Christmas in Afghanistan
I have spent most of Christmas day with my staff and friends. It's been a beautiful day.
The four of us in my office spent the morning reminiscing about where we were this time last year and some of our favorite Christmas memories. We exchanged gifts and shared lots of food. It was relaxing.
I sat for a long while with one of the other primary staff officers and we reminisced about our time in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and compared those days to our experiences here in Afghanistan. We're quite a bit older now, and obviously much more senior. This is also a much different war. But we both agreed that once again we'll leave here with good memories and unique experiences of which we can be proud.
This afternoon I volunteered for guard duty so that a force protection soldier could have the day off. That's a tradition in many places -- the staff officers volunteer to do things like KP and guard duty so that those troops can have a holiday. I got to stand in a tower for two hours and watch people drive and walk by.
Our food service contractor once again put on a huge feast for us from 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. featuring turkey, steamship round of beef, king crab legs, Cornish hens, fresh shrimp and a variety of salads and desserts. It was delicious.
I took a short nap and then headed over to a "safe house" where one of our contractors had a holiday party. There was an eclectic group of military, UN, Embassy and others at the gathering, and a huge spread of food. I always enjoy those types of get-togethers because the conversations can be so interesting. They couldn't find any mistletoe so they printed off pictures of TOW missiles and hung them over the doorway instead. (TOW missiles are anti-tank missiles) So everyone got kissed under the TOW missiles. Only in a war zone!
I caught a ride back to the compound with a couple of folks from the Defense Intelligence Agency and arrived just in time for our command group Christmas party. Several of the staff worked very hard to decorate the conference room and offer some fun things to do, including setting up an office putting green and having some remote control cars to play with. The staff presented the commanding general with a few gag gifts and we all had a good laugh. Of course it's all alcohol-free and rather low key, but it's good to relax with people you work with day in and day out.
Believe it or not, I'm kind of pooped out from having two days off. I guess that's because I tried to stay busy and not dwell on being so far from home on Christmas.
The only down side to the holiday, besides being away from home, is that we have too few long distance lines and I haven't been able to get a line out all day to talk to my husband, children and mother. I'll keep trying because I'd hate for Christmas to go by without actually talking to them on the phone.
Tomorrow I've been invited to celebrate "Boxing Day" with some British friends. I'm looking forward to that as well.
I hope your Christmas was merry.
The four of us in my office spent the morning reminiscing about where we were this time last year and some of our favorite Christmas memories. We exchanged gifts and shared lots of food. It was relaxing.
I sat for a long while with one of the other primary staff officers and we reminisced about our time in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and compared those days to our experiences here in Afghanistan. We're quite a bit older now, and obviously much more senior. This is also a much different war. But we both agreed that once again we'll leave here with good memories and unique experiences of which we can be proud.
This afternoon I volunteered for guard duty so that a force protection soldier could have the day off. That's a tradition in many places -- the staff officers volunteer to do things like KP and guard duty so that those troops can have a holiday. I got to stand in a tower for two hours and watch people drive and walk by.
Our food service contractor once again put on a huge feast for us from 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. featuring turkey, steamship round of beef, king crab legs, Cornish hens, fresh shrimp and a variety of salads and desserts. It was delicious.
I took a short nap and then headed over to a "safe house" where one of our contractors had a holiday party. There was an eclectic group of military, UN, Embassy and others at the gathering, and a huge spread of food. I always enjoy those types of get-togethers because the conversations can be so interesting. They couldn't find any mistletoe so they printed off pictures of TOW missiles and hung them over the doorway instead. (TOW missiles are anti-tank missiles) So everyone got kissed under the TOW missiles. Only in a war zone!
I caught a ride back to the compound with a couple of folks from the Defense Intelligence Agency and arrived just in time for our command group Christmas party. Several of the staff worked very hard to decorate the conference room and offer some fun things to do, including setting up an office putting green and having some remote control cars to play with. The staff presented the commanding general with a few gag gifts and we all had a good laugh. Of course it's all alcohol-free and rather low key, but it's good to relax with people you work with day in and day out.
Believe it or not, I'm kind of pooped out from having two days off. I guess that's because I tried to stay busy and not dwell on being so far from home on Christmas.
The only down side to the holiday, besides being away from home, is that we have too few long distance lines and I haven't been able to get a line out all day to talk to my husband, children and mother. I'll keep trying because I'd hate for Christmas to go by without actually talking to them on the phone.
Tomorrow I've been invited to celebrate "Boxing Day" with some British friends. I'm looking forward to that as well.
I hope your Christmas was merry.
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