Precerpt from In with the East Wind: A Mary Poppins Kind of Life (Leaver) - Afghanistan: Kabul
Kabul differed tremendously from Camp Julien . After all, Camp Julien was an Army post, a small one, in the desert. Kabul was a capital with all the accouterments of a big city, in spite of an on-going ravaging war. In Kabul, I left the Quonset hut of Camp Julien behind, and was assigned to a barracks with about 40 bunk beds. All the beds were filled when I arrived, except for one top bunk. All four-foot-eleven inches of me shimmied up over the tall femalel soldier sleeping below -- always seems to work out that way, the mismatch. It was comfortable enough, though. After all, I can sleep anywhere; I really can. I also left behind the near-nightly mortar attacks, but Kabul was not without evidence of struggles. The barracks had an unexploded round half-buried into one wall. It was a dud. I could sleep soundly -- and would have, anyway. One of the advantages of being assigned to Kabul was actual time off after the work day was done. The major and I were lucky. We had ar...