Yeah, it was quite a surprise when he cracked my neck. Even more so when I told him not to and he did it again. Funny guys at the barber shop though.

I was on Fenty back in 08-09.

Nearly shit my pants the first time

John Classified they just closed Fenty. Sad to see it go. That was one of the better fobs.

@John Classified I worked at the Ammunition Supply Point when it was between the construction company thing outside the post and the little one for post. If I remember correctly, the only started paving the road that went basically parallel to the airport from the fuel point to the motorpools.

Yeah, we had those same signs. In fact I took a photo of one and used it for the thumbnail for one of my earlier Afghanistan videos. Oh, and TP in the trash is common in most of the developing world due to under-engineered sewage systems. Where I’m living now, in Ecuador, you always put your paper in the trash. Whenever I travel back to the States or Europe I have to retrain myself.

I can confirm I was in a shopping center in fez morroco they a bin next to toilet with shit on em... bless em

I've seen the same signs in Michigan. I asked and the guy there told me they would just throw the toilet paper behind the toilets

So... lots of people from "South of the border" working in PA then?

Some countries have horrible toilets/plumbing so the throw the toilet paper away not to clog it

Yeah, I was super lazy about getting this video edited and uploaded. Hopefully I’ll be uploading more frequently, but it’s tough to do out here.

Fall off the Map oh I definately understand.You can only do what you can👍🏽

Yeah, your bosses ripped off the taxpayers 1 hundred dollar bag of laundry and 1 hundred dollar case of coca cola at a time.

I never did make it down to Leatherneck. I bounced around from Shirana, to Shank, to Bagram, to Gamberi and finally Fenty. Now I’m slumming it on an air base in Niger and actually missing Afghanistan.

Ah, you got out of Salerno while the getting was good. I was in Shank when Salerno got it’s big VBID. Unfortunately I was also in Shank when Shank got a massive VBID as well. 2012 was a rough year.

Yeah I was there in December of 09 when they almost over ran the base after camp Chapman had the vbid hit them. Gotta love rocket city spent 15 and half month in that place lol. But we would get hot every day some times a couple of times a day. The only thing I hated was have to get the defac rebuilt every couple of months.

Thanks!

Good luck

I'm trying to do the same which is getting a truck driving job overseas somewhere like Iraq or Afghanistan through KBR, Fluor, and Dyncorp. I wish you luck.

Cal Thompson well, that too, but certain cultures do this thing of very loudly clearing their sinuses in the showers and sinks and leaving the mess dripping down the walls.

@@FallofftheMap Sounds like a British pub toilet to me.

Snot rockets

Two words.. Shower shoes lol

@Methods a few years ago they caught an Afghan trying to smash his shit down the shower drain with his foot. I guess the shower curtain didn’t go all the way down, so these soldiers could see this foot stomping on shit.

I've never been to Afghan but to Iraq many times. This video reminds me how much I miss it--the sand, the dust, the generator noise, etc. Maybe I don't miss the "INCOMING, INCOMING, INCOMING" so much, but even that could be humorous sometimes. God, please let me go back....

@@dexm2010 can’t you just enlist again? This time for Afghanistan of course.

@@rolux4853 I was deployed with the Army once to Iraq, but most of my trips actually were as a contractor after I got out. No fu**ing way in hell I would re-enlist now with the shi*show the Army has become. As a contractor your life is potentially at risk also (some jobs, and some places, more than others) but at least you were making a pretty good paycheck to be over there.

I miss shitty 3 for 5 DVDs that some hajji recorded in a theatre with an old camcorder

Looks like you filled in for me during the years I took off from Fluor.

I was thankful to be in Afghanistan instead of Iraq at that time. We never did get any significant retaliation, just lots of false alarms.

Was there too brother 🤟🏻 fun ass spmagtf

I spent 2 years at the BDSC from 15-17 not much going on then, a few rocket attacks over at liberty.

Yup I was on fenty also and know excatly where he was walking around

That sure didn't loot like the Fenty I was at, but I left there in 2011.

Smooth like baby's ass...and a good neck rub too. I miss that barbershop. Jbad/jaf fenty what ever you want to call it...it was home for a little bit of my life to.

Same, was there on clps in 11 and again in 12_13

Did you retire after you got out of overseas contracting or did you transition back to working in the US? I’ve found it impossible to go back to a normal job.

MRAP mean Mine Resistant Armour Plated. How do you doubel say it when that iw what you worked on. its almost like you dont know what youre talking about. And what did you do for state? It sure wasnt with their PS , too damn slow.

I was there last year lol

I'll be going there soon

You joke, but people have been giving pretty funny reviews of various bases and facilities on bases on Google maps.

Sounds like an interesting trip. Enjoy Tacoma. Point Defiance Park is a must see, especially if the weather is decent. I haven’t made it to Fairbanks yet, but I like Anchorage. I’ll be back in Ecuador next week.

Alaska will be a walk in the park compared to winters in Galway and Mayo. Just got back before storm Dennis hit. Great that Met Eireann have taking to naming and color coding. Load of BS. Safe travels and happy St Paddy’s Day. Hope you get out before the Fake media hyped virus police lock you down lol..

chris doe too true about getting locked down because of virus panic. I’m worried I’ll get stuck in Ecuador and not be able to fly back to Afghanistan to work. I suppose there are worse places to get stuck.

Fall off the Map what part are your in-laws from? And your lovely wife I guess also lol. Have a friend from Quito he wanted me to go with him for a visit. Very nice friendly open people from what I’ve experience Stateside . Contemplating retiring in Cuenca . From what I understand it went through a boom and bust with ex pats. Of course international Living making it so attractive to retire on $100 a week didn’t help. They did the same for Ireland where I’m originally from and I can say that’s BS. So hunker down with your Familia and have couple cervesa. Like you said could be stuck in a worse place . Be well my friend .

chris doe my wife’s family is from Quito and we live just outside of Quito in the valley. Cuenca is pretty nice. I’d prefer to live there, but being near her parents important to my wife and kids. Yeah, International Living stretches the truth quite a bit.

juan monteagudo I think it’s closed now. Or closing.

@@FallofftheMap it is closed

@@AMKE357 Fob Fenty was freaking great. Fluor Air Operations here :D

Yeah, blackout FOBs suck at night. Did they at least allow you to use red filtered flashlights? I had a few tough nights back in 2012 trying to do electrical work with a red flashlight. Really difficult to sort out the wire colors, almost like being colorblind.

most fobs and cops were blackout and no, no light means no light. You use small little flashlights that put out almost no light, or jus tgo without, the moon works pretty well.

Good luck down range. It ain’t peachy over there bruh getting mortars and pop shots

Yeah, it was a relatively nice FOB. The smallest I’ve been to was Gamberi, but even that was pretty comfortable.

I’m glad to hear my videos are helpful. Hope you make it out here soon.

Not that I’ve ever experienced or heard of.

It’s not so bad. The biggest danger is the combination of boredom and stupidity that is all too common out here.

Fall off the Map I understand, must be quite the experience being over there.

Congratulations! It’s definitely an interesting time to be out here. I sitting in Bagram right now, passing though on my way to R&R.

Fall off the Map Are the living conditions out there pretty rough?

They’re ok. It’s a little dependent which company you work for. Most folks have between 1 and 7 roommates depending on the size of the room. The rooms are “hard structures” so you don’t have to go to the bunkers every time there’s an incoming mortar. The bathrooms are a nightmare, and the DFAC (cafeteria) can be overcrowded. Overall it’s annoying but not terrible. Also, if you get sent out to a FOB it’s nicer but you usually don’t have hard structures.

Fall off the Map I appreciate the feedback!

Have you left to bagram yet? I’m currently looking at a job as a mechanic so looking for more information

Not really. You need to complete an apprenticeship in the US or UK first. There are “helper” jobs that fill the apprentice role, but they are all filled by low wage worker from India and Bosnia and they don’t ever move up to be a journeyman. It’s not a good deal for them.

@@FallofftheMap thank you for replying to me and answering my questions.

It’s weird, isn’t it? It’s like it’s really easy and incredibly difficult at the same time.

ahh man, 12 hours a day, that must have been so damn rough. And 7 days a week. Thats not hard. its ok if you really havent worked a hard schedule in your life. Just goes to show the calibre of man you are and your work ethic.

Yeah, soldiers always think that contractors have it good. Yes, we get paid more, but there’s a reason it pays as much as it does.

GJG: It's definitely not for everyone, although the vast majority of contractors I worked with in Afghanistan were former military (85%). Most of the non military contractors were former LEO, so we had very few problems where I worked. Funny story. I remember in 2012 we picked up an "FNG" who we nicknamed "Armani". No lie, he got off the DFS plane from Dubai dressed in a totally black Armani outfit. Anyone who has been in Afghanistan knows that's not how we dressed. His 1st meal at the DFAC was an unmitigated disaster. Armani wanted all kinds of special healthy food that the DFACs rarely (if ever) had. Anyway, "Armani" lasted less than 2 weeks. He had an urgent family problem at home & had to bail. The company got him a short notice airline ticket home at great expense (round trip, btw). We knew his story was BS b/c just prior to him leaving he was asking everyone who would listen about jobs back in the US. Like I said, it's not for everyone, he never returned. The irony of all this is that "Armani" was a US Army reserve Warrant Officer. Go figure. The flip side of that is I also knew guys who worked 10+ years in Afghanistan, paid off all of their debts & banked half a million plus. I worked 18 rotations over an 8 year period & called it quits. I may have stayed too long at the party b/c I'm paying for it in other ways now. That said, I loved every minute of it, except annual CRC.

Electrician. Not anything particularly sensitive. Mostly just fixing things other contractors break, and for some reason changing lamps and resetting GFCIs. Stuff they really should have a laborer or custodian do.

@@FallofftheMap thank you for the reply. I would like a job in satcom in Antarctica or Afghanistan in a few years. I really like your content. Thanks alot.

I actually got parasites from the DFAC in Sharana. I had been eating a lot of salad. We had many Afghan soldiers eating in the DFAC at that time, so I assume I picked it up after some ANA with dirty hands used the salad tongs.

Interesting. Now it’s just a mystery building. Never open, but the power is on and someone cleans the dust off the windows. I think it’s some secret squirrel shit.

Hi 👋 lucky you

It was a US military rule. If you’re not arriving via a military base and going through the military version of a customs inspection then I doubt it would be an issue. As for dry gel caps, they were treated the same as any other type of gel cap. I’m sure it stems from some type of smuggling technique someone used in the past since you can easily buy empty gel caps and fill them with whatever.

@@FallofftheMap thanks. what is a customs search like. do they scan your body with x ray scanner? Is it even possible to have a few supplements in your pocket? no drugs, just supplements. i think you said you can get in trouble.

Like, hot air balloons? Are they for scientific research or for military?

Diamondback or Marez?

@@danielhowell1640 diamondback,q-west then marez.

Been there 2004

@@dizzlekale9835 me too, marez 05-06. Getting old.

@@KMondy I hear you brother. Time is flying

Call me weird, but I’m not as excited as you about a massage from an Afghan barber.

@@FallofftheMap it’s the small things a grunt looks forward to after a long tour

I think a lot of us have that same feeling.

The worst place on earth is the transient billeting latrine in Bagram. I’ve never looked up to check, but I’m confident there’s shit on the ceiling.

My R&Rs are usually low key visits with the wife and kids. I’ll have to give it some thought and try to remember if there were any R&R stories worth telling. Maybe just some weird stuff passing through Dubai...

I probably passed through Bagram a few times while you were there.

with who? If you really are combat yuo wouldnt have been in bagram, youre probably a SP in the airforce trying to be big baller with your flight line or ECP war stories. Or even worse, national guard.

@@combatangler6812 oh so you were route security for a couple deployments. So much experience. I mean 6 deployments and not just sitting in a truck on a highway. Or maybe you were logpac security. And being that you were in 1AD at fort bliss tells me exactly the time frame you were in. Let me guess some type of MP or maybe even a mechanic? Hump the line bud. Or maybe fly around RCE responding to tics. If you were driving in afg then youre not really that deep in it. I mean i support you bud and thank you for what you did in your role but dont go around spicing it up to more than it was. Did you do the full 20? I mean unless youre still in you couldnt have. 1AD started to move to ft bliss in about 2006, so that comment of more time not liekly except the highway one part. I didnt spend any time on a highway in afg. Just out in valleys at small fobs and cops. Thank you for your service though.

He is probably not being honest. Soldiers can have phones. FaceTime is allowed but difficult due to slow internet. Now, he might frequently work in secure facilities where he must leave his phone outside. But yeah, he’s not being straight with you.

Totally lying to you, There is no restriction on that stuff unless someone was just hurt or killed and then they black out the comms so they can notify family first. Hell i had two cell phones while i was in afghanistan and wifi in my little hole in the wall and i was mostly in the middle of nowhere.

That's not even classified as skid, that's straight up shit in the toilet holy shit hahaha

Were you at Salerno whe they had the limit big VBIED?

@@FallofftheMap no, I left a week in advance

Yeah, Fenty was one of the better ones.

Man, that sounds sweet.

I have no way to investigate to see if he is scamming you or not. If you think you’re getting catfished you might try reverse image searching any photos he’s sent you to see if they are used on the internet under a different name.

@@FallofftheMap thank u so much I love watching u on KZfaq keep up the good job

With my current employer we can receive it to whatever bank we want. In my case I receive half in a US bank and half in an Ecuadorian bank. My first Afghan employer paid USD in cash which was not convenient at all because I had to open an Afghan bank account and deposit the cash there to transfer money to my US bank. The Afghan bank eventually failed and I lost the money I had there. My second job there would only deposit to a US bank.

@@FallofftheMap Gee. that must have sucked...

It’s a really difficult time to get a job on an overseas military base because of the reduction in troops. How to get a job overseas: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hqeDlqte19fdfJs.html

There are private security contractors, if that’s what you mean.

No, but all food and housing is provided for free

Probably because it’s very hard to figure what the military rules are for recording video on base. Some of the rules are intentionally vague and people have gotten in a lot of trouble without realizing they were screwing up. For this reason, it’s a little scary making any sort of video about life on the FOBs out there.