Its the most dusty, dry and hot place on the planet. The nights give some relief to the heat but the dust is horrendous. No use for running as the particulate matter in the lungs would actually probably be worse than not running. What are the long term effects of this dust...no one knows for sure. We are working 12-15 hour days, sometimes longer. We live in "cans". Two per room. Just a small 6*15 ft space really. Our working spaces on Kandahar AB are about a 15 min drive through the dustiness. We have numerous chow halls to choose from as well as gyms. The base itself is a NATO base and there are troops from every country and armed service including the Afghan National Army (ANA). There are literally thousands of Third Country Nationals and Local Nationals that are contracted to work as well. There are sure to be members of the Taliban insurgency among their ranks. Scary thought so we carry weapons at all times.
We operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and do numerous missions. We conduct aerial delivery of fuel to jets who then go and conduct close air support missions for the guys on the ground. We deliver a lot of cargo all around the theater including Aerial Delivery of logistics stuff to remote Landing Zones. We conduct battlefield illumination where we drop out flares in the sky so that helicopters can safely insert spec ops guys. And the most horrible mission that we do is conducting "Hero Flights". This is where we carry marines and soldiers that have been killed in action to Kandahar. They then get transported to the states. The most common cause of death is IEDs. We always hold a ceremony for them and all of their comrades pay their last respects. We do these a lot more than we would like to.
I have about 30 marines in my charge that work in the maintenance department. Between that and flying we stay busy.
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