Adopt a Platoon sends Christmas cheer

We received cards, Christmas stockings, and a very nice blanket from Adopt a Platoon

Christmas Day

Not a holiday in Afghanistan, started the day off in a meeting with our counterparts. We didn't spend Christmas with our family, but we did share it with our brothers in arms.

Christmas Dinner

The DFAC went all out again to prepare a special meal for Christmas Dinner.

Christmas Postcard

Christmas Eve Lunch

Our primary staff officers were invited down to have a Christmas Eve lunch with our counterparts, the Afghan Special Forces Senior Officers. Their General said, if you can't be home with your family please consider yourselves part of our family. While they don't celebrate Christmas, they do understand its importance to us and they recognize the sacrifice we make for their country by being away from home. Food was good and there was enough for everyone.

Care Packages

just keep flowing in. Its amazing. I added the 7 boxes from GM Cares to the stash. No solider/airman/Canadian soldier should go without this Christmas.

Snow Capped Mountains

The sun is doing a nice job of melting the snow, but I think winter is here to stay.

Winter Arrives

to our little outpost. We got about 4" of snow on December 17th. The cold weather is allowing it to stick around.

In Memory

of the Sandy Hook tragedy, the U.S. flag and Canadian flag were flown at half mast. Such senseless violence, words can't express the sorrow.

Cards

We get cards... from all age groups. School children, the elderly, and everyone in between. Many contribute as part of a larger organization, but all are welcome and read.

Snacks

and more snacks. My cupboards are full thanks to the many care packages flowing in this time of year. THANK YOU!!! So many have taken time to send a package or card, very humbling. Your gifts are reminders of home and provide some comfort in an otherwise bleak environment.

Rug Man

We bring a local vendor in about once a month to sell Afghan rugs. All are hand woven, very intricate, and very beautiful. But that doesn't come cheap, especially given our location.

Wow

We were all very surprised to receive a personal gift box from a small company in Westminster, Maryland. Along with the usual cards, snacks, and baked goods was an iPod Touch, engraved with "Thank you for serving our country" but beyond that it was preloaded with 115 songs and 2 movies. What can you say to such generosity but "Thank You"

Operation Shoebox

More Christmas cheer arrived thanks to Operation Shoebox We received an eclectic collection of gifts via some very nice Christmas stockings. Included were some hand knit stocking caps that were warm and festive. The number of organizations that support our troops surprises me and is so nice to see that these volunteer groups have continued to surprise deployed troops after a decade of war. A heart felt thank you to each and everyone of the volunteers that step up every day to contribute a helping hand and a touch of home to all of us deployed in harms way.

Operation Gratitude

Thanks to an organization in California that puts together care packages for soldiers we now have boxes of goodies flowing into camp.

Christmas Cards for All

Thanks to my brother-in-law John and his students we have lots of Christmas cards to share with the entire team here.

Moon over Morehead

Camp Morehead that is. Didn't truly capture how nice a sight this was, but worth sharing anyway.

Days are getting shorter

and colder, had to break out some thermal wear. The mountain trails we use are getting icy in spots and I have busted my butt more than once coming down.