Combat First Aid, Tactical Convoys, Language Classes, and Command Post Exercises

When I left home a month and a half ago, I fully expected I'd be in Afghanistan by now, happily attempting to nest by putting down a cheaply bought local floor rug and building a bookshelf out of scavenged planks and cinder blocks. But, no, I'm still here. Still living out of a rucksack. Yup. Great.

Training's actually gotten much better, though (which isn't saying much, frankly.) Here's how we've spent most of the last two weeks:

Combat First Aid: Applying a tourniquet (tight is good), treating a collapsed lung (make another hole in the chest), and starting an IV (going into, rather than through, the vein in the hardest part.)

Tactical Convoys: Getting 20 people in several humvees hundreds of meters apart to act as a well-oiled machine while under fire is hard.

Dari Language class: Spent a day learning such useful phrases as "may I search your car" and "drop your weapons," before the instructor went on a heartfelt but rambling and eternal monologue on Afghan history, politics, economics, and culture.

Command Post Exercise: Three days in an air conditioned tent (could be worse) doing simulated mission planning, analysis, and execution. Much nerdy fun.