It can snow like hell in Afghanistan. Nasty wet snow; snow that tastes like sulphur and salt. The reason I know what it tastes like is because I had the gunner duty on Saturday for about 6 hours. It snowed the entire time and, while I was not as cold as you would think, I was saturated above the waist from the crap. It was seeping through my facial cover and dripping into my mouth. I finally had to take the scarf off so I could spit it out. It then collected in my mustache making me reconsider my grooming for the rest of my time here. I also had two different drivers and both took great pleasure in driving headlong into deep and muddy potholes (better called potlakes) that send muddy water up and over the roof of the HummVee. The gunner protrudes from the roof "protected" by an armored cupola. That protection is designed for small arms fire and small, irregularly shaped, fast-moving objects. It does nothing for wind, mud or snow.
It also saturates your weapons. An M-2 .50 caliber machine gun is all steel. If it gets wet and is not cleaned as it dries, it will rust. I had not cleaned a Fifty Cal in over 30 years. It's an old weapon, first used in our military just after WWI so it was not designed with polymers and teflon that would make it easier to maintain. All of the moving parts require some sort of lubricant for it to continue to work well. It's truly an amazing weapon and it is a great gun to have on a convoy but it's a bear to disassemble, clean and reassemble. It reminds me of my old 58 VW when it comes to working on it. Unlike my younger brother, I NEED a book to remember what part goes where. Oh, did I mention it weighs 85 pounds? Just an added aggrevating factor... After the Ma Deuce was clean I then had to do my M4 rifle and M9 pistol. They are easy to do in comparison.
During this particular snowstorm I was in Darulaman (SW of Kabul) at Camp Cobra, our brigade headquarters. The attached photo is of the Queen's Palace which looms over our camp. On a clear day it is pretty awesome, even though it was blown to smithereens by the Mujaheddin in the early early 1990s. But you can tell from the photo that the snow is wet and sloppy. It sticks to everything. One of the advantages to being in an established FOB is that you have some of the amenities like satellite TV (no good stuff, just Armed Forces Network channels). Wet snow sticks to satellite dishes and someone has to climb up and sweep them out so the signal does not go into freeze-frame. We learned, too late, that if you spray the surface of the dish with PAM or WD40 the snow will not build up so fast. We'll wait for the storm to be over and we'll do that. In the meantime we'll sweep. Especially during the Oklahoma-Nebraska game, guys were sweeping like madmen. Our security force (SECFOR) guys are all from Oklahoma so they had people sweeping during the entire game.
The schools here close during the winter in Kabul and the summer in Jalalabad. Kids are out of school for 4 months (eat your heart out Colleen...). I have no idea what they do with their days but all of it includes walking in traffic and giving a thumb (or another finger) to passing tactical vehicles. This just adds to the aggravation we experience on the roads. Have I mentioned the roads yet...?
Back to work for me. Stay warm.
Sarmajor
It also saturates your weapons. An M-2 .50 caliber machine gun is all steel. If it gets wet and is not cleaned as it dries, it will rust. I had not cleaned a Fifty Cal in over 30 years. It's an old weapon, first used in our military just after WWI so it was not designed with polymers and teflon that would make it easier to maintain. All of the moving parts require some sort of lubricant for it to continue to work well. It's truly an amazing weapon and it is a great gun to have on a convoy but it's a bear to disassemble, clean and reassemble. It reminds me of my old 58 VW when it comes to working on it. Unlike my younger brother, I NEED a book to remember what part goes where. Oh, did I mention it weighs 85 pounds? Just an added aggrevating factor... After the Ma Deuce was clean I then had to do my M4 rifle and M9 pistol. They are easy to do in comparison.
During this particular snowstorm I was in Darulaman (SW of Kabul) at Camp Cobra, our brigade headquarters. The attached photo is of the Queen's Palace which looms over our camp. On a clear day it is pretty awesome, even though it was blown to smithereens by the Mujaheddin in the early early 1990s. But you can tell from the photo that the snow is wet and sloppy. It sticks to everything. One of the advantages to being in an established FOB is that you have some of the amenities like satellite TV (no good stuff, just Armed Forces Network channels). Wet snow sticks to satellite dishes and someone has to climb up and sweep them out so the signal does not go into freeze-frame. We learned, too late, that if you spray the surface of the dish with PAM or WD40 the snow will not build up so fast. We'll wait for the storm to be over and we'll do that. In the meantime we'll sweep. Especially during the Oklahoma-Nebraska game, guys were sweeping like madmen. Our security force (SECFOR) guys are all from Oklahoma so they had people sweeping during the entire game.
The schools here close during the winter in Kabul and the summer in Jalalabad. Kids are out of school for 4 months (eat your heart out Colleen...). I have no idea what they do with their days but all of it includes walking in traffic and giving a thumb (or another finger) to passing tactical vehicles. This just adds to the aggravation we experience on the roads. Have I mentioned the roads yet...?
Back to work for me. Stay warm.
Sarmajor
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