Which goes back to my point about saluting and letting the enemy know who's in charge, or maybe if it is a bunch of Mickey Mouse then you guys don't care and be glad to point out the assholes to the enemy

Are you worried more about the enemy or the REMF cadre?

You don't know what the fuck you're talking about.  Go away.

KAF is huge.  Most places where you would salute aren't even visible from outside the wire.  There are T walls and hescos all over the place.  Same with BAF.

Yup.

Thank you for making it clear, I always thought when there were snipers saluting was prohibited

Enjoy Afghanistan, pal

I am, every day.  Enjoy Florida and your Soldier of Fortune magazines guy.  Hey, if you want to know what Iraq was like, go watch reruns of Over There and then come ask some more stupid questions about saluting, snipers, and REMFs!  Lol, REMFs.  Fucking clownshoes

You have a nice day too, what you think is not very important to me

It's not day, it's night here now.  God forbid the snipers and MPs that catch you without your glowbelt.  I just realized there's no emoticon with a PT belt.  Arfcom needs to fix that shit pronto.

I've had a rough couple days in Panjwai so my tolerance is short.  You'll have to excuse it.  Seriously though, wherever you're getting your information....seek another source.

Don't take things so personal, like I said in general, have a nice day or night

Why are you trolling the deployed forum and harassing folks here?  Keep your bullshit in GD.

Have a nice day yourself, excuse me if you will, your opinion of harassment was never intended by me. You guys are in a combat zone posting on the web right at this instant, I could never be in any position to harass anyone. Like I said please have a good day and be safe.

I will be on ground shortly. How bad is it? It was a zoo last time I was in KAF in 2011

You are talking about KAF, right?
How'd the gay pride thing go?

don't lump KAF with surrounding districts.

that's bullshit.

They're pulling a lot of the people in off the COPs into here.  Lots of units roll/fly into the districts/AO from here.  I know b/c I get attached/attach myself with some of them.  But just to be clear, no this place is NOT the same as what the guys living in the remaining COPs deal with.  Not in the least.  This place can be its own special little world but I'm not telling you guys anything you don't already know.

The gay pride thing went swimmingly.  It was nice seeing them hold hands, hug, and give speeches.  Went hand in hand with the SHARP classes they pushed.  No one does knee jerk like the US military.

The fact that KAF is what it is.....is frightening.  I dunno, maybe it happens in every theater....Baghdad, Saigon, etc??  I never went to Baghdad but I heard/read things and it seems a mirror of this place.

I have to agree with that.

In related news, the TGIFridays on KAF is open again.  I ate there last night - awful service and insanely high prices.

Novelty gone, I am back at the DFAC's when I am inside the wire.

Have the intestinal explosions set in yet? Everyone I know who has eaten there has gotten sick.

Sure as hell, they did.  That was definitely a mistake.

Crossing them off my list of places to take my section for my birthday.

I miss the Afghan Tea shop. I had sweet tea there everyday on my way to work for my night shift. I left in SEP2012.

That little place across the way from the South Park post office? I walk past it almost daily.

I was in RC South in 2012.  Fortunately, I was on KAF for about 10 days before I moved up to FOB Bullard.  Then I was on KAF for about a week when I went on R&R.  From there I went to Sperwan Ghar.  Finally, I was on KAF again for just over 2 weeks as we redeployed.  So I spent a total of about 5 weeks on KAF.

In 2009 I was in Baghdad.  For majority of the time I was on outlying FOBs or JSSs, but I did spend time where our Company HQ was at Camp Liberty.  I will say that Camp Liberty and Victory Base Complex (VBC) back in 2009 was much less gay than KAF was.  At KAF, it seems like every senior NCO was quick to get in to your business.  I don't know who's running the show down there now, but 3rd ID took it over a couple months into our deployment and it went from being ok, to everything being micromanaged.  My buddy got blown up while on a dismounted patrol, and we get in to trouble because he was not wearing approved boots.  Since I've left, we were no longer allowed to wear civilian boots on dismounted operations.

On the other hand, in Baghdad, or VBC specifically, everyone kept to themselves for the most part.  If you were completely jacked up, then someone would say something, but we were never hassled there.  We also didn't have to do SHARP training or any of that.  However, just before we left, apparently there was some dude running around whacking people with a SAPI plate, pulling them in to one of those concrete shelters and raping them.  I don't know how true that was, but we were warned of it as we were preparing to head back for redeployment.  I highly doubt SHARP training would deter a violent criminal like that though.  If I had to choose, I'd take Baghdad over KAF any day.  At least VBC had good chow halls, gyms without nazi rules (I could actually wear the shoes I was walking in to work out in), and I could workout in uniform and not PTs), it wasn't overcrowded, and we actually had NTVs to get around.

I can't believe there was a gay pride thing down there.  That would not have happened in Iraq, but then again, don't ask don't tell was still in effect.  I think people who live and work on KAF forget that there's an actual war going on outside the wire.  That guys are fighting, dying or getting seriously messed up.  I was seriously hoping I could take a CSM or an O5 or O6 out on mission with me and let them see first hand what we're dealing with on a daily basis.  Maybe if they see what's going on on a more personal level instead of some report or statistic, they'll have a little more appreciation of what the guys on the ground are doing.

Anyway, ScoutFSU99, hang in there.  I've been in the Panj, and it's no joke down there.  If there's anything you need hit me up.

Having only visited KAF and never lived there, some of my friends explained to me that most of the base, aside from the flight line, regularly floods in the spring, and that the flood waters are essentially toxic due to the leach fields & sewage. Can someone who's experienced it first hand regale us with the tale? My buddy was an FSC commander and slid off one of the elevated sidewalks on his way to to a BN weekly meeting, and came out all brown (back when we still wore ACUs over there) and stinking. When he walked in to the BN HQ the CSM was right by the door and just stares at him, and my buddy stares back for a minute before finally erupting, "What?! Go ahead and say it Sergeant Major." To which the CSM replied, "Well sir, most of the captains that come in here are full of shit, but you man enough to wear yours on the outside. I respect that." And walked off laughing.

That CSM and I would have a little chat.

No worries man.  I appreciate the offer but really, I'm living better here than any of my previous tours.  The only thing I need is a JDAM strike of common sense to hit this place.  I'm just glad I get to fly out pretty much whenever I feel like it.  If I was stuck here like some.....I'd lose my fucking mind.

I guess what really bugs me is this is my first Divisional level experience.  I've never been/worked out of a place like KAF.  The stuff that goes on here was always the things that I saw on AFN that made us so angry.  Like the Batman of Bagram, little news reports of hotdog eating contests, MPs walking around snatching people's CAC cards over PT belts, salsa night, etc. Just a different "war" than I'm used to I suppose. Haha, it makes me feel a little dirty inside...

I know exactly what you mean.  When my company was back at KAF for redeployment, we played our BN a friendly game of flag football.  Those guys actually had plays and were calling audibles.  Of course, they were giving us crap because they kicked our ass.  We just responded with, "well it must be nice to have time to design plays and practice."  Gotta have salsa night.  People on KAF need something to "get away from it all".

I guess VBC had those same things when I was there.  There was actually an RC car race track.  We used to drive by there with our tactical vehicles and turn on our CREW.  We were never able to quite see if we were jamming their cars, but we'd really get our kicks out of doing that.

I like your style

Some of my guys who got stuck on Phoenix in 2008 reported back to me afterwards that there were some guys complaining about the quality of crab legs on the weekly Friday night surf n turf spread
Meanwhile  in Helmand and around July it was  a really big deal when we had a handful of  steaks arrive for a single meal.

The guys who have spent their entire tours on places like KAF, Phoenix or one of the embassies should be forced to spend at least a  third of their tour out in the boonies.
I know it'll never happen, because the tip of the spear needs that long support system behind it, but it would  be nice to give them some perspective

I imagine that in 10 or 20 years after the war is over we ( the country ) will see a flood of guys who actually spent their tours running around KAF with a banana in their hand or jostling for front row at the current USO show claiming that they were something else somewhere else in the country.......

It's already started.

LOL!

Eh, about half the CSMs I've ever met seem to feel their job is to be the ring leader of hazing CGOs, setting the tone for all the other SNCOs in an organization. They're essentially bullies, picking on people who haven't yet or won't learn to stand up for themselves. My last CSM: Never once called anyone sir (even then BN CDR,) didn't salute CPTs and below, didn't come to PT, and regularly berated the (admittedly weak and stupid) HHC CDR in front of the BN staff. The BN CDR never set him straight though, so he had free reign. That filtered down to the XO and S3, who would literally jump up and run into the CSM's office when he would yell, "S3, get in here!" That entire situation was . I was already counting down REFRAD days when I arrived in that organization, but it made me wish I could hit fast forward.

I had the luxury of spending my first tour on a relatively cushy multinational camp, but had to travel all over the country about every other week, and around Kabul about 4 days a week when I was in RC-C. And it's funny to think that back then, I thought that Camp Phoenix and (especially) Camp Warehouse were living high on the hog with their good food and amenities. And when I'd visit far flung places like Tarin Kowt and FOB Lighting I'd be happy I didn't live in such austere conditions. Then I ended up on a baseball diamond sized 30 man cop in Kunar for 2012. That second straight week of stir fry really put things in perspective.

I didn't get to Warehouse, US Embassy or other Kabul locations til my last 3 months in late 2009 when they sent me back to Kabul because AD was taking over down south.

Kabul in general pissed me off after being down south and out in Helmand.

As far as stir fry and what-not, in 2008 I preferred to eat with my Afghans at least once a day, usually lunch.
It didn't kill me, and it beat eating from another MRE or tray pack.
I actually LIKED kabobs and the rice/ meat they used to feed the Afghans.

That's funny.  I remember our S1, who was sitting comfy on KAF, was bitching about how terrible the Toby Keith concert was.  In the meantime, we had finally got our generators working after almost 3 days of no power and a day time high of around 20 degrees.  For three days my team and I never left our bunks.  I don't think I've ever used all three layers of the sleeping bag before, and I was still cold.

Im back pics to come!

Welcome home!  So, you must tell us, how'd you like KAF?  Good times, huh?

I'm trying to avoid it, but it looks like I'll be swinging by KAF before I'm home.

Hit me up and I'll buy you a cup of coffee.  I'm here until sometime this winter.

I would have loved to (and asked. Repeatedly).

 I got tasked for an IA, to a billet that was cancelled a month after I got there.  Shows how much they needed me on that base, but I was stuck anyway.

But, that was nearly 2 years ago.  I'm over it.

It would be nice if it was something that was standard and not have to be asked for.
I know that its not do-able in the real world...someone has to be in the rear doing the day-to-day stuff.
But it would be nice to shut up some of those guys if they got a dose of what things are really like......

4 ID thinks it is 2008 instead of 2013.

They are also vigorously enforcing the wearing of tshirts to and from the latrines.  Yay SHARP.

Wow, that needs to be nipped in the bud quickly.

Just one of many reasons I got out

And if you are wearing PT shorts, it had better be a PT shirt, not a tan one.  One of my troops got fussed at by a passing 4ID NCO for wearing a tan shirt during a 30 foot walk to the latrine at the RLB's.

They're really taking all the fun out of this war, aren't they?

I've done that multiple times at the transient areas at BAF. When approached I was a big fan of asking "Do fucking know who I am?" The reply was usually "No." To which I would reply "Good!" and run away. For the best outcome I recommend having O power, friends that live there, or not giving a fuck if you are to play that game.

I'm lucky enough that my LTC blessed off on me wearing civilians to the NATO gym.  I had one fat female 3 ID SFC try and mess with me once...she was slapped down quickly.  The tan t shirt/pt shorts thing is fucking ridiculous.  People get spun up about the wrong things....in the past two weeks, I've corrected a SPC and a SFC for having their optics backwards on their rifles.  Fucking backwards....how they cleared RSOI/ zero range when they first got here, I don't know.

That's funny, cuz I know quite a few soldiers that loved wearing their rank on their glow belt.

Speaking of which, do they do that stupid thing on the FOB's and COP's?

Do what? Two of the COPs I was at were pretty laid back. At one there was like 29 of us and then just Afghans, we had Hawiian shirt days and wore civies when not on guard or patrol. The other wasn't as strict, but still had baseball cap Friday and Stetson Thursday (I was attached to the CAV)

PT Belts, we called them fag straps and they were not worn. Generally just big boy rules, though my CO did yell at me a time or two for wearing my baseball cap when it wasn't ball cap day.