Dari

Just a quick post tonight as I'm heading off to Dari class. The class is good but moves VERY fast. It's two hours a night for ten nights, and I've had two classes so far. The instructor is an Afghan who flew fighters for their Air Force before quitting to become a translator (guess which makes more money?). I'm sure he just cringes at some of our pronunciation but at least he's very patient with us. We did learn on the first night that most of us have been mispronouncing the name of the language the whole time - it's not "DAR-e" but more like "dairy." Who knew? He is also giving us some background on Afghan customs and traditions so that's very interesting.

I wanted to pass along a picture sent to me by a CDR who was in my class at Ft. Jackson. When we finished the Udairi range, we got all of the Naval Academy graduates together for a group picture. I'm the only '94 grad, but it was nice to see USNA so well represented among the officers in our group. And yes, we're all squinting, and yes, it was pretty chilly. We voted to keep our covers on so that you all couldn't see how bad we looked after three days without showers! :)

Busy days, but at least they're flying by. Hope all is well on your end!