Eric Brown

Hey all, Once again thanks for everything. I am on my way home finally. It was a good tour and definatley an experience. Anyway, I am writing to both say thanks and let you know that All the stuff sent was appreciated. There is a fairly large club that in spinning up, here in Herat. I sent a majority of the stuff up here awhile ago so they should have a good amount of materials. I left two vises at my base down south because there was more interest than I expected with the new group that arrived and I left them a handful of materials. Everyone is excited to learn and get a chance to get to tie some flies. Again thanks to everyone for all of your support, if definately made the tour finish up a bit more quickly. I'll include the addresses here for all three groups in case anyone has something they want to send. I just can't say thank you enough. Tight Lines, Eric Brown Farah Groups: Send it to either: Farah Fly Tying Club PRT Farah ATTN: ETT APO AE 09354 _____OR_____ Joe Villers/John Peel PRT Farah APO AE 09354 ____FOR HERAT____ James Klingaman 207th ARSIC WEST APO AE 09354

Hey all, it been awhile since I checked in here. Thanks as always to everyone. I had a chance to sit down with the Colonel at the other base who will be in running the club there. I got to watch him tie some flies which was great and helped me identify some of the mistakes I was making. Sounds like they club up there is going to be fairly good sized, I think eleven or twelve people have already signed up and that was two or so weeks ago. Based on that, I am going to recomend that all the following packages go directly to them. I'll include that address here at the end. I am going to finish sorting everythiing here and get our base set up so that those interested can tie here. All the excess stuff here I will send/transport to the other base. If we start running short here we'll coordinate with the larger club to get materials. If anyone is looking for suggestions for things to send I think I have a few. I think its going to be almost all beginners besides the COL, who will teach the classes. They will probably start with Wooly Buggers and go from there. We only have two vises as of now, and we'll have six when the other four get here between the two bases. They'll also need a lot of one type of material in order to teach with so if anyone was worried about sending one thing, don't be, they can use it I am sure. As for the club here there is really no one to do the teaching so the guys here will be on there own when I leave. I am sure both books and DVDs will be useful both places but they could really use them here; if they get over whelmed with stuff, again, we'll send it up to the other base on a supply run. As Always, thanks to everyone. Not only is tying a great way to decompress, but it definitely has given me something to look forward to whne I get home; I can't wait to fish. If there are questions fee free to PM me and/or e-mail me. Eric Thanks Ray for the vises, I'll keep my eyes out, and thanks Nate for the supplies, they got here just fine. Herat Fly tying club address: James Klingaman 207th ARSIC West ATTN: Herat Fly Tying Club APO AE 09354

Thanks to everyone who has offered up stuff for the flying tying clubs here on my Fire Base. Its becuase of your generosity that what started as a request for advice on tools and the such has turned into the beginning of two clubs for fly tying here in Western Afghanistan. Anyway, there have been a lot of requests for the address to send things to so here it is. If you happen to send something, please pm or e-mail me. That way I can track it and let you know if it arrives. I'll change the address as I get ready to head home so the clubs keep getting the stuff. As of now we'll just add a little abreviation so if I am gone before a box arrives the guys here know what the box is and can get it to the people who will use it. Thanks Again All! Tight Lines, Eric Eric Brown (FFTC) PRT Farah Attn: ETT APO AE 09354

Hey all, Still Here... We had a small resurgence on Taliban activity here in the west and I have been out on a operation for a while. Got back yesterday and am just decompressing right now. Thanks again for everything you all have sent. I'll try and get some pictures up at some point of some the flies I have tied. Mostly I have been working on technique and such. I haven't been really happy with my flies so far but I am slowly working on the techniques and I have seen some improvement so... Anyway, Thanks again for everything. I am going to post another topic with my address as there have been some requests for me to do so. Alright hopefully when things settle down here I can start tying again... Tight Lines All Eric

All, I just Wanted to say thanks again. Stuff has been arriving sporadically (thanks to the Army mail system) but its been keeping me plenty busy. I have been talking to some people up north and have them laying the ground work for a club up there. Thank you all; with your gifts we're going to be able to start two clubs here and will most likely get the chance to teach some new people some tying and maybe get them fishing. AWESOME!! Thank for your support and generosity, it really makes all of this just that much easier to do. Alright, It's almost midnight, I'm off to bed. Take Care all, talk to you soon... Eric

Well. I need to get in touch with the group up north and find out what they need and get an idea on the numbers they are planning on for the club. Once I do that I can post what we will need. As for mail... No clue when we'll get it. As the weather gets colder the moutains get tougher to fly over. That combined with small weight limits (2000lb per shipment, personnel and mail combined) means it can be days or weeks before they get us stuff. We had a few come in this past week but they stopped again so... who knows. I posted my address in my other post. If you like, I can also post it here or PM anyone with it. As we get things going, and as personnel change I'll post the new addresses. Thank you all again!! Eric

I hope this didn't come across as a request for more vises. I won't turn 'em down, I am sure we can use them for the clubs. But I really didn't want to come across as though I was fishing for stuff... That said I thought you'd all get a kick out of my solution for a current lack of tools (soon to be remedied, as soon as mail starts flying again). Thanks as always, again all of your generosity and support is definatley appreciated, by everyone here. Thank you all again. Eric

So, some of you may have see my original post, "Coming back to fly tying while deployed." That post resulted in a number of generous donations which, in turn, will probably supply two new fly tying clubs that will be started here in Afghanistan. Anyway some of the stuff started to arrive, then the mail flights stopped and stuff stopped arriving. This left me in a bit of a state. Here were all these wonderful fly tying supplies and I am stuck with out a vise. With no vice, I can't really tie flies (I at least couldn't find intructions on tying without a vise). After a few days of starring at the stuff I gave up... Some scrap metal, a few bolts and a little welding later... I have my fix... I need a wrench to tighten it, and the whip finishing tool is a paper clip but its working for now and as you can see, I am getting the practice in on flies, which is what I need. Its not beautiful, but it works. I have to be careful, if I hit the "vise" with the thread it'll cut it off, because of the rough edges. The flies aren't pretty either but thats me not the vise I am sure, and they are getting better. Anyway thanks all for the supplies and as always, I'll let you know when flights start getting through again and the other packages start arriving. My mechanic did the welding and gave me all the stuff I used. Told him I would mention him. Anyway, Thanks again, and tight lines! Eric If the pictures are too big let me know... I'll try and fix it.

Alright, the mail is getting through again. I would expect another big shipment tomorrow but today we got some stuff in; Grunt your package arrived today. Thanks again everyone. Eric

Hey all, Sorry for the lack of updates. For some reason I am not aware of, no mail has arrived here for the past 4 days or so. Hopefully we'll get a shipment in soon but we can't really be sure. Ramadan has just ended, and with the celebrations and as the weather gets worse, more and more mail flights will get cancelled. As always, I'll post here as stuff arrives. On a related note, my commander visited our main base, Camp Stone (200+ km away) recently and passed along the info that I was going to be receiving some fly tying materials. That apparently sparked a flurry of activity on the main base and there is now talk of fly tying clubs and fishing trips. Since I am not there I will work to find out who is planning running everything up there and maybe get them onto the board here. My plan will be to take what we need to satisfy the interest here that I have drummed up over the past few weeks and then pass along the excess to Camp Stone. As I said before, once we have things established and have a feel for how many people will be involved here and at the main camp, we can redirect some care packages to Camp Stone. If they arrive here and we really are over stocked on stuff I'll send the stuff up north on the next log pack. Alright, once again I can't say thank you enough. Such a tangible show of support is quite amazing and I find myself coming back to the board just to re-read messages; kind of like a recharge. Thanks again everyone. Tight Lines Eric

Hey All, Alright. Stuff has continued to arrive. A box from Alex got here today (Thanks Flykid!) and a package from Fly Fisherman Magazine (Their tying insert and Fly Fishig Tactics; multiple copies each for the club when it gets going). Anyway, I have a request, it should be fairly simple. Can you all either PM me or post the dates that packages were sent out and from where. I have had four or five packages that have either been waylaid or lost enroute. It generally turns out to be the better packages (I'm pretty sure my gear from patagonia has dissapeared) and so I am starting to get a little worried about some of these packages getting misplaced. With a date and origin I can estimate when the stuff should be here, giving it about a week leeway should mean it has had plenty of time to get here if its going too. I'll keep posting as stuff arrives; if you get nervous don't hesitate to ask if I have seen it, I may forget to post something. Anyway, I just want to start keeping track as you all have gone out of your way to send us stuff and I'd hate for something to get lost. Once again thanks all, I'm getting pretty pumped. Oh and since some people have asked: I am stationed in Farah, Afghanistan. We are pretty close to the Eastern Iranian Border. I am an Armor officer, I have been trained on the M1A1 Abrams MBT but have yet to deploy with a tank. My first tour was in Baghdad during OIF II with the 1st Cavalry Division. I am functioning as a Infantry Company mentor for an Afghan Infantry Company. Home right now is just outside Ft Hood, TX. I have family in TX, CO, OH, and TN, with most of my fishing done in CO and TX. Anyway that about covers it... Tight Lines, Eric

I realize sound like a broken record but... Thank you all again. Stuff has already started arriving, I recieved two envelopes yesterday and a box all filled with materials. Its defiantley awesome getting packages period and even better when they are filled with fly tying stuff. I'll keep everyone updated as things arrive and if you have specific questions about your packages please just PM me and I'll let you know if they arrived if I can. Tight Lines! Eric

As always thanks everybody for all of this, it really is a bit humbling. Anyway I have been looking at the posts and, as Mike said, with everything coming I may be able to start a club. That said, it probably won't be on my base. Once stuff starts arriving I'll sort it out and start contacting the other fly fishermen I know of on the other FOBs in our AO and see if there is interest. I'll let you know where the stuff is going and who is getting it as I send it out. If we get to the point where one of the larger bases get a pretty good sized club going we can start redirecting stuff there. Thanks again all, I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas to come. Tight Lines! Eric

I am not sure what I plan on tying. I spend a majority of my time fishing for Bass around my house in Texas so I use Clousers and Wooly Buggers a lot. I also get a good bit of trout fishing in when I visit my Family in Colorado so I use a lot of dry flies and some nymphs. So... I guess I'll be tying some of each but probably a lot of Wooly Buggers since I fish them a lot and lose them. Here is my address as well, just to save Mike a step. Eric J. Brown PRT Farah Attn: ETT APO AE 09354 Thanks again everyone for all of your support and generosity. Tight Lines!! Eric

Sadly, There aren't enough people here to really start a club. I think I am the only fly fisher on the base. Once I get started I will I'll have to see if there is any interest from the guys but right now I'm on my own. I imagine there are some other guys on our main base (a couple hundred kilometers away) who fly fish so if you end up with a lot of stuff I'll contact them and see if they have any interest.