He said:
You know, you just don’t realize what a fantastic thing lunch is...until you go a whole month without eating it.
That was the situation I found myself in this afternoon. I have been in Afghanistan for over a month and a half now and have been at my base for a week less than that.
I arrived at my base sometime around 2200 (10:00 pm to you non-military types), in the pitch black dark of night on a blackout FOB. After dropping my bags at the tent that would be my temporary lodging, I grabbed a quick burger from the dining facility. Then, as my schedule here was to be straight 12-hour night watches, I went immediately to work until almost 6:00 am, turning over and receiving training from the guy I was replacing and who was scheduled to depart in three days.
And that has been my schedule since: wake up around 7:00 pm, walk through the dark to the shower (the sun sets around 6:30 pm), chat or skype with my wife if our schedules line up between my shower and her taking our oldest to school, then head to work for the 8:00 pm shift change. Somewhere between 11:00 pm and 1:00 am, I go grab a take-away meal from the dining facility. As the leftovers from dinner are typically not very appetizing, my midnight meal is usually a cheeseburger or grilled cheese sandwich, fries or cheese sticks, sometimes mashed potatoes or rice, every once in a while a somewhat decent-looking pasta salad, and two bottles of cranberry juice or gatorade.
Work continues, with sometimes a break for breakfast between 5:30 am to 7:00 am, or sometimes waiting for breakfast until after 8:00 am when the day watch folks come in. Breakfast is always scrambled eggs with ham and cheese, bacon or sausage, fresh honeydew/cantaloupe/pineapple, sometimes a biscuit and gravy or hashbrowns, and always a yogurt on those lucky lucky days when there is actually yogurt available. Oh, and some combination of orange juice, cranberry juice, and mechanically recombined lowfat milk.
Following breakfast or the end of my shift, I return to my room, try to chat or skype with my wife again before she goes to bed, then either read myself to sleep or put a headphone in one ear and play solitaire on my laptop until I fall asleep. Sleep usually happens quickly, but unfortunately I always wake up an hour or two later. I'll go to the restroom, maybe snack on some pringles or something. And then I repeat the process of trying to fall back to sleep. Eventually it works. And then eventually, I wake up again after only an hour or two. Repeat as above until it is time to walk through the dark to the showers again.
So that has been my routine for over a month now with very little variation. The majority of what I've seen of Afghanistan has been a few ugly looking hills/mountains which surround the base in the distance, and lots of drab tan plaster buildings located between where I work and where I eat. One of those buildings, almost perfectly in the middle, is the drab tan plaster building where I store my belongings and attempt to sleep during the daylight.
I'll admit that is quite the boring routine, and of course it is conspicuously missing key things like exercise and three healthy meals each day. My problem has been that after breakfast and chatting with my wife, I WANT to go to sleep, rather than do anything else.
And unfortunately, not being able to go to sleep easily means that I likewise don't want to wake up early enough to go do things like exercise or eat a sensible sit-down dinner. Between the time I wake up and shower and the time I have to be at work, there is typically just enough time to grab a take-away meal tray, if I choose. Unfortunately, by the time I get it to work, listen to the shift change brief, conduct turnover with my daytime counterpart, log on to my computer to launch all the applications I use each day, then finally turn toward my dinner...well, by that time my food is glaring at me coldly from the styrofoam take-away tray and doing its best to assume an inedible appearance. So my choice is usually to devote those extra minutes to sleep or chatting with my wife rather than waiting in line for a take-away dinner that I'm probably only going to poke at anyway.
So now that you understand my routine, back to my original point: you just don’t realize what a fantastic thing lunch is until you go a whole month without eating it.
I have been meaning to visit the bazaar on base and scope out gifts for the loved ones. Two days ago my daytime counterpart offered to take me over there and show me around, so we planned for today. I took a break from work to eat breakfast early, returned quickly to my room after shift change to skype with my beautiful wife, then headed back just before 9:00 am to meet up for my bazaar tour.
It was about a third of a mile walk to the bazaar along one of the almost-outer perimeter roads. At the bazaar we browsed through several booths of DVDs, assorted knives and gun holsters, carved stone bowls and pitchers and tea sets, carpets, and finally --- lots of pre-made jewelry and even more raw or loose gemstones. The idea is to select the ones you want and have the jewelry custom made, either here or back in the states. I was there to simply browse and get ideas so did not make any purchases.
My wife has been asking when I am going to post pictures of Afghanistan, and my response has been "when I ever get around and see anything worthy of photographing." My counterpart had to return to work while I was still browsing the bazaar, so upon finishing, I found myself standing alone on a far side of the base I had not previously visited. During daylight. With my camera.
Two futures suddenly appeared ahead of me. In one, I returned to my room to play yet again the game of falling asleep, waking up, falling asleep, waking up, and so on. Simple and predictable. In the other future, I did not return to my room to play the waking/sleeping game. So, "two roads diverged in a wood, and I..."
...I went walking around Afghanistan.
Do not be alarmed by this. I know it sounds alarming, so I want to caution you to not be alarmed.
I am quite strictly confined to my base unless I leave it by air, with prior authorization. And I value my life and really really value returning safely to my family. So do not be alarmed.
Having seen so little of the base and the surrounding hills, I decided to walk the perimeter of the base. It was hot and dusty walking along the gravel roads, but I walked as much of the outer roads as I could tell I was authorized to walk. I did not go walking down any roads that looked like they left the base or otherwise did not go anyplace I had business being. I took pictures on one side of the base where the air was clear, and did not take pictures along the other side where vehicles passing by on a main road kicked up so much dust into the air you could only vaguely see the mountains in the distance through the haze.
I saw a lot more of the familiar tan plaster buildings, and tan military tents, and tan military vehicles. I also saw some trees, some butterflies and flowers, and more and more of the line of hills/mountains surrounding my base. For the most part, I still think they are ugly.
My legs especially, but my whole body overall, were grateful for the exercise. I don't know how far I went, but like a very slow Forrest Gump, I just kept walking. And as well as I could, I went walking around Afghanistan....all the way around my little piece of Afghanistan.
I digressed from my original point. After about an hour of walking I returned back to the vicinity of roads and buildings I recognized.
I looked at my watch. Once again two futures appeared. In one, I walked an additional quarter-mile between drab tan plaster buildings, back to the one where I store my belongings, and I played the sleep/wake/sleep game.
In the other, I walked the short distance across the street to the dining facility, where the servers had just finished a short break and were hurrying into the door, knowing that the first lunch patrons would be arriving for the 11:30 am opening time.
And so it occurred to me: you just don't realize what a fantastic thing lunch really is until something happens to bring to your attention the fact that you've been sleeping (or tossing and turning) through lunch every single day for the last 40-some-odd days.
So for lunch today I had shepherd's pie, and french fries, and a wonderful little cucumber-tomato vinaigrette salad that I smothered with shredded ham and cheese, and oh-so delicious chicken noodle soup just like Mom used to make on the stove right out of the Campbell's can, and a great big soft chocolate chip cookie, and a can of A&W root beer. And oh everything was so delicious!
And I was tempted to have a non-alcoholic Becks, just to remind myself vaguely of the flavor of beer, but then...why deprive myself of the opportunity to write about the way you just don't realize what a truly fantastic thing beer is until you've gone over six months without one???
And I had this strange feeling, as I walked the short distance back to the drab tan plaster building where I store my belongings and often attempt to sleep...I had this strange feeling that my body was extraordinarily grateful for the long long long walk and some sensible food other than eggs, yogurt, and fruit.
So that is my tale.
Today I went walking around Afghanistan.
Today I ate lunch.
And that has made all the difference.
