of course, I’ve already written three stories, but I haven’t done any work yet.)

At this point, I just want to get somewhere where I can find the bathrooms quickly. But this camp does have a laundromat, so everyone at my next stop will be very much appreciative of that.

Since the pictures were such a hit yesterday (and since I’m using a good old commercial internet line this time) let’s throw a few more scenes out there for you:


This is Bagram Air Base, really the hub of all U.S. operations in Afghanistan. Note the imposing mountains in the distance – when the Russians first came here this was a valley swamp which they promptly filled in to make a landing strip. So now the area is a searing dust bowl, but when the skies clear the mountains are really incredible looking.

For my trip up to Kabul I took a helicopter, and as is standard every time I’m in a helicopter…


… they left one of the doors open. Seriously, this is the fifth open-air 1,000-foot-altitude flight I’ve taken in my life (including one in a biplane, I kid you not). And I’ve got a thing with heights. This dude sat on the edge of the bird the whole flight, scanning the ground for bad guys and acting as if he was lounging in a deck chair (note the little cushion under his tushie). I managed not to hyperventilate this time, but I did have a good white-knuckles grip on that camera.

More pictures coming when I get home of everything, but I wanted to give y’all a glimpse at over here. It’s very gray and khaki everywhere, but there are the occasional blotches of hue that remind me I haven’t gone colorblind yet.

Also, we’ll have some more story links tomorrow (with professional pictures this time). If you can’t wait, you know where to find them, anytime after 5pm today.