Today has been the day of crappy weather. It started out overcast and then we got a dust storm and to close it off it's been raining for the last 4 hours. Normally that isn't a huge issue but the ground doesn't absorb the water so there are these mud pools everywhere.
Today was the day of Valentines at KAF. We shot most of the story; we went down to Canada House and got pictures of them decorating the place, some pictures of the mail arriving for the soliders and an interview with some of the boys about what they're doing for the big day. Then we went down to the American PX to look at their display of Valentines stuff.
Tonight is fairly quiet, logging the tapes and figuring out what to feed for our pool commitment. Last night we ended up having to file so I think we make tonight I quiet night since we came into the office around 10 after going to bed around 2:30 last night.
Fairly simple here.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Day 7
Sorry that I have been absent for a few days, there were issues logging into the website and I've been pretty busy.
Sunday was a busy day! My gear finally arrived from Dubai, quickly checked it over and made sure that I had what I need. Then I loaded up the key things into an armoured vehicle and set off with the Task Force Commander to the PRT in Kandahar City with the rest of the Canadian embedded media. There was change of command ceremony taking place and the general was there to oversee it. We travelled by armoured car to and from the event. The drive was about an hour or so, decent ride. When we got there it was pretty quiet, there are fair less people at the camp than at the base and there isn't any air traffic so no planes coming and going. It's a little weird after spending a week at KAF to come to a place that's dark at night and there isn't any noise. The Canadian government filled us in on some of their projects and then we were done for the night, it was like 9 at night. I didn't really know what to do with myself since at the base I finish around midnight to 3 in the morning so I went back to my sleeping area and read for a while and then went to sleep. The next morning came quick, had to be up a little after 7 for breakfast and another briefing, this time a walking tour of the facility. The change of command ceremony happened, we scrummed a few of the commanders and then we were back in the vehicle to go back to the base. The rest of Monday was fairly quiet. The material from the change of command ceremony went to the networks and again we wrapped things up early.
These early nights are helping with my recovery from the jetlag and the few sleepless nights before coming into Afghanistan. Today, we talked with a police officer from Canada who put in a program to teach Afghan cops to read...good idea. The rest of the day was doing some tech stuff for me, testing out, cleaning and double checking my gear. The time has been helpful in getting some reading about the area done and some just general reading. Not to mention, emailing and blogging.
Sunday was a busy day! My gear finally arrived from Dubai, quickly checked it over and made sure that I had what I need. Then I loaded up the key things into an armoured vehicle and set off with the Task Force Commander to the PRT in Kandahar City with the rest of the Canadian embedded media. There was change of command ceremony taking place and the general was there to oversee it. We travelled by armoured car to and from the event. The drive was about an hour or so, decent ride. When we got there it was pretty quiet, there are fair less people at the camp than at the base and there isn't any air traffic so no planes coming and going. It's a little weird after spending a week at KAF to come to a place that's dark at night and there isn't any noise. The Canadian government filled us in on some of their projects and then we were done for the night, it was like 9 at night. I didn't really know what to do with myself since at the base I finish around midnight to 3 in the morning so I went back to my sleeping area and read for a while and then went to sleep. The next morning came quick, had to be up a little after 7 for breakfast and another briefing, this time a walking tour of the facility. The change of command ceremony happened, we scrummed a few of the commanders and then we were back in the vehicle to go back to the base. The rest of Monday was fairly quiet. The material from the change of command ceremony went to the networks and again we wrapped things up early.
These early nights are helping with my recovery from the jetlag and the few sleepless nights before coming into Afghanistan. Today, we talked with a police officer from Canada who put in a program to teach Afghan cops to read...good idea. The rest of the day was doing some tech stuff for me, testing out, cleaning and double checking my gear. The time has been helpful in getting some reading about the area done and some just general reading. Not to mention, emailing and blogging.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Day 3
This morning was an early morning. Last night we were told that there had been an injury to two of the soldiers while out on patrol. An IED had gone off and their vehicle had been hit. The next of kin of one of the soldiers had not been notified about the incident so we were not able to report on it last night. Bur we were told that we would be briefed at 9 this morning so we got up and went to the office around 110 or so we got an email that gave us the info. A good first assignment for our pool duties. Then we went back to our tent and cleaned up and went on with our monirng routine.
I spent some time looking into the gear...it's becoming my favorite pass time. Today I learned that the gear would be arrive on Sunday and not tomorrow which is too bad but such is life. It'll be nice to have everything with me.
Stuart and I got some head way on trying on putting together first aid kits, prepping our protective gear and figuring out stories. Along with a little IT work for the office. It was put best it's like starting a new job and then being assigned to move the whole operation...it's a fair bit to get your head around. We're getting there though.
While it's Friday everywhere and the weekend is almost here, the weekend is just another day for us. We have a few stories for the weekend shows and material that will get out.
Today was a fairly quiet day for everyone, most people wrote something about the solider injury this morning but the rest of the day was getting things in order, since most of us rotated in together on Wednesday we're all in the same boat.
I spent some time looking into the gear...it's becoming my favorite pass time. Today I learned that the gear would be arrive on Sunday and not tomorrow which is too bad but such is life. It'll be nice to have everything with me.
Stuart and I got some head way on trying on putting together first aid kits, prepping our protective gear and figuring out stories. Along with a little IT work for the office. It was put best it's like starting a new job and then being assigned to move the whole operation...it's a fair bit to get your head around. We're getting there though.
While it's Friday everywhere and the weekend is almost here, the weekend is just another day for us. We have a few stories for the weekend shows and material that will get out.
Today was a fairly quiet day for everyone, most people wrote something about the solider injury this morning but the rest of the day was getting things in order, since most of us rotated in together on Wednesday we're all in the same boat.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Day 2
My morning was started earlier than planned, my bed is in the sleeping quarters near what's called Old Canada House, basically were Canadians hang out and watch tv and chill. Someone had left the tv on in there, fairly loud too. At 4 am I was woken up by Pierre McGuire ranting about the sens...not the best way to wake up. Someone else must of heard it and went and turned it off because it only lasted about 15 minutes. I managed to go back to sleep.
Woke up, this morning we had a meeting with our fixer. A fixer is a local who takes care of things that we need; in this case Noorkhan gets us intel from the town, shots some material and acts as a liaison for us to the afghan community. We had a good 30 min meeting with. Then it was off to the mess, since we got up late we missed breakfast and we didn't want to miss lunch.
The rest of the day was strategizing on stories, getting the office totally set-up and trying to figure out what was going on with our gear. Our public affairs people have been in and out briefing us on stuff.
Overall a pretty straight forward day.
Woke up, this morning we had a meeting with our fixer. A fixer is a local who takes care of things that we need; in this case Noorkhan gets us intel from the town, shots some material and acts as a liaison for us to the afghan community. We had a good 30 min meeting with. Then it was off to the mess, since we got up late we missed breakfast and we didn't want to miss lunch.
The rest of the day was strategizing on stories, getting the office totally set-up and trying to figure out what was going on with our gear. Our public affairs people have been in and out briefing us on stuff.
Overall a pretty straight forward day.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Day 1
Last night was a not a good sleeping night, between the malaria drugs and the excitement about coming into Kandahar I had a lot of trouble sleeping and staying asleep...of course it didn't help that I had slept on all of the flights all the way from Ottawa to Dubai. The morning started at 5 am, we went off to the airport to pick up the rest of our bags from the previous night. After the baggage agent send someone to look for 45 minutes there was no sign of our bags and it was time to go and check in to the flight to Kandahar. The cases were missing somewhere in the world, the one airline blamed the other for losing the bags it was a mess. It was a little tough going on without almost all of my gear but it was what had to be done. There is only 2 flights a week to KAF.
The flight was packed! It was a pretty straight forward flight. We landed on the base and were greeted by the public affairs officer for the embed program. We spent most of the afternoon and evening getting briefed on various things and signing piecing of paper and setting up our office. Not to mention trying to find my cases.
Seems like a pretty cool place here on the base, I'll most some pics so you all have an idea of what I'm talking about. There is a crazy dust here, it's like a powder, gets on to everything.
It takes some getting used to seeing people wandering around with guns on their backs...especially at dinner. The set meals are a little strict but I guess it is a military base. There are different little communities around the base for each country. I went to go and get a coffee at Tim Hortons this afternoon and got lost twice; once each way. It took me an hour to get the coffees and it turns out that the store is like around the corner from where we have our office.
The airline is working to track down the gear, the nice thing about having media relations people are in Toronto and are still having their working day as we're going to bed. Which is what I'm going to do now.
Have a good night all! So wraps up Day 1
The flight was packed! It was a pretty straight forward flight. We landed on the base and were greeted by the public affairs officer for the embed program. We spent most of the afternoon and evening getting briefed on various things and signing piecing of paper and setting up our office. Not to mention trying to find my cases.
Seems like a pretty cool place here on the base, I'll most some pics so you all have an idea of what I'm talking about. There is a crazy dust here, it's like a powder, gets on to everything.
It takes some getting used to seeing people wandering around with guns on their backs...especially at dinner. The set meals are a little strict but I guess it is a military base. There are different little communities around the base for each country. I went to go and get a coffee at Tim Hortons this afternoon and got lost twice; once each way. It took me an hour to get the coffees and it turns out that the store is like around the corner from where we have our office.
The airline is working to track down the gear, the nice thing about having media relations people are in Toronto and are still having their working day as we're going to bed. Which is what I'm going to do now.
Have a good night all! So wraps up Day 1
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
On the road to KAF
The training in Georgia was intense! We spent the first few days in the classroom learning about security and medical stuff; 50% of each. Wednesday afternoon we went for a map orientation walk on the property where the course was held...suddenly things started to happen. Gun shots went off, explosions happened, then if that wasn't all enough of instructor trwisted his ankle and had to be evacuated. What are the odds of that happening? Turns out it was a clever way to do the intro to the next lesson.
Thursday was all day scenarios that made us run around and really work for the results. Everything that happened in the scenario was based on the actions that we performed in the scenario. Very cool day.
The whole thing was very interesting, then it was time to come back to the snow. As I was going to the airport I got word that there was a snow storm in Ottawa and that I might not be able to get in. This was a weird idea since I was driving down a dry road with the sun shining and a green field beside me but it definitely brought me to reality. In the end I got home on time, because there was quite the weekend in store for me.
With the trip coming up I woke up early and went to the office to check my travel gear. Only problem was that I couldn't find the gear...bad way to start the day. Ended up finding the gear it was in someone's office. Then it was time to find my expense check, another roadblock. It was nowhere to be found, this time it was locked in the desk of Cathy, who takes care of our expenses and everything else...she is awesome! Went to cash the cheque but first I had to get my card fixed since it had been compromised.
Then it was off to watch a friend's kid's hockey game, great to see them before I left. Then it was off to the family dinner. So ended Saturday.
Sunday wasn't much better, had to go to the expedition shop for some last minute things and run around like a chicken with it's head cut off. I went to a super bowl party that night but wasn't much good as I just kept thinking of things to do. Ended up sleeping surprisingly well that night.
Got up the next morning and Kandahar hit me like an 18-wheeler, the reality that I was going...it didn't help that there was a massive snowstorm in London that could screw me up. Went into the office and drag all my possessions and things that I could imagine needed for the next 5 weeks. Went to the airport and now came the fun part.
I had 4 pelican cases, my tripod case, my macbook case and my personal backpack. Time to weigh in, went to the counter and the re-packing process started. All the bags/ cases had to be 32 kgs or less each and they weren't. Managed to get them all down to the right weight. With the help of a little bird, I learned that I had to take everything down to customs to get it signed before taking it to CATSA for scanning and loading. All that got done now it was time to wait.
Boarding the flight to Montreal and pretty well passed right out, I think a lot of the stress was gone now. Got to Montreal went to the counter to see if I could get an upgrade...no go. The plane was a little late coming into Montreal from London so we pushed back late but it wasn't a huge issue. I was lucky and had a window and the gentleman beside me didn't have any luggage to go below the seat so I could take up a little extra space with my backpack and camera, the laptop was up top. Easy flight, got to London, met up with Stuart and we boarded our flight to Dubai. At this point it felt like 3 AM to me.. which it was back home.
United Emirates is the greatest airline ever! They actually have customer service! It was a very empty flight so there was a ton of room and the service was spectacular! Stuart and I arrived in Dubai at around 8 local time, sadly only one of our cases arrived as well. But it was the case that has all my personal stuff in it so that was a bonus.
Dubai is crazy cool. I haven't had the chance to walk around yet, I'll get to do that on the way out, but just the drive from the airport was cool! It's like a mix of Toronto and what I image Las Vegas would be like. Everything is in english and in arabic, everyone is polite and it's VERY clean! Very impressive, looking forward to having sometime to look around on my way home.
That's about it, now we're at the hotel, we have a flight early tomorrow to Kandahar. The big moment is about to arrive.
Thursday was all day scenarios that made us run around and really work for the results. Everything that happened in the scenario was based on the actions that we performed in the scenario. Very cool day.
The whole thing was very interesting, then it was time to come back to the snow. As I was going to the airport I got word that there was a snow storm in Ottawa and that I might not be able to get in. This was a weird idea since I was driving down a dry road with the sun shining and a green field beside me but it definitely brought me to reality. In the end I got home on time, because there was quite the weekend in store for me.
With the trip coming up I woke up early and went to the office to check my travel gear. Only problem was that I couldn't find the gear...bad way to start the day. Ended up finding the gear it was in someone's office. Then it was time to find my expense check, another roadblock. It was nowhere to be found, this time it was locked in the desk of Cathy, who takes care of our expenses and everything else...she is awesome! Went to cash the cheque but first I had to get my card fixed since it had been compromised.
Then it was off to watch a friend's kid's hockey game, great to see them before I left. Then it was off to the family dinner. So ended Saturday.
Sunday wasn't much better, had to go to the expedition shop for some last minute things and run around like a chicken with it's head cut off. I went to a super bowl party that night but wasn't much good as I just kept thinking of things to do. Ended up sleeping surprisingly well that night.
Got up the next morning and Kandahar hit me like an 18-wheeler, the reality that I was going...it didn't help that there was a massive snowstorm in London that could screw me up. Went into the office and drag all my possessions and things that I could imagine needed for the next 5 weeks. Went to the airport and now came the fun part.
I had 4 pelican cases, my tripod case, my macbook case and my personal backpack. Time to weigh in, went to the counter and the re-packing process started. All the bags/ cases had to be 32 kgs or less each and they weren't. Managed to get them all down to the right weight. With the help of a little bird, I learned that I had to take everything down to customs to get it signed before taking it to CATSA for scanning and loading. All that got done now it was time to wait.
Boarding the flight to Montreal and pretty well passed right out, I think a lot of the stress was gone now. Got to Montreal went to the counter to see if I could get an upgrade...no go. The plane was a little late coming into Montreal from London so we pushed back late but it wasn't a huge issue. I was lucky and had a window and the gentleman beside me didn't have any luggage to go below the seat so I could take up a little extra space with my backpack and camera, the laptop was up top. Easy flight, got to London, met up with Stuart and we boarded our flight to Dubai. At this point it felt like 3 AM to me.. which it was back home.
United Emirates is the greatest airline ever! They actually have customer service! It was a very empty flight so there was a ton of room and the service was spectacular! Stuart and I arrived in Dubai at around 8 local time, sadly only one of our cases arrived as well. But it was the case that has all my personal stuff in it so that was a bonus.
Dubai is crazy cool. I haven't had the chance to walk around yet, I'll get to do that on the way out, but just the drive from the airport was cool! It's like a mix of Toronto and what I image Las Vegas would be like. Everything is in english and in arabic, everyone is polite and it's VERY clean! Very impressive, looking forward to having sometime to look around on my way home.
That's about it, now we're at the hotel, we have a flight early tomorrow to Kandahar. The big moment is about to arrive.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
State side training
I'm going to begin this off by saying, hopefully training goes better than my morning did. My morning was suppose to begin at 2:30 so that I could shower and make sure that I had everything. The alarm went off it was all good! Some how I thought I hit the snooze but I turned off the alarm...oops. I was woken when my cabbie called to make sure that I was coming down, it was now 3:30, the time that I had asked him to be at my place. I jumped out of bed and threw a few more things into the bag and prayed that I didn't forget anything vital. I quickly locked the door and ran down the hall with my bag. Jumped into the cab and off to the airport. All was well going from Ottawa to Detroit, we land in Detroit and I stop and have breakfast in an airport restutant with 30 mins to spare I wander over to the gate and then reach into my bag to get out the ticket and passport. Shit! Where's my passport!? I start rifling through my bag...what if it fell out on the plane or somehow fell out when I went to pay for the food. I don't have time to look for this right now but I need it. After what feels like an hour I find the passport in one of the pockets of my laptop bag. The flight from Detroit to Atlanta was fine.
I'm in Atlanta for my hostile environment training, the course is being done at a retreat type place with a bunch of living cabins and a main cabin for the course I guess. It's located an hour out of Atlanta. The living conditions are pretty tough, there's a fireplace in my room, a king size bed and oh yeah a jacuzzi...some how I don't think these will be the type of cabins we're given in Afghanistan.
We get briefed tonight on what to expect for the rest of the week. The set-up is pretty interesting; we being trained by Englishmen in hostile environments in a US retreat and the students are a bunch of Canadians.
It's going to be an interesting week.
I'm in Atlanta for my hostile environment training, the course is being done at a retreat type place with a bunch of living cabins and a main cabin for the course I guess. It's located an hour out of Atlanta. The living conditions are pretty tough, there's a fireplace in my room, a king size bed and oh yeah a jacuzzi...some how I don't think these will be the type of cabins we're given in Afghanistan.
We get briefed tonight on what to expect for the rest of the week. The set-up is pretty interesting; we being trained by Englishmen in hostile environments in a US retreat and the students are a bunch of Canadians.
It's going to be an interesting week.
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