I'm posting twice today since my private Internet in my room was completely out yesterday. Otherwise I would have talked about the package I received in the mail. Actually it was a foot locker that I sent to myself before I left that contained a number of things I didn't have room to carry but needed to bring for one reason or another.
I sent the big durable plastic foot locker the day before I left my mobilization station in NJ via DHL to the address I thought I'd be ending up at before I left. As things changed and I went to Kabul instead of Bagram Airbase, I left word for our unit's contingent there to send it to my new APO (Army Post Office) address in Kabul. U.S. Mail from APO to APO is free of charge, which is good because my trunk easily weighed 70 lbs.
When I picked up the box from the mail room yesterday, it was like Christmas, only in August (and in an Islamic nation). Honestly I'd forgotten what all I'd packed in there before I left, so I was a little excited. I remembered a few things, but most of it was stuff I knew at the time I wouldn't need for a few weeks.
Before I opened it, I'd already been warned via email that it had been opened and inspected by Customs in Bagram. As a general rule in Islamic countries, the U.S. military can't bring in certain contraband such as alcohol or pornography. Fortunately I wasn't trying to smuggle any of that in. However, they did take out my NBC (Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological) protective equipment. The mask, protective clothing, and antidote injectors had been removed because for some reason they violate USPS policy. Everything else left inside arrived in disarray from rifling through, but still intact.
As for the rest in the box, I'd packed all of my cold weather gear to include heavy duty boots, cold weather suits, long underwear, heavy gloves, etc. We're at 6000 feet so it does snow in the winter, but I'm not sure how clod it gets. I also packed about 3 sets of civilian clothes that I bought at the PX back at the MOB station in the U.S. because they put us on a pass and I had no civilian clothes from home. I packed various books and CDs on Afghan language, culture, and counter insurgency tactics that will be good reading during down time. I also packed several dozen greeting cards to send out throughout the year. The selection over here at the PXs is very limited so it's always good to plan ahead for special occasions. A bag full of extra hygiene items become a total mess when one of the tubes split open from the pressure change.
Not exactly mission essential stuff, but I was glad to have it none the less. Plus the foot locker is a great place to lock up valuables. Not that I have much space in my crowded room to store it, but I'm a Boy Scout at heart and try to be prepared. It's better to have it and not need it then need it and not have it. Now, how to get all my NBC gear down here to me in case we come in contact with WMDs?
More to follow.
I sent the big durable plastic foot locker the day before I left my mobilization station in NJ via DHL to the address I thought I'd be ending up at before I left. As things changed and I went to Kabul instead of Bagram Airbase, I left word for our unit's contingent there to send it to my new APO (Army Post Office) address in Kabul. U.S. Mail from APO to APO is free of charge, which is good because my trunk easily weighed 70 lbs.
When I picked up the box from the mail room yesterday, it was like Christmas, only in August (and in an Islamic nation). Honestly I'd forgotten what all I'd packed in there before I left, so I was a little excited. I remembered a few things, but most of it was stuff I knew at the time I wouldn't need for a few weeks.
Before I opened it, I'd already been warned via email that it had been opened and inspected by Customs in Bagram. As a general rule in Islamic countries, the U.S. military can't bring in certain contraband such as alcohol or pornography. Fortunately I wasn't trying to smuggle any of that in. However, they did take out my NBC (Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological) protective equipment. The mask, protective clothing, and antidote injectors had been removed because for some reason they violate USPS policy. Everything else left inside arrived in disarray from rifling through, but still intact.
As for the rest in the box, I'd packed all of my cold weather gear to include heavy duty boots, cold weather suits, long underwear, heavy gloves, etc. We're at 6000 feet so it does snow in the winter, but I'm not sure how clod it gets. I also packed about 3 sets of civilian clothes that I bought at the PX back at the MOB station in the U.S. because they put us on a pass and I had no civilian clothes from home. I packed various books and CDs on Afghan language, culture, and counter insurgency tactics that will be good reading during down time. I also packed several dozen greeting cards to send out throughout the year. The selection over here at the PXs is very limited so it's always good to plan ahead for special occasions. A bag full of extra hygiene items become a total mess when one of the tubes split open from the pressure change.
Not exactly mission essential stuff, but I was glad to have it none the less. Plus the foot locker is a great place to lock up valuables. Not that I have much space in my crowded room to store it, but I'm a Boy Scout at heart and try to be prepared. It's better to have it and not need it then need it and not have it. Now, how to get all my NBC gear down here to me in case we come in contact with WMDs?
More to follow.
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