Good Morning from Qatar

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Morning! I made it to Al Udeid AB, Qatar. This place is, in a word, insane. Travel was relatively smooth but long. We left Norfolk and stopped. And stopped. And stopped. After crossing the Atlantic we would fly for just 1-3 hours before stopping again to load/unload troops. I didn't sleep much but instead made lots of progress in my dense book, The Social and Political History of Afghanistan. I now feel a little more informed about where I'm going but also much less optimistic about our prospects for turning around centuries of political and military turmoil in a country that hasn't seen a peaceful transition of power in 100+ years. A number of my friends from my Texas training were on the flight and it was nice to see some familiar faces. I learned yesterday that a Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel I trained with will be the Senior Contracting Officer--Afghanistan and the Deputy Senior Contracting Officer--Afghanistan. In my naivety of all things contracting I hadn't realized when I was in Texas that they're kind of a big deal. I figured it out when we landed here and were greeted by a welcome party to personally escort us to the "transient" part of camp. No one would have given two figs had I arrived alone so I'm glad to be traveling with those two! Again, the camp is insane. I'm writing from a large open tent in the center of camp. Ringing the outside is a bar, a FoxSports bar, a gym, a media center, and a morale tent. Wifi is readily available in the center of camp (but slow). There is a Dunkin' Donuts, a Baskin Robbins, a Subway, a Pizza Hut, and a DQ (conveniently located at the pool). The Dining Hall is open 24/7 and is much larger and serves more options than any I ever saw while touring college campuses. Civilian clothes are the norm here; I have none and stick out as "transient" like a sore thumb. I should be here for at least another day or two. I'm not scheduled to fly out today and will only learn this evening if I am scheduled to fly tomorrow. While I know that this will prove much, much nicer than what I can expect to find in Kabul, I nonetheless am ready to move on and get to my permanent temporary home. Because I technically made it to the Area Of Responsibility yesterday, may 210 day counter has started (just 209 to go...). Love and miss you all. Gabe Sent from my iPad Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: by 10.140.49.99 with SMTP id p90csp155640qga; Tue, 18 Mar 2014 00:07:15 -0700 (PDT) X-Received: by 10.14.179.73 with SMTP id g49mr113249eem.116.1395126434957; Tue, 18 Mar 2014 00:07:14 -0700 (PDT) Return-Path: <[email protected]> Received: from mail-ee0-x233.google.com (mail-ee0-x233.google.com [2a00:1450:4013:c00::233]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id 45si20345177eeh.183.2014.03.18.00.07.13 for <multiple recipients> (version=TLSv1 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-RC4-SHA bits=128/128); Tue, 18 Mar 2014 00:07:14 -0700 (PDT) Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of [email protected] designates 2a00:1450:4013:c00::233 as permitted sender) client-ip=2a00:1450:4013:c00::233; Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=pass (google.com: domain of [email protected] designates 2a00:1450:4013:c00::233 as permitted sender) [email protected]; dkim=pass [email protected]; dmarc=pass (p=NONE dis=NONE) header.from=gmail.com Received: by mail-ee0-x233.google.com with SMTP id c13so4954007eek.38 for <multiple recipients>; Tue, 18 Mar 2014 00:07:13 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=subject:from:content-type:message-id:date:to :content-transfer-encoding:mime-version; bh=Eqs/HYJbYrnfymPtgIa2ZlOze2hDLtAWBD38bn/NzfA=; b=BZFha1AGd7AAVh7zBJchUj8SxVsC7lYN51Qb9UskKq5SxbwzD2sukpOhX5/xvlDLf0 uQ6lCK6/nztmv6RJzUIjYTTWgK7Spe2HndOk4RwxAdxKqPbNeIXWvslPC9C2PbOmNNMd kG6wBLGkAhk8Pjb4n5N973OOO7rZExrn/DYnQVpd4fmHUTrnww5EGvrGG1O2m2wnSrVL mTyaCLvFQpmNb1jeWKL0tEb+0/mG7tPNnvx7DlDWQQZcWbZ+k5Hw7RAYpEnxlqCUiXdU upbc9gVwGjtDVA71/FqF4Z0Z9zv6CVHTSz1hD/HDTJIJD5+ett+QKdX8l3oAEJO3YL6d /ShQ== X-Received: by 10.15.64.75 with SMTP id n51mr19596647eex.33.1395126433249; Tue, 18 Mar 2014 00:07:13 -0700 (PDT) Return-Path: <[email protected]> Received: from [172.20.142.254] ([89.211.58.140]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPSA id x45sm45132284eef.15.2014.03.18.00.07.12 for <multiple recipients> (version=TLSv1 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-RC4-SHA bits=128/128); Tue, 18 Mar 2014 00:07:12 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Good Morning from Qatar From: Gabe Podesta <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: iPad Mail (11B554a) Message-Id: <[email protected]> Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 10:07:11 +0300 To: Mae Podesta <[email protected]>, Megan Rouse <[email protected]>, John Podesta <[email protected]>, Mary Podesta <[email protected]> Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Mime-Version: 1.0 (1.0) Good Morning! I made it to Al Udeid AB, Qatar. This place is, in a word, i= nsane. Travel was relatively smooth but long. We left Norfolk and stopped. And st= opped. And stopped. After crossing the Atlantic we would fly for just 1-3 h= ours before stopping again to load/unload troops. I didn't sleep much but i= nstead made lots of progress in my dense book, The Social and Political Hist= ory of Afghanistan. I now feel a little more informed about where I'm going= but also much less optimistic about our prospects for turning around centur= ies of political and military turmoil in a country that hasn't seen a peacef= ul transition of power in 100+ years. A number of my friends from my Texas training were on the flight and it was n= ice to see some familiar faces. I learned yesterday that a Colonel and Lieu= tenant Colonel I trained with will be the Senior Contracting Officer--Afghan= istan and the Deputy Senior Contracting Officer--Afghanistan. In my naivety o= f all things contracting I hadn't realized when I was in Texas that they're k= ind of a big deal. I figured it out when we landed here and were greeted by= a welcome party to personally escort us to the "transient" part of camp. No= one would have given two figs had I arrived alone so I'm glad to be traveli= ng with those two! Again, the camp is insane. I'm writing from a large open tent in the center= of camp. Ringing the outside is a bar, a FoxSports bar, a gym, a media cen= ter, and a morale tent. Wifi is readily available in the center of camp (bu= t slow). There is a Dunkin' Donuts, a Baskin Robbins, a Subway, a Pizza Hut= , and a DQ (conveniently located at the pool). The Dining Hall is open 24/7= and is much larger and serves more options than any I ever saw while tourin= g college campuses. Civilian clothes are the norm here; I have none and sti= ck out as "transient" like a sore thumb. =20 I should be here for at least another day or two. I'm not scheduled to fly o= ut today and will only learn this evening if I am scheduled to fly tomorrow.= While I know that this will prove much, much nicer than what I can expect t= o find in Kabul, I nonetheless am ready to move on and get to my permanent t= emporary home. Because I technically made it to the Area Of Responsibility y= esterday, may 210 day counter has started (just 209 to go...). =20 Love and miss you all. Gabe Sent from my iPad=