So.... This is Afghanistan...

I have the uncanny knack for sleeping through incoming rounds.

Three separate times now I've been asleep while the base has taken IDF, or indirect fire. Twice I've woken up just in time to hear the "All Clear!" resound from the intercom speakers.

To be fair, whoever it is firing these Chinese rockets at us has horrid aim, maybe hitting inside the wire one time out of twenty. So I don't feel I'm putting myself in any intermediate danger by snoozing through it. Still, it's a tad bit unsettling to know that I have the ability to sleep through most everything.

Let's say you, the reader, would like to experience a little Afghanistan at home. Fair enough. Here's what you can do. First, gather all the trash up on your block, every last can, and throw it all into a burn barrel. Douse it with diesel and light it up. Now you can smell what I smell.

Next, camp out at the edge of a flight line at O'hare in Chicago. While there, light off the biggest, loudest fireworks you can, and have a buddy light off some small ones 6oo meters away. Now you can hear what I hear.

Now you can combine some sort of fog machine with that burning trash pile, and fan it in all directions. You can see what I see.

Finally, eat all your meals at a higher end High School cafeteria. You're successfully tasting what I taste.

Pretty simple stuff, really. It's not all bad, I eat more ice cream here than I ever have back home. And I've blown through the first two seasons of Son's Of Anarchy this last week (great show, by the way). My only problem with the place so far, I haven't seen a damn camel yet.

I really want to get a picture with one smoking a cig. We'll see how that one goes.

There are more civilians on this base then I thought possible. It's like a city around here, only much shittier. I feel like I'm in Waterloo, Iowa (Zing!).

8 months to go, give or take. Keeping my specs on for that camel.

Wish me luck. And keep on keeping on, of course.