to make a deployment easier

I got a deployment calendar from ACS. There is all kind o fun stuff in it, and I thought I actually do some things out of it.

this week there are two things on it.

1. Learn about the deployment location:

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a landlocked country in South-Central Asia. It is variously described as being located within Central Asia, South Asia, or the Middle East. It is bordered by Iran in the west, Pakistan in the south and east, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast.
The geographic entity now known as Afghanistan has a very long history, and has been an ancient focal point of the Silk Road and migration. It is an important geostrategic location, connecting East and West Asia or the Middle East. The land has been a target of various invaders, as well as a source from which local powers invaded neighboring regions to form their own empires. Ahmad Shah Durrani created the Durrani Empire in 1747, which is considered the beginning of modern Afghanistan.[10]
Its capital was shifted later from Kandahar to Kabul and most of its territories ceded to neighboring empires. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a buffer state in "The Great Game" played between the British Empire and Russian Empire.[11] On August 19, 1919, following the third Anglo-Afghan war, the country regained independence from the United Kingdom over its foreign affairs.
Since the late 1970s Afghanistan has experienced a continuous state of civil war punctuated by foreign occupations in the forms of the 1979 Soviet invasion and the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban government. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) did not authorize the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom).[12] In late 2001 the United Nations Security Council authorized the creation of an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) composed of NATO troops. The country is being rebuilt by international support, while dealing with a strong insurgency. In November, 2009, UNICEF described Afghanistan as the most dangerous place in the world for a child to be born.[13]

Afghanistan, offiziell Islamische Republik Afghanistan (Paschtu/Persisch (Dari): ‏افغانستان‎ Afghānestān), ist ein Binnenstaat an der Schnittstelle von Zentralasien und Südasien, der an den Iran, Turkmenistan, Usbekistan, Tadschikistan, die Volksrepublik China und Pakistan grenzt. Drei Viertel des Landes bestehen aus schwer zugänglichen Gebirgsregionen.
In den 1990er-Jahren besiegten von Pakistan aus operierende und von den USA und Saudi-Arabien finanzierte Mudschaheddin die von der Sowjetunion gestützte Regierung. Die Aufteilung der Machtbereiche scheiterte jedoch an Rivalitäten; die fundamentalistisch islamisch ausgerichteten Taliban-Milizen kamen an die Macht und setzten eine radikale Interpretation des Islam und insbesondere die Scharia mit aller Härte durch. Nach den Terroranschlägen am 11. September 2001 in den USA wurde das Taliban-Regime, das Mitgliedern von Terrororganisationen Unterschlupf gewährt hatte, im maßgeblich von den USA geführten Krieg gegen den Terror gestürzt. Das Land ist seit 2004 eine Islamische Republik und verfügt mit Hamid Karzai über einen gewählten Präsidenten, der am 2. November 2009 für eine zweite Amtszeit bestätigt wurde.

80 % der Bevölkerung Afghanistans leben auf dem Land und nur 20 % in den Städten.[5] Größere Städte sind Kabul (als Agglomeration 4,9 Mill. Ew.), Kandahar (339.200 Ew.), Mazar-e-Scharif (239.800 Ew.), Herat (166.600 Ew.), Dschalalabad (158.800 Ew., 2002) und Kunduz (118.000 Ew., 2003).

2. Put a dollar in a jar every day. Use it for a mini-vacation after reunion

Well, I'm actually hoping that when Chris comes back we could do a real vacation. Something with fun, Relaxing, Beach, Sund and ocean.. you know what I meant.. I think for that kind of vacation I need to put 10 $ away each day, but we don't have any plans yet, so I go with one dollar a day and if we can go to the beach, it will be some extra money we can spend there, and if the beach is not happening, than we can go to Estes Park or something like that!

So that's it for this week. I like these kind of ideas!