The Holidays in the Hindu Kush

As we approach the new year, a little year end recap is in order.  Before Christmas, Jason and several others had a nice helicopter ride to Kunduz.  Below is a picture of Jason and friend Gentry in Kunduz.  Gentry is also posted to Fort Stewart and is originally from New Mexico.  They started at Fort Stewart together and Jason says that Gentry and is wife (living in Savannah) are super nice.

Christmas itself was not like being home, but they tried to make it as much like home as you can in the middle of nowhere during a war.  Here are several Christmas pictures, including a couple with Jason and his buddies serving both the American and German troops on Christmas Day.  Not exactly the dining room at the Plaza Hotel in New York, but the tent was about as festive as it gets!

What you can not really tell is that the temperature has dropped into negative numbers during the night time and it frequently does not get above freezing for days.  Most of the guys spend the day trying to keep warm. I have talked to Jason over the last several days and outside movement has been somewhat limited by the weather.  The good news is that is supposed to break the freezing mark sometime shortly after the first of the year.  Here is one last picture that gives you an idea of the Hindu Kush and the cold weather which has definitely settled in...