Private Military Contractor International April 2014 | Page 30

LIFESTYLE
COMMS & TIME

You will need to up load credit there and then, as since 2010 Roshan have made
you register the number and you will also need your passport, or a copy of it.
Most camps in Afghan have shops in them and the shop keepers are well used to
doing this and can have the phone up and running with in a couple of hours.
$20 will give you enough to be able to call a landline back in the UK for around 10
mins every night for 7 days and, as long as you don’t go to mad, you should be
able to call home for your 8 or 9 week in country work schedule for around $100
or £60 every rotation. Lot a lot to ask for keeping the other half back home happy sixty quid is a winner in any married man’s life!

hen in Afghanistan you need a way to phone
home.
This info is up to date as of the 1st January 2014
and is the network that 90 % of contractors us when in
country.
Roshan is about the best network out there for coverage. I
have been to most parts of Afghan and never been out of
signal, except for only the most remote parts of the country
that are off grid and you will have a problem. But for the most
part you will be ok.
All you need is a cheap phone and $50 will get you a little
Nokia but with Arabic keys but it’s easy enough to use.

ell I just wish I’d had one of these neat little watches from Suunto out
in country with me, instead of the large Garmin GPS I had. This watch
does everything you need it too while out at work in country and more.
I have written this short review on it but, trust me, it’s worth its weight in gold
while in country. Just one of warning though; as with any GPS system you will
have to have some PC Knowledge and its no different with a GPS watch.
So why is this different ?
Well for a start, you don’t
have to have a gps and a
watch; secondly, with the
gps I had the 2xAA batteries only lasted a day,
so you were constantly
turning it off to save
power and, thirdly there
are so many apps you can
get for this watch from
Suunto, you can configure it to exactly how you
need it.

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Coverage is not 100% but
OK in most major towns.

It also doubles up for training with a heart strap when in the
gym, you can then go back and upload to Movescount and
keep an eye and your training goals.
So for a bit of kit you take out to the sand pit of anywhere
else in the world it will stand up to what ever you can throw
at it and more: A watch, a GPS, a training aid - ALL IN ONE!
In the box you also get a charging lead and this is used for
synchronising your data and charging the watch via USB
from your PC. I have found I get a good month from a full
charge when using all the watch’s devices, including the
GPS and training heart rate monitor.