Well guys I managed to get on the internet here in the INL compound so thought I would give you an update on what its like here.
Kam Air flight was broken in Kabul so they put on a chartered 737 flown by a couple of Russians
I went up and met the guys in the cockpit on the flight over and all navigation was done by a hand held Garmin GPS sitting on the top of the panel. They had no problem with me coming up to the cockpit for a looksee.
Arrival into Kabul was eye opening, quite a steep approach because of the mountains and risk associated with RPGs. The amount and variety of aircraft here is mind blowing. I saw Dutch F-16s on alert, Mi-24s, Mi-8s, Pacific's 212, some Mi-2s, some MI-171s and these are new super advanced helos, a Ruslan, some AN32s, an AN74, the Hueys here that INL use and a few other assorted toys. Airport was very run down but the people are very friendly, or at least the ones I met at the airport were.
Dave Campbell met us at the airport with their armoured Ford Excursion. Now these things are built like fort knox and can withstand some serious attacks, but wont say how well protected they are. We were given body armour as soon as we got out of the airport and then got into the SUV and headed to the compound via the airport internal roads.
We had three fully armed Gurkhas protecting Rob and myself and these guys were "well" armed. After catching up with everyone and having dinner it was time to hit the sack.
Today it was 0600 wakeup, breakfast and then down to the airport for a briefing and takeoff at 0930. We took three Hueys, two gunships, and one that we used as a camera ship. The lead helo had normal machine guns on both sides, the second one had Dillon Aero mini guns on both sides. The self protection suite is also impressive but wont say anything more on that.
We took off out of Kabul and headed up over the hill towards Bagram AFB. That base is impressive. We didnt fly close to it but saw all the Chinooks and other aircraft there. After we visited the range so the crewmen could test their weapons we headed down towards Jalalabad. There is some amazing scenery out there and I doubt I saw one paved road on the whole flight. Did some formation photo shoots on the way there as well as looked at some of the various villages and huts around the place. Some of the mountains around here get very high and up north they can go up to around 18,000ft.
We came into Jalalabad to refuel at the FARP at the same time as a couple of Chinooks. There is an old AN32 left crashed at the end of the runway. Looks like it overran the runway and they basically left it where it ended up. Did get a photo of it.
Saw numerous Apaches at JBad and a couple were taking off as we left. After a quick tour over Jbad we headed back towards Kabul and did a gradual climb back up to the 6800ft alt of Kabul. Jbad is about 1800 feet lower from what the guys were saying. Once we crossed over the top we dropped down and flew besides the infamous JBad highway which is always having IED's used on it. Saw wreckage of a few victims of IEDs as they were left where they ended up.
Coming back into Kabul we flew down the runway so we could see all the toys there are there before landing back at our spot. It was an amazing flight and obviously body armour is the dress of the day no matter where you go.
Its an awesome bunch of people here and they could not be more supportive of what we are doing. Met some of the top guys from the Embassy today as they came down to the airport so we could interview them. I saw the Pacific 212 parked down towards the terminal but it was all tied down. It is now painted in a tan colour to be less conspicuous and was only done in the last couple of days I understand.
Tomorrow we are going down to Kandahar on the AN72 and spending the next few days with these guys. The whole situation down there is much hotter than it is up here so should be interesting. Tomorrow night we are going out on a night gunnery tactics flight where they will be firing the mini gun, all under NVGs and then following day we are taking a three ship out into the Helmand Valley to see the FOBs they have there.
Well I am off to have some dinner and will process some of the photos from today later on this eveing hopefully. Wont be posting any showing peoples faces of any entrances to places or aerial views of bases so please dont ask.
Cheers guys and have to say this is the best trip I have ever done so far.
Ned in Kabul.
to FredFri
, please send me email: 
Ph-sho
) I'll take a picture of the upgraded instrument panel and post it
Off to Afghanistan
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