Posts Tagged ‘base’

Ages and ages and ages ago, when Michel and I were in Afghanistan, I did a video about the management of, well, sh** on kamp Holland.
I finally got around to editing the video… and here it is.
And btw, no, the first two systems don’t smell… and yes, the third one does. A lot.
Have fun!

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So the Dutch army runs into Taliban insurgents pretty often. These encounters are often violent… and sometimes the Dutch capture some of the militants.
Which got me curious… were there detainees on the base? While we were there? There must have been… but we never saw any “detainment center”… and nobody ever talked [...]

Yup, the mortuary girls.
This was my shorthand name for Corporals Kimberly and Cisca - the only two people on Kamp Holland who work in the mortuary.
It’s not the only thing they do (they also work shifts as nurses in the hospital), but they’re the only ones who do it - so when somebody dies on [...]

In Afghanistan, soldiers see a lot of stuff that they wouldn’t normally see - poverty and pain and sadness in a population already devastated by decades of war. And sometimes you don’t even have to leave the base to see it - Afghan kids hang around the outer edges of Kandahar airfield
Lieutenant Rene, one of [...]

Deep inside Kamp Holland is Echos. We’ve mentioned it before, it’s the “bar” on the base where you can get a drink (alcohol-free) or a bite to eat, play video or board games, and just generally hang out with your friends.
Annelies is one of the people working at Echos. Her story is a peculiar [...]

This week on Curious Orange (the radio show)…
It’s part three of our Dutch in Afghanistan series - On-Base, but Off-Duty.
We’ll take you for breakfast at the Afghan bakery, a portable lunch on the road, and, a little later on, a (non-alcoholic!) drink at Echo’s bar. And then it’s the weekend - with salsa lessons on [...]

I’ve seen some of his work, and, if you ask me, Gerben van Es is a great photographer.
My personal favorite is a picture of soldiers out on patrol in Afghanistan. To the left is a high mud wall; the soldiers walk towards the camera in the center of the photograph. They are serious and watchful. [...]

This week on Curious Orange (the radio show)…
It’s part two of our series on the Dutch in Afghanistan - “Just Doing My Job”.
We’ll hear stories of soldiers working, fighting, and rebuilding in Afghanistan… including the guy who walks in front of the trucks - scanning for road-side bombs, a police officer who volunteered to go [...]

General Tom Middendorp and Civilian Representative Joep Wijnands share control of the TFU - Task Force Uruzgan (you’ll get used to all the acronyms, I promise). As you might imagine, the General is more or less in charge of the military side of things while the Civ Rep (that’s what they call him) is in [...]

It’s been A Very Busy Week for us here on Curious Orange… and I’m afraid the blog has been lagging behind.
Sorry everybody!!
And, looking at my calendar, I’m afraid that it’s not going to be any better next week.
Double-sorry!!
But after that I promise things will get back to normal.
And in the mean time I’ll do my [...]