Rocket Attack

Kandahar, Afghanistan

If you can't make much out of this photo, I'm not surprised.  I couldn't see much either when I was lying on my belly a few hours ago.  We were enjoying lunch at the dining facility (the "DFAC") when the foreboding alarms went off, alerting us of an incoming rocket.  As we have been instructed, we all hit the deck, covering our heads.  One does this for several minutes and then seeks out a bomb shelter or "hardened" building.  I didn't hear the rocket hit but when you are able to hear the impact, the noise is a "shoomp-SHOOMP."  This is the second time I have had to do this at the DFAC - for some reason it's a little more alarming to see everyone hit the deck in the chow hall.

The attacks rarely have hurt anyone in the past several years, although there have been a couple of casualties and a handful of serious injuries.  They are scare tactics, used with varying degrees of success.  My lunch buddy actually filmed the scene today, putting his camera above the tables to see what he could see.  When we reviewed the video later we saw that about 10% of the dining hall was still sitting, eating.  My buddy joked that this was probably a good time to go up for dessert.  Clearly the attacks don't scare everybody.  Why test fate though?

On the way to the DFAC we noticed it seemed hotter than usual...  Last year the highest temperature reached was 128.  Only 114 today.