Qalaa House

Welcome to the charming Qalaa House! The name means "fortress house" in Dari (local language). It is the USACE compound in Kabul, Afghanistan. It is approximately 3.5 acres jammed full of mismatched buildings and connex boxes, on the site of the old Iraqi embassy, surrounded by very high walls topped with barb wire. The entire place is guarded 24/7 by Afghan National security guys with AK47's that wander the compound, some with guard dogs. They also keep an eye on any local workers that are doing construction here, and that is always going on. The picture below is Donny from MED next to the compound sign.



This is the building refered to as Qalaa house, right in the middle of the compound.

This is Indepence hall, where I currently live. Prefabricated metal building, very much what you'd expect from the army.

This is my spacious room that I share with a mechanical engineer named Ed. Two people cannot fit side by side in the room so one of us has to get out of the way for the other to move past. My bed is the far one, the place is about the size of a large walk in closet.

This building is named Loma Linda, home of the engineering department. My desk is on the second floor. I move around a lot because they stick me at someone's desk that is on leave, and I have to move when they get back. Fortunately I have my laptop, and I won't be at Qalaa very much anyway.

This is the DFAC where we get our chow. The closest I can compare the eating in Qalaa to is maybe a Junior High cafeteria, not the best food in the world, but there is a lot of it available.

This is a typical fence around the compound. Very high and reinforced, can't see a thing over it from the ground. The security is very tight and there are bunkers everywhere. I have yet to hear even a gunshot however.

Looking over the wall from the 3rd floor of Loma Linda into the adjacent British compound. I was told they have a pool, hard to believe that.

There is somone sitting in the guard tower most of the time keeping an eye out.

Looking out over the compound from the other side of Loma Linda.

And another view from Loma Linda, looking toward Camp Eggers.

There is exactly one gate that we can go thru to leave Qalaa house, this being it. This is the outside coming back in. You have to knock and a guard opens and looks thru the slot like a speakeasy from the 20's, very weird.

There isn't much to do at Qalaa but work, eat, sleep and exercise. I work at least 12 hours a day, every day, work out every day of course, and go to eat at Camp Eggers for a change of pace as much as possible.