Letter From Afghanistan #11

Well another week has managed to sneak past us and somehow I managed to miss most of the days.  Well I guess I wouldn’t say that I missed them since they are keeping me here but at the same time I wonder where the time has gone.  This last week was rather eventful due to the fact that Afghanistan was holding their national elections on the 20^th and so there were many preparations that needed to be made before hand.  Our part in the elections was to aid in the transportation of some equipment and then also to help in keeping the voters safe.  There were rumors that some of the terrorist cells throughout the country were going to be traveling through some of the cities in the hopes of scaring the voters into staying away.  From my understanding they weren’t successful and the voters showed up anyhow.  Due to the fact that Afghanistan is less heavily reliant on technology that some other countries, the results of the election are slower to be processed and therefore are not scheduled to come out until sometime in September.

Recently I also received an email Keith Olson to inform me that their son, Shawn, recently became a contributor to the battle as he is now deployed down at Kandahar.  In the short correspondence that I have been able to have with Shawn thus far it sounds like he is fortunate in the fact that he will only deployed here for roughly four months before he returns back to the States and back to his family.  With the arrival of Shawn it is starting to feel kind of like a New Salem class of 2001 reunion.  A while back I received an email from John-Paul Klein, whose family was a neighbor of ours for a number of years, and he informed me that he too was currently deployed to Afghanistan.  He is located to the NE of FOB Lagman.  It’s nice to know that there are people here that I know and yet we may never be able to see each other.  I may be able to meet up with Shawn when I am on my way back home since I will have to travel through Kandahar on my way back to the states, but since I am rather unlikely to make it to other FOBs in the area I am not highly likely to run into John-Paul.

I also recently received an email from Rosemary in Idaho with a few questions.  She mentioned that the fruit harvest out in Idaho was getting ripe and therefore ready to be harvested.  She was wondering what our food was like here.  I can honestly say that it is nowhere near as good as the food that we have back home.  There is no knoephla soup or caramel rolls anywhere, but we still seem to get fed.  The Dining Facility here on FOB Lagman is operated by a company called KBR out of Houston, Texas.  They are one of the more widely used contractors throughout both Afghanistan and Iraq.  During my stay at FOB Diamondback near the city of Mosul, Iraq, during my last deployment, all of our Dining facilities were also run by the same company.  That is not to say that the service between the two is quite the same though.  I found that the food that we were served in Iraq was better than the food here.  Of course one of the issues is the size of the FOB.  Diamondback was a much larger FOB than Lagman is and therefore it is expected that the service between the two will be different.

When it comes to the actual food though we do it a lot of the same foods that we would eat back home.  During many meals the line is often filled with our favorites from back home.  It is commonplace to see such things as cheeseburgers, hot dogs, and french fries.  They also have some more substantial meals that they serve and often these meals are served as kind of a theme for the meal.  There are days when the theme is Mexican food and it comes complete with a taco bar.  One of my favorite meals is when they decide to have Italian day.  They serve large pans of lasagna and spaghetti and meatballs.  The one thing usually on the menu for Italian day that I have yet to understand is fried mozzarella cheese sticks.  Granted I won’t complain since these are my favorite, but I don’t quite understand how they are considered Italian.

Once you get away from the main line where all of the main course food is served there are a few other options available as well.  Most meals have a small sandwich station available.  It’s nothing too fancy, just a couple of trays with some ham and turkey then usually some American cheese and if we’re lucky some Swiss cheese as well.  There is also a large tray of whole wheat bread.  On the other side there is usually several different types of fruit that are available.  The fruit selection is somewhat dependant on what is in season at the time, but it is usually always fresh fruit.  They usually have some fruit cocktail or other canned fruit available but the rest of it is all fresh and they usually chop and dice it right there in the kitchen.  There is also usually an assortment of vegetables available and therefore it is possible for someone to have a salad if that is what they desire.  Since a lot of people resolve to lose weight while they are on a deployment it is always a good idea to have some healthier choices available.

For drinks we have the regular there as well when it comes to selection.  There are generally several different types of pop in the cooler along with an assortment of Gatorade.  Coffee and tea are usually available 24 hours a day, which can come in handy for some of the night shift people.  Now since New Salem has a lot of dairy farmers, I am proud to be able to report that milk is also available to us.  I’m not 100% sure where the milk comes from but it comes in little juice boxes and we don’t just have plain white milk.  We also have chocolate, banana, and strawberry available for our consumption, but I usually stick to the plain milk.  The one weird thing about the milk here is that it is not required to be refrigerated.  When it is processed they use a method called Ultra-High Temperature processing.  I can gather a little information from the title but I have yet to figure out how exactly this process makes it so that this milk doesn’t have to be put in the fridge to prevent spoilage.  Having traveled through a couple of different countries in Europe though I can tell you that this process is rather popular there and often they will keep their milk in their pantry until they actually open it, at which time refrigeration is required.  Since all of our food is actually trucked in from other places it is good that we don’t have to worry about the milk going bad and they can concentrate more on keep the fruits and vegetables and other food cold so that there is less waste.

Well I suppose I had better sign off for another week.  It is getting late and I need to get to bed soon so that I can get up tonight and do it all over again.  The days are often repetitive, but after a while you get used to it and if something changes it puts a wrench into the rest of your day.  I would like to thank everyone who has sent letters and emails over the last weeks.  I greatly appreciate all of the news from back in the States.  I don’t often get a lot of time to watch the news on TV here and even when I do it’s still better to hear it directly from people back home.   I also want to thank those of you who have recently sent care packages, especially Delores Klusmann, Rosemary Kunkel, and the parishioners at St. Mary, Queen of Peach church in Almont.  Everything that you sent is greatly appreciated and it all disappeared within a matter of minutes as people went through it all and took what they needed.

I would love to hear from you.  If you would like to contact me you can email me at john.iraq@hotmail.com.  I love to hear news from back home.  I also would love to try and answer any questions that you may have.  If you would prefer to send a letter, card, or care package they can be sent to me at the following address:

SSgt John B. Ferderer

Task Force Pegasus

HHC 2-82 (SWO) Task Force Corsair

APO AE 09355

If you are sending a care package please know that everything that is sent is shared with everyone here on the FOB and that everything is greatly appreciated.  Due to the heat I must ask that you please refrain from sending chocolate or anything else that will melt.  With the temperature still reaching over 100°F each day chocolate becomes soupy very quickly.

Have a great week and have a great Air Force Day!