It was a beautiful day in Pol-e-charki today. The sky was clear and the sun was bright. I was standing in the yard at D-1 this morning talking to my wife on the cell phone when an armored HMMWV pulled up and parked right next to where I was standing. There was a loaded .50 caliber machine gun mounted on the gun ring (sunroof), the belt of brass-jacketed ammo glinting in the sun. Just another average day in paradise.

But later I almost got arrested. Well not really arrested. We were driving home, as usual at break-neck speed, dodging huge potholes and barely missing bicycles, carts, donkeys, and jungle-trucks. Troy was in the front seat filming the road. In a previous entry I told you about filming the drive to send home. Ramon, another MPRI employee, asked Troy to film the ride for him so he could send a disk home too. Ramon is a very loud and very opinionated Puerto-Rican that would probably explode if he had to stop talking for more than 30 seconds. Ramon is always in a hurry. Always. Think of an overweight (sorry Ramon), middle-aged Speedy Gonzales.

Much like I did a couple days ago, Troy filmed most of the route between D-1 in Pol-e-charki and our safe house near Camp Eggers in Kabul, about a 30 minute ride. He, of course, didn’t narrate with the same entertaining and informative candor as I did, but it was sufficient. Along our route there are many places where photography is prohibited. Inside the gates of D-1, for example, the American Embassy, the Ministry of Defense, and other secure areas. Troy would always turn off the camera and put it down when passing through those areas. However, one of the last turns on our return trip passes directly by the entrance to one such place and Troy did not immediately put the camera down. He wasn’t filming the entrance to the complex and we pass by it almost everyday without incident, so it was an understandable mistake. Understandable to us. But the armed guards at this particular installation didn’t see it that way.

In the middle of the road, our vehicle was quickly surrounded by Afghan guards armed with AK-47 assault rifles yelling at us in Dari. To our driver’s credit, Sharon rose to the situation and with vigor explained to the guards who we are and what we were doing. I’m spelling Sharon’s name like the name of a girl in English only because I don’t know how to spell it. Sharon is a 40-something male with two wives and eight sons. His name sounds like Sharon only the emphasis is on the second syllable.

The yelling went on for a while as Troy nervously tried to show the guards exactly what he filmed. Soon an English-speaking Afghan approached and we were able to explain the situation to him. Troy handed over the disk but they still didn’t let us go. Then an American, I suppose, who I think was a Blackwater operative, took control of the situation. He said normally they’d confiscate the camera but for some reason he let us go and let Troy keep his camera. It was at about that time when my heartbeat began its descent back to normal and my sphincter began to relax.

Then back to routine. Changed and went to the gym. Did 60 minutes on the elliptical machine while watching a Cold Case re-run. I had dinner at The Goat, which is the larger of the two chow halls on Camp Eggers, and walked home to watch a pirated copy of Breach. I fell asleep half-way through.

Out.

I was recently thinking that I didn't have anything interesting to write about. I have a few ideas: Mr. Big Hands; Strawberry, our three-legged yard dog at the depot; the persistent kids always selling scarfs, gum, candy, or simply begging (my fellow loan officers & I could learn a few things about closing a deal from these kids); jingle trucks; the creative and widespread use of our conex boxes by the indigenous personnel--but those stories will have to wait for another day because yesterday turned out to be interesting.

Yesterday was my day off. Like I've said elsewhere, we follow the Islamic weekend which is Thursday noon through Friday. I didn't have much planned--there's not much to do. But I did sleep in--until 7:30 AM anyway. At 7:30 we were roused out of bed for a muster. When that happens, we're supposed to gather at the nearest bunker--in this case, the basement of our safehouse--fully clothed, equipped with our body armor and bug-out bag. A bug-out bag contains essentials like extra clothes, flashlight, knife, leatherman, chemlights, shaving kit, ID, passport, cash, etc. The idea being that this was a drill for in case we had to evacuate. At least that's what I thought (and what I later told Julie). But it turns out that it wasn't completely a drill. There was something--a mortar or rocket--fired at the embassy. We waited around for about an hour and were released, so we went to breakfast.

After breakfast, I walked back to the safehouse, took a shower, and walked back to Camp Egger. Got a haircut, went to the gym, ate lunch, went to the PX. Alex and I were just leaving the PX when we heard gunfire. Automatic weapons fire, and some screaming. Coincidently we were standing near where the armored HMMWVs for the reaction force are stationed. Soldiers scrambled to man the vehicles and load their weapons. I watched it take place and they were rolling in under a minute. Luckily I had my camera and there are a couple shots of the HMMWVs in my photobucket album. Turns out it was only the ANP (Afghan National Police) firing celebratory into the air for some reason.

Shopped at the weekly Friday bazaar on the way home. Franz Zichy, one of my fish buddies from the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets, wanted a Jezail. Jezails can be rifles but typically they are smooth-bore guns. They are unique to Afghanistan, primarily captured British muskets modified for firing over walls and/or from camel-back and highly decorated with Mother-of-Pearl or bone and brass fittings. I found a good one with a working lock and engraved with the West Indies Company stamp and "1811". There is also a pic of this rifle in the photobucket album. A little trivia: Dr. Watson, Sherlock Holmes' sidekick, was shot with a Jezail.

That's all the exciting stuff. Took a nap. Went to dinner. Friday night is steak night. I had steak, crab legs, corn-on-the-cob, and Pralines & Cream ice cream for desert. Walked back to the safehouse and watched "Stomp the Yard". Horrible movie.

Out.