Technical issue resolves...photos!

Cashew Apple...the red bit is edible, quite juicy, and can be very sweet...

This is what a cashew looks like BEFORE it gets roasted...

The bounty...PAPAYA's!!!! the rounds ones are about the size of a cantaloupe, and are "wild".  The oblong ones usually seen in the supermarkets are "domesticated".

Ex Africas semper aliquid novi

Approximate meatspace coordinate: Lat 7.68N Long 4.71W

Did y'all know where cashews come from, because I sure did not. Around here the locals call them "anacarde", and they grow on trees. The nut hangs from a red/yellow fruit called "cashew apple", which is very juicy, but sweet and tart. It's quite fragile so that's probably why it's not viable commercially. A kilo (2.2lbs) of cashews in its shell nets a local about $0.40 USD, so the extravagant price we pay reflects the relative complexity of extracting the cashew from its shell.

Turns out the cashew shell has acidic chemicals, so roasting involves the need for adequate ventilation, lest the aforementioned roaster enjoys pulmonary issues. Cote d'Ivoire is the third largest producer of cashews in the world, and the city approximately 28km possess the world's largest cashew processing plant.

Me...I just enjoy picking the fruit off the trees and eating it au naturals.

No photos for now...technical difficulties.

C'est l'Afrique!

"My Little Pony"...really???

So after switching seats from next to a crying, smiling, laughing, hitting, but never sleeping child on my flight from Paris to Abidjan, I sat next to an Africa gentleman. About mid-40's, well dressed...who spent more than half the flight watching "My Little Pony" on the seat-back screen.

Really?  "My Little Pony"? Seriously?  I...uh...um...urghh...I've got nothing.

Off to Africa...

Back to Cote d'Ivoire...a bit a distance from Mali, no worries y'all.

Hope to put up some more photos and updates once in-country!

Crikey! An update!

That's right ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, cats and dogs...some recent photos to share with all y'all:

As I'm using the "email update" function to post, the photos may not come out with their correct caption...BUT some you smartypants can figure it out.  

1) 4-star hotel?

2) mystery meat...name the animal?!? (quite tasty, I might add)

3) random...uh...scary looking thing on the sidewalk (it's about the size of a housekey)

4) mud huts on fire...actually, just clearing some land.  Might friendly of the neighbors to share their smoke with us...cough, cough...

Contest!

First person to comment with the the present-day name of "Haute-Volta" gets...well, golf claps!

yes...I am planning on continuing my blogging

Finally getting consistent internet access here in Africa helps too!

Will be uploading photos and random thoughts...more or less randomly. :P

--

Medicina Bona, Locis Malis

worse blogger EVER

OK, so I'm the worst blogger ever.

On the other hand, I've got some cool photos to share with y'all!  


Drool on...

Status update...

Howdy everybody,

Greetings from Afghanistan's beautiful, sandy, rocky, mountainous, and at times muddy province of Kapisa.

Been here a little over two months now, and I am doing OK.  Plus everyone in my platoon is doing OK, so we're lucky in that aspect. Not letting our guard down, but I think we are more aware of our surroundings than when we first got here.

Due to OPSEC and PERSEC, I can't really tell all y'all exactly what we've been doing, but it's definitely not always the high-speed stuff that people think of.  But I can say that our mission parameters consists basically of:

-looking for and neutralizing stuff that goes boom

-granting the bearded guys that want to be with 72 virgins in heaven their wishes

General impressions of Afghanistan so far:

-the people of Afghanistan look like they came from all over the world; red-head's, blondes, dark-skinned, light-skinned, caucasian, asian, you name it...we've seen it (well, other than the women...kinda difficult to tell with the burqua)

-there seems to be only one type of car allowed here...the Toyota Corolla.  I have never seen some many Corolla's in one place in my life.  I even saw two with Texas license plates and registration (the only US plates I've seen, I might add...kinda odd actually)

-dude sitting on a camel chatting on his cellphone carrying an AK = normal, it's like Middle Ages meets Mad Max meets Wild West plus some Three Stooges thrown in

-the Afghani's are a hardy and tough people...we're walking around wearing body armor and winter kit, and the Afghani kids are walking around in sandals, light pants, light shirt, and a hat, and it's 30°F out

-yes, they really do fly kites here (I've got photos)

-having a pair of American attack helicopter flying cover is very reassuring, especially when you're on foot and trolling for people other than friends, gets me all warm and fuzzy inside

-awareness of the local culture is super important here (as it is in all COIN ops), but unfortunately most people don't care

-learning to speak the local dialect...man that's tough...I've picked up a few phrases in Dari and Pashtun, but not enough to converse...yet

I've had the fortune of meeting up with some Americans here at the FOB, and it turns out the unit is based out of Texas.  Nice to be around people who talk, y'all know...normal.  There's even a pizzeria on the FOB, and a little Italian PX, due to the Italians being in charge here a while back...nice little amenities.  Every day is a work day, there are no weekends or holidays.  Operational tempo goes up/down depending on the needs of the head honcho's, so we could be very busy one week and not so much another.  Good thing I brought a ton of e-books, as there are no sources of books in English around here.

We've got hot water (most of the time) and hot food, so can't really complain.  We even have decent internet and international telephone access (like it works more often than doesn't).  Currently sleeping on cots and in tents...beats sleeping in the vehicles or on the ground.

Hope everyone is doing OK as well, a belated Happy New Year, and an early Happy Valentine's Day!

Stay frosty.

Cheers,

Dave

Off to la guerre!

Well...logging off actually.  All packed and ready to go.

Once I get into the AO, I'll try to get back online.  In the mean time, happy early Thanksgiving everyone!

Next meatspace coordinates...35.0°N 69.7°E

Cheers!

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.

Yup...still alive and kicking

So it's been a little while since my last update. The last 5 months have passed in a blur. Sometimes the day passes like a leaf in the wind, other times it's weighed down like an anvil in a forge. So what exactly has been occupying my time during this time? Well...2 weeks in August climbing mountains, getting the brevet for basic mountain alpinism. 2 weeks in September back at Castelnaudary learning to drive a truck like this . 1 week at Valdahon doing combat training, then 2 weeks at CENTAC (Centre d'entraînement au combat) playing war in October. Followed by another 2 weeks at CENZUB playing war again, but this time in an urban setting in November. After that, cleaning all the gear we used the previous 2 months. Trust me, they got used. Spent 2.5 weeks in December guarding the Eiffel Tower, finally got back the 28^th of December, and then finally had a break from the 29^th to the 9^th of January. Somewhere in there we had a military parade for St. Barbe, the patron saint of combat engineers (I had NO idea), which meant having to practice marching, singing, and all that fun stuff. I would have thought the Legion embraced St. Jude more than anyone else.

Climbing mountains was fun. We don't remember how many we climbed, and how high...nothing too epic, probably about 3500m maximum (11,500ft or so), including one where one side was France and the other Italy. The course for driving trucks was tough...first I haven't driven in a while, two the roads here are much narrower, the signs are different...and the truck had EIGHT speeds! I thought I had failed the course, but somehow managed to pass. The combat training was also quite...entertaining, although that doesn't quite describe the visceral experience. The living in a VAB for 4 days straight at CENTAC and CENZUB was not. It's kinda cramped in there, and not exactly well ventilated. After 4 days it was a total mess in there, and me usually being the low man on the totem pole, guess who got the privilege of cleaning it? I did get the chance at CENZUB to cart around a AT4 anti-tank rocket launcher in addition to the assault rifle. I'm proud to say I took part in the ambush and destruction (simulated, of course) of 3 "enemy" tanks. It's always the little guy that gets the big guns for some reason...never figured why that is. Guarding the Eiffel Tower was fun, and honestly pretty relaxed. All we did was walk around the Eiffel Tower with our rifles, and every once in a while point out where the restroom was for the tourists (for future reference, it is behind the EAST leg, open from 1030-2030). More of a deterrence thing then anything else, and photo ops for the tourists. By sheer chance (or karma), my group ended up spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on patrol. Nope, Santa hats were not authorized attire for those days unfortunately. Something about it being "not reglementaire". Whatever. Spent New Year's Eve in Amsterdam with 2 fellow legionnaires. We were good (really mom!), didn't do anything too crazy or wild. Passed the night in an Aussie bar-turned-disco...definitely something to remember. Most assured, I will be returning there to explore Holland some more. Beautiful country, and extremely friendly people, and it seems like they all speak English (and very well, I might add). Spent the last week in Paris just louging around, finally did go to the Louvre and had a great time exploring Paris with 3 lovely ladies who are on vacation in France, and exploring parts of Paris as well. Can't complain about that.

Good times.

2008 promises to be just as busy as the latter months of 2007. I won't do anything silly like promising to update the blog or send out updates more often, but I will try. Don't know where I'll be going or what I'll be doing in any particular detail yet, and things usually change on the fly anyways. But rest assured I'll keep my head down and always checking my six, and hope that y'all do the same.

Oh yeah, before I forget...I'm trying to get on Facebook. Just encountering some difficulties on getting regular Internet access. Check for a link on my blog soon (within the next...2 months?)

All y'all take care now, ya hear?!?

These are probably NOT the only photos of me floating around on web with a gun at the Eiffel Tower. Plenty of Japanese tourists with cameras at the Eiffel Tower...can you imagine a camera the size of a credit card with 10x zoom and a super-bright flash?

Finally...another update!

Hello, my name is Dave. And I'm a junkie. But in a good way.

Last month I took the TGV from Marseille to Paris, in order to watch the 2007 Tour de France finish on the Champ Elyéese. As I watched the péloton roar by, I was struck by fast they were moving. I mean, I had raced my bicycle on and off for over 10 years, but this was the first time I had ever really "been there" at the tip of the spear professional level, up close and personal. Let me tell you, I was getting goose bumps. Sure, I get goose bumps when I get cold...but not these full-body tingle, eye-twitching, dangerously viral, somebody gimme some Prozac, holy €3§* goose bumps like I was experiencing. If you have never had that type, I sincerely hope you're immune, because otherwise you're probably prone to doing silly things. Like riding a motorcycle on the street, riding a bicycle at faster than the posted speed limit, driving your car at more than double the posted speed limit, sea kayaking when boats stay in the harbor, joining the French Foreign Legion...the list goes on and on.

Ever since I've been here in France, I have been asked "why?" by other Legionnaires, as well as the odd civilian. And while there are a myriad of logical reasons...the bottom line, as I closely as I can figured out, is that "I don't know!". But I'm starting to realize that I seem to always be searching for the next "high"...and while experiencing it vicariously by watching others do wild and wacky stuff is a viable substitution in the short-term, there's nothing better than the real thing. Again, it makes no sense logically...it's not like I'm going to earn a living doing it (well, I guess I am right now, sort of), or even attract the opposite gender (unless chicks really dig scars...which in my experience is not true). But standing on top of the Eiffel Tower and wondering where I can get one of those cool flying suits as I'm looking down at the Seine, is from what I can gather, not a normal touristic response to the view. Maybe that's why I still haven't gone to the Louvre...I just don't think I'd enjoy it. Too static, not enough interaction.

I don't think I'm crazy. I know I'm not unique. Most of the English-speakers in the Legion are similar...for example, 100% of the ones I've met has ridden or owned at least one motorcycle. Any other correlations I leave for sociologists to figure out. Perhaps there really is no particular reason or conclusion to this post, just my one tiny little corner of the blogsphere. But maybe, just maybe one of y'all will read it, and try something that you've always wanted to.

There's a gentleman, and a great writer, who wrote this article "Vitamin X" which much more eloquently talks about this subject. Be aware though...once you try it, your life may never the same.

And that's a good thing.

Salut!

Happy Memorial Day everyone. Thank a veteran today!

Congratulations to everyone who's graduated/graduating from their academic institutions. Especially those graduating from high school...I still can't believe some of y'all are actually going to be HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES! I'm proud of all y'all, and keep up the good work, wherever life takes you next. Send me an email (see the contact page) and let me know what your plans are or post a comment on the blog.

I know it's been a little while since I sent out an email and/or update the blog...been kinda busy with the CP04 combat engineering course (all that's left are the tests this week) as well as the MINEX1 mine/ordnance disposal course. It was almost exactly a year ago when I was up in Wyoming taking the Wilderness EMT course, and I would not have thought I'd have my brain so thoroughly challenged a year later in the Legion. The modern Legion is not just brawn, it's also quite a bit of brains too.

It seems that newspaper writers randomly write about the French Foreign Legion. Not quite sure what the impetus was for this article, but it's actually pretty accurate, unlike some other articles I'v had read.

Article at the Washington Post

It does have one small mistake though...it's 14 creases, either 3.5cm width or 5.3cm width, dependant on the location. And the first time took a lot longer than 3-4 hours, mainly because it was only the second time I had ever used an iron in my life (to iron a shirt, that is). Showing up with only 13 creases would be bad thing, trust me.