August 26 (Day 320)

What can I say? I am a slacker. It has been way too long since I have put anything on my blog. I think I am just preoccupied by my time in Afghanistan winding down. There are a lot of “last-minute” items to take care of. I am still working on getting everything I can (equipment, supplies, etc…) for the upcoming post office move before my replacement gets here in a few weeks. The actual move likely won’t happen until January, but I would like for the new LT to just be able to move, rather than having to plan.

With the holiday season fast approaching, I am also planning the holiday mail movement plan. Since there will be a lot more mail to process, the current procedures will be inadequate, as are the supplies. I am working on getting more mail pallets to accommodate the increased volume, as well as have a flight schedule in place to move the additional mail. I also need to bring several 20’ containers from one of my other locations back to Shindand. That will likely be the toughest piece, since there are fewer convoys nowadays.

My Battalion Commander came through on a visit this week. This was his first time in my area of operations (AO). Since my team, as well as finance, fall directly under him, tours (actually more of a rundown of duties) of both areas were conducted. We (the finance detachment Commander and I) also took him by a couple of the units we work with here in our daily operations, especially as it pertains to mail movement. We also splurged on lunch and went to the Italian compound and had pizza. I hadn’t been there since last November if that is any indication of how long since I have had any break from the food norm! The compound is on the same side as my ID card section, so we stopped there for a few minutes as well, and then it was off to the new post office site, just as a point of interest. The Commander was planning on heading to my other two APOs, and I assume he made it, since I have not heard otherwise. Three of my Soldiers were also provided with the Commander’s challenge coin.

We only have about 3 weeks until our replacements get here! I have attempted to fill in the new LT with all the training they can get done stateside, which will save them a lot of time and hassle doing it here. Of course, they are busy with their pre-deployment agendas, but hopefully they will be able to get some of it done. From the looks of it, they are bringing more people than I did! This is overkill from my perspective, as I don’t know what they are going to do with all those personnel.  At least they have more NCOs, which will definitely come in handy.

So, on July 8, it was father and son time. Unfortunately, Mom was not feeling well, so she missed out on the second day in Paris. Our first stop was again, the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, the line was even longer than the previous day, so no ride to the top. That meant settling for walking the stairs, and leaving us two options, the lower level or…the other lower level! Either way, it was a good walk and fairly high off the ground. The first level was around 320 steps up, and the second was an additional 360. Even from the higher level, one was quite a distance from the top. I think maybe a 1/3 of the way up or so? Let me tell you, even then it was still quite a ways up. I had to look at the stairs as I was climbing or I would get this vertigo-ish feeling. Once I made it up, I was fine; it’s just the going up part that gets me. I still look forward to going to the top the next time, though. The views were awesome, even from the lower reaches, from where I got some pictures, including the “other” Statue of Liberty. You will have to look closely at this picture, as the statue is quite a ways from the tower.

We next went to the Arc de Triomphe. We walked up the Avenue d’Ilena after crossing the Seine. It wasn’t too far, just 7-8 blocks. We did see a couple of nice rides on the way, a Ferrari and a Bentley. Some pics in part 3 (when I get them posted, as I still have to label the pictures!). Once at the roundabout with the Arc in the center, we had to find how people actually got to it. No way were we going to brave the unpredictable driving on 6+ lanes of traffic (as I alluded to in an earlier post, this place was nuts). We found the tunnel leading to the Arc. There were two places to go, one being the base of the Arc at ground level, where you could walk underneath it for one. This was free and no line. The other option was to stand in line, pay a small fee, but that allowed you to go to the top of the Arc. Of course, we did both! The architecture of the Arc is beautiful, and it is larger than I had anticipated.  The eternal flame for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is also very nice.

Our final stop was Notre Dame Cathedral on the Ile de la Cite. This was too far to walk the entire way, but we did walk a little of the Champs-Elysees. As one might imagine, the avenue is lined with upscale shops that most could hardly afford to shop in. I was tempted to stop by Swarovski and buy something nice, but realized I am a mere mortal, and probably would not have been allowed in the store! We did stop inside a Peugeot dealership, and saw a few neat cars (pics in part 3).

To be continued…