Free Range International

Afghanistan is slipping rapidly towards a state of anarchy. The security situation has degraded to the point where the lavish force protection measures adopted by the Department of State Regional Security Officers and the U.S. Military seven years ago now seem prudent. Media reports attribute the decline to a resurgent Taliban movement in Pakistan combined [...]

It was a regular Saturday night in Mazar-e-Sharif quiet, cold, yet comfortable as I say having dinner with a friend at one of the only restaurants catering to internationals the mighty Oak. We were passing the time with small talk. It was towards the end of our evening that my mate received a phone [...]

Twenty five years ago today I was driving to work when I heard the news about a suicide truck bomber attacking the US Marine peacekeeping force deployed in Beirut, Lebanon. I had never heard of a suicide bomber and did not know the Marines, deployed to Lebanon as a buffer between waring factions, were [...]

Editors Note:   This is the first post by our good friend “Chim Chim” who works inside the wire with the American Army.   His time in Afghanistan is coming to an end but he has given us many good posts to publish in the weeks ahead.   He is posting anonymously at his own [...]

There are two main routes heading through the mountains to the east out of Kabul. The Latabad Pass, which is a poorly maintained dirt track road, and the Mahipar Pass which is a newly paved road and in excellent condition. Both passes funnel traffic into the village of Surobi and from there all traffic heading [...]

This week has been very busy. It started with another covert radio show interview. Brett Winterable had Bill Roggio from the Long War Journal and I on for the opening segment. Bill is an old friend who visited with us back in 2006. He and I took a run to Qalat where he got some [...]

The security situation in the western provinces of Afghanistan has deteriorated significantly over the last year. The first five years after the allied invasion in 2001 in the west were a time of peace and hope. The city of Herat is out west, and Herat has 24/7 electricity from nearby Iran, functioning modern infrastructure, and [...]

This is my first post on freerangeinternational, I think those who’ve read Tim’s posts would have come across my name a once or twice. At the moment I am up in Mazar-e-Sharif which is located in the north central part of the country… I am the ‘BOT’!
Two days ago, I traveled to Hairatan which is [...]

Yesterday’s post started with a plug for the latest Covert Radio show and ended with me blogging about the CURE hospital. It occurred to me that writing more about CURE hospital and the other international medical training efforts would be of interest to those who read this blog. The international hospitals here do not allow [...]

Brett Winterable was kind enough to have me on his show earlier in the week – you can listen to it here
Brett will be moving from the net to a broadcast station soon and asked that I join him on his inaugural show. That is high praise for an old Marine – Brett is [...]