Sunny side of Khost

Yes, we are doing our part to keep America's tent producers in business. It's remarkable to me how much this place reminds me of good ol' Twentynine Palms with its rocks, dust and desert climate, which should bring a tear to any Marine's eye (or a curse from his mouth, more likely). I'm drawing a blank on any other descriptions at the moment, having spent FAR too many hours inside the stuffy confines of the operations center.



We had an interesting time of it here this past weekend, when a threatened rocket attack put the base on alert. Our long-range fire and aircraft were quick enough to break up the force before they could launch, so we remained safe... [military censor intervenes here: Operational Security precludes AfghaniDan from saying anything further]...and that's about all I know about attempted rocketing of this place, besides actually wearing helmets and body armor for a few hours.



Ah, the Media Operations Center, the base conference center and jewel of our multimedia empire! This is a luxury building in Afghanistan, people. It's actually a great little place for meetings, lunches and even the occasional dinner. Aziz and his staff are the most gracious hosts, and do wonders cooking up the same stuff that the chow hall butchers!

And on a totally non-Afghanistan-related note: Let's welcome back the NHL from its Olympics break with a photo from February 3...Scott Stevens, one of the greatest defenseman ever to play the game, had his #4 jersey retired in NJ. Let's go Devils!