Tag Afghanistan

Today marks one full year since I’ve begun this journey into the Warzone and oh the many things I’ve encountered in my time here…

Before I go into some of these details I’d like to refer to some of the past posts on this, just for consolidation effort! :)

• 250 days in Afghanistan, lessons learned, experiences and OMG WTF IS THAT

• Afghanistan, it’s as American as Baseball and Apple Pie; @CXI in the Warzone Update!

• Live from Afghanistan, an Update from @CXI – WILL HE TELL US WHAT HE’S DOING?!

• Taking a stand and serving my country; or WTF is @CXI doing in Afghanistan?!?

So one full year in a war-zone that must be pretty crazy, right? Yes. Yes it is.  Over the course of this time I’ve gone through multiple military transitions (in and out) numerous base closures and as time has gone on and we prepare for “draw-down” a significant decrease in standard life services.   That may not sound like much but considering that we were already basically camping, and things have gone down from that point…. Yea, it’s been interesting. :)

Do I enjoy what I am doing? Absolutely.  I personally have a significant impact on the direction of things here and am able to take my decades of experience and put them to good use to equally ensure that our tax dollars aren’t fraudulently wasted, at least not on my watch!

In the short little time I’ve been here my responsibilities as Deputy Technical Director and Storage and Virtualization Lead for all of the efforts here in Afghanistan have been very rewarding.   I unfortunately cannot go into too many details without compromising aspects of the mission but let me just say… This has been an absolutely awesome experience the likes of which are difficult to rival.   The experience itself is not nearly as rewarding as knowing that the knowledge and skills I brought into this theater from years of work in the trenches and leading high performing teams has scaled to make this a case study for success which can be replicated immensely..

Some things which you can only truly experience while living in a warzone (or in some cases, Chicago…)

• Taking a Helicopter to get to work, with a high powered machine gun out the side…
• The incessant and regular explosions, whether controlled or by insurgents.
• [REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED] – Oh how I’d love to be able to share that…
• And more… :)

But this story is not over.   At this point I’m pretty sure I’ll fight this battle out a little longer to ensure everything is ready and in place for the executed draw down of American troops scheduled for 31DEC2014 – After which point I’m out of here and onto the next story where I can continue to do absolutely awesome things.    I get hit up regularly and I respect and appreciate that.   I’ll likely be looking to start that next story in the Nov/Dec to January time frame so if you’re looking feel free to hit me up as we get closer!

As always I’ll continue to update you in the form of tweets, facebook updates, Instagram, Tumblr and more!

Be safe, and on this wonderful Valentines Day <3 :)

Here we are… on my 250thaversary (I don’t think that’s a word…) and let me tell you… IM STILL ALIVE! Awesome, right!?

You may be able to see it from my tweets, facebook updates, and wacky images I’m able to capture with instagram, but I down play a lot of the ‘threat’ here.  Oh, the threat is VERY real on a VERY regular basis, but I totally downplay it, especially if sharing something might put American lives in jeopardy… so I don’t talk about those things… a LOT of things.   But hey! This isn’t something for you to be worried about! I mean, the threat is just as real as being in Chicago, so I’ll down play it some more! :)

Afghanistan is kind of like being in prison, except for all of the benefits… of being in Prison!

We often joke about the similarities to prison, I mean lets consider a few points…

• Housing is “Free” in that we live in supplied housing.  And while at the same time… my room is roughly the same size, or slightly smaller than a typical US Prison Jail Cell, so that’s pretty awesome! Albeit the building can burn down at any given moment due to the fact it’s essentially made of balsa wood :)
• Food is “Free” in DFAC provided food.  Except the food is typically less desirable than Prison food, which respectively isn’t saying much :)
• OH WAIT, YOU’RE VEGAN. Yea. People often say, “It must be hard being vegan” Yes. Yes it is. Back home it isn’t, but in a warzone it’s HELL!
• Everyone has guns.   Well, it’s true, everyone does, let’s add that we’re surrounded by huge walls with barbed wire. Except we’re trying to keep people OUT not in, per se. ;)
• I live at an airport basically, though I never get to go anywhere! … And unless I’m going home, not really too much of a fan of traveling throughout the country!
• Everybody loves shared showers! Just don’t let your skin touch any exposed surface. Seriously.

So you know, it’s not so bad!   And all, right?!

I mean, it’s not like my life is in constant jeopardy or that on numerous occasions rockets have not blown up within 100 feet of me. …………

So for those of you who wonder what the warzone is like, and the respective lessons learned you can apply to your own life…

• It can be LOUD here. I own a pair of Klipsch X10i headphones. I tend to miss most rockets I cannot directly FEEL because of how well it buffers the sound.   Also if you happen to travel these are beyond invaluable, hell if it can block out the noise of flying inside of a C130, know it handles QUITE well on domestic or international travel.  FYI I have worn these headphones for about 235 of the 250 days, while I sleep.
• If you see something out of the ordinary, say something about it.   This applies to the world in general.  If something or someone looks suspicious don’t let it slide; Don’t be paranoid but also be realistic…
• Do your due diligence and don’t take overt chances.   I’m a risk taker as much as the next guy (Psst… Did you hear I’m in fracking AFGHANISTAN) but I wouldn’t go so far as to play around life explosives or put myself in a position to receive real harm if I can control it.
• Smog is nasty, but a microscopic dust which enters into your lungs and you breathe it everywhere, that’s not so great.
• Do not walk behind a blackwater truck, or hell, near one if you can help it
• Blackwater trucks clean out portapotties, and emit a highly refined spray of feces into the air, it’s the original eau de toilette…

The list can clearly go on, but I need to sleep soon so I wish you all well in your respective places in the world.   I wish you good will, good life and be safe.

Today marks 107 days in the Warzone.  Okay, it’s not a sexy number like 100, or a gross number like 144… But it is the number of today where I’m writing this!     So, some of you might be asking, “What’s it like living out there in the Warzone?!”   I’ll tell you, and I’ll be as frank and honest as I can (or shirley?!)

I bet some of you went to college before, so you know what Dorm living is like, right?   Living in rooms where you may share walls or more with others.  It’s very much sort of like that… Well, Kind of. Sort of kind of I guess, I mean, a picture says a thousand words right?

So as you can see from these beautiful photos, from the outside you can see the beautiful looks of a plywood box which I live in with 7 other people.  Awesome, right?!   And here’s a little glimpse of the ‘inside’ of the B-Hut, all 96 Square feet of space to stretch out and spend my days! (Nights!)

Clearly you’re thinking, “Damn, Ikea can make a KILLING there in Afghanistan with such lavish accommodations!”  Don’t you know it baby!

But when I’m not in my room sleeping, FaceTiming with the family, or at work, I walk down awesome pathways like this, or hide in bunkers like this!

And now I’ll hit some of the Q/A which I regularly get asked to the best of my ability!

1. Wow, as a vegan it must be really hard to eat out there. Do you find it difficult?
1. I believe the technical answer is, HELLS YEA BITCHES.   I look forward to breakfast as it tends to be the most consistent meal of the day, and even that can be spotty often times.   I intentionally carb-load and over-eat while I’m here as “Winter is coming” or so my body needs to predict… as I don’t know when a vegan famine may be upon me, and it’s up to me to protect my well being!   There tends to be on average 2-3 items to eat per meal for a vegan, out of >50 items, those metrics aren’t something you can set a clock to…
2. I see you tweet at times about rockets and mortars, SRSLY? IS THAT HAPPENING?
1. Yes. Yes it does happen. I’ve been fortunate that the closet ROCKET to me has been a little over a mile away, which is fortunate considering the small rockets have a blast radius of 50 yards, I’d ideally like to stay as far the hell away as possible.    I’ve become a little jaded at Television special effects since being out here as I watch an explosion of say, an oil tanker 50 feet away have no impact on TV/Movies, yet a TINY IED goes off 3 miles away and it shakes the building I’m in? Yea, movies are totally ruined for me!
3. Hey, Seriously WTF, why the hell are you in Afghanistan?!?!
1. So, I covered a bit of that in this blog post here but on an added note.  I’m no warrior, I’m not strong, I cannot carry a weapon, nor perform physically bearing activities.  But I had the opportunity to do my part to serve our country, and serve our troops and do what I do best.   Help bring them home and make the technical environment which runs a warzone theater as Afghanistan as stable and solid as possible.  It just so happens I also carry with that a pretty hefty load of responsibility, but I’m no stranger to responsibility and leading.  So it suits me. :)
4. Do you have any crutch music/movies to help get you through the days?
1. Why yes I do.   I will often find myself watching Portlandia and Flight of the Conchords, and just trying to stay current on my regular Television as it airs.   I did watch Scott Pilgrim vs the World the other day, and I could watch that again and again.
2. Musically, I will often be listening to Taylor Swift, Erasure and at this very moment as I type this, I’m listening to The Birthday Massacre.  My musical library obviously extends far beyond that; such that depending upon the analytical research I may be doing that is a perfect opportunity to blast The Ataris, Taking Back Sunday or Greenday in my ear holes!
5. Asked by @nekosensei : What do you do while you’re on base to keep yourself entertained?
1. This one may come as a surprise to a lot of you, but I *love* working. I always have, and being that I work 12 hours a day, I’m no stranger to the opportunity to work!   But when I’m not working and I’m not talking with my family on FaceTime (Skype sucks out here) I am watching shows, listening to music, or reading (or writing respectively).   It may not sound too glamorous, but it’s a good way to center yourself…
6. Asked by @nekosensei : What locations have you been able to visit in the region when you were given the chance to get off the base?
1. Honestly. I avoid leaving the base if I can help it (Exception while going on leave)   But as far as the places I’ve visited here in Afghanistan and in the region, here’s a breakdown…
1. Kuwait – I visited Kuwait when I first got here, it’s where we flew in to.   I didn’t mind it too bad, dust storms and the weather wasn’t too bad but it was ‘winter’, apparently, it’s hot as all hell now, so not being there is ideal I figure.   The accommodations were a ‘nice’ transient tent with mice and food options which left much to be desired.  But it wasn’t too bad.  My time spent there was relatively pleasant.
2. Kandahar – Wow. What can I say. I HATE Kandahar!   A lot of people may be surprised by that, but I was in a constant ‘transient’ state waiting to fly out of there and being promised a flight only to be disappointed constantly.  My time spent there, over 3 days was spent in a constant state of conscious/unconscious, but no sleeping.. I was never really ‘asleep’ as that might infer I was resting.   I slept on benches which hobos would laugh at in a PAX Terminal which a week prior had been hit directly with a mortar.   Let’s just say, I escaped from that without any scratches and I’m glad.
3. Camp Bastion / Camp Leatherneck – This Marine base was a resort compared to where I’m at now!    The streets were laid out, well.. like streets. It’s as though they planned what they were doing (They did to some extent) it was well coordinated, and organized.  Albeit, they hadn’t had a rocket attack for ~18 months prior to my arrival, and on the day I arrived, there were like 6 rockets fired on us.  No one was hurt, so win!
4. Dubai, UAE – The United Arab Emirates can be an interesting and cool place.   It is a Muslim country with a very strict and odd set of laws, but you must respect the laws of the nation you’re in, and I respectively did that.   I shared a lot of the photos, of both the Futuristic and advanced side of Dubai while at the same time I got a glance at the ancient ways things have been done for hundreds or thousands of years, poverty and royalty living side by side.   Whenever I leave or enter Afghanistan, it is always through Dubai so I’ll be no stranger to that place.
5. Bagram – My ‘home’ away from home, where I live now and for the unforeseen future.    This is an old soviet base which they abandoned during the Soviet-Afghanistan war in the 70s or something? I can see why they abandoned it though.   To give you a sense of how it is here… The sun rises around 4am, it’s SUNNY and HOT by the morning, and it only gets hotter by the evening. We’re ~5000 feet above sea level, so we’re pretty close to the sun!   By around 7PM it gets dark and when it gets dark it gets COLD and WINDY.  It’s crazy, and the sand, dust and flour-like substance of dust/sand gets in everything.  If it’s raining a little bit, your hair will be plastered like cement.    So there ya have it!

Hopefully this gives you a little insight into life in Afghanistan,  and a brief idea of how things are for me.  Stay tuned to my Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for regular updates on activities, photos and you name it!

Don’t be a stranger! I’ll be home eventually! :)

Here are some of the top questions I’ve been getting lately since I’ve been here in Afghanistan.

Why the hell are you in Afghanistan?!   What are you DOING there?!

I mean, sure I was a little… obtuse about details, for safety and security reasons when I shared things initially in my post Taking a stand and serving my country; or WTF is @CXI doing in Afghanistan?!? but I think I’m comfortable answering a few of these questions for you :)

So on the initial question, WHY am I here – refer to my blog post above and I think you’ll get that answered pretty easily! But more importantly…

What am I actually doing here!

So, I eluded to doing things with Storage… Virtualization… Cloud… etc.   Well, here is a little low-down at the best I can possibly offer you. :)

In 2011 Afghanistan NATO and International forces had ~800 bases or so, and then started closing down or transferring bases, take the 202 bases closed in 2012 alone and as we are here in 2013, more and more bases are being closed as we ready for the complete draw-down slated to finish Dec 31 2014.   So, you’re asking WTF ARE YOU DOING, STOP STALLING!  :)  

Where I come in, is as these bases start to close up, there’s infrastructure which gets decommissioned, data-centers closed, services shut down or consolidated.   And as the Afghanistan theatre and country lead for Virtualization and all the fun that falls underneath that… Well, let’s just say… There’s a whole lot of fun that falls underneath that! Between the sites which are shutting down and the ones which will continue running for a long time to come. :)  

Hopefully this gives you a little bit of an idea of what I’m doing, how I’m doing it, and all of the evolution and change which goes with that!   I’ll provide more details, stories and so much more as time goes on, you can’t even begin to imagine the challenges and woes of high tech infrastructure in a warzone and as applicable I’ll share those stories here, at conference and beyond when I come home!    Also, I’m planning to do some ‘virtual’ VMUGs here for the guys on the ground who haven’t had that experience and if you’re a speaker/presenter who would like to try to remotely present let me know!

Some of you ask about sending me letters, care packages and what-not, feel free to send whatever you’d like to me at the address below!

Christopher Kusek
JNCC-A Task Force Signal
APO, AE 09354

I wish you all the best and don’t hesitate to reach out to me in the short and the long-term!   Eventually I’ll be coming home and the eventual adventures I’ll pursue when I come home, Safely.  :)

A lot of you have been asking about this.  So I thought it about time to finally share just what is going on!    An interesting opportunity presented itself recently to allow me to serve my country in a way I am capable of and more importantly, allow me to do my part to help bring our troops home.     Allow me to provide a little background and context.   I am no warrior, I am no soldier.   I can barely even carry the gear that is the bare minimum used for protection, I can’t even begin to imagine just what the weight of the weaponry involved is!

Allow this visual depiction of my experience of getting blood drawn for putting my DNA on file to give you an example of just how non-capable for soldiering I am!   And why yes I did pass out during the blood draw, really it wasn’t the blood draw so much as the WHERE IS THE VEIN, I KNOW, LETS MAKE HIM PASS OUT! It wasn’t the first time, and I warned them up front this was bound to happen if they didn’t find the vein the first time!

But with all that said and done, I am still physically fit to actually BE here, and apparently, strong enough to at least WEAR this gear when time calls for it!

Though I’m far more accustomed to just wearing a jacket and take photos of myself after not having slept for days and days – Oh, where would I not sleep for days and days? Probably some place like this PAX Terminal which often receives mortar attacks…

But I digress a little.   Back to what I am doing here.   I am no warrior, I am no soldier… I am a technologist, I teach, educate, evangelize, enliven, and solve problems and let me tell you, <REDACTED> <REDACTED> <REDACTED>, Pretty awesome, right?

I’ll be honest, due to the sensitive nature of what I am doing here, what and where I am working on, etc; I am unable to really share a whole lot of what I am doing or what it entails but I can via obfuscation share that I am helping spread the good word, will, and journey of all things that are Storage, Cloud, Applications, Virtualization, Security and more.   You know, all the kinds of things you often enjoy my expose’s of and the like!   The real and ultimate goal of this journey is doing my part to help bring our troops home safely, and ensure that the the infrastructure which helps support and save lives sustains.

This world is a very secretive one but there are parts of that experience often never shared that I’ll be able to reveal as I serve my time here.

Many of you have asked how you might go about sending me letters, care packages, whatever or the like; provided below is my APO for those wondering.

Christopher Kusek
Trace Systems
JNCC-A Task Force Signal
APO, AE 09354

I also have a DoDAAC which is pretty awesome for FAST delivery, but that’s not really needed at all!  A conversation on facebook revealed that USPS has free shipping materials for APO addresses.   Honestly, I really don’t think I need much, I mean I try to be a pretty easy person; albeit vegan food options out here are quite difficult and interesting to say the least…

I do apologize I haven’t been on Twitter much, Internet connectivity here SUCKS and I cannot get to twitter from my work machines, though Facebook works fine, thus I’ve been being as regular there as I possibly can respectively. :)    I cannot stress enough how having a max 5k download speed at times really means, it makes Skyping challenging enough as it is at times. :)

I’ll keep you all updated on my journey, and new and interesting lessons learned from the Warzones, consider me the eyes into this world which often is shrouded from our very eyes in media reports and beyond.    I hope you all are well, and I take steps to ensure my safety on the regular so I’ll be able to return home in this mission to help return home our troops and do my part in the United States drawdown from Afghanistan.

Be well, and I hope this revealed enough to comfort or alleviate any thoughts some of you may have been having! :) Comments, letters and beyond are always welcome! :)