An Interesting but Restless Night

Well, I experienced a a most interesting evening last night.

First, I received a call from an international security force colleague around 8PM as I was decompressing for the evening, the call went about an hour before finally concluding. Needless to say, my mind was racing after that with ideas I hope to share with the group tomorrow. So, I practiced some relaxation techniques that ultimately worked and I fell soundly asleep.

Then at around 2:30 AM we had an earthquake that shook the earth pretty good, nothing extreme, the building and windows held up well... haven't been outside yet so see the damage. It was my first earthquake experience. It didn't last long... used those same relaxation techniques and once again I was back to sleep.

Finally around 3:45 a loud explosive went off. No idea where but loud enough to wake everyone in the house. The good news, there was only one. My relaxation techniques didn't work so good this time, so I've been up since then. It should prove a long day, I'm tired already and it's only 6 AM.

It is national election day today and thus an Afghan national holiday... they do this to reduce traffic and thus car bombs in the city. This theoretically allows the population to get to the polls which are dispersed throughout Afghanistan. I pray they go well, an essential component of democracy the insurgents will go to great lengths to stop.

Open sources have reported the insurgents have been building up for a while now to disrupt these elections. In response, here's what the US Embassy is warning Americans against because of election day: Indirect fire (mortars, rockets) attacks (got that one last night already) as well as the possibility of suicide attacks (both on persons and in cars). It should also be anticipated there will be a significant increase in Afghan National Police Forces (and they will armed at the hilt and ready). The large protest I informed you about a couple of blogs ago resulted in 23 Afghan deaths from police bullets. So, we Americans are warned to stay away from large crowds/gatherings as well as polling stations. I will be hunkering down at the international security base. I'm bringing an overnight bag just in case.

Oh ya, tried the cheese grits the other day... they were pretty darn good so I will have to run past that post in the morning now. Today I'll check out the plain grits... all for you CT.

Today's blog hug and prayer goes to...... the Afghan people who will brave their way to the polls today