"And Ajax by mad passion borne stern had replied, fierce scorn enhancing scorn to fell extremes…"
“There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make you nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.”
– Raymond Chandler
“I got up and went out through the big white double doors into a dim lobby, got my hat and coat and put them on. I went out through another pair of double doors onto a wide verandah with scrollwork along the edge of its roof. There was sea fog in the air and the windblown Monterey cypresses in front of the house dripped with it. The grounds sloped gently into the dark for a long distance. Fog hid the ocean.”
– Raymond Chandler
“When in doubt have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand.”
– Raymond Chandler
This was taken on one of the few trips I made outside the Presidential Palace.
President Karzai was speaking at the dedication of a school or collective farm or something a short distance outside Kabul.
I look at this photo and it makes me cringe.
I have an M-4 with an ACOG sight and a single 30 round magazine with a neck sling. I’m also wearing a shoulder rig for my Sig P228 with a total of about 45 rounds of 9mm.
I have no Kevlar helmet and no body armor.
But I do have a sweet tight-fitting polo.
If somebody started shooting I would be completely fucked.
It was moments like these that in retrospect made me realize I had no business being in the types of places I was being placed.
Kabul International Airport (now named after the man I spent my short tour protecting – former Afghan President Hamid Karzai).
This is what it looked like yesterday.
Karzai has vowed to stay with his wife and children in Kabul to try and work a peaceful transition of power to the Taliban.
After the way he fought them, I hope they let him live but I do not have confidence they will.
Song Of Ajax 