First mission, Day 1: to Frontenac

Last week, on Saturday the 5th, I left for my first mission. In the afternoon we loaded our PLS cargo trucks, met up with our escort gun trucks, and later left for Frontenac, a base on the other side of Kandahar City.

We left in the evening because there's a lot less traffic at that time, but unfortunately that also meant I couldn't get any pictures.

There's really not much to the city, at least not along the route we took. Along the road there are one-story shops and a lot of street vendors. They mostly sell fruits, naan, and popcorn. There's a brief part of *slightly* more modern stores that offer internet access and cell phones, but not many.

The road's not wide, but it is paved. Gutters line either side to handle rain runoff, but pose a danger if you get too close to the edge of the road. Even outside the city you can go much faster than you could in a suburban neighborhood.

Frontenac is small, but it's a "blackout FOB" meaning we can't use our headlights there and you have to walk around by the light of the moon and stars (flashlights are OK, too). It was a real pain being there for the first time and having to find stuff in pitch dark.

Sadly, we arrived in Frontenac after the dining facility (DFAC) had closed. That was a bummer, because everyone always talks about how much better Frontenac is than the DFACs here at KAF.

So, we settled in to our transient housing tent for the night and got some rest.