Hey folks, do me a huge favor and take 5 min to check this out. My great freinds in the RC business have hooked us up in a HUGE way over here. More info here... (Im diggin the t-shirts on the site too!)


www.BagramRCClub.com

Laine.

So, we flew up to Bamyan, Bamian, whatever, again the other day. Im told that there is a "no fly zone" somewhere around there... hmmm... interresting. Anyway, got some really nice looking pictures of the Bhudda statues, or rather, the holes where they are rebuilding them.

Laine.

So, when was the last time you got to play catch with some M. L. Baseball players? It was a first for me! I LOVE baseball!

They came for a visit, we asked if they would like to check out our UH-60s. So, after crawling around the helicopters for awhile, someone asked if they would play some catch! Too cool. Never knew a ML outfielder could throw such a mean knuckle ball!

These guys were great, and I wish all "famous" people were this fun to be around.

So, anyone recognize any of them??

Tim Salmon from the Angels
Dean Palmer from Detroit
Mike Remlinger from Chicago
Jeff Nelson from NY

Thanks guys, it was a day I wont forget soon!


Laine.

Well, we decided that our "coffee drinking area" at the house, well, sucked. So, this is what we have done to rectify the situation.

Now we dont have to stand in the rough rocks in our flip flops at night. And we have a nice place to hang out when we are not at work.

16 feet by 32 feet of "relaxing area" is what it is. Built primarily by Dennis, Ervin and myself. With some help from others on occasion.

There is still a lot more to do, but, its gettin there! We usually only have time to work on it one day a week or so... and thats if the weather is decent and we are not beat dead tired. Maybe it will be done before we leave in 8 months!

Laine.

Well, as you know, Im in Afghanistan. So, I figured my kids needed some way to get thier RC fix while dad is gone. Yeah, they all have or have had planes, but no great interrest in them. So, now they all have trucks!

Cartoon (14 yrs old) runs a Traxxas Stampede with a Castle Creations Mamba Max ESC and 5700kv Mamba brushless motor.

Loo hoo (13 yrs old) Runs a Traxxas Stampede with the stock brushed setup (for now).

Kam shaft (6yrs old) Runs a Duratraxx Evader with the stock brushed setup (for now).

As you can see, Hemi the super dog has to get her fix too. She normally chases my planes around when I fly, but, since I am not there right now, the trucks will have to do!

The kids are, with moms help, building a nice sized track out back behind the house as I type this. Cool deal, cool kids, cool trucks, cool mom. What more could a daddy want!

Laine.

These Russian MI-8 HIP's are all over the place here, and I swear they are crazy. They just kinda do thier own thing, but, they do look cool. And I finally had the time to get a few pictures of one sitting next to us the other day.

The guys on the HIP must have took 50 pics of eachother sitting in our Black Hawk at the M-240 door gun. Then pics with us, then... then... lots of pictures. Nice fellas too.

Anyway, if you have never seen an MI-8, they are a monster. Built like a tank, they certainly are not built for comfort. They can weigh up to about 26000lbs in flight. Pretty good helicopter really. Big old 5 blade rotor (and it turns the wrong way!) and man are they ugly! Well, when compared to a UH-60L anyway!

Laine

The other day I got to fly to one of the places everyone wants to go. Its called Bamian (Bamyan), they spell it different ways. Its a New Zealand run base. Great guys too. The senior enlisted guy on the post walked us around showing us things.

Anyway, there used to be some GIANT Buddah statues in the mountain side, but the Talliban or someone blew them up a few years ago. They are currently being re-built. Im not certain of the entire story, but Im sure you can find lots of info on it on-line if you look a little.

Laters!

Laine.

We got some more work done on the CP the last two days. Today the weather is crap, so no more progress untill the rain stops. anyway, here are the pics from yesterdays work. Its gettin there.

Laine.

Well, we got a lot done over the past few days. Its getting there. If you are wondering why the roof just kinda "stops" like that on the left side, you will know soon enough!

We also have some nice windows we will be installing. Courtesy of a CH-47 that is in for phase maint. Should be pretty neat.

Then comes paint and interior... lots left to do. But, it gives us something fun during our "down time".

I think we will need some flower seeds and the like. We could build some planters on the outside walls for flowers. That might be a nice touch.

Laine.

So, we had some "saftey classes" this morning.. manditory stuff ya know. Then we spend the afternoon workin on our current project. Things are lookin pretty good.

yes, before you ask, we framed it all out in 2x6's. The class 4 yard had no 2x4's. So, its gonna be one strong building!

Tomorrow, sheeting and electrical... oooh fun.

More pics will come after some more progress.

Laine.

So, we decided our CP (office to you civilian types) is not quite sufficient for what we need. So, I spent the last two weeks working on getting lumber. NOT an easy task. Yes, it took weeks, and yes it took miles and miles of me walking around to convince people I needed lumber. In the end, it all worked out.

So, destruction and construction commenced today around 1pm. These photos show after we ripped up the old "deck" that someone slapped together quite poorly. We now have the new structure for the floor moved in front of the building, leveled, "tied into" the main building and decked with 5/8" plywood.

Tomorrow, and over the next few days or so, we will frame out the walls, roof doors etc... and then we will add a few "touches" of our own. Unfortunatly, we have no 2x4's so it will be "extra heavy duty" with 2x6's for walls etc...

I'll be sure to post pics of the progress when I can.

Laine.

Me and some of the guys finally made it down to the Bazaar they have here on Fridays. A bunch of locals come in and sell thier stuff. Here's a few pics from todays walking around.

Here are some pics of our "houses". Lucky for us, we dont really get to spend much time in them. We have 8 people per house, that gives us each approx. 7' x 7' of living area. Kinda tight, but its enough. We also share the houses with millions of little freinds... termites. Gotta love them.

Laine.

Well, no pictures of RC airplanes lately... not for awhile either. So, I'll just keep loading you all up with pics from over here.

Today, the clouds were fairly low. looked a litte rough, but good enough to go (legal anyway). Well, a few miles out, it started raining. No big deal. Then the hail hit. Lemme tell ya, at 140 MPH, hail that is just slightly larger than "pea size" will wake you up quick! It only lasted a minute or two though. Our crew chiefs got pelted pretty good before they could get "protected" while manning the door guns.

But, as usual, alls well that ends well. Short day though, only logged 2.2

Enjoy the pics guys/gals.

Laine.

Here are some more pictures. Apparently the towers and the big building have some sort of historical value... I dont remember what though. Some "great ruler" guy from many many years ago maybe? I forget. Anyway, they were taken near Kabul, so maybe one of you know what it is.

Laine.

Here ya go guys. I promised at least one video... took most of the day to load it too. This is from the same flight as the last pictures.

Flying a UH-60L (1 min 22 sec)

Went out to Torkam gate today along the Pakistan border, to Jalalalalabad, and a little place named Kogiani. Had to take the Chaplain out to do services for the boys that are in the middle of nowhere.

Nice flight, no bullets zinging by our heads, so, all in all, successful mission. We came back in through a really neat little valley with a river and waterfall. Nice, slow, fun flight.

Laine.

EDIT:
Cant get the pictures loaded yet for some reason... they are coming though.

Here are some more current pictures guys.

Nothing says "Goodmorning" like hot cup of coffee, a M240 Machine gun mounted to a UH-60 and a full belt of ammo!

Seems like you all enjoy seeing the pics, so I will keep posting them!

I will try to add some pics of "the guys" as we go along sometime.

Laine.

Hey folks,

If you watch the news or read the papers Im sure you saw the article about the helicopters full of senators etc... that landed on a mountain over here in Afghan. Yeah, it WAS us, 7 of my buddies and myself. Yeah, it sucked, and yeah, it was cold as heck. We were out there for too dang long in the snow, rain, ice, sleet and wind. But, we had CAS (close air support) flying over (F-15s and A-10s) head at nearly all times and they had a live Predator feed going the whole time too (when they could see anyway).

It was pretty hairy at first, but once we were on the ground all was ok. We had about 100 or so locals (freindly? who knows) all around on the mountain tops watching all night. No shots fired, so, we didnt either. Its all good.

Shortly after the landing, we had ground guys (Arizona National Guard) mobilized and on thier way to our location. Now, about the AZ guys... AWESOME is the only word to describe them. I have worked with many active and guard units, and these fellas were TOP NOTCH for sure. Outstanding. The guys stood outside, all night and all day, in the rain, snow, wind etc... Tough as nails, and didnt complain for a second. A huge thank you goes out to those boys for doin what they do best.

So, part of their force took the senators, generals ect... back "home" and the rest stayed with us. Then it was a waiting game for weather to clear. Now, 37 hours after we departed, we are "home".

Good times good times. I have some pics of the area, weather ect... and I'll post them when I can.

Laine.

I said there would be some in flight pics from over here, so here they are.

These are from around the Kabul area.