An All-Inclusive Paid Vacation to Afghanistan: Once Again Operational (Pun Intended)

As you can see, I have fixed my laptop. While I cannot claim to be a Microsoft Certified Technician, I am confident that I can tackle many technical issues. Additionally, I have been working in an operational environment for almost two months. Unfortunately, I have had to enlist the help of some tech types here at Camp Sabalu-Harrison (in the Parwan Province and adjacent to the Bagram Airfield) to try and recover many photos that were lost when my laptop crashed. Consequently, there will be less photos for the past six weeks that I can share, but hopefully, I can do so in the future or when I return home.

Shortly my arrival in Afghanistan I assumed duties as the Team Chief in RC (Regional Command) West for the NATO Rule of Law Field Force Support Mission (NROLFFSM)/Rule of Law Field Force Afghanistan (ROLFF-A) -- the similar U.S. Mission-- in Herat, Afghanistan. While the Herat Field Team was being drawn down, I was still able to conduct several Key Leader Engagements (KLEs--there is an acronym for everything!). Many of the KLEs involved meeting with Afghan Partners who were local leaders in the legal and/or law enforcement sector of the government. If you had a chance to read the information that I previously posted concerning Herat, you probably remember that it is one of the few cities in Afghanistan that still has historical buildings and other sites. The NY Times wrote an interesting piece about Herat that mentioned some of the many historical and Western sites in the city. Here's the URL:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/world/asia/herat-freewheeling-afghan-city-fearful-of-us-pullout.html?_r=0

Here are some photos (those that I have been able to recover thus far) of the ice cream shop and the Minarets mentioned in the article: