Thanksgiving

First I just want to say Happy Thanksgiving to everybody!  I had a pretty good day here myself. I spent thanksgiving the way i think you are supposed to when away from home, with a few of the people you like to hang out with. I made a friend fellow HMC over at the MARSOF compound and we kinda put together our own thanksgiving food was good and company was good. I will get some pictures and post them. I was able to talk to Sheila and the Girls and that always makes any day instantly brighter, so that was good. Hope everybody is doing well. 

We are having a hell of a storm today, wind and sandstorm, intermittent rain and over all greyness, really makes you feel like staying inside. 

Later,

Kevin

For my Friend Kathy

Here are pictures of the Naan Bakery next to the hospital. They are a really good bunch of guys. They make everything by hand and the Naan is like thin crust pizza. It is really good they use wood to fuel the Tandoors(oven) so there is a nice smoke flavor to the Naan.  I go over to the bakery about once a week and get Naan  hot right out of the oven sooooo good.

Carpets

Haven't figured out how to mail them yet customs and all. Plus they can be quite heavy. I do have a hook up in post office right now so I will get the gouge. If you have something in mind please leave a comment on the blog for the type of carpet your looking for and silk or wool and the colors you have in mind and the kind of design. I will get over to the store and take some pictures post them on the blog you tell me yea or nay and I will pick it up for you. Providing of course I will be able to mail them. Hell yes Jenny I will hook you up just tell me what your looking for. Sheila I would love to get a few of these carpets just give me an idea of the colors your looking for. V-Bog I'm sure you want in on some of this too.
Later Kevin

carpet shop

Carpet Shop on the ANA Base

So today I was able to go to the NEW carpet shop on the ANA base. They have rugs in there from $50.00 to $6,000. There are some beautiful rugs in there, some Persians, Afghan, and Turkmen, and the lot, Silk on silk hand tied, silk on wool, wool on wool, sheeps wool and camels wool.  Here are some pictures of  some of carpets. There are some very nice Herat carpets that are camels wool and sheep wool they are anywhere from $100 to $400 dollars depending on size type of die and how many knots are in them. The top carpet is an Herat carpet about $100 and the bottom is an Afghan car[et can't remember the tribe but really nice $250. Herat is famous for carpets. 

Total BS on the game

First of all Sheila, I'm glad you Jets finally beat the Patriots. It was a hard fought game and entertaining to watch. Good for Sheila to have her day.  It was nice to video chat while watching the game.

JETS 34 PATS 31

j-e-t-s jets jets jets. Enough said!!

Thank you, Veterans

Today I took Shannon, Riley & her BFF Brianna to the Veteran's Day parade here in Virginia Beach. I think now, more than ever, it is important to honor the sacrifices that those who came before us made. It was a privilege to be out there and pay our respects. They certainly deserve it. This is more than a day off of work and sales. I've posted some photos, unfortuanately my battery died well before the end of the parade, but I did get a few really nice pics.

Thank you for your service and sacrifice...

Happy Birthday Marines Semper Fi

On today November 10th the Birth of our Marine Corps 233 years ago in Philadelphia, PA. at the Tun Tavern, I would like to wish all Marines, Past Present and Future a great Birthday. I have seen and continue to see the NEED for the Marines and the esprit de corps they display. I have had the privilege to work with Marines for quite a few years and still to this day I miss alot of that camaraderie having earned the name "DOC" I take it pretty seriously. To me Marines are instantly recognizable, I can tell from hundreds of feet away the difference between Marines and Army, or any other service organization out here. Can't really say what it is but, they are all cut from the same cloth, refreshing somehow. So Happy Birthday Marines keep kicking ass and I appreciate it.

Kevin P. Smith
HMC(SW/AW/FMF) USN
ARSIC WEST
ANA 207th Corps
Herat Afghanistan.

Halloween pics

We had a nice Halloween here in VA Beach, we spent some time with my friends the Boeglins and my friend Claire (who, incidentally, I've known longer than Kevin) and her fiance and their kids. Then we went over to a party my brother-in-law had over at his place.

The next day we went to Shannon's softball game, which they won and made it to the championship (unfortunately we lost that game today but definitely gave them a run for their money). Shanny did well, she walked to first, then struck out, and then got a nice solid hit but got thrown out at first. At least she went down swinging. But she did really good on the field. She was playing the outfield and caught a pop-fly, then the ball came out to her and the base runner got cocky but Shannon threw her out at 2nd! Great job!! It made for a long afternoon though, it was cold, cloudy, windy and damp. At least it didn't rain.

Enjoy the pics...

Chritmas

Sheila keeps asking me what i want for Christmas, I have no idea.  I don't have a lot of room as you have seen pictures of my room on the blog.  I know that last year the team said that they told their families to get them Amazon.com gift cards, you can order what you want movies, books, music and etc., this is in no way an endorsement or advertisement for me for presents, I just really can't think of anything else. I try to keep just plugging along staying in my routine, it seems the easiest way to get through this. If you start counting days and looking too far ahead it will drain the life right out of you, I know Benny the Bull and Johnny B know what I am talking about.  So as some of you know, I have a little aversion to, how do I say this delicately "little people". So word has kind of leaked out to the folks I spend most of my time with and they have started to rag me and send me pictures of "little people" on email. I will tell you that Afghanistan must be over the freaking rainbow because  there are enough lilliputians to make a hundred Wizard of OZ movies. I hope everybody is doing fine and hanging in there. By the way Kathy. it sure was nice having a polite political discussion with you, as always thought provoking. Good luck with your thing on Tuesday go Independents!!!!!!!!  For those of you out there not sure who to vote for simply choose "Write-In" and put a big Kevin P. Smith for King. I will remain loyal to all my subjects promise. Take it easy.   

Mountains

The blue dome in the background is the mosque on the ANA side of the base. You can hear the call to prayer most days. They are telling us that there should be snow on these mountains within the next few weeks. The weather is definitely turning colder, it rained most of the last 2 days and the wind here is brutal. 

My 2 jackalope terps

The guy on the left is my regular terp and the guy on the right is like a special guest terp. Both are really cool guys. They help me out alot.

Pics of the last few days

This is a little girl i helped the Ears Nose and Throat(ENT) with. She had some problems with her ear and she was a real trooper. In her hand is a cup I gave her some M&M's and she loved them, but of course she had never had chocolate before.