Boring is Good

At 0058 there was an earthquake. It was 5.7 on the Richter scale and there was an aftershock about an hour later. The epicentre was only 70 kilometres away at a depth of 10 kilometres. I woke up at both quakes, but did not bother to get out of bed, because it didn’t seem necessary. The duty officer was going around saying that it’s already over, and in practise it was, too. The damages in the province were not that serious, as it turned out, when reports started coming in during the day. 10 people were killed, about 30 injured, and an estimated 300 houses were destroyed or damaged. A relief operation is underway, coordinated by UNAMA.

The PO had no planned patrols, so most of our guys were laying in the sun on the roof by lunchtime. I suppose they thought that the day’s work was done, but no day goes by here without at least one surprise. (Remember: "In Afghanistan you will be surprised, and if you are not surprised, be surprised.") The OCCP mentoring team was out in the morning, and they brought some news that I wanted to verify. So, after lunch we went out to talk with the chief of NDS and also to the chief of police. MOT D came in to have some rest and resupply, and also MOT C came to spend the night. It was a hot day, but the weather forecast predicted three straight days of rain.


These giant beetles have been turning up in vast numbers everywhere in the past week. They just fly around and around until they drop dead. Our ordnance NCO H amused everyone by bringing one to the briefingroom table.