Things have slowed down in our part of the world, which is fine by me. I know it drives some of the Soldiers nuts. I enjoy the steady and quiet rhythm, the monotonous days. Ramadan (September) was active for the "enemies of peace" in eastern Afghanistan. I don't want to overstate this, because there is still a lot going on in certain places, it's just that our slice has been absent casualties for some time now, which I like very much. There is still a lot of indirect fire and IEDs, but my clinic numbers have dropped. I've also heard that the number of medevac flights have decreased significantly.
I think the cooler weather, football season, the World Series, the approach of the holiday season and the end of 2008 has lifted morale to a degree. There is still a lot left to do here (for all of us) but the change of the seasons makes the passage of time more tangible.
