Still alive and kicking...

J'espère que ce message vous trouver dans la bonne humeur.

OK, so I absolutely SUCK at being a blogger. And don't suggest I start Twittering either...

Suffice it to say that since my last post, some goals were achieved, some goals failed, some goals modified, and some completely discovered to be...ah....impractical. But I have emerged from that a bit more confident on my abilities in certain realms, and will mostly certainly be challenging those skills in the near future. Most certainly, I am well in mind, spirit, and body. 3 years of this adventure has passed, and while there have been rough patches, I think I can confidently say that it has been an extremely positive experience thus far.

The biggest "news", if you will, is that I'm going on yet another mission in less than a month. And this time, "c'est la guerre". In mid-November, I will be deployed under NATO command in Afghanistan, as a combat engineer/combat medic (yes both, it just means I'll be packing a lot of kit on my back), until June 2010.

I've heard that internet access is available and possible at the FOB I'll be stationed at, but reality will be determined once I get boots on the ground. So I hope to be in touch in somewhat more of a regular basis, even if it is just short updates. Also, anybody that happens to be on Facebook and would like to be my friend (ha, that sounds funny), send me an invite if you'd like. I may not get back to you quickly, but I WILL get back to you. I do have an actual snail address available, but don't want to post it online, so if anyone is interested in mailing me an actual physical representation of their thoughts, please email me for the snail mail address (oh the irony).

Take care, be good, and eat your vegetables.

Cheers,

Dave

PS: Got a new photo album on Facebook here.

Retour au France...

OK, ok, so I've been back from Kosovo for about two weeks, just been slacking a bit on the update.  After getting back to France, and sort of getting back into the regular groove of base life, we were let out (more like let loose) for 3 weeks of vacation.  After that, it's back to Castelnaurday, where I did my basic training.  This time, it's for FSE12 AKA "stage santé", or for those not versed in the heathen language of the francaise, the medic course.  Should be around 13 weeks long, and then rapidly after that, it'll be another 10 weeks based in Castelnaudary for CME1 aka "stage caporal", or the corporal course.  So, I won't be back to St. Christol for about 5-6 months.  Unfortunately, Castelnaudary is somehow wetter AND colder than St. Christol...and we all know how much I just adore cold weather.  

As to what exactly I've been doing...well, it's kinda complicated.  Basically, we got to do a little of everything.  Nothing too exciting though.  The reality is, Kosovo is somewhat quiet, and although violence can (and occasionally does) break out, it did not happen while we were there.  Nevertheless, it was not a vacation, at least not for those of us at the bottom of the totem pole.  After spending the first month up north by the Serbian border, beefing up a checkpoint, as well as a small base (well, not exactly beefing up the base defenses...there was NONE before we started), we spent some time looking for unexploded munitions in the hills.  We demolished some guard bunkers at the main French base, and then spent weeks putting up new ones...I think at last count we used something like 4000 sandbags.  After that, we were kept busy rebuilding a school in a Serbian enclave, just in time for the start of school...not sure the local kids were totally down with that though.  And of course, they waited until we were 3 weeks out from coming back to give us our most dangerous mission, literally...we went poking around a minefield for, well...mines.  Thankfully, we didn't find anything dangerous.

Best part...interacting with soldiers from other countries.  Most were much better equipped than us, some were better trained, some were worse.  Some seemed extremely un-professional, others just made us shake our heads.  But in the end, we all had our jobs to do, and for the most part, got it done.  Some of us just laughed more.

Worst part...French military in general, but especially the officers.  I just cannot respect someone who does not lead by example or lead from the front.  If you're incapable of leading combat soldiers, puffing your chest out and yelling and screaming just don't help you look more competent.  You might be trying your hardest, but it just ain't good enough.

The Kosovar people in general are super friendly, but there seem to be an underlying sadness or resignation.  There are very little infrastructure and unemployment is very high.  The "country" has little to few natural resources, and although the countryside can be quite beautiful, there isn't much tourism.  KFOR (the NATO task force) and UNIMIK (the UN task force) pumps a lot of money in the local economy by employing Kosovars and buying local products, but if that cashcow ever gets cut off, then the economic situation would be much worse.  In addition, the market in Kosovo is quite dominated by blackmarket and/or pirated goods, and while that is ok for trying to catch the latest released movie on 3€ DVD's, I can't imagine the Kosovars making that much money off of us dudes in the camo duds.

And because pictures are worth more than some random sum of words...here's some photos from Kosovo. Some of y'all might not be able to access this link from a school or business network, as Facebook is frequently blocked...just FYI.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2005043&l=a6ef6&id=1036871611

Edit...2nd (not the same) album

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2007854&l=60e2a&id=1036871611

Cheers!

Photo album Kosovo 2008

Public album on Facebook. Enjoy!

Off to another country

Off on my first overseas deployment with the Legion. Don't know what exactly I'll be doing, except that I'll be kept busy.

Hope everyone has a great summer! I will update if and when I can.

(Almost) famous and that cordite smell

December 2007 I spent almost 3 weeks in Paris conducting "vigipirate" patrols at the Eiffel Tower. Little did I know that I would end up in the March 2008 edition of "Kepi Blanc", the monthly magazine of the Legion. And apparently the same photo is in the March 2008 edition of the French Army monthly magazine as well. Cool experience though, no doubt about that. Now according to tradition I have to buy my section a case of beer...



Spent 2 weeks last month in the BFE of France, shooting and blowing stuff up. Managed to get some video's that y'all might enjoy...but no way as much as I did. I dialed down the quality so that it wouldn't take bloody forever to upload or download, but enjoy.


We went through (each) about 700 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition each.


Bangalore explosives, for breaching obstacles such as barbwire. BOOM!

Here's what home looked like while we were away...actually, it was just like where we were (but I forgot to take photos).

Happy Chinese New Year!

Just wanted to wish everyone a great Chinese New Year! Gong shi fa tsai!
Those turning 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72 (?!?)...it's YOUR year! Just watch out for them cats.

Dave

I must have multiplied

OK, there seems to be about a million Dave/David Chen's on facebook.  But the link is up, and hopefully some content sooner rather than later.

Cheers.