First mission, Day 3: at TK

When we got to TK, we settled into our transient housing -- which as a permanent structure is a much nicer and warmer place -- and then got some dinner.

Do you see the fresh strawberries on the salad plate? That kind of thing is unheard of on KAF. I find it amazing that we get to eat better than most colonels in Region Command South.
We arrived on Superbowl Sunday, although being 10.5 hours ahead we would have to wait until 3:00 am Monday for the festivities to start.

My plan was to wake up at three and watch the game, but the road trip took so much out of me that I couldn't get up. When I heard the Packers won in a thrilling last-minute deciding game, I was pretty bummed. It would have been a lot of fun to watch.

The base at Tarin Kowt is an interesting place. Camp Holland which was built by the Dutch and is currently run by Australians. Their MWR (morale, recreation, and welfare) tent is a luxurious lodge called Poppy's. When I saw it my first reaction was "Whoah..."

The Australians have left their mark in other ways, too. Check out the door the Engineers' building.


The highlight of the day came when one of the drivers left a tie-down strap on top of his truck that then fell into the truck's drive train. It wrapped around the drive shaft and tore out a bunch of hoses, causing hydraulic and transmission fluid to leak everywhere.

In the left picture, you can see the fluid that spashed all over the tire. The strap was sitting on top of that wooden box. In the right, you can see the hoses wrapped around the drive shaft.

So we had to clean that up.

That swath of fresh sand is what we had to pour down to absorb the leaded fluid. Not fun.

The day ended after we got the loads tied down, ready to go to Frontenac the next day.