Time to Go!

My training for the Afghanistan assignment is now complete.  Every U.S. Government civilian heading to Afghanistan has two weeks of mandatory training.  Those heading out to the field have to complete four weeks of training.  Being posted in the field simply means that you are not located physically at the embassy compound in Kabul.  These last two weeks of training were focused specifically on field duty which included working closely with the military.

My training last week also included MRAP Roll-Over training.  MRAP stands for Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles which are a family of armored fighting vehicles used by the United States armed forces, among others.  As a passenger in these vehicles, we all must know what to do in the event of a roll-over.  Here is a picture of the roll-over trainer.

This second picture was taken when the MRAP was completely upside-down and there were 10 disoriented civilians inside!

Now that all of this training is complete, I am making final preparations for departure.  I am home this weekend spending some time with Terry and sorting out what I will be taking with me and what I will be mailing over.  Speaking of mailing, please disregard the earlier mailing address that I posted on this blog a couple of weeks ago.  It seems that I will be going somewhere else in country and I have a new mailing address.  Here it is:
Rich Fisher

655^th Regional Support Group

Department of State

APO, AE  09355

 As for the new location, I found out on Monday that I will be serving as the Management Officer for Regional Command-South (RC-S) at Kandahar Airfield (KAF).  I will not spend a lot of time in this blog discussing my job but to simplify things, I will be supporting the government's civilians posted throughout the southern part of Afghanistan from a very large base at an airport south of the city of Kandahar.

On Monday (8/20), I will be able to say my farewells to Chris, Marissa, and Charlotte on Skype.  On Tuesday (8/21), Terry will take me to our little airport here in Manchester and I will fly to Washington, DC where I will be able to see Corey one more time before I catch my 14-hour flight to Dubai later in the evening.  I was able to use some frequent flyer miles and obtain an upgrade to business class for this long haul.  That will make for a much more comfortable journey.  I actually arrive in Dubai the next day and have to stay over night there before catching another flight in to Kabul on Thursday (8/23).  I'll spend about a week at the embassy compound in Kabul meeting people and getting in-processed.  When that is all completed, I'll fly down to KAF to begin working.  

Have a great weekend!