27FEB 2011 Sun – Train From Beijing to Antu, China

27 Feb Sun - Today I rode in a three wheel Taxi to railway station and rode the train to Ant U which is about 800 miles north and slightly east of Beijing in Jilin.
Bicycles, Three-wheeler Taxi, and Motor Bikes
On Saturday, I noticed that all the major roads have dividers between the higher speed lanes for automobiles and slower lanes for motorcycles, three wheeled taxis, and bicycles.

Instead of walking and taking the Subway to Railway Station with our luggage in the snow, we decided to take a three wheeler taxi. This taxi is a 3-wheel motorcycle (more like a motorbike) with an enclosed cab in the back for passengers. The 3-wheeled taxi is similar to the three wheelers in India but the passenger section was enclosed to protect the passengers from the cold weather. The driver faced the elements. The load was heavy with a large American and large suitcase.  He joked that I was 200 Kilo which would be more than 400 pounds.

Train Trip from Beijing to Antu, China



The Train contained 18 cars with 6 cars holding 66 beds – bunk beds three high built for the smaller Chinese frame and 10 cars with 100 people each with chairs and standing room. Only a chair for the 21 hour trip costs 200 Yuan (~$34 USD). A bed in one of the 3 high bunks costs 150 Yuan (~$25) more per person. The ticket for a private room with four beds (2 bunk beds) costs about 2000 Yuan or ~$340 USD. There was 1 car with only 44 beds behind closed doors for privacy. There was 1 dining car. About 1,400 passengers were on the train. There was an attendant on each car.

 Smoking was allowed in the space between the cars. I walked through the cars to the cars with standing room only. There were several smokers in the space between cars.

The train had Asian style toilets where you have to squat not sit. Like India and old style in Kuwait. If you have not seen one you it may in for a shock. You have to squat like backpacking in the woods in America. No Toilet Paper and no towels for the sink. 



Train Waiting Area - Beijing



I experienced the large crowds again at the Railway Station. The entry to the Subway and the entry to the Railway Station was jam packed with people. We arrived about 11:30 am for a 1:15 pm departure. Peacefully, weaved our way into the Railway Station entrance to the waiting area. Then when the crowd stood up and began to move their way to the trains, we just followed the crowd. Our car was #13 of 18 cars. My compartment was #15.





Train Waiting Area - Beijing







My Bed On The Train



Bunk Mates on the Train



Another Bunk Mate Who Had The Lower Bunk Across From My Midddle Bunk



26 Feb 2011 Sat – Beijing Dentist – Daily Journal

It snowed last night; which was not expected. I started the day with layered clothing and a light weight nylon windbreaker on top and leather dress shoe loafer. But very soon after I left the hotel, I go back and change to heavy winter coat and chemically-treated water proof boots.

In the hotel lobby as I was looking out the glass front door I commented on the snow in Beijing this late in the year. I was surprised when the Chinese man standing beside me response to my comment in English. He and his family were on holiday for 2 weeks in Beijing. He was from Malaysia. He was going back today.

The Day Started At 5:30am And Did Not End Until 11PM

The Dentist was about 30 – 45 minutes away by Taxi but we decided not to spend the money on Taxi (about $35USD) and take the Subway instead. From the hotel, we walked to the Subway station, purchased Subway ticket, and boarded the first train. With the large number of people, you cannot be courteous and let someone ahead of you. If you do, a horde of people will step in front of you and you will miss your train. In order to get to the Dentist, we had to change trains four times. The cost was 2Y (~$0.33).

The subway schedule and all the announcements of the Subway are both Chinese and English. You just have to know the different names of your stops.

Belly Button to Belly Button

On the Subway, I experienced the high population density of Beijing. As I stepped into an already full and very crowded Subway train car, I was pushed further in. I was belly button to belly button with the man in front of me and butt checks to butt checks with the man behind me. The short girl of less than 5 feet, next to me was nearly squashed in the midst of the people. She had to yell out to protect her position.

Once the Subway ride was complete, I thought we must be at the Dentist by then. However, we had to walk outside and wait for a bus for the final leg of our trip. We boarded the bus and asked if the bus goes to our destination, in Chinese, of course. The answer was no, so we stepped off and took another bus. Interestingly, all bus schedules were only in Chinese language only but all the announcements on the bus were in Chinese and English.

The bus dropped us across the street from the Dentist. We ran for the Dentist office and arrived just 2 minutes before the 9 am appointment. To me this was just like running to a check point in the Great Race.

The Dentist visit lasted until 1pm. Once the tooth that needs the crown is prepared, the new machine they use takes several videos with a small video recorder. These video images are converted to a 3 dimensional model, and then the computer sends the model to a machine that converts a block of porcelain to crown. Once the crown is complete, it is cemented to the tooth. Only one trip to the Dentist is needed; no mold and no return trip to the Dentist to install the Crown.

After the Dentist, I was asked where I would like to eat. I answered that I would like to eat at a Chinese restaurant. In China, they are all Chinese restaurants. Even the McDonald’s is a Chinese restaurant. We ate vegetables and noodles in a soup. All the meals I had in Beijing were very good and very tasty.

The areas where I traveled appeared to be very safe. I never felt nervous or fearful or uncomfortable. The people of India are more openly friendly than the people of China. But when I smiled or said hello in China, the response would be friendly. In contrast, the people of Kuwait appear to be unfriendly. They are more difficult to get to know. I have walked or driven the streets of many downtown cities in the US. Beijing feels the same. There are no beggars or people living on the street like India or Djibouti. So far, China appears to be a much wealthier than India. I feel that in the areas where I was traveling, I was as safe or safer in Beijing than anywhere else.

Only once was there a minor situation. When we were leaving the Tiananmen Square, a man on the street asks me if I wanted to buy a book about Tiananmen Square. I said No Thank You. He started to cuss me out and call me names in Chinese. Of course, I did not know what he was saying. The Chinese interpreter with me started yelling back at him.

25 Feb 2011 Friday Plans for Beijing

25Feb Fri - Today, I am going to the Dentist to repair a broken tooth. This dentist is trained in Canada and his clients are rich Chinese or American. Tomorrow is a bus tour of the Great Wall and other sites in Beijing. Sunday is a 24 hour train trip to Yanbian.  I am told I will share a space on the train with about 100 other people with a small bed to sleep in.  There are three levels of beds.  On the return trip I will pay about the same as a plane ticket for a private bedroom on the train. The cheapest seats on the Train are standing room only and the most expensive for the rich is a private bed room

FaceBook

I do not know if the Chinese government allows FaceBook or not. I could not use FaceBook at the hotel. The hotel where I am staying in Beijing has internet.  Once I get on the train on Sunday I may not have internet for a few days.

I still am amazed that Beijing is so much like any American City with an older downtown, newer outskirts, and suburbs.  With interstate-style highways, large shopping malls, nice sidewalks.  It is cleaner than expected.  China appears to be much richer than India.  

The Super 8 motel chain has several hotels throughout China. This is not a hotel where Americans stay. No one at the front counter and none of the staff speak English.  The room is small but clean and functional.  The cost is about $50 USD per night – a little cheaper than a Super 8 in US. An important note is the toilets are American style and not Asian style as many of the public toilets and toilets on the train.

Dentist in Beijing

Most of Saturday morning was spent on the phone with the Dentist’s office. I had arranged the appointment by email and did not know the location of their office in relation to the location of the hotel where I would be staying.   The dentist was about 30 minutes from the Airport but a long way from the hotel.  I did call my insurance companies for recommendations of other Dentists in Beijing or Yanji where I would be staying. The final decision was to go to the same dentist.  I am glad I made this decision.

Do You Ever Watch The Show The Great Race? 

That is how I felt for the two days on the way to the both offices of the Dentist in Beijing.  The first day I had to go see the Dentist at his clinic near the airport.  From the hotel we walked to the subway station to take a train to the bus station for a ride the airport.  At the airport, there are many many taxis but the first two taxis would not take us. They did not know the place where we were going and they wanted a 100 - 200 Yuan ($20 – $30 USD) taxi fee not the 30-40 Yuan that our shorter ride would need.

Finally the third taxi took us but he did not know the Dental clinic place either. The driver had a good heart.  He spent a lot time on the phone back to his dispatcher and also asked three other taxis on the way.  Finally he asked a man on the street in the area. This man jumped in his car and led the way to the Dental Clinic. We gave this taxi driver a big tip.

On the way back from the Dentist, my tour guided decided to use a Taxi for the entire trip back to the hotel.  The price quoted by the Taxi driver was 100 Yuan (~17 USD) however he charged 134 Yuan (~ $6 USD more).   Chen was very angry because the Taxi driver was cheating us because I was an American.  Everyone thinks: “rich American”.

The first trip to the Dentist was for consultation and x-ray. I needed a crown to fix a broken tooth. The dentist has a new machine that uses a 3-demensional computer rendition to create Crowns.

I highly recommend the United Family Healthcare Hospital Dental Clinic in Beijing and Dr Chung-Ming Tse, DDS.  Both clinics were very modern, high tech, very professional, and the crown fit perfectly.   

I am 12,000 miles away from the US and 6,000 Kilometers away from Dubai. But it feels very much like I am home except everyone is Chinese. There are police, guards, or military everywhere near the Tiananmen Square and all the Chinese government building.  The area where I stayed was very much like staying in an area that would be walking distance to the White House in Washington, DC. However, I do not believe you can find a $50 per night hotel within walking distance of the US Congress.

24 Feb 2011 THU - Arriving Beijing – 1st Impressions

24Feb Thu - Today I flew from Dubai to Beijing and formed my 1st Impressions of China; much has changed since I visited Hong Kong and a short one day trip into the mainland China in 1993.

On the Plane to Beijing
On the plane there was more than on Attendant who spoke English and the pilot spoke English. All of the announcements were made in Chinese and then repeated in English. I slept most of the way. The flight departed at 1am Dubai time and arrived 12:30 PM Beijing time with a 4 hour time difference so the flight was about 7 ½ hours - nearly 6,000 Kilometers from Dubai to Beijing and 12,000 miles from USA.


The airplane was equipped with a video camera located about at the nose of the plane. The video image was broadcast back to the passengers so we could essentially see the same view of the takeoff and landing as the pilot.

Arriving Beijing International Airport, China
Arriving Beijing airport was like arriving at any other modern international airport - Chicago, Atlanta, Dubai, Amsterdam. It was modern, new, clean, and shiny. All the signs are in English and Chinese. There were only 2 or 3 other Americans on the plane from Dubai with about 400 Chinese. The Beijing International Airport was not as crowded at I thought it would be; not as crowded as an American airport. I saw more Americans/Westerners at the airport.


My tour guide, Weihua Chen, met me at the airport. We took a bus for about an hour to the subway. Then we took a subway train to what I would call "Chinatown" in Beijing, China. This is an older section of Beijing near Tiananmen Square.

Bus from Airport – Looks similar to large American City
On the bus ride I saw few differences between Beijing and any other large city. I saw many United States franchises and US/European brands. The magazine ads and billboards showed American models. The roads and highways were spacious and included automobile brands from Japan, Germany, and a few from US. It appears that the US car manufactures haves missed their opportunity to exploit the China market while many US Franchise restaurants, hotels, and retail shops are numerous. The marketing influences of the west are strong in Beijing.


After just a couple of hours in China and only from the perspective of riding a bus, I see the only difference between Beijing and a large American City is:


- All the people on the bus expect me are Chinese
- All the signs are written in Chinese and English
- There are parking lots filled with bicycles and small motorcycles but they are not allowed on the highway like streets where the bus is driving.


I could be riding a bus in Chicago or New York but the traffic is not as heavy and the number of people on the street is not as many. Once we arrived in the midst of downtown at the Subway station there were many, many people but again the density of people is similar to downtown of Chicago or Manhattan, New York.

The motel is a Super Eight (American Chain) in the midst of a older section of downtown with many restaurants and shops - like Midtown Atlanta, Old Town Wichita, Old Market Omaha. In this part of town, all the signs are Chinese and no one speaks English. I know there is a newer section of town that caters to Americans with 5-star hotels and restaurants but I do not plan to visit this part of town.


CCP


I think the Chinese government should change the name of the CCP from the Central Communist Party to the Central Capitalist Party. I see evidence of business growth, entrepreneurialism, capitalism, free markets, and prosperity everywhere. Mainline china began experimenting with free markets near the border with Hong Kong in preparation for taking over Hong Kong in 1999. I believe the communists saw the prosperity of Hong Kong and decided to adopt a more Capitalist approach to business and allow private business ownership. The Chinese government has been selling off many of the state owed business while keep some of the more lucrative business under state control. I am reading a book entitled, Super trends of Future China, Billion Dollar Business Opportunities for China’s Olympic Decade. The Gross National Product (GDP) in China has been and is expected to continue growth in double digits at 10% or more per year. This compares to the fast growth of India at only 8% - 9% and the US at less than 4% per year.

Cooking Food in Restaurant

The season in Beijing is late winter; we walked around the shops in the area. There are many small restaurants and retail shops. We ate in a restaurant where we cooked the food ourselves at the table The waitress brought a large copper container with coals burning in the bottom for heat; a smoke stack in the middle and water all around. We placed thin slices of beef, noodles, and vegetables in the water for a short time. When the food was cooked we lifted it out with our chop sticks and transfer the food to our plates. On the table was a sauce for each individual plus hot sauce and soy sauce to mix with your sauce.

23 Feb Wed - Departing Afghanistan for China - Daily Journal

22Feb Wed - Today I left Bagram Air Force Base on DFS Airline bound for Dubai.


Departing Afghanistan
Today I woke at 5 am like normal, walked to shower, dressed, walked back to room to pick up backpack, and walked to work. Started the workday at 6am, finished up some last minute work; offered my room to Colin the President of Five Rivers who will be stay on Bagram Air force base for a few days while I am gone. He can use my room instead of staying in a tent on the other side of the air base. About 10 am, I walked back to my room to get suitcase and backpack for the trip. I packed the night before. The check in for commercial DFS Airlines at the DFS terminal is between 9am – 11am. I arrived at 10:30 am.


At 11:30, the passengers boarded the bus for the short trip to the airplane on the flight line. The place flew to Kandahar for a stop to pick up and drop off passengers; Then on to Dubai. In Dubai the flight arrived at Terminal 2 which is the terminal for the nontraditional and lower cost airlines. Terminal 1 is for all other airlines except Emirates airline. Terminal 3 is a new terminal built just for Emirates airline.

Leaving the Mountains of Afghanistan for the Mountains of Northern China

ARRIVING DUBAI
After I walked off the plane and rode a bus to the terminal, I have to check through immigration. For US citizens and citizens from about 33 other countries, no visa is required in Dubai. Generally persons traveling as tourists from counties where citizens have enough money to support themselves and pay their way without working or engaging in illegal activities can enter Dubai without a visa. A US passport provides US citizens with a lot of freedoms. We can fly to many countries without a visa or we can obtain a visa at the airport on arrival. Citizens of few other countries have this freedom.
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After Immigration, I have to collect my bags from baggage claim and proceed through customs. Generally the arrival is non eventful. Just follow the crowd and act like you know where you are going. Outside customs there are ATM machines, money changers, and counters for hotel and car reservations. Like other modern airports, all the signs are in English and the local language English is the language of business and the language of travel. Most sign on major streets and in shopping malls, restaurants, stores that cater to foreigners are written the local language and English. .


A taxi ride is required from one terminal to another. I heard there is bus but have not found it in all the trips to and through Dubai. The taxis at the Airport have to pay a fee to drive into the airport so they charge an extra 20 Dhrms ($3-4 USD). It is a short walk to a local Mosque on the other side of the parking lot. Normally, I catch a Taxi at the Mosque which is cheaper than from the airport. Most of the Taxi drivers in Dubai wear uniforms and they are Arabic. In contrast, few of the Taxi drivers in Kuwait are from Kuwait. Most are from the Philippines or India. I know of one Chinese Taxi driver but he only speaks Chinese and just caters to Chinese passengers.


DUBAI AIRPORT
The next flight is on a China airline at Terminal 1. I arrive at Terminal 1 about 6PM but the ticket counter does not open until 10:30pm so I cannot get a boarding pass for 4 more hours. The waiting area has limited space and facilities until after you go through customs with a boarding pass. I have to wait for 4 hours to get a boarding pass. The daily flights from Afghanistan arrive between 4 – 5 pm while the flights to the US and other countries do not depart until long after midnight; sometime not until 7 or 8 am the next morning. With long layovers, many people go to close by hotel for dinner, sleep, and shower. One time I was staying for a couple of days. The next morning one of my coworkers traveling to the US showed up at my Hotel later the next morning. He had overslept and missed his early morning flight. He had to find another hotel to stay until he could schedule another flight to Houston.


On this trip I decided to wait at the airport for my flight that was leaving at 1:00 am to Beijing. I have a Dubai SIM card for my phone so I bought more mantes to call friends and family and let them know I arrived safely in Dubai. But I could not get my phone to work even after several calls to the cell phone company’s customer service and talking to 3 different cell phone salesmen. The phone and SIM card worked previously in Dubai. I think some setting on the phone required in Afghanistan messed up the phone for use in Dubai. I will try to buy a SIM card in China and try to call from there.


I am bored waiting for the ticket counter to open so I find a remote section of the food court to practice Yoga. Most all the people are at the gates but I have arrived early and cannot go the gates until after I have boarding pass about 3 hours before the flight. There are few people in the food court where I practice 45 minutes of stretching, sun salutations, and hand stands.


When it is time, I begin standing in line for China Southern Airline waiting for the ticket agents to arrive. The first person is line is a young Arabic man and his wife. He seems to not speak English but she can so I talk to them for a little bit. I could not determine why they were traveling to China. Behind me in line are three people, 2 men and women, from Africa. They could not speak any English. The rest of the people in line were Chinese.


I was standing in line when three Chinese women came through the baggage check point. For some reason the police asked for the passports for two of them and took them off to another areas of the terminal. The third one stood with the luggage for nearly an hour. Finally the two came back, laughing it off. I was not clear why the police wanted talk to them and check their credentials. Later I saw them on the flight but did not ask them why the police detained them.


When I walked up to the ticket counter after waiting for nearly 1 hour, I found out I was at the wrong airline ticket counter. The airline I was flying was China Airline and not China South Airline. Both airlines had planes leaving at the same time. I took my bags to the China Airline for a boarding pass. I checked my roller bag and carried my back pack through customers and another baggage security check. There are two security checks – one when entering the airport and another just before immigration. Sometimes there is a full inspection of everything in the carryon luggage but this time to China no one looked inside my bag. I did not have to take off my shoes, take my computer out of the bag, or put my liquids in a separate small plastic bag.


In the gate waiting area and on the flight there were about 400 Chinese and maybe 4 westerners. I was not sure if they were from Europe or from USA.

Returning from 18-day trip of Beijing and Antu, China

Today I am in Dubai returning to Afghanistan from my first extended visit to mainland China. It was an 18 day trip of Beijing and Antu in the rural northern mountains of China.

I did not visit China as an American staying in American style hotel nor did I visit as a rich Chinese tourist but as a regular Chinese using the bus system, subway, and trains rather than taxi and airplanes and staying in Chinese hotel where no none speaks English and staying in an apartment of a friend. I was living life in China not visiting as a tourist.

The difference between rich and poor is stark from the 7-star Shangri-La in Beijing with all the luxury you can imagine across the street from the 2008 Olympic games complex at a minimum of 1,400 Yuan ($235USD) per night (cheap for a 7-star hotel) to thousands (maybe millions) of rural farm houses with 4 rooms, no indoor plumbing, no indoor toilets, no sewer system, no A/C, limited electricity for 4 ceiling light bulbs and a TV. The cost to live in one of the farmers’ houses is about 900 Yuan ($150 USD) per month.

China is a rich country compared to India and countries I have visited in Africa. Beijing is as modern as any International city with highways, roads, cars, sewer system, electric, Air Conditioning, public transportation, shopping, entertainment, tourist attractions, hotel, high rise office buildings and apartments.

On the first day I thought I saw a WALMART but later on the trip I saw up close a WUMART so I am not sure if the first store I saw was a WUMART or a WALMART. China has both.

I think the Chinese government should change the name of the CCP from the Central Communist Party to the Central Capitalist Party. I see evidence of business growth, entrepreneurialism, capitalism, free markets, and prosperity everywhere. Mainline china began experimenting with free markets near the border with Hong Kong in preparation for taking over Hong Kong in 1999. I believe the communists saw the prosperity of Hong Kong and decided to adopt a more Capitalist approach to business and allow private business ownership.

Today is Monday November 1, 2010

Today is Monday November 1

I have been in the Middle East for a year and one month – 8 months in Iraq, 4 months in Djibouti and a week in Afghanistan plus a week here and there in Kuwait.


Today, I am flying from Bagram Air Force Base to Kuwait City by way of Kandahar, Afghanistan, and Dubai, United Arab Eremites (UAE). The flight from Bagram to Kandahar is short. The layover in Kandahar is planned to be about an hour on the plane. DFS airlines, a commercial airline (not military), is used by many contractors to fly in and out of Afghanistan. The plane was full on the flight into Bagram and this flight out was full.

I had to leave a day early because the next day’s flight was totally booked. Flying commercial is much better than flying military. There are no reservations for contractors on military flights – only stand by. It may take days to obtain a seat on the plane. On military planes in Iraq and Afghanistan, all the passengers must wear full body armor and Kevlar helmet.

On Bagram, I slept in the attic of a warehouse. Todd and Mike who work in the warehouse arrived early today – about 4am. Todd’s pickup truck’s license tag expired the day before. He needed to be off the streets before the Military Police saw him. The MPs start their day at about 5:00 am.

Without a sink or running water, I brushed my teeth, shaved, and washed my face from a bottle of water. Although I did not like it, I realize that most of the people in the world live day by day, every day without running water or electricity.

Since I planned to leave today, I packed up my stuff in three bags - a suitcase, a small backpack, and a larger backpack. I left the large backpack in the warehouse attic for my return trip. It contained some dirty clothes, bed sheets, and a towel that I will not need until I return. I cleaned up my living space as best as I could and left the warehouse to walk the mile or so to the office.

I learned that the laundry service does not use soap to wash the clothes. They boil them. No wonder the clothes shrink and come back without being totally clean. The best tip is to sprinkle soap powder in the laundry bag with the dirty clothes. Better yet, do the laundry yourself. In Iraq, I shared a washing machine and dryer with only 4 other people. The machines were right outside my door. It was very convenient. In Djibouti, the camp had a free laundry service, a free self service laundry, and for a fee a dry cleaning service. Generally, I washed my shirts and pants myself and gave let the laundry service do the rest.

I left the large suitcase and backpack in the warehouse expecting someone to take me back in a truck to pick it up and take me to the airport. However, all of the vehicles had expired license tags and no one from our group could drive anywhere on base. We had missed a deadline to renew the tags the day before. The Military Police do not issue tickets when they see a driving violation. Instead they confiscated the vehicle and suspend driving privileges for any violation like speeding, no seatbelt, or invalid license tag.

Anyway, this was a problem for me. How could I get my bags from the warehouse to the air terminal more than a mile away? My big bag has wheels but have you ever tried to pull a roller bag on a path of rocks or gravel?

INTERRUPT – I am sitting on the plane on the tarmac of the Kandahar airport and I am hungry. It is 2:00 pm and the airline does not serve any food; not even peanuts. We are waiting for the military fuel trucks. Of course, a plane load of civilians is not a priority to the military. I did get a meal from Kandahar to Dubai and again from Dubai to Kuwait.

So back to the suitcase saga……

I walked back to the warehouse, expecting to drag the 50 pound suitcase for a mile to the passenger terminal. Fortunately, I met Jay who was looking for Fred to sign a digging permit. Jay had a truck!! I did not know Jay and I did not know Fred but I knew Fred’s boss. I took Jay to Fred’s boss to sign his dig permit and in exchange Jay took me and my to the passenger terminal. The company Jay works for is building an expansion to the airport – additional run ways and more fueling stations. They needed to dig permit to dig a trench for a new fuel line. They needed to make sure they did not cut any communications lines when they were digging.

I write mostly about the living conditions and what I do when I am not at work. I work 10 – 12 hours per day 6 days per week. On the 7th day, my off day, I work half a day. I cannot talk about or write about most of what I do. Most of it is classified. I have to have a Secret Clearance classification to work where I work. I explained to Jay a little bit about what I do, nothing classified, but he did not want to hear in case it was “secret stuff. A Google search will provide a lot of information about TNOSC, RNOSC, JOC, and military communications. The information that is classified or confidential is about daily operations and activity plus operational plans.

The company I work for operates and maintains the communication network to ensure that military personnel have reliable voice and data communications that is always available. Instead of using companies like ATT, Verizon, Sprint, Southwestern Bell, Bell South, the military has it own networks and circuits for communications including land lines, radio, and satellite.

On Bagram, I work in a compound call the JOC – Joint Operations Command. The JOC compound includes an office building, a medical facility, a gym, laundry service, showers, and living units. I work in the office building monitor and reporting on the communications network. The room looks very much like the operations centers you would see on TV shows like the Unit or a Tom Clancy movie.

COMSEC is an acronym for Communications Security. A major responsibility of the team that operates and maintains the communications network is to defend the network against attack so the information stored on the network or passed on the network is confidential and available and is not changed by an attacker. The military networks, the systems and networks of corporations, and even the Internet connected system you use at home is under constant attack by intruders who would like to deny your service, steal your information, steal you identify, or give you false information.

Every day there are briefings to the commanders who lead the military groups that are responsible for the networks. A few days ago I heard about a small camp of about a dozen soldiers that came under attached by an enemy force nearly 4 times bigger. They had to retreat from their position leaving behind two vehicles with secure communication gear. The US soldiers communicated with a larger base nearby requesting help. Helicopters flew in dumping “some stuff” that killed the enemy while saving the vehicles and the COMSEC equipment. No US soldiers were injured or killed. Available and reliable communications were vital to saving these Americans lives.

Potential outages or degradation of services is the major problem faced on the job. Network availability, reliability, and confidentially are the primary goals.

On the personal side, the biggest problem living in the Middle East on a military base is celibacy. Many Yogis practice celibacy as part of their Brahmacharya ethics. Literally Brahmacharya means “Walk with God”. The most common interpretation is controlling one’s sexual energy on the pathway to being closer to God. Other interpretations say it means to “not be promiscuous” while others believe that sexual union is a spiritual event. I prefer the latter interpretation. Nevertheless, celibacy is not for me. That is probable enough on this topic.

All my love. I will be home soon.