Mt Ghar

The view of Ghar from the base of the trail.

Below is one of the many rest stops I took. Look at the slope!

Two old fighting positions, top for machine guns, and the bottom for mortars.
A herd of goats near the top of the mountain.
And the singing goat herder.
First look at the peak! The French are already there.
That's me crossing the spine of rock leading to the peak to the far left.

Trying to call Chris from the top. I got a power bar and a near beer. She was having a great dinner with the Hoffman's.Views from the top!

A little green on the peak in a very brown land.

General Pritt posing for pics with the troops.

CW4 Albine and his son celebrating his 51st birthday on top of Ghar!

This is my second try. Microsoft updated my computer while working on the first and shut down my machine without asking after updating. Lost 6 hrs of picture uploading. Learned after that to compress pics, much faster. Sorry if this blog sounds out of sinc.

The week started out pretty normal. Working in the wood shop, working out and seeing patients. Got some serial patients now from different procedures I've performed. They come in for follow ups. They seem to be getting better. Had to perform an I&D (incision and drainage) of a hematoma this week on a soldier. That was the big medical event. He is doing much better since then. Built some glove racks and drawer slides in the wood shop. Will add them to my battle field furniture catalog.

Two baptisms at church this week. Heard about the first one after it happened, attended the second one. Both from Oregon. Very special event!

Interviewed by Tom from the Daily Astorian. Bill thinks he writes good articles, haven't had a chance to look yet.

The weather is getting much warmer now. It is kind of like the spring in Texas. It only last about two weeks and then summer hit. Yesterday it was about 95 degrees here. It is kind of like Bend too. We are in a valley but the heat is a very dry heat and with the clear sky's it cools off at night very well. There is almost a chill in the air in the morning before working out. The sun seems very bright and intense. I have not had a photo reaction from my doxy yet.

Went to the bazaar again this week. Had to take back my leather coat. They cut the sleeves too short, yes even for me. I'm starting to get a little worried that they will get it right. They don't take any measurements just eye it. Bill and Jason are worried too, but at least they have not spent any money yet. It is suppose to be ready on Tuesday. It is a great jacket, so I hope it works out. It is so soft, every time Bill comes to my room he has to touch it. It's a little odd but I understand. Of course after that I had to get my weekly lesson on jewels from Jason and Dan. I am really beginning to like star sapphires. I have learned what to look for and am getting better at bartering too. I've learned to sit and talk with the dealer and not just stand and look. A few minutes of sitting and talking gets you a lot better deal. This week a new technique was taught to me for wheeling and dealing. If you carry a bottle of pantene shampoo in your pocket you can save a bunch. Bill was buying some old English Enfield rifles. He couldn't get the price he wanted and was about to settle for the higher price or walk a way. He pulled out the bottle and got the price he wanted to pay. For $3.55 it is a good investment. I better get some before there is a rush at the PX. Although I'm not sure how much more I am going to get. It is becoming kind of fun to barter. It is much less tiring now that I'm getting the hang of it too. I can brush off the people I don't want to talk to and tell them what I want. One thing to avoid is eye contact when you want to get by and just say nay. When dealing, if you don't get the price you want just get up and begin to walk a way. If they really want to sell it to you they will come after you or just say "ok, for you I make special price." I try not to carry to much money either, so I won't be tempted to pay too much. I like coming home with some cash. I think it is a recessive trait from my dad to bargain, and its beginning to come out. What a day.

On Friday the big event here is to climb Mt. Ghar (means mountain). It is located about a 20 minute drive from camp on an ANA base. The day starts at 0345 to get ready and form up for the convoy. The idea is to get there about sunrise. We started a little late because of a safety briefing snafu and the french beat us to the top. Well everyone needs to win once in a while. It was a beautiful day. Some smog over parts of the city which made it hard to see it all but the views were amazing from the top. The hike takes about 45 minutes. About 1 mile. The elevation gain is about 1500 ft, thank goodness for working out. You start above 6000 ft and it is a pretty good slope going up. Along the way we found old fighting emplacements shell casing and other left overs from years ago. We also passed a herd of goats near the top, not much grass up there but they didn't look hungry. Very long shaggy coats. There were 2 herders. The older one was very quiet, but the younger one had a good time talking to soldiers. I think one was trying to teach Spanish, he kept saying what sounded like "ola". He liked to sing as well, don't know what he was singing and was not always on key, but he was enjoying himself and so were we. The last part of getting to the top was a small spine of rock about 40 feet long. A couple of people hesitated but we all made it across. When we got there the French were drinking champagne and toasting each other. I had a power bar and a near beer.

We had some special events up there too. Chief Albine was celebrating his 51st birthday up on top. What made it better is that his son is deployed over here with him. Above you'll see a picture of them with cigars. They gave me a near beer to celebrate with them. General Pritt the task force commander came up as well. He is a nice man, seems very down to earth. They set up a flag and we could get our pics taken with him. Cool setting with the flag behind us and then a snow covered mountain range behind that. I need to get a copy of mine still from military press people.

On the way back down it was getting warm and it took longer because of loose rock. Upon reaching the hummers my uniform was soaking wet. Then, of course we get to put back on all of our battle rattle to sweat even more. On the way back out we go through another Russian equipment bone yard. They left tanks and BMPs all over the place and they have been hauled to different places to rust away. I hope they take the steel and melt it down and make something useful.

We made it back to post just after they stopped serving breakfast. That is ok though, I needed a showers and to do laundry more than eat. What a nice morning, and now I can say that I climbed one of the Hindu Kusch mountains. Pretty cool. On the way back I was looking at the blue force tracker which shows our position superimposed on a satellite photo. Ghar doesn't look that big from space, but it was a work out. I skipped the treadmill that day.

For my mother, we were all packing weapons on the way up and down. Army style day hiking. By the way some young tough guys did the hike in full body armor. That's 25-40 lbs most of us didn't carry up and I'm glad. Could of done it but why. I am learning with age, slowly to enjoy the trip not just the destination.

God Bless all.

mike