Salaam wa Laikum, chitor astaid (Hello, how are you)

This is one of the few phrases that I have learned in Dari for my new job working directly with the Afghan National Army. As most of you have heard from me or Sonya I have moved to a new job over here in Afghanistan. I used to work in the Main HQ for the eastern part of Afghanistan which is run by the 82nd, but at the beginning of October I moved out with a small section from the HQ to work directly with the ANA’s 201st Corps headquarters.
I have moved from Bagram Airfield to a small base outside of Kabul. It is a Coalition base called Blackhorse inside of an ANA base named Pol-e-Charki. The group that came down here has reps from all the staff sections: Operations, Intel, Supply, Commo. I am the representative from the Current Operations section so I work with the ANA soldiers here in their TOC (Tactical Operations Center) to make sure they are tracking all of the operations and events that happen in the battlespace they control.
It has been interesting working with the ANA on a daily basis. I get to see a lot of things that I didn’t when I was living in my little isolated bubble in Bagram. Sometimes it is frustrating and sometimes it is fun but regardless it is always something different.
I look forward to seeing everyone in a few weeks when I’m back for R&R. Until then I hope everyone is doing well.
-Chris