Here’s the last post from Ali Al Salem that I was unable to upload due to the lack of wireless at Bagram. I wrote it on Tuesday the 10th on the way to Bagram.
Yesterday was the last gig At Ali Al Salem. We played at the Rock Pavilion. I’m not sure why they call the place the Rock, it may have something to do with the fact that there is only rock and sand there. Temperature topped of at about 122, and at about gig time it was about 108. This was at 8:00 pm.
We were met by the Vice Wing Commander, whatever that is, and given certificates, and our own little pieces of the Rock. The whole staff was very nice.
The gig site blew. We played under a big tin roof. It was super loud and hot- not a great turn out either, but those who did really dug it. I was able to whip out the old mouth harp and play on Long Train Running, which we had some guitar players sit in with us, and I also snuck in a harp solo on High Times. Chris the e minor harp worked great. 
Big Tin Roof- not the best for Acoustics.
The actually let me sing- Ha! Behind me is Ben, one of our sit-ins.
SSgt Salcido and Major Miller thanking her for all her work.
Our kick-ass horn line.
Justin and myself after Long Train Running- we are watching Kevin and Adam being forced to play Leonard Skynard. Ha!
Once again great Audience participation with Jodi and Jamie.
All in all it has been a good stay at The Rock. Billeting was good, and our poc, Ssgt Salcido, was fantastic. We are off now to Afghanistan to make up for the gigs we lost on our Al Dharfa lay over. Flying on a c17 right now. I can say this because by the time this is posted we will already be there. The C17 is, and yes I called it a c117 before- which to be fair does exist, except that plane is ancient, is a huge plane. Plenty of seats in this one. It is rigged out with seats on the side and pallets of seats in the middle. We will be making one stop in Herat? I think I spelled this wrong, and our final destination is Bagram.
Pat getting ready for some downtime on the big C17.
Me working on the blog in the C17- about 20 thousand or so feet in the air.
That’s it for now. Figured I would use some time on the plane to keep the blog updated. James
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