Good things come to those who complain.

A good chunk of time has been spent waiting and as people know I am very calm very patient, ok that’s not true, I have spent my time snooping around Bagram, nothing to serious, no off limit areas there is no sneaking involved, but I do have 70s cop show music playing in my iPod when I do snoop. I stroll along the main road wearing a shammang around my neck and a Tilley’s hat or one of those Tajik hats that Massoud wore, but you must compliment Afghan garb with at least 1 piece of American kit, like my USMC boots, or Multicam pants, this confuses people, I don’t walk like a Afghan yet the garb says I could be, the boots are Marine Corps but I am not clean shaven. Not a lot of people will question a mean looking 6’2” guy that walks like he owns the show. When I flew into Bagram a Chief Warrant suggested I go to the supply depot for a better helmet, my PAO (public affairs officers) said no way no how, so in true Jake style I walked into the supply office and inquired, they looked at me and asked if I was special forces… no I can’t lie, I told them I was a reporter, the nice lady said I can’t help you, I was cool with that. The lady suggested I go next door and inquire, I walked next door and they said you need to see the Captain, the Captain was a 50 plus retired officer, 5’5”, who’s office was in a Sea crate that housed a desk and TV tuned to the Food network, I walked in and started to plead my case, she stopped me and said in her firm voice “wait who are you and why are you here?” God I was screwed, I walked into a lion’s cage with Bertha the housekeeper from Two and a Half Men, I had to salvage this situation or I could be in trouble, she asked where I got all that fancy clothing and what unit I was with, great here comes the truth and she is just going to love that I am a reporter that is not even American. I did my best apology for not introducing myself I told her who I was and that I had a big head and this old helmet from 1991 that won’t stop bullets. The Captain stared at me and didn’t look amused, she barked let me see that, she looked inside the helmet, “well it aint part of the recall.” Just then a Colonel walked in and the Captain said "watch what you say he is a reporter," now when people say that I have a whole comedy routine setup to defuse people, I have been using it for years because Photographers are not vultures like writers and people have less to fear from us. The Captain and Colonel laughed at my little speech and 2 Sergeants walked in and started joking with me and we talked as if we were old friends, they asked if I was giving the Captain a hard time I said “ are you kidding I am more afraid of her then she is of me.” The Captain looked at me, picked up the phone and barked in the receiver, “bring me 2 helmets, a large and extra large.” My God this working, for the next 30min I sat there fussing with pads and straps on this $600 helmet.

I walked back to the hut where I am staying and sat down rather pleased with myself. Later on that night when the sun had dipped behind the mountains I went to the MWR (what ever that means) to do laundry and watch movies, the room held 2 washers and 4 dryers that would take 3hrs to dry, I watched 2 movies while my wash went though and dried, black Soldiers played dominoes in the background and others hung around the 2 beat up pool tables, I could barely hear the TV over all the loud Southern drawl. I've been having a hard time understanding many of the American soldiers as they have a heavy accents and are overall soft spoken, it’s odd because I am use to the Americans and their way of speaking but either through fatigue or thin air I often find that I am asking them to repeat themselves or I just nod and laugh like some confused Chinaman.

Back in my room I tried to figure out this blog thing that Tom Elliot had setup and attempted to move content to it. My blog is at http://jakewrightblog.blogspot.com/ I think it will be hard to get people to move over from facebook where most of my crap goes, because the Blog is more efficient. I sleep well at night and I welcome the cold air that comes with it, due to the water I consume I have to piss in the middle of the night and for me that’s unusual. For most people using the washroom at 3 am is a matter of walking down the hall to the bathroom, this on the other hand requires me going to another building. There is also the added threat of Scorpions and big spiders that come out at night I wear sandals at night and being stung in the foot is my fear, so I kind of Monty Python funny walk past the sand bags and bomb shelters to the latrine looking like quite the fool.

I slept well and woke at 430am, which was late for me, I typed up some emails and went back to bed and woke up at 520am and went to the chow hall for Sausage McMuffins. As usual breakfast was breakfast and other then a dose of CNN and Fox news I ate and left. As I left I spotted the badges for the helicopter support crew and hit them up for info on how to get off this base, they pointed me to a near by building. I walked over and ended up shooting the shit with 2 guards and talked war and politics for 2 hours. I never did get to talk to a officer about catching a ride out.

After my chit chat I went back to the building where I met the Sergeants from Vermont 2 days earlier, they weren't in but their staff gave me a brand new Stanley wheeled tool box the size of a small bath tub, there were dozens outside, there were even these expensive looking smaller wheeled boxes that were very expensive and looked like they held stinger missiles but they were too small, I had to resist the temptation to take one. I pulled my new toy back to my hut like a little boy with his red wagon. I could now amalgamate most of my luggage and vest into one wheeled box. The timing was perfect because as I returned the PAO officer informed me I would be leaving for Forward Operating Base Shank at 5am tomorrow.