Bastion vs Kandahar - Part 1

This sign says it all.

I don't even know what to say about this.  I'm never going here based on principle alone.

I've been in Kandahar now for about 3 weeks, so I've gotten a feel for the base, the hospital and the surroundings.  It's a lot different than Bastion/Leatherneck!  I thought I would do a head to head comparison, pointing out some of the main differences and see which one came out on top.  I'm going to try and not make anyone upset with this, as this is only my opinion - but then I decided, who cares if I piss anyone off - what are they gonna do - send me to Afghanistan?  

So, lets get ready to rrrrruuuummmbbbblllleeee...

1)  Hospital - This may seem simple at first.  Kandahar's hospital is a newly built facility with a brick structure (rocket proof), brand new OR's and all the accoutrement.  It's almost as if you are stepping inside any community hospital in the US.  We even have our own office, complete with a coffee maker, a computer and a bed.  The OR's are state of the art and have little 'Star Trek' doors that whisk open with a push of a button.  But, we are on deployment in the middle of the desert, so it seems a little surreal.  Bastion was a simple structure, basically a tent with metal beams, a huge open room OR, with the ER just 2 steps away.  We could also wear our uniforms anywhere we wanted and I didn't have to change into scrubs 5 times a day.  The biggest factor, though, is the distance from our rooms to the hospital.  I took it for granted at Bastion, but I could get between my room and the hospital in 3 minutes (527 steps - yes, I counted many times), but here it takes about 12 minutes - which is a long time when responding to a trauma (no I haven't counted the steps yet - too busy dodging cars to concentrate).  Winner - Bastion.

Bastion - 1, Kandahar - 0.

2)  Gym - I've been able to spend some time in the gym, both here and at Bastion.  The gym at Bastion (see the GTL post from a couple of months ago) was no frills.  Get in and get out.  The up side was that it was only 10 feet from my room and I found that during lunch there were only about 5 people there.  The downside was that is was hot and most of the equipment was falling apart.  Kandahar has a brand new Gym, with brand new equipment and is open 24 hours a day.  There are a couple of downsides though as they have a two shoe policy (they don't want you to track dirt in, go figure), it's always busy and it's not uncommon to find yourself working out next to a hairy Slovak who hasn't showered in days.  Despite this, I have to give the nod to Kandahar.

Kandahar - 1, Bastion - 1

3)  Housing - This one is easy.  The rooms here at Kandahar are twice as big, the showers have these huge rainforest-like shower heads, they are rocket proof and my roommate doesn't snore.  Winner - Kandahar.

Kandahar - 2, Bastion - 1.

4)  NATO partners - At Bastion we had the Brits and Estonians, here we have the Canadians and Dutch (although the Cannucks and Dutch are leaving in about a week for good).  The Brits had a great sense of humor, but could be abrasive.  The Estonians had no sense of humor and were always abrasive.  The Canadians say 'Ey' a lot and have a maple leaf on every piece of clothing they have.  And the Dutch have Amsterdam - enough said.  All of them, though, are great to work with and are excellent in their field.  I'm going to have to hedge my bets here and say its a draw.

Kandahar - 2.5, Bastion - 1.5.

5)  Boardwalk/Shops/Bazaar - This thing just blows my mind.  The Boardwalk is about 200 yards by 100 yards and has:  TGI Fridays, KFC, Mamma Mia's Pizzaria, Nathans Hotdog's, Cold Mountain Creamery, a German PX, a French PX (you can actually buy crepes), Dutch PX, Canadian PX, a bike store, barber shop, three or four carpet shops, two places to buy pirated DVD's and knock off electronics and five or six other random stores where you can buy anything from Nikes to Abercrombie and Fitch clothing.  And the coup de grace - a Hockey Rink - courtesy of our friends up north.  Winner - Bastion, I'm actually taking away points due to the sheer absurdness of the whole thing.

Bastion - 2.5, Kandahar - 0.

Yes, this is a Hockey Rink in Afghanistan.  No, it makes no sense at all.

(Sing along if you know the tune)  'America, f@%$ yeah, coming to the save
the mother (blanking) day, yeah'.  Heartburn and food poisoning 24 hours a day!  

Stay tuned, on the next episode when I will take on - Traffic, efficiency, leadership, free time and cafeterias.  

172 days BOG, 199 away from home.

All for now.