Thread: Hello from Afghanistan

Greetings Everyone,

Am currently coming to you live from Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. Just a quick summery of my life, joined the Marine Corps at 18 straight out of high school and have been stationed in Okinawa, Japan for 2 years and have also done another combat deployment to Iraq. My first experience with a straight razor was back in 2007 in the Philippians, when I went to a barber shop there and got there "deluxe" hair cut and shave package. They did the whole 9 with the hot towel, soap, and after shave. I was so impressed by the whole thing that I soon started to get depressed when I would look at my razor in the mornings. From then on I would have to try and seek out a barber shop where ever I was to get a straight razor shave. I’ve always wanted to learn how to do for myself, but with being a Sgt in the Marine Corps I really have little to no time for such things, up until recently. Been out here in Afghanistan since August and saying that am rather bored is an understatement. So I’ve decided that since am here I might make some use of my time and learn a skill. I have already bought a complete shave kit with a Dovo Best Quality straight razor and am pretty excited to start the whole learning process.

Originally Posted by AfterSchock

Greetings Everyone,

Am currently coming to you live from Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. Just a quick summery of my life, joined the Marine Corps at 18 straight out of high school and have been stationed in Okinawa, Japan for 2 years and have also done another combat deployment to Iraq. My first experience with a straight razor was back in 2007 in the Philippians, when I went to a barber shop there and got there "deluxe" hair cut and shave package. They did the whole 9 with the hot towel, soap, and after shave. I was so impressed by the whole thing that I soon started to get depressed when I would look at my razor in the mornings. From then on I would have to try and seek out a barber shop where ever I was to get a straight razor shave. I’ve always wanted to learn how to do for myself, but with being a Sgt in the Marine Corps I really have little to no time for such things, up until recently. Been out here in Afghanistan since August and saying that am rather bored is an understatement. So I’ve decided that since am here I might make some use of my time and learn a skill. I have already bought a complete shave kit with a Dovo Best Quality straight razor and am pretty excited to start the whole learning process.

Cool! Thanks for your service. Surprised that the Corps is letting you guys get bored out there. Stay sharp, and best o' luck with the SR thing!

Welcome to SRP,

Just for the heck of it I ran a search of the SRP members with a location of Afghanistan

Surprise!.........

http://straightrazorplace.com/member...sername&order=

Well if you are at leatherneck then you are living pretty well. You can also enjoy the soap and brush process. If you head out to the COBs just remember to bring bug juice... I used to shave with it... It is not MWF, but it will work in a pinch. You might also look at wood carving and pipes.... A couple hobbies that kept me sane... I was Army though. Good luck!

Hello Aftershock,
Welcome to Straight Razor Place. From and old Vietnam veteran, take your time honing your skill with the straight razor. It's a task worth the work. Stay safe, my friend.

Welcome to the SR community! I'm always impressed by guys willing to do the SR thing overseas. When I was there, I'd have never considered it. +1 to the wood carving comment.

Where'd you get your kit from mate? Is the razor shave ready? Or just a factory edge? You'll want Shave ready rather than Factory edge.


Mick

Welcome to SRP and thank you for your service! I served in OIF I, but wasn't a SR user then. If we can do anything for you, please do not hesitate to ask!

Yes life on Leatherneck is rather good, much better than my Iraq deployment and I was thinking about maybe tackling building model ships in bottles as my next skill.

I got my kit from SRD and the blade is being honed by a professional so no worries there. I made sure about that part as I did my research before hand and saw all the warnings and comments about that. Thanks for the all the support.

I started with a straight on my first deployment to iraq (army), I however didnt read all the advice and the first razor I ordered wasnt shave ready, but someone here took care of that and sent me a shave ready razor at no cost (still one of my favorite razors) enjoy your quest into the straight world. If you need anything over there such as soaps or anything like that drop me a pm and I'll see what I can do for you....even though you are a marine........j/k
-dan-