Some things never change

Moon Dust

Different year, different deployment, different country, but some things never change. Whenever you put several thousand Soldiers, Marines, Airmen, Sailors, and Contractors together in a combat zone you'll observe and experience the same things. Bagram, while a long way from the FOBs in Iraq I became so fond of, shares many of the same features I like to provide commentary for. The similarities are inevitable. The geography, latitude and longitude may be unique but when you grind it into a melting pot of military personnel, equipment, and construction it takes on that familiar feel. Throughout this massive complex can be found all of the mundane observations I've made on other FOBs and perhaps a few more. I'll make mention of a few that I've found so far.

Moon dust resides here too. I remember in the summer of 2007 I found some of the most incredible dust I'd ever seen at a place called FOB Warhorse in Iraq. It was such fine powder of an incredible depth that made for footprints reminiscent of those left by Neil Armstrong on the Moon. Quite logically, I referred to my find as "Moon Dust". Since then, I found this talc-like substance populating various other bases. It is almost akin in appearance to Betty Crocker cake mix. It's origin is heavy military vehicle traffic that grinds dry soil into something similar to Turkish-ground coffee. Every footfall makes a poof of dust that floats and lingers for incredible periods of time. The flip side of this stuff is that in the rainy season it becomes a mud so pasty thick that it is like spackle on your boots. But in the dry season it is simply a sea of light brown that gracefully chokes everything and everyone when trod upon. Yes, Moon Dust, my old friend resides abundantly in Bagram. I am not looking forward to the first rains and the mess that will follow.

The ironies of everything. There are multiple Dining Facilities at Bagram. Every one of them provides its unique flair of flavorful abundance. The variety and quantities of food are staggering. It is obvious the great dietitians in the sky are wanting to promote healthy eating for our boys and girls in uniform and rightly so. But walking into a DFAC is such an irony. Yes, there are healthy choices galore - fresh salads, fruit, and lean meats. But then there are also lots of fried foods, fatty side dishes, and oh the ice cream - loads of ice cream. Granted, not every servicemember needs to watch the waistline. The majority of the Soldiers I see in the DFACs average in age anywhere from 19 to 29 so their metabolism is at a high rate. Certainly the amount of calories they burn on an average day are in the thousands due to the intensity of our requirements. It is a war after all. But my personal irony is simply this - why can I not have any real butter in the DFAC? I want real butter. Instead all we get is little packets of Promise Spread. Really? It's okay for us to pile on the ice cream, chocolate sauce, and all the other fixin's but I can't have real butter to put on my toast, potatoes, or veggies? That's just one of many ironies you'll find and Bagram is no exception at all.

Aside from the fact that I'm in Afghanistan, day-to-day observations in Bagram are almost identical to what I've grown accustomed to over the past ten years of deployments. There are many more to discuss but I'll save them for future commentary. On a side note, it has been 27 straight days since I last had a beer.