Happy Halloween

 The gang dressed for candy gathering.  Left to right: Han, Sith Lord, Padme, 

Obi Wan, Qui-gon, Anakin, Storm Trooper.

I just went trick or treating in a combat zone.

 

Well, that was a strange sentence.

 

Our office had been planning this for weeks.  It was against regulations, technically, and we weren't entirely certain what the reaction of the general populace was going to be, but we decided to beg for forgiveness rather than ask for permission.  Since trick or treating as an individual is pretty lame, we decided to go as a group and coordinate the costumes.  Being as there were 6 of us, we had to find source material that would allow us to all have a character.  We considered several different options, but Star Wars was going to be the easiest to pull off.  Besides, we're all nerds anyway, so the shoe fit perfectly.

 

Before making our rounds, we had an office Halloween party.  Really it was just supposed to be a "morale maintenance" time, where we could all take a couple hours off to mess around together, but it happened to coincide with Halloween.  We had some dinner and played some games, laughed at ourselves playing Catch Phrase, and generally were able to relax and forget about deadlines for a couple hours.  After the party, it was time to get dressed. 

Our group consisted of a Sith Lord (me), Qui-gon Jinn, Anakin, Han Solo, a storm trooper, and Padme.  Most of the costumes were ordered online and shipped to us a few weeks ago, but Han used his dress blue Army pants, black jump boots, and tactical holster (complete with 9mm pistol) for his outfit.  The only thing he had to buy was a vest, which he had made in the bazaar by one of the locals.  Our lone girl, Heather, was the one who had originally suggested that we all dress up.  However, upon receiving her costume, she took quite a bit of cajoling and convincing to wear it in public.  I guess she wouldn't be a girl without being a little self-conscious about wearing a semi-see-through body suit. 

After getting dressed, we ran into someone dressed as Obi Wan Kenobi.  He had gone to a little more effort than we had.  His costume cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $300, and would be acceptable to wear to a Star Wars convention.  Those of us dressed as jedi/sith had a bit of light saber envy, as Obi Wan's made sound effects when waved through the air or clashed into things.  None of us had ever met him before, but we invited him to tag along with us as we toured the camp, and he gladly accepted.  Safety in numbers.

Our colonel jokingly treated us like his children, making us pose for pictures before he would let us leave the office, and warning us not to talk to strangers and not to eat any candy until he had screened it for razor blades and poison.  He also instructed us to tell anyone that asked we were from a different office, one we don't particularly like.  As I said earlier, this was technically against the rules.  The soldiers here are supposed to wear either their fatigues or their gray shirt and black shorts PT uniform.  Halloween costumes don't quite fit the uniform standard. 

We ended up making FIFTEEN stops on our tour of the camp.  Everyone had friends they wanted to visit at different offices, making our journey a little longer than expected, but it wasn't too cold out so it wasn't so bad.  Our storm trooper had a (very) difficult time seeing out of his helmet, so the night was probably longer for him than the rest of us.  We were nice to him though, and didn't walk him into any poles or ditches, though we did almost manage to get him to walk into a port-a-potty.  We tried to go visit the some of the generals, but they were either out of the office or in meetings.  Their staffs, however, were highly entertained by our appearance.  In fact, everywhere we went tonight we attracted quite a bit of attention.  While this wasn't entirely unexpected, what was a pleasant surprise was that all but a couple of people were happy to see us.  Every office was ready with a camera, and most with candy, so if the spoil sports existed they were keeping quiet about it.  We took one community bag for candy collection and made out like bandits.  I estimate some where between six and seven pounds of candy was collected.  The sack is now sitting on our already well-stocked goodie table.  We'll have to make sure to take a bunch of it out to the street kids, lest we eat it all ourselves. 

Tomorrow is the start of the last full month of my stay in Afghanistan.  I have about 45 days left before I being my travel home.  Sometime in the next two to four weeks my replacement will be headed to CRC and begin his own adventure.  Given the time table, I'm not sure which holiday I'll be celebrating first, my youngest daughter's birthday or my replacement leaving the States.  Either way, I will be happy to celebrate, as it will mean I am that much closer to coming home.

All for tonight.  Happy Halloween everyone.  May your candy be plentiful and your costumes reflective.  Out here.