Christmas decorations in the bhut

I sent Mat a tree and decorations for it and his room. He made it feel a little more like christmas there. He said that it is nice to have some color to his room. Although they do not like them to have Christmas lights up. Its practically forbidden. Its is a fire hazard. if they started a fire the whole bhut would be up in flames in a matter of 3 minutes. then

all of the men would be sleeping out in the cold under the stars. I can only imagine what would happen the the man who burnt down the bhut. Mat says Merry Christmas to all.

Thanksgiving Dinner

This was Mats Thanksgiving Dinner. If you wanted to you would have to be there early. The lines were very long and you could wait an hour or two just to get dinner. They served Lunch and dinner for all. Mat said it was a good dinner but nothing like being home with family on Thanksgiving. And it makes him realize there is much more then he ever imagined to be thankful for.

caught red handed

This is the sign of the friends Mat lost in the plane crash. They were called 'caught red handed'

Not Mat's plane but his friends

Americans' bodies recovered after plane crash in Afghanistan
October 27, 2009 5:22 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
3 contractors killed when plane went down in mountains of Nuristan province
Plane, a C-12, crashed October 13; crew worked for Lockheed Martin
Cause of crash not yet clear, but it is not thought to be enemy action
Crew of copter sent to recover remains had to be rescued after hard landing
RELATED TOPICS
Afghanistan
Nuristan Province
Lockheed Martin Corporation
International Security Assistance Force
Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The bodies of three American contractors who died in a plane crash in Afghanistan earlier this month have been recovered, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said Tuesday.
The C-12 plane went down in the mountains of Nuristan province October 13, but the military withheld information about it until the recovery operation was complete, ISAF said in a statement.
The crew were subcontractors working for Lockheed Martin, the company confirmed.
A spokesman named two of them as Jeff Lehner, a former Air Force member working for Sierra Nevada, and Randolph Bergquist, a former Marine working for Avenge. They are not releasing the third name at the family's request. Thomas Casey of Lockheed Martin confirmed the third victim was the co-pilot and also worked for Avenge.
The cause of the crash that killed them is not yet clear, but it is not thought to be enemy action, ISAF said.
A helicopter sent to recover the remains October 17 itself made "a hard landing" that required the crew to be rescued, ISAF said.
The helicopter was stripped of sensitive parts Wednesday and destroyed in place Sunday, ISAF said.

Mucharem comes from Russia. There are many nationalities out there helping fight this war.

Manny from India. Mat

is very friendly and makes friends easily.

New friends

Alfanso, Max, Chova, from Mosambique, and Bosnia.

Mat is having fun with his new friends, and loving learning the different languages.

Mat and the cooks!

This is a pic a of a few of the dinner crew that I always talk to, Fahim speaks really good English, Hallid does but is really quiet, Joey (nickname) a little bit, but is more shy than Brett, and Matman -- doesn't stop talking:) LOL

Mat and his Egyption friends

Here's another pic, me and the Egyptians, they work at the Egyptian Hospital here, and speak a little English -- and me, I can say "magnoon," which means crazy in Arabic, lol. The communication between us is lost in translation -- which sparks laughter in return.

earthquake #2 in 1 week.

Second earhquake to hit Wednesday night around midnight 6.0.

Earth Quake in Bagram

Strong quake strikes Afghanistan and Pakistan
Shaking felt in the Pakistani cities of Peshawar and the capital Islamabad


KABUL — A strong earthquake centered in the towering Hindu Kush mountains shook a wide area of eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan early Friday, swaying buildings in the Afghan and Pakistani capitals.
There were no initial reports of damage or casualties from the quake, which struck about 12:21 a.m. Afghan time.
However, the temblor was centered in a remote mountain area where communications are poor and reports of casualties take time to reach the capital.
The earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 and was centered in the mountains about 167 miles northeast of Kabul and 140 miles west of Mingaora, Pakistan, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Buildings shook in the Pakistani cities of Peshawar and the capital Islamabad, and the quake was felt as far east as Lahore near the Indian border, Pakistani television stations reported.
The Afghan Interior Ministry said it had no immediate reports of deaths or damage.
Paul Caruso, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said that even though the quake was centered in a remote area, casualties were still possible given the size of the temblor. Caruso said Friday's quake was felt as far away as New Delhi, the Indian capital.
Caruso said the area is capable of producing large earthquakes because of the compression created when what is now India slammed against the Asian continent millions of years ago.
He said the largest quake recorded in that area was 7.8 on March 14, 1965.
Okay, so I'm still a little excited about what I just experienced (at about 12:25 AM) and I should have said the quake was enough to shake the Bhut that I live in, but it did make for a good laugh (what I wrote initially).The Earth moved significantly enough that items on my shelves were in motion just enough to assure me that I wasn't imagining things. I could feel the earth move under my feet. I went outside and put my hands on the picnic table to see if I could feel the Earth's motion -- sure enough I did. Wow that was something!!! I spoke with a couple of friends shortly after the quake, they felt it too, and they were in a building much sturdier than the Bhuts.

Bagram water scare

At about 1730 a message was broad-casted over the loud speaker that our water was contaminated. The dining facilities were quickly closed, we were told not to use the shower water, wash our hands with the water, and use only the bottled water, until further notice. I noticed that a lot of soldiers were getting cases of water, so I got mine too, 4 cases in all. Combat water bottle showers require a lot of bottles.At the Bhut we started questioning where we would eat, Popeye's Chicken sounds good, someone else mentioned Burger King -- while en-route there we ran into SGT Hazelwood. He reported that where we were headed everything was already shut down by order of the base Force Protection. I thought that I'd just head over to the PX and pick up a few snacks -- seems like the rest of the base had the same thoughts. The shelves, not completely stocked all the time, were now being depleted of the edible products that remained. Just like in the movies, I got out with 2 boxes of "Chicken on a Basket Crackers, and 2 cans of Kraft Easy Cheese," and I'm only slightly partial to the stuff. I'll bet that everything is pretty well gone by now, and there wasn't that much to start with. I'm sure glad that my sweetie sent some goodies.Powell, Allen and myself went to Supply and picked up our rations of MREs for the guys in the Bhut. I actually grabbed 2 for myself, my alloted amount. At 1900 they gave the all clear. But I will wait 24 hours, not taking any chances. The MREs will be stored until rally needed, like when there is nothing left to eat:)

Timp.mountain

Mount Timpanogos is the second highest mountain in Utah's Wasatch Range (second to Mount Nebo). Timpanogos rises to an elevation of 11,749 feet (3,582 m) above sea level in the Uinta National Forest (now part of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest). With 5,269 feet of topographic prominence, Timpanogos is the 47th-most prominent mountain in the contiguous United States.[1]
The Hindu Kush reaches a height of 7,492 m (24,580 ft) at Noshaq, Afghanistan's highest peak. Of the ranges extending southwestward from the Hindu Kush, the Foladi peak (Shah Fuladi) of the Baba mountain range (Koh-i-Baba) reaches the greatest height: 5,142 m (16,870 ft). The Safed Koh range, which includes the Tora Bora area, dominates the border area southeast of Kabul. Important passes include the Una i Pass across the Sanglakh Range, and the Salang Pass, connecting Kabul with central and northern Afghanistan, respectively.
So the tallest mountains here are twice as high as Timp. Looking at them is just incredible during the day under normal colors, and just as cool looking at them in IR.

Mats plane

Here is a picture of the plane Mat flies in! He looks forward to when he gets to fly, it is only a few times a week. It is not enough for him. You can here him sing 'my life my lover my lady is the sky'. lol He really loves to be flying. And that is what he looked forward to when he left. Mat is very good at what he is doing. He is also teaching many of the guys what and how, because he is a great and patient person!

A big gun!!!!

Mat saw a bunch of soldiers walking around with this gun, And it caught his interest. So when he was able to catch up to the guys carrying them around, he asked if he could check it out and If they would take a picture of him holding the gun.It reallly got the adrenalin going! There is one more he is waiting to get a good look at.

Mats email to Hillbilly hotdogs

From: Mathew B. Adams Subject: Thanks for Supporting the TroopsTo: skgsk99@yahoo.comDate: Sunday, August 30, 2009, 5:05 PM
We had a great little get together today because of Hillbilly Hot Dogs and we all appreciate the support that you have given us.

The dog were tasty, the chilli sauce was spicy, the Jalepenos and cheese tied it all together, the chips were crispy, but the shirts don't fit us because we ate too much, lol, just kidding the shirts are awesome!!

Hope you enjoy the pics, thanks again, Matman (aka Mathew B. Adams).

The best part about that is we can order larger sizes in the shirts :) So happy to hear ya'll enjoyed everthing. Thank you for the pictures. We are placing them in a large frame with all the emails for all our customers to see and read. We are very proud of our troops and love to be able to do just a little something, with the hope to make one day of your life a little brighter. Thank you for doing what you do. It is greatly appreciated. God Bless you and come home soon!
Sonny & Sharie
The Weenie Couple

Mat and the camel man

Mat just hanging out at the Bizzar. He wasn't sure he wanted to ride the camel though.

The Bizzar

Every other Friday they have a Bizzar, where the Afganastan people can come and sell their goods. They have alot of jewlery, clothes, rugs, pottery, vases, genie lamps, helmets guns, knives, these are only some of the pictures,

Knives and swords at the Bizzar

Warrier helmets from the Bizzar.

Jewlery from the Bizzar

The Bizzar

Guns at the Bizzar

The Bizzar

guns at the Bizzar

Where is Matman in Afghanistan?
This will be fun.>
Google: Kabul>
Click on the map that shows Kabul>
Click on the X upper right hand corner, you won't need all that blah blah>
Click on the Satellite, upper right, it's cooler than just a map, you can see stuff>
Right click the mouse to zoom in, or use the zoom bar on the left, and zoom in enough so the zoom indicator (bottom left) reads 2M over 2K (mouse wheel will zoom in too)>
Follow A74 North towards Charikar>
Use the "high five" palm, left click and drag to pull the map down, or us the pan button upper left corner>
When you get close to Charikar, Bagram will be SouthEast of Charikar (right side of A74)>
Pan over to the big strip on the ground, that's Bagram >
Now zoom in slowly until the pixels clear, you can see all sorts of bldgs, planes, choppers etc...> Now where is Matman's Bhut???>
Zoom in to 200ft over 100m, pan to the bottom of the runway, so you can read 03 03, now pan the runway up to the 1st possible left, follow that road to Apache parking, never mind that Apache to your right as you are getting there (I think that was the "Widowmaker's), follow the taxi track to the right to the 3rd Apache, look left and up (see all those light brown bldgs = Bhuts if you look left and up there should be a backwards L shaped bldg in the upper left corner of the map) you will see a road that goes in that direction -- follow it until you get to the end of the Bhuts and the road bends to the right (be careful going past the porta potties on the right...stinky), go to the 5th Bhut on your right (the one with 3 flags on the front wall), go in, 1st room on the left, quiet though crew rest is in effect and someone is sleeping, gotta be rested up before the hunting trips:)>
If you zoom in to 200ft over 50m you can get a better view. The chow hall is the mutli-roof bldg right near the Bhut. Cool huh, hope ya had fun.

combat vollyball

And I thought that playing Racket Ball with Mat got violent enough, So all fellow readers beware of the vollyball. Tommy broke both arms in the vollyball match. Now It's off to Germany for some surgery.

Email from Mat 8-7-09

Combat Volleyball
So there we were, playing volleyball today. We had been playing for a bout 30 minutes and everyone was having a good time razzing each other, when Wes pops the ball up high, and Tommy Dickenson goes charging after it. From where I was at, all I remember seeing was a streak then a cloud of dust, I thought oh crap... We all run over and he is laying on the ground (I expected t see more blood because he could have had a head on collision with the AC condenser that was right in his flight path), and trying to hold his elbow. So we give him 1st aid and send someone for a medic, she arrives, checks his arm, then we help him to an awaiting vehicle so he can go to the hospital, and two of my guys go with him.Game over, no one wants to play anymore. What happened was he ran for the ball and tripped over the 18" sandbag wall that surrounds the court. Normally if the ball is that close we just let it go, but he doesn't even know why he went after it, it happened so fast.We didn't think it was too bad, but after a couple of hours go by and he's still not back -- I have to go to the hospital and see what's going on. I walk into the room where he's at, and my jaw hits the floor, he's in casts, both arms bent at right angles. He tells me that he is headed to Germany for the next two months because our hospital doesn't have the equipment to fix his broken arms. And to think it was just a game. Nope, he doesn't get any purple hearts for these wounds. We discussed what he's going to tell other soldiers when he's in Germany, Soldiers that have combat injuries...he's going to tell them "Combat Volleyball."

Atm machine.

Yes they have atm's in Kuwait.

What is your pin number?

Dinner guests

Tonight at dinner I sat with two guys from Mozambique (SE part of Africa), Afons, and Max. They are here cleaning up the mine fields, yikes, but someone has to do it. They speak Portuguese, I'd never have guessed their language, but it was certainly educational talking with them. I told them to please be careful and they assured me they would. Wow what a job!

Phrases in Dari???? Is that what they speak over there? Yes its one of the languages

Here are some fun phrases in Dari:
Dari Phrases
Salaam ---Hi
Chetor Hasten? --How are you?
Khoob Astam. ---I am well.
Naam-e-shoma cheest?--What is your name?
Khoda Hafiz ---Good Bye
Na faameedum --I don’t understand
Faameedum ----I understand
Lutfan -----Please
Tashakor ----Thank you
Khaahesh Mekonam ---You are welcome
Quabel-e-Tashakor Nayst --Don’t’ mention it.

great picture of our flag in Bagram

watch your step

Mat says it looks like the wasatch front without the population

Mat's room with a view

Ok check out all the shells falling from this gun! They were just having some fun! I think some of the boys were just showning off! Oh yeah, it was for Timmerman and his Birthday! But it sure had all of their attention. I guess as long as it has to do with being a piro or blowing things up you can get their attention. Boys will be boys. Or should I say men will be boys!

I put so many new pictures in and a video so make sure you check old posts!!!

Here is Mats Mailing address If any one wants to write him a letter, or send him a package. If you send a package, get the apo boxes from the post office, they are free! They also have a flat rate and it doesn't ship by weight. It is pretty cheap.

Mathew B. Adams
B Co. 3BN 214th AVN
TF ODIN/TF Thunder
Bagram AB
APO AE, 09354

email from mat

I was woke (@ 0445) up by Infantryman who had just come from the North and needed a place to sleep. They turned on the lights, made lots of racket, etc..., we were not happy!!! Some one just told them to find a tent and a cot, but failed to realize that our tent is nearly full and there are 7 other tents with no one in them.

Where we live now, I don't need an alarm clock to wake me up, just wait for the Infantry to come out of the hills, their timing is impeckable!!! I can almost sleep throught the jets leaving at all hours. I don't sleep with earplugs in because I was concerned that I wouldn't hear my alarm going off, can't hear it anyway because every morning since we arrived a bunch of Infantyman come into our tent looking for a place to sleep. We really need to remind whomever is dropping them off that there are 16 other tents they can put these guys into.

I sent a postcard to Scott and told him that we were living in a circus tent, and all that we were lacking was the circus animals, then outa nowhere in comes they Infantry, I commented -- never mind the Infantry just arrived, lol.

I politely remind the smokers where the smoking area is, if I don't they smoke right in front of our ginormous swamp coolers, and it fills our tent with smoke. I talked to one of them that came crashing in this morning, I feel for these guys, they've been in the mountains getting shot at, IEDs, fire fights every night for the last 12 months. I thanked him for doing his part.

Mat is either having alot of fun, Or he is worried someone is about to push him out of the helicopter! What would your guess be?

email from Mat

7/14/09. Well I got a bit of a surprise today. I walked into the office this afternoon, and the Platoon Sergeant asked me if I wanted to go on a flight -- right now, she didn't have to ask me twice. Myself and another guy had to beat feet in our LPCs (leather personnel carriers) down to the other end of the flight line to board the aircraft. I forgot my camera though, dangit.When we got there we had the usual brief, then took off. Wow, there are a lot more people in the village/city that surrounds this base. It really does look like Utah Valley, but without the traffic and roads, big buildings, and they dress differently too (but I couldn't tell that from the air). As we climbed to 23,000 feet, I could see nothing but mountain tops for what seemed like forever. Many of the mountains still have snow on the tops. The valley below is covered with homes built from mud (and whatever else), with a courtyards, and a mud fence that is at least six feet high surrounding the properties. Many of the courtyards have livestock in them or they have gardens and orchards (the poppy is grown South of here). The size of their property may be dependent on how much effort they wanted to put in to building the fence/compound wall.As we flew West I could see small villages that are built in the small narrow valleys where the streams exist, much like a narrow draw. And up a lot of these draws (throughout the mountains) are more and more villages. From the air it looked like they built their homes as far up the draw as they could go, and built outward going down the draw. It was interesting to see how much vegetation there is in each of these draws where they live, but the mountains in our area are pretty bare.We flew for about an hour and a half, then returned to base. Our initial decent was fairly steep so I asked the pilot what our rate was, and he said that it was 3000 feet per minute. Well that explained why it felt like we were falling out of the sky, lol. We were basically circling above the air base when we started the decent, now we were coming down -- like right now. I could see a few large irrigation canals and a few large roads that had traffic moving about, a large body of water to the South and West of Kabul (we are just a little North of Kabul), and there is a wide, shallow, slow moving river that meanders through the valley near where we are.Next time I will have my camera for sure. Sure was nice to get up in the air again.

swearing in

This is a great picture, and a wonderful once in a lifetime experience. Mat got to tape his friend Timmerman, who was swearing in for his reinlistment. It was done on the 4th of July, also Timmermans birthday. Congrats and good luck!!!

Mat's transportation

Flight crew

mailing address

Hello everyone. Here is Mat's mailing address if anyone is interested in sending out any packages. You can get a apo box from the post office they are free. And the good thing is that they are a flat rate, so no matter how much it weighs it is still the same. All of the soldiers share alot of their things that are sent. There are alot of soldiers who have very little access to what they need. Here is another thing for everyone to think about. At Christmas they do shoe boxes for the soldiers and fill them I think we can take them to the base and have them shipped for free.
Mathew B. Adams
B Co. 3BN 214th AVN
TF ODIN/TF Thunder
Bagram AB
APO AE, 09354.

So I sent some magazines to Mat he love to read and has alot of time to do so. But next time I am not sending him a magazine that has pictures of bands. He hung many pictures of alice cooper on his walls. said he needed some color. So i guess black eyes add color. Any one sending magazines BEWARE!!!

how the days scream by

Hey Sweetie,Wow these days just seem to be screaming by.I wake up and peel the mattress off my back, rub the sleep out of my eyes, turn on my computer, click on Skype and dial in your number.It's awesome to be able to see and talk to you through the internet for 30 to 40 minutes at the beginning of my day -- while your day is winding down. Then it's off to the dining facility/chow house for something tasty to eat and a hot cup of good old fashioned GI coffee.Next I head over to our temporary office for whatever training has been scheduled for the day. Late afternoon shows up and it's time for some volleyball, and a workout after running around in the sand pit. Last Friday's game was shortened because someone accidentally hit the ball into some concertina wire and the ball developed a small air leak. The poor guy that got the ball out of the wire developed some leaks too, but not sufficient enough to put a tourniquet around his neck, zoiks!!After getting all sweaty, it's time to get a bite to eat and read the daily newspaper Stars and Stripes (to see what's happening here and there), then check some emails, write in my journal, and fill out a post card or two. Next thing I know it's shower time just before I subject myself to the mattress that won't let go -- then do it all over again.Tell everyone I said hey, and thanks for the continued support!!!!

Can you pick out Mat?

These are all the brave men who are sent out with the same unit as Mat. They took this picture in Maryland. This group came from all over the US for training. Mat has made some great friends from this group.

Mat's bhut

email from Mat June 26

Wow, the sun is here and so is the speed of the internet, lol.

The little girl asked for my autograph while I was in the Atlanta Airport, I think her name is Elizebeth, her Dad took the pic, they were headed to home to Argentina. She said that she had a loose tooth, I asked her if the tooth firy would go to her house and she replied yes, and told me how to say tooth fairy in Spanish. I gave her my Utah Guard patch (which has on it the State outline with the Minuteman placed on top) she was delighted to get it, and promptley attached it to her sweater. She had her Dad take a picture of us together with his camera phone.

The potties and showers are shipping containers, pretty cleaver.