My Grains of Sand

you might think by the title that things in afghanistan are staring to turn around… well from my very limited view, they aren’t. it doesn’t seem like the people will ever stop supporting the taliban, nor like we are making any bit of a difference and i don’t think we are accomplishing anything other than waste time and money in this place.

The real purpose of this title is in regards to changes that are occurring back home. it appears that my company is being bought up by a very large corporation. I sat in for 10 minutes on a conference call back home and i installed office communicator and synced it with my contact list back home so i could chat with my good friends back @ the Avocent for a minute. It was great! i miss them alot and am excited to get back home and start making a difference somewhere that matters.

By way of local news, since the majority of our security forces are away doing an “army-esque” mission fighting bad guys i played the role of a .50 gunner once again in a short convoy to the governors compound. i was also part of a security detachment watching over our commanding officer as he visited with some highfalutin afghans. it is something that our army brethren do all the time, but today i did it for the first time! it was fun and i was glad to get off the FOB and do something different. I occasionally have bouts of stir craziness and i need to go do something else to maintain sanity. thats why i love my civillian job so much… i travel, play with hardware, and get to learn new things constantly.

we are nearing the middle point on our watch here in Afghanistan. we are working to not be complacent. we still respect the work we do here, and the enemy who constantly tries to thwart our efforts. we believe what we do is a small part of a greater good…. even though at times we feel like the situation is hopeless, history has already proved that persistence eventually pays off.

Apologies….
Sorry i took so long to make this post.

=Recap=
I have finally arrived in south eastern Afghanistan. I am living in Paktika province on FOB Sharana. I arrived at the end of june. I have been appointed NCOIC of our S6 (Communications/Computer/Network/Electronics) shop. I have 2 guys working for me. one is a rank below me and another is actually a rank above.
we support/maintain/configure radios (handheld and vehicle based), computers, software, network access and resources, vehicle tracking and communication systems and radio jamming systems. Basically i have learned alot about things i never knew or cared about before. we now have our house pretty well in order and so our days are getting longer as we transition from a “fix everything that is broke” to a “on call support” role. Life is pretty nice out here. our FOB is very large and will soon rival Bahgram in size. i share a room with one of our medics… he is a very clean dude so we get along well.
I built a bunk bed/desk which i love alot. i have a lot of desk space for my 3 laptops. I keep my M17x alienware on my desk next to my 40″LCD and PS3, i use my acer aspire one netbook up near my bed and my asus netbook i use at the office via a point-to-point wifi link back to my bedroom.

We got 37 ppl together and purchased satellite internet which i administer. i have an Asus router and a Dell Vostro laptop as our gateway/dns. i have QOS tuned pretty well and i run an internet page caching program on the server which helps our 1mbit link not feel soo painful. We have a second dell vostro with server 2008r2 on it connected to 5tb of external media hosting movies, tv shows, music, programs, ans games. I host a thursday night LAN party in the PRT conference room. we have about 13 people who visit regularly and it is still growing. we are going to have to seek a larger venue before long.

I try to not eat too much of the food out here, which for the most part is decent but fatty. i try to exercise as much as i can… i run around the outside perimeter of the fob a few times a week (4+ miles) and once i acclimate to that i will begin running it in my body armor.

Since life is normalizing a bit and since our security forces (army national guardsmen) are beginning to take their mid-tour leave i will begin going out on missions more often. I trained to be a .50cal gunner but the command likes to have us navy folks operate as vehicle drivers primarily. i just finished the RG-31 drivers course and i anticipate i will drive on a few missions this month.

Each member of the PRT has his own role to play and mine is mostly an “in-the-rear-with-the-gear support” role while our Public Affairs, Civil Affairs folks, Engineers, and security forces typically leave on daily missions into Sharana and into the surrounding villages and towns within the province. The perception that i had of war from movies is very different from the reality that i have found out here. There is the glorified stuff of guys storming enemy strong holds, clearing routes of dangerous explosives and IED’s, tracking down and catching bad guys like you see in movies….but the folks who do those things are a small minority compared to the huge logistics and support personnel of which i am one.

anyways, more to come soon with pictures…. but this is the recap!

HI all, just a FYI…. i am almost to Afghanistan. Spent some time in Germany on an extended layover as well as a few hours in a former russian republic!
within a couple of hours I should be there. it’s a relief because i have alot of work i need to do before the rest of our unit arrives. if you haven’t been following my status updates on facebook then shame on you! www.facebook.com/siistibuddy

My thoughts

I am sitting in cutters restaurant in the Sheraton hotel that we spent the night and day in here in Dover Delaware. Our flight leaves at midnight for Germany and i find myself reminiscing my past and contemplating my future at this milestone in the journey. I just finished a nice prime rib dinner and am now enjoying my European style dessert. I am sitting in my ACU’s and just finished a nice day of shopping @ the mall. I watched the movie “Year One”, ate Japaneses food/sushi for lunch and even visited a Walmart. As I listen to some of my fellow soldiers discuss their personal lives and issues I recognize how fortunate i am and have been throughout my life thus far. I grew up in a fantastic and loving home, visited many many places around the world, moved out on my own and partied/played alot, made my own mistakes and learned alot from most of them. I have been in debt that forced me to budget, ration, and even skip many meals and go without many things. Through it all I worked, I remained true to myself and my convictions. I haven’t compromised my nature for my friends nor my family nor society. I have found a way to live in harmony with all of the above. I have established myself financially and become very comfortable. I do not worry about where my next meal will come from or how I will get from point A to point B. I honestly feel as though my life of late has been an ideal “Hollywood” portrayed stable and happy life! Sitting here in this restaurant thinking about all of the things i will have to live without for the next 9 months I am paused by the realization that I am truly an alien entering another world. I know a lifestyle that is completely foreign to most of the people of Afghanistan. They have never lived with the luxuries nor the complexities of my previous life. They worry about what my friends would likely call “basic needs” (food, water, shelter, security). And now I realize my purpose, I am apart of an ideal, a movement to provide the the 6 basic needs. Most of us know of the common 5, but i believe the list lacks a sixth basic need. Opportunity!
When I was poor I was given the opportunity to make money and pay my debts. When i had problems with friends or family i was given opportunities to correct and improve. When i was bored with the direction of my life i was given the opportunity to learn new things and take my life to new places and new heights i could never have thought possible.
My personal mission to Afghanistan is to help provide for the 6th basic need of that people, to give them opportunity. Our very presence unfortunately gives opportunity for the disgruntled and shortsighted to fight something. What they are fighting is not the US/Coalition armies but they are fighting their own opportunity! Those that oppress in that region will lose their power if the oppressed are given tools to rise up, to grow, and to better themselves and their families. That is the war. It is a war over opportunity. Every side has something to gain and to lose from both outcomes.
I would like to express my appreciation to my predecessors. They understood the war for the 6th need and they fought and died for it. The United States of America is the embodiment of that fight. The foundation of my country comes from a group of oppressed protestants who broke away from their oppressors and founded a free nation. That group grew and fought to maintain that freedom for themselves. Over time that free ideal has spread beyond our borders and has grown beyond an American idea into a world recognition of “the way life should be” otherwise known as basic human rights. Regardless of who claims the ideal or who rejects it, we continue to fight for it! We fight not only for our own right to enjoy opportunity but for the right of others, others that are oppressed so that they might know what opportunity is.
With this in mind I go, I am just one of many, Not unique nor Special. We go because we are able and we are supported by those who are able. We each play a small part in a movement to provide for the 6 basic needs of life. I thank my fore bearers, my God and I thank You for allowing me to have opportunities!
Thank You!

Hi everyone! i apologize for letting nearly a month go by without an update. life has been busy busy up until now!!

As far as military training goes we finished some really fun/cool/neat things like (Gunnery) (mounted combat patrol) (land navigation) (combat lifesaver) etc…

I don’t believe i need to be mentioning the specifics regarding the training we have been recieving but suffice it to say: it has been fun, boring, fast paced, slow, and educational. ; )

i never in a million would have imagined that i would get to do the things i have done! interestingly enough i have been able to understand even war movies better. i.e, i saw Terminator 4 the other day and although i am not a fan of Christian Bale nor the many many many holes in the storyline, i recognized weapons in that movie that i wouldn’t have otherwise ever been able to identify.

Despite the flashy explosiveness of a 203 or mk19 grenadelauncher, i still prefer the tried and true and very very bad ass M2 .50 Machine Gun by Browning! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M2_Browning_machine_gun

At this very moment i am sitting at a shop on duval street in Key West Florida enjoying a soda and a hummus/tomatoe bagle! Yesterday i went snorkelling, para-sailing, jet skiing and i played on a floating trampoline!! i had a super fun day! : ) <pictures have been posted to facebook> today is looking to be more relaxed. tomorrow i might try to either jet ski a little more or try my hand at wind surfing… who knows! On thursday 06/11/09 i will be back in huntsville visiting frineds and co-workers that i miss soo much. The fun will come to a close on saturday as i return to Atterbury with my 2 comrads to prepare for our eraly departure to the battle front.

I hope that you are all well and that you remember why we are here, why we fight for what we have, and that you are able to take a moment and look around yourself right now and image how your life might be different if you were born in another part of the world. Be proud of what you have, don’t covet the blessings of thy neighbor, and be good to eachother! ; )

Ta ta for now,
-Mitch

Hi everyone!!

this is just a short note to let ya’ll know that i’m doing well! i spent the greater portion of this week completing some weapons qualifications. I am now prepared to use a M-9 side arm, M-4 assault rifle and Browning 50 caliber automatic machine gun!

The training was challenging and fun but unfortunately it went by very fast. luckily we have a shooting range at our FOB and we will get to continue to practice once we get in country.

I am off to bed now because we wake up at 5am for a 5 mile road march in full battle armor and with a 2 day field pack.

Have a good weekend!!

So… today they issued us more army uniforms and our battle gear. tomorrow we get our weapons.

Its feeling more and more real all the time. but it’s cool and i’m still having fun. anyways, i’m off to bed because we have physical training at 5:15 tomorrow morning and i need sleep.

enjoy the pix….

-Mitch

Well folks, it feels more official now, being in the army that is… It is a little bit alarming how different the “navy way” is from the “army way”. The mentality and persona of the service members is the most striking difference. we haven’t encountered any real run-ins nor had any problems but there is a definite difference between our respective backgrounds, expectations and assumptions about the other. I am luckily with a GREAT group of people who are very very committed to making the next 11 months the best they possibly can be.

On Friday my training group left Savannah GA and headed to Indianapolis IN. We split up and were spread out into the teams that we will be going into the different provinces with. I still see my friends from Savannah at chow and in our training classes, so thats good and i am slowly making friends within my new unit.

They told us about some of our basic duties and roles within vehicles as we travel around in the country. I will be radio guy as well as machine gun guy. i am very nervous about being the dude on top of the hum-v exposed with a big machine gun. who knows, it might be the best seat in the whole place, but the part about being the more vulnerable target causes a little apprehension. In any case, I am still determined to make this a great experience and I don’t really have any fear.

At any rate it is 10:30pm and I need to hit the sheets since we will all be running and doing PT (Physical Training) at 5:15 tomorrow morning.

-Good Night!!

OK, so i didn’t write this one myself, BUT this is a big deal to me because i have always been too scared to grab source code and try ANYTHING.

Dilemma: i like to rip and encode movies as H.264 Mpreg4 files. The best software i can find to accomplish this task is called handbrake. the problem is that i want to run it on my netbook but handbrake is designed for a minimum screen resolution of 1024×768.

A light at the end: i was able to work around this by running handbrake in a vmware vm with it’s resolution set to 1024×768, but it would take 13hrs to encode. I was online tonight doing some searches for some kind of resolution. i came across a post by someone complaining to the handbrake developer about this screen issue on netbooks which most often only have a resolution of 1024×600 (like mine). the developer said that he had no intention of changing things. one person commented that we could use microsoft c# express edition and the source code to compile our own build.

i was a little scared since i have never done anything like this b4. but i was determined.

As Luck Would Have it: I luckily was able to use google to find the appropriate file to modify that disabled the resolution checker and i stumbled through tweaking the UI to allow most/all buttons to fit in the smaller resolution. i compiled the code and ended up with a new handbrake.exe file. i tested it and to my surprise it works!
I am encoding at this moment “a clockwork orange” and the ETA is 5hrs for pass 1 and will likely be 5 or 6 for pass 2. i realize that this isn’t the world greatest performance improvement, but it is a bit faster!

i have placed both the 0.9.3 installer and my custom compiled build into my files section of www.sandmonkey.net
Feel free to try them out and let me know what you think!

-Mitch

This is a short post about something that i consider quite cool!!

On thursday i went with a shipmate over to bestbuy. his laptop screen had died and he wanted to get a new laptop and so i tagged along. i ended up buying a 500gb hdd for my netbook because i wanted to try XP on it instead of the default VISTA that it came with. the problem is that my usb dvd drive was out for repairs and i had no optical drive to use for installing XP.  after a small bit of google searching and failed  attempts and using VMware to transfer xp onto a baremetal hdd i came across this post. It’s a guide on how to make a USB thumb drive bootable and transfer the Windows XP installation files onto the bootable USB stick. the process was quite simple and now i have a thumbdrive that i can use to put XP onto almost any kind of computer as well as i now have XP on my ASUS N10J NetBook! The guide is written for EEEpc’s but will work on other hardware. i have appended a couple of steps to the guide and i have it here for download if you want it yourself. All in all i am quite happy with the little project and i hope you find it useful also!

-Mitch