Another trip to the strong point (Received December 23, 2009)

Hello Everyone!
Well we just got back from another rotation out at the strong point. No fighting yet for me, which I'm sure your all glad to hear. It always happens just out of range of our patrols. First thing we did after we got set up was set up the mortar tubes, the 50 cal sniper, and the MK19 which is a mounted fully auto grenade launcher. We got to rotate through all of them shooting random things on the side of the mountain. It was pretty sweet.
This was the first time we have been allowed to go up into the mountains so we got to do some serious climbing two days in a row. These mountains are pretty rough. Nothing but rocks and most of it is pretty steep. I had some really high quality gloves that I brought but after those two climbs they have three holes at least the size of a dime. We didn't find anything too exciting up there except what looked like a few empty fighting positions (which the army guys shot lots of m203's at) and a few caves. Nothing in them either. But the view was great! I got quite a few pictures and videos but left the cable to upload any of them at home so it might be a while before anyone gets to see them. On our way down we spotted a few goat and donkey herders walking through a field. They looked like they were taking pictures of our helicopters which is not allowed. We ran all the way out to them and started yelling. We had no "terp" (interpreter) with us so we had to communicate as best we could. We resorted to just pointing out guns at them and searching em. Lucky me got picked to do some of the searchin. I have never smelled anything quite like an Afghan herder! It is hard to think of a work that can even express how them smell. Good times though, good times.
We also passed through a few towns on our way to and from the mountains. We stopped to talk to one of the men about the Taliban. He assured us there were no Taliban around and that they defend their village well. This caught everyones attention because the Taliban are obviously armed and these farmers have nothing. He said they "chase them away with rocks". I'm sure thats nothin but the truth.
So after harassing a few goats and donkeys we left the town to head back to our strong point. We took a new path back and found ourselves in the largest fields of marijuana I have even seen. These plants were taller than most of the buildings in the villages and stretched as far as we could see. If I were a pot head it would have been heaven! Needless to say, all of my gear now smells like pot. A truly strange experience.
Well I think that's all for now. We go out again Sunday so I'll be sending another update to everyone. Thank you for your emails and prayers! Talk to you soon!!! And as always, feel free to forward this to everyone and anyone! Cheers! ( I picked that up from the Canadians)

Michael