One full year in Afghanistan, oh where the time goes…

Today marks one full year since I’ve begun this journey into the Warzone and oh the many things I’ve encountered in my time here…

Before I go into some of these details I’d like to refer to some of the past posts on this, just for consolidation effort! :)

 

So one full year in a war-zone that must be pretty crazy, right? Yes. Yes it is.  Over the course of this time I’ve gone through multiple military transitions (in and out) numerous base closures and as time has gone on and we prepare for “draw-down” a significant decrease in standard life services.   That may not sound like much but considering that we were already basically camping, and things have gone down from that point…. Yea, it’s been interesting. :)

Do I enjoy what I am doing? Absolutely.  I personally have a significant impact on the direction of things here and am able to take my decades of experience and put them to good use to equally ensure that our tax dollars aren’t fraudulently wasted, at least not on my watch!

In the short little time I’ve been here my responsibilities as Deputy Technical Director and Storage and Virtualization Lead for all of the efforts here in Afghanistan have been very rewarding.   I unfortunately cannot go into too many details without compromising aspects of the mission but let me just say… This has been an absolutely awesome experience the likes of which are difficult to rival.   The experience itself is not nearly as rewarding as knowing that the knowledge and skills I brought into this theater from years of work in the trenches and leading high performing teams has scaled to make this a case study for success which can be replicated immensely..

Some things which you can only truly experience while living in a warzone (or in some cases, Chicago…)

  • Taking a Helicopter to get to work, with a high powered machine gun out the side…
  • The incessant and regular explosions, whether controlled or by insurgents.
  • [REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED] – Oh how I’d love to be able to share that…
  • And more… :)

But this story is not over.   At this point I’m pretty sure I’ll fight this battle out a little longer to ensure everything is ready and in place for the executed draw down of American troops scheduled for 31DEC2014 – After which point I’m out of here and onto the next story where I can continue to do absolutely awesome things.    I get hit up regularly and I respect and appreciate that.   I’ll likely be looking to start that next story in the Nov/Dec to January time frame so if you’re looking feel free to hit me up as we get closer!

As always I’ll continue to update you in the form of tweets, facebook updates, Instagram, Tumblr and more!

Be safe, and on this wonderful Valentines Day <3 :)