KABUL – Sgt. 1^st Class Ricky Irvin took a look at the gym at the NATO headquarters here when he arrived last summer and knew he wanted something a little more intense. He had a long year ahead of him working odd hours in a communications shop for the war’s commanders.

He led a push to create a CrossFit gym just across a pathway from where some of the Afghanistan War’s top commanders make their decisions to shape the conflict. It was a hit, with about 50 people or more each day heading over for the short, high-intensity workouts for …

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Well, this is an interesting day to get to Kabul.

Peter and I were in a bubble today when insurgent attacks broke out in Kabul and in several other provinces. We were flying from Kandahar Air Field to Kabul International Airport to connect with the war’s commanders from Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s I Corps.

At the time, we thought our main conflict for the day was going to be the guy from KBR who didn’t want to let us through his terminal to the French air force cargo plane that was booked for the Kabul flight. We made it, …

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No one goes hungry at the big NATO bases here in Afghanistan. Some of the most developed ones have ice cream, stir-fry dinners and elaborate salad fixings. There’s something for everyone, and the menu changes every day.

It’s tougher to get a tasty fix at small outposts where fewer than a couple hundred soldiers are stationed. The food gets monotonous, and eating can become a chore even for hungry troops. Whenever they can, soldiers buy Afghan bread from bakers or beg it off Afghan soldiers if they can’t purchase it.

“My guys will eat that up,” said Capt. Joe Mickley …

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Adam Ashton and Peter Haley in Kandahar

Peter and I are back at Kandahar Air Field en route to an embed with Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s I Corps in Kabul.

We’re putting the finishing touches on a couple more feature stories from our time with Lewis-McChord’s 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division and they should be out in the paper within the next two weeks.

Kabul is bound to be a major difference for us. Zabul Province is rural and remote. It has one paved road. I’m sure the capital will look like a different nation to us after our weeks in the countryside.

Our main stories don’t show …

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Ramon Kaipat saw opportunity in the Marine Corps when he and his family moved to Tacoma from Saipan in the western Pacific in 2004.

His cousin Courtney Taisakan recalled Kaipat called him to ask about his own experiences in the Marine Corps and that he dropped a lot of weight to meet the corps’ rigorous physical standards.

Kaipat graduated from Mount Tahoma High School in 2007 and enlisted in the Marine Corps in following year.

“He looked up to the Marines,” …

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SHINKAI DISTRICT, AFGHANISTAN – The soldiers didn’t think much of the first blast. It came from 45 pounds of homemade explosives buried in a road about three miles from the NATO base here.  That’s enough to shake a soldier up and blow out the tires on heavily armored vehicles.

The second was far more dangerous. It was at least twice the size of the first, and it was hidden in such a way as to kill soldiers who responded to the first bomb in the road.

Those homemade bombs – both of which were disabled by a Joint Base Lewis-McChord …

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You work with what you got.

We’ve been out in the field with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division for the past three weeks, and we’ve seen very different abilities among the Afghan government officials soldiers are supporting here in Zabul Province.

At Forward Base Mizan, we met a well-regarded district governor who seemed to be carrying out realistic goals with backing from U.S. and Afghan army troops. In Mizan, the Afghan National Police were less ready for action, and were in line to receive special training from American advisers.

At Forward Operating Base Wolverine in Shinkai Distirct, 3-2 soldiers …

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