Since the last update, Stephane was reassigned to the headquarters in Laayoune, which made me G-3 about a month and a half earlier than I expected. Since he left on Tuesday, I've been scrambling to make sure I get everything done that I need to do, and learn all the things he didn't have a chance to teach me. It's a tough job, but it has its ( Read more... )

Here I am in Zouerate again. Getting internet access every three or four days isn't quite as good as having 24/7 access, but it's almost good enough. There have been plenty of times when I had 24/7 access that I didn't get around to updating my LiveJournal this frequently. Of course, I can't read Schlock Mercenary or any of my other favorite ( Read more... )

I crossed what is technically the front line of a war zone today. While there is a cease fire going on (which has lasted pretty much intact for about 10 years, with a few exceptions), both parties are still technically at war, and there were armed guards and minefields around the checkpoint where I crossed.

Thursday, I flew out to my team site, Mijek. I had my first flight in a Russian aircraft, an AN-26, which took me from Laayoune to Oum Drega. After that, I got on a Russian MI-8 Hip helicopter to fly the rest of the way to Mijek. The Russians run all the air transport in the mission. One of the MI-8 technicians gave me a few Russian coins as ( Read more... )

As I mentioned in my response to zahl's comment, the US contingent has a shared email account at MINURSO22 [{at}] hotmail {[dot]} com. I can also get snailmail, and would appreciate cookies, chocolate fudge, caviar (obviously in a sealed jar) and toys for the poor kids in Western Sahara (preferably portable, non-electronic ones - dolls, matchbox ( Read more... )

Here I am at UN Headquarters in Laayoune, Western Sahara. Some people would consider this the end of the earth, but tomorrow I'm going even further. Here, we have internet access and cheap phone calls to the US. Tomorrow I head out to my teamsite, where I won't have internet access, and my only connection to the outside world will be HF radio ( Read more... )