Eventful couple of days

One more day and I will be leaving here. Its been an eye opener being outside the wire. You get to see the locals up close and personal. The kids pester you for stuff and never go away.

Let me tell you there is no child labour code here. 4 and 5 year old kids haul firewood just like everyone else. However it seems the adult men just sit and watch the kids work. I also helped one kid to get a log into his wheelbarrel.

The last could of days the enginneers have been clearing the line of sight from the camp. As a result they have torn down buildings, bulldozed and flattened the ground. They have also blown up a hill with about 600lbs of C4. It was AWESOME! You even feel the shockwave.

The tank you see is called a badger and can rip a tree trunk from the ground, root system and all! It can even pick up a decent sized tree and move it. One tank is called HOMEWRECKER for good reasons. See my comment about torn down buildings.

It was about 5 days of work to be done and I stood by for fire protection and anything else they might need. It only took 3 days for the insurgents to become annoying. Day 4 the engineers found an IED where they were working they BIP'd(Blown In Place) it. Of course you never see them because you never know who is who really. This is like fighting an enemy you cannot see.

The funny thing too is that the kids do not like their picture being taken as you can see in this picture. One kid hides his face, some turn around and some run away.

The last pic is of my driver Kyle and I. He drove the Mercedes truck the Fire Pump and firefighting equipment is on.

My last day allowed me to assist with another controlled burn and now I am outta here.