Upon arrival at KAF, I was herded around like cattle for a few hours. I had to register with the base and surrender my passport for a temporary badge. This badge required you to be escorted everywhere you go if you are going to leave the camp where you live. Lemme tell you, first, surrendering your passport in a foreign country (on a military base or not) is pretty scary. Second, it is a real pain to have to be escorted everywhere you go. Thankfully, the next day I was able to get some papers from HR and take them to the badge office and get a permanent facility access card and get my passport back.
Anyway, after checking in I dragged my luggage to a little bus to take me to billeting....and I am quite thankful that the bus took me to a private CHU (containerized housing unit) rather than a tent. Remember that it's 1000 degrees outside (where I have been standing for a couple of hours waiting), you are extremely jet lagged, and that freaking luggage gets heavier and heavier. The bus took us to pick up our PPE which consists of a flack jacket, helmet, and gas mask...this adds about another 50 pounds to the luggage, lol. :-) I finally got to billeting, got my room assignment, and got to take my luggage, etc. across a lot filled with huge rocks and up the stairs to where my room was (the luggage does not roll on the big rocks, lol). Thankfully there were a few people around that I knew and we helped each other move luggage.
I got into my room and turned the A/C down to 17 C. :-) I really wanted to collapse onto the bed, but instead unpacked my luggage and the two boxes that I had mailed ahead of time. It was nice to get unpacked and a little settled. By the time I finished all of that and took a shower it was about 11pm. And wouldn't you know it....I was wide awake at 1:30am. :-)
The first several days were really rough since I was not sleeping at night and the thought of food was disgusting. Over the last few days I have been sleeping 5-7 hours a night, which seems to be enough. Food is still an issue, though. I have been eating yogurt for breakfast and then eating either lunch or dinner. The food is not terrible, but it has been pretty rough on my system. I'm sure I will adjust to that as well. As a result, all of the pants I brought with me are too big....I won't complain about that, though. :-)
In spite of where I am, I am doing good. I have been getting away from camp at night and have met some really nice people. Everyone here kind of looks out for each other, which is really a blessing.
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