Sultan Jeff's Stuff to Say #1

Greetings! I'm Andrew's friend, Jeff. I'm writing from beautiful FOB
Salerno...approximately 12 miles from the Pakistan border in the province of Khost (pronounced "Host"). The weather here is beautiful compared to the rest of the country right now. Fortunately for us Khost is in a lower elevation "bowl" surrounded by mountains that keep most of the bad weather out....and the humidity in (can't wait for the summer). So, unlike Andrew, I don't need a bobsled to get to work everyday. Anyway, I thought I'd share a little cultural anecdote I experienced recently in my first blog (I'm a little nervous...so forgive me).

A few days ago I met a really nice guy named Mike. Mike invited me and the rest of the guys I work with to have lunch with a local friend of his, Lucky. A VERY friendly guy. He got his name by being the lone survivor in an IED attack. When he was pulled from his completely destroyed vehicle and found without a scratch on his body....they said, "Man, you're 'lucky'!" His friend, an interpreter, was killed recently by an IED. He's cooked us lunch TWICE (great cook)....and is so generous that he gave my boss and I our very own turbans. I found out later that black means Taliban. So, don't send this picture to the Dept. of Homeland Security....otherwise I may be going straight from here to Gitmo.

I hope everyone is doing well out there. God bless!