Camp Blackhorse

Blackhorse is where my project really begins. In the first day: Roaming, super-friendly feral dogs, a Soviet Tank-park and Afghan recruit training.

As it turns out, both the dogs and the soldiers are pretty affable. The soldiers especially responded to the camera sort of like squirrels respond to nuts. That's a bit of a put down, unless you love squirrels.

Being a socially standoff-ish sort it was a real relief to find out how much the Afghans want to have their photos taken. It's then even more relevant to compare the relative disinterest of some of the Cdn. Soldiers to the camera. That's not to say the Canadians don't care, but the Afghans certainly prick up their ears and bust out the grins and hand signs when a camera swings in their direction. And maybe part of the contrast is that the Canadians are jealous, that, as I was told recently, they want to be down south with the fighting.

All of a sudden I feel much better about what's going to come of my deployment and it would be amiss to exclude thanks to the Canadian Officers and NCOs who have really made me feel welcome and helped me get going, especially considering I showed up in theatre missing some key documentation.