Mountain Sailor

We are back home! 447 days from the start of training to returning to the US. 87 days of training and 360 days "Boots On Ground". ...

We handed in the body armor, cleaned the weapons, recycled the usable, sent home the keepers and basically got rid off most of the gear issu...

As I mentioned, it's extremely hot here. Mid summer reached mid 120's, so we are happy it is "only" about 115 in the dayti...

After a one-day delay, we left Kabul for Kuwait on the 15th. I was up around 1 in the morning unable to sleep even though our show-up time ...

During my year in west Afghanistan, we lost two American military from our base to hostile activity. One was a soldier who died in a firefig...

Kabul is not as dusty as Herat, seeing that it's the largest city with lots of buildings to block the wind. A helicopter landing on the ...

Doing lots of internet stuff, even keeping up with the bills at home. Watched some movies, working out (not easy 6000 feet above Navy, I mea...

That's the "A Little Travelling Music" stance from Jackie Gleason as "away we go" in front of my empty rack. Next is...

Camp Phoenix is the main HQ for US and coalition forces in Kabul. We convoyed from Camp Stone near Herat to the airport Sunday morning on Au...

Same title as the first post on the blog. We've sent most of our gear ahead of us to our redeployment base near the capital. The picture...

The hospital outdid itself with the biggest party ever given there (well, it's only 2 years old). They moved all the chairs into the lob...

Welcome to the hospital to the new Navy Medical Embedded Training Team! They arrived after 60 hours of travel from Kansas to Herat. We helpe...

Some pictures to remember the camp by: A couple of our corpsman like to cook up something on their own using a hot plate. Friday is the usua...

Our replacements have arrived, a team of 13 Navy officers, chiefs and petty officers. They left Kansas and arrived here about 60 hours later...

On 22 July, close to a ton of books and journals were donated to the Herat Regional Military Hospital and the Herat Medical Faculty of Herat...

Two of our corpsmen put up decorations for Halloween last October, the first "decorative" holiday since our arrival last September...

The hottest time of the summer. Highs 97 to 104 with 100+ most days. Light winds at sunrise then 30-40 MPH by midday and blowing grit. Gawd,...

We received visits from docs stationed in Kabul. One shows Air Force Col. Hall and Navy CAPT May, both physicians, who are senior mentors to...

We received a 4 day visit from CDR Huynh, a trauma surgeon assigned to mentor at the National Military Hospital in Kabul. She and her collea...

We share Camp Stone with Spanish, Italians and Slovenians. The following was sent to all of us from one of the Spanish officers: It was bet...

Even a week in Afghanistan would make me appreciate our freedom, people and prosperity, let alone a year. We celebrated our 232nd birthday w...

Our team lead, CAPT Richerson and family provided the t shirts shown for the entire team of 14. His family also sent Halloween treats, goodi...

Apparently the name Books Without Borders has been used elsewhere and merger did not fit the missions of both organizations. The UCLA Medica...

Some things I'll never see at home. The gunners in the Italian armored vehicles usually have a bunch of black feathers stuck to their he...

Many thanks to sister Paula and brother Dave for their support of Books Without Borders via contribution. 20 boxes of literature weighing o...

One of the participants with Books Without Borders is the University of California at San Diego. This project was started at UCLA to send m...

This annual event occurs during the hot season. Four months of winds with frequent days of 30-40 miles per hour. Kicks up a lot of dust. Rec...

Had a great time in Qatar but the travel is always a challenge. We finally got back to Herat on Sunday the 15th (Happy Father's Day) via...

My friend Don and I signed up for the water sports day and had a blast. We rode the dhow as shown. 100 years ago they were sail powered an...

We went on the tour of Doha today, the capitol of Qatar. Doha has 1/2 million residents (out of 900K population for the whole country) but ...

Pronounced variously KOTter, kuhTAR, or even GHATter. Shown is my buddy Don Sylvester and me at Mullarkey's Irish Pub at the Qatar base...

For Mine Resistent Ambush Protected vehicle. These have been heavily used in Iraq and now I have seen a bunch of them. Can't say where o...

June 3 2007 marked our arrival at Norfolk Naval Station to begin the Navy Mobilization Processing System. Glad it's behind us and only ...

We are allowed a single 4 day out of country pass so I and another on the team are heading to Qatar. We're at the major airbase in Afgh...

Officially 100 for the first time this year. Not the last time, it is only May 29. Humidity 6%. So far our heat pumps keep the huts comfo...

I have had the pleasure of free Italian classes by Captain Valent of Tuscany, a paracadutisti (parachutist) of the Esercito d'Italia (It...

Memorial Day certainly has more meaning today. The entire camp (including our Italian, Spanish and Slovenian colleagues) gathered as planne...

Today, I consulted on a brigadier general of the Afghan National Police for western Afghanistan. He was very gracious and appreciative. We...

Wow, what a day. Shown is the Surgeon General of the Afghan National Army, Major General Yaftali with our team leader CAPT Richerson (same r...

Just arrived, our official command coins. We on the Morale, Welfare and Recreation committee (MWR) put together the design, got bids and use...

Yup, an accidently self-inflicted wound. As he set the butt of his rifle on the ground, it discharged a round up into his armpit and out th...

We have been warned of the "120 days of wind" that come every summer. Today we reached 93 degrees, no rain in a month (none expect...

Great turnout today. We had a fun day of activities in the fall and planned this one for two months. Lots of competitions like 3-point sho...