First - A Primer

Ok, before we get too far into this, I think a primer is going to be necessary.

First, times. Here, we go by Zulu time. Zulu time is also known as Greenwich Mean Time. This is the time on our watches. Now, the Afghans go by Lima time, or local time. It is 4.5 hours ahead of Zulu time. For those of you playing the home game, you each have your own time zones. Germany is two hours ahead of Zulu (and 2.5 behind Lima), Eastern is 4 hours behind Zulu, and so forth.

All times I mention (unless otherwise noted) will be the Zulu kind. For example, if I write 1300Z (Z for Zulu), then that means that it's 1730L (or the sun is setting), it's 1500 in Germany, and 0900 on the east coast of America. Straight so far?

Now, some terms.

"The Wire". The wire is the boundary of the base. Comes from the heavy use of concertina wire (it slices, it dices, it ruins your day) on top of the barriers. Used in context of, "I'm going outside the wire..." meaning leaving post and going out to the badlands.

"SF". Special Forces. Sssssshhhh, they're not here. These are the creme de la creme of the US (and allies) forces. Serious guys. Tip of the point of the spear. But, sssshhh, they're not really here.

"Birds". Aircraft. Used in "I worked on the birds today."

"FOB". Forward Operating Base. Kandahar is a main base for the troops. However, there are small, forward bases out in the hinterlands. They are bare-boned, minimalistic, and in the middle of nowhere. Used to launch missions against the bad-guys.

"Fobbit". Someone who never goes outside the wire and stays only on bases.

I'll add other terms as needed, but here's a good start.

So, that's times and terms. Don't worry, no test.