Since the old KOP thread was very large, I thought it made sense to start a new thread for the new contacts. If anyone has has an objection, say the word and we'll all discuss!

I've linked the old thread to this one.

Godspeed the newcomers to the Korengal Valley... 

 New group, new thread!  Makes sense to me. I think I saw three contacts for the KOP already.

Yay!! New thread.     No objections here!  

I am still relatively new here and have a question.  How do you tell if the contact is in the KOP valley?

Hi.

I know in some cases they are not allowed to tell us they are in a specific place. I did a search yesterday using the following:

Select Afghanistan for country.... Select Army for branch...and select ...no females...  in the search box I added mountains or elevation.

Somehow, I came up with several names. Hope this helps. Good luck.

Hi!  Great idea to start a new thread! 

You can also search for "Korengal Outpost" in the address field of the search page.  If I remember correctly, most of the previous group had the outpost name in their address. 

A little later on, as we learned and were trying to expidite the loooong delivery time, a few guys started changing their addresses to read the name if their firebase.  But I guess we need to get to know these guys better and what firebases they're at before going that route?  Or we can start searching Vegas and Michigan, etc... and see if anything comes up?

I'm in. Thanx Jenifer!

Mom, the Valley is in the midst of a switcharoo so it'll be 90 days or so till we see a good number of the new guys signed up... Keep checkin!

Word from the current fellas is it's hot and buggy out there already.... new guys should be just in time for summertime KOP goodies. Ugg welcome to the Valley.

Shelly

I'm going to link back the first two KOP threads too so new supporters can do the background .....

http://forum.anysoldier.com/forums/t/3326.aspx

http://forum.anysoldier.com/forums/p/730/5081.aspx#5081

Great idea Jenifer.  I'm all for anything to make the forum easier to navigate. 

Rosemary

There are quite a few signed up, I didn't count, but pulled up I think about 20 or so.  Just put Afgh., no females, from TX and Army.  I think that was about it.  Did it last night, but I think that's all the info.  There's a medic signed up again too.  Miss hearing from my young medic, but rejoice he's going home.

Anita

Anita!! There you are Good to see ya!

I think there's Ft Hood guys at a few bases in Afghanistan so you may not be pulling all Korengal Valley guys. Although a lot of those places are very similar. I just "adopted" one yesterday! Never heard of his base before and haven't found it on a map yet but it sounds like very similar conditions.... So far I've only found one actual Korengal address and i tried all the outpost names too. From what my contacts there said, new KOP guys should be rotating in right now actually.  Unless the new unit changes the names of the bases?

Shelly

Just wondering if you are using a special map that shows the military outposts?  I am used to looking at political maps with town names.  Thanks.

Debbie

My husband is one of the "newcomers" to the Korengal Valley. I just want to know from you or anyone else who knows about the Korengal Valley... What it is like. Is it dangerous? What should i expect? please help me... Thank you

Welcome to the forum!!!  I hope your husband will have a chance to sign up with AS, so we can all keep our eye on him!

As far as what to expect, I would probably advise to expect the unexpected.  It's remote, and while the last groups to be deployed there made great improvements to their living conditions and quarters on the firebases, it's still considered "austere."  As a result communication can sometimes come and go, and where emails may sometimes come in clusters, the next thing you know they might be without email for quite some time.  As supporters, when we experienced some of our KOP contacts dropping off the AS contact list due to no email update, we were a bit nervous without news of their well-being.  I can only imagine how nerve-wracking it must be when that's your husband!  But what we learned was that they're fine, they just lose contact frequently for long periods of time.  Don't get me wrong, the truth is that the KOP can be a dangerous place, but we were very lucky that our contacts were all safe and healthy to the end.  So if time starts to accumulate and you don't hear from him, remember that it's just that darn lack of internet! 

This website is a good place to be, as it seems small groups from the firebases rotate back to the main post (maybe monthly?) and have a better chance of internet access there.  During that rotation some of the guys do email their supporters and can often verify that they've seen So-and-so from X Firebase and they were fine.  It's somewhat less than official, precise tracking, but considering they're in a huge valley in basically the middle of nowhere, it's nice to have even a small network like the one here at AS where it's likely that "someone will have heard from someone."  Every little bit of positive information helps.

{{{hugs}}} I know it's not easy, but I hope that sticking around here might make it a bit easier to get through this deployment! 

Hello new KOP wife :) Welcome to the forum. There are two long threads about the Korengal Valley that you can find links to just above here. They go back a couple years. Originally, the KOP was the only/main base. Little outposts spring off that base, working their way deeper into the territory. The newer the base/farther away from the KOP, the more dangerous. Some take contact daily. Some once a month. Spring is the busiest season for enemy activity. That said, this applies to all of Afghanistan's mountain/valley/Pakistani border regions. The men there are well trained and know how to handle this activity. The further from the KOP the outpost, also the more austere the base. Most run electric on generators. Some have internet/email. Not sure who has showers. Some have a hot meal, some don't. I get the same impression as Kristen, the guys tend to cover down the outposts for a few weeks, then return to the KOP and do duty there for a week or two.

Jenna, you out there? There is a another KOP wife on the forum who may be able to give ya some more current info too....

I agree with Kristen, it would be fantastic if your fella would sign up and we could help him out! Either way, we'll keep him in our prayers. I also sent you a pm so I can get you some pix of the area if you like....

Hug to you and dh, Shelly

Thank you very much for all of the information you have given to be. I REALLY appreciate every bit i can get. I hope the deployment goes by fast and that everyone is safe and out of harms way. I am really new to this whole thing and trying to figure out how this forum works lol. So sorry if i dont get back to ya very fast.

I already sent his first package to him. So when he gets there, it wont be too far away behind him. I will talk to him about signing up. There are a lot of people that plan on sending him stuff.. but hey, the more the better. Once again thank you for all of your help and if there is any other information that you can give me i really appreciate it!

God Bless,

Amanda