Rain drops keep falling on my head

Remember that famous song "Raindrops keep falling on my head" by Burt Bacharach highlighted in the movie, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid? I thought about that this week as we had our first rains in a long time. The weather is not quite cold enough to snow, so we got a little rain. Actually, the rain is really nice because it cleans up the air and gets rid of all the smog and dirt floating around. It is nice to have somewhat cleaner air to breath as we normally are subjected to air that is filled with dirt, dust, and who knows what. They say that dust primarily consists of dead skin cells and here in Afghanistan they say it consists of about 50% fecal matter. (Oh that is disgusting). I don't know about you, but I am one of those people who when I blow my nose, I always look at what came out. Not sure if it is curiosity or some habit I developed as a young boy to gross people out. What I normally find here after a good blow is a tissue filled with black "dirt" as if I had been caught in a fire. This is not as bad as some people I have seen who hold one nostril and blow onto the ground, now that is disgusting. OK, enough gross out, the point is it was nice to have a little rain to clean out the air.

Work continues to be busy. I had the opportunity this week to host a tour of several logistics facilities for General Terry. We saw, maintenance facilities and warehouses and traveled through downtown Kabul. It was an amazing site, the city was packed with cars and people and it took us over 40 minutes to get through it all. It made me feel like I was in any big city in the US. Of course, in the States I usually don't have to worry about some vehicle ramming into me and blowing up. It was nice to see the hustle and bustle of a city, I am sure they must have all been out Christmas shopping, you know how holiday traffic is. Yes I am kidding.

We have several big projects going on and they are really keeping us busy. We are reconstituting the Afghan National Police sending lots of supplies down range. We are also fielding the Afghan National Army with M-16 rifles changing them over from AK-47's. This is a huge process as there are training requirements in addition to getting them the weapons. I am looking forward to a break.

I am counting the days now until I go on leave and head home for Christmas and Thomas' birthday. Only 7 more days until I leave and about 9 or 10 until I am home. I am looking forward to seeing Rebecca, Thomas and Madigan and relaxing a bit. Rebecca and the kids have been busy getting ready for the holidays and I think all the stress may have caused Rebecca to get sick, which of course spread throughout the house. I hope they are all well when I get home.

Peace to you all,

Pat