September 27th, 2010 - Feeling Connected

It’s funny the little things that we take for granted in the “real world”.  Little things like lights, carpet, fast internet, and cell phones.  It was not that far in the past that a phone meant a big square box connected to a wall.  Kids would talk for hours to their friends but only if it was a local call.  Long distance was something that you avoided because of the exuberant fees.  If you were out and about and needed to make a call that meant that you had to feed quarters into a payphone, make a collect call, or use a calling card.  

Then sometime in the 90’s cell phones started to pop up everywhere.  First they were in your car in a bag.  Then there were big chunky phones you could carry with you.  Next we had cell phones start to shrink in size and the expensive minutes and cell phone plans started to come down in price but you still had to watch that you didn’t roam onto a non-network cell tower.  Then everything changed…

Cell phone plans became affordable.  There were no longer roaming fees.  Family plans meant that six year olds were carrying phones with them “for emergencies” that didn’t exist.  Then text messaging started to replace actually using cell phones as phones.  People started to cancel their landlines for the convenience and portability of a cell phone.  Phones became smarter and soon were allowing people to surf the internet, play games, listen to music, and empowered people to remain connected everywhere they went.

I’ve been a cell phone user since the mid-90’s and took all of this for granted.  I’d carry my iPhone with me everywhere.  I always felt connected to family, friends, news, and a world of information.  Then it was all gone.

My phone is shut off and lost somewhere in my duffel bag among uniforms, socks, magazines for my M4, a gas mask, spare boots, and a chemical warfare suit.  Checking e-mail is only accomplished using the slow satellite internet that costs a fortune.  Phone calls are no longer easy to do, but that’s mainly due to the time difference.  Cell phones are a luxury that I won’t be partaking in while I’m here.

Yes, there are cell phones here but the only people have them seem to be the young Soldiers.  I have no idea what the plans cost, but they are probably spending a huge percentage of pay for their services.  I’m going to find out how much they pay in the next couple of days for clarification, but it’s probably at least 10 times the price that we’ve grown accustomed to in the states.

I really feel an enormous disconnect with the world with no cell phone.  I’m sure that this feeling will slowly fade over the coming months.  I’m sure that the phantom cell phone vibrations that I feel are going to gradually become a distant memory.  I’m sure that eventually I’ll stop checking my pocket to make sure that my cell phone is there will stop.  I’m also sure that I will not stop enjoying people not talking on cell phones everywhere or people walking around talking on their Bluetooth headsets.  

When the day finally comes that I set foot on the old US of A and wrap my arms around my lovely wife, hug my family and friends for the first time in months there will be one thing I will also be doing…digging my cell phone out of my bags and once again…turning on my cell phone and feeling connected once again to the world.

September 26th, 2010 - Surrounded in Darkness

Last night, after a long and arduous journey, I finally found myself at the FOB (Forward Operating Base) which I will call home for the foreseeable future.  We landed in a packed C-130 in the dark and on a gravel runway.  From the time we stepped off of the plane we realized that we weren’t in Kansas anymore.

Our FOB is a blackout base.  That means no white light at night.  Luckily we landed with a lot of light from the moon, so we were not totally dark.  It’s kind of strange being surrounded by darkness when we’ve constantly spent our lives in bright white light.  We have lights on the street, our houses, flood lights in the back yard, and even lights in our landscaping.  

Tonight, when I went to eat dinner it was still light outside.  After eating a quick meal I step outside into a pitch black world.  I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face.  For a brief moment I had a wave of panic rush over me.  In about 1.8 seconds I wonder how I was going to get back to my room in the dark and if I really remembered which direction that I was supposed to walk.  Then I remembered that I had two little LED lights on me.  

I had a little blue light on my dog tags for emergencies.  I also had a red LED clipped to my pistol holster.  Then about 2 seconds after my initial shock, I had a soft red pocket of light beaming out in front of me.

With a deep breath and what I thought was the right way in my mind I took a few hesitant steps in the near darkness with my little red light playing out in front of me.  

In a few seconds there was a welcome sight greeting me…The soft glow of stained glass windows in the chapel was telling me that I was going in the right direction.  

The blackout policy is not all negative though.  Once the moon decreases in intensity, I will be privy to a view of the stars unlike anything that I’ve ever witnessed. 

September 24th, 2010 - Rats

Another day in Bagram is nearly done.  Today was not all that exciting, just another day for the most part.  Early in the morning we went to the range to verify weapon functionality and to check our zero’s.  I fired a total of 12 shots; 3 rounds out of my M9 9mm to verify that it was operational and 9 rounds out of my M4 to verify the zero of the M68 Aimpoint CCO (Close Combat Optic) to my weapon.  Everything checked out just fine.

The range here was by far the nicest place that we’ve been to on post.  It was run by some National Guard guys from the east coast.  Kudos to those guys for running a quality operation, it was a nice change.  On the range they had a type of rat, I think that it was a Turkestan rat, similar to the kangaroo rats found in the southwestern US.  They had a long furry tail and as you can tell from the picture below they really liked Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  They’ve been “adopted” by the guys running the range.  They have two of them living there, each one with their own little distinct territory.  

The rat named Buddy knows that breakfast is the most important meal of the day

After the range I drew some additional equipment from RFI (Rapid Fielding Initiative) that I didn’t get while back in the states.  It was only a few items like my FR-ACU’s (Fire Resistant ACU).  Basically, it’s a uniform that is treated with permitherin for insect repelling as well as offering some protection against flash fires.   I also was issued my Danner Mountain Boots.  Basically these are fancy hiking boots with a hard rubber sole so the boot doesn’t get tore up by the mountainous terrain here in Afghanistan.

Today there have been a ton of fighter jets flying overhead.  So we’ve had constant rumble from these jets as they fly overhead.  Most of the time they are just background noise, but every once in a while one will fly lower or with a little more throttle and it’s quite loud.  Occasionally they’ll set off some car alarm in the area. 

Last night the compound next to us (another Middle Eastern Country) was blaring Arabic over their PA system for about 3 hours.  Beats the heck out of me what they were saying, but it sure sounded like they were playing bingo because the guy would say a phrase every few seconds and then get all of excited.

Ok, just a few more pictures…

Our refugee camp

More of our refugee camp

SFC B sleeping with foam ear plugs as well as ear muffs to drown out the noise at night.

Some old buildings along the outside of Bagram.

September 23rd, 2010 - Holy Crap, I'm in Afghanistan

Yesterday started the “real” time in Afghanistan. We left Kuwait in a C-17 and took the four hour flight in an Air Force plane with a non-functional A/C system.  It was hot and uncomfortable.  The flight itself was pretty uneventful until the end where they did some fancy combat landing.  Basically it was like a roller coaster with a series of climbs, dives and hard banks.  It was interesting and unnerving at the same time.  It was unnerving because there were no windows and we had no idea where we were headed.  One person ended up vomiting if that tells you anything.

It was kind of strange setting foot off of the plane and being in Afghanistan.  I’ve spent the past six months reading books on Afghanistan and preparing for the moment of actually being here but nothing really prepares you for the feeling of actually being here.  It was also strange to be on an active combat air field where cargo planes were constantly moving and being loaded/unloaded.  F-15’s were taking off with afterburners roaring going on close air support missions, and helicopters were buzzing around like insects.  It’s kind of like being at an airshow, but this time the show is real.

We spent a long time checking into the country and getting our baggage.  Then we moved on to our “transient” housing.  Transient is too nice of a word for where we are staying, it’s really more of a refugee camp.  It’s a large tent probably 200 feet long by 75 feet wide.  It has a couple hundred bunk beds in here, all of them with inches of each other.  I’m not going to go into a lot of detail about the living conditions, because frankly, it’s an embarrassment.  We cleaned up our little area of 7 bunks and filled an entire trash bag with garbage, and it wasn’t a little kitchen garbage bag either.

This base will be my temporary home for a few days, and then I’ll be on to my final destination.  Where we are going is much cleaner than this place, because frankly, this place is a pit.  It’s like a small city and feels more like a third world city than a thriving military complex.  

Sleep was a little difficult to come by last night since people were constantly coming and going to catch flights.  With 30 or so people moving out at 3am, it’s hard to stay asleep.  Plus add to the commotion the airfield that is close by and busy all night long it makes for a tough night’s sleep.  

It’s also quite chilly in here.  I am being stubborn and refusing to dig my sleeping bag out, so it was a little cold last night, but nothing the fetal position didn’t take care of.  Tonight, I’ll try using my poncho liner again, and if I get cold, I guess I’ll be digging to the bottom of my duffel bag to get out my sleeping bag.

Today we did a reception brief, which was ok.  There was also a brief about what we should do and shouldn’t do while on missions.  Then we did MRAP (our vehicles) roll over training.  Finally, we spent the afternoon going over counter-IED’s.  

The chow hall here is mediocre at best.  It’s probably a dozen or so tents linked together.  The only thing that I’ve found really palatable was the cold meat sandwich I had for lunch today.

We are at over 4750 feet elevation here and surrounded by huge mountains.  When the air isn’t smoggy the mountains are really nice to look at.    

Ok, that’s it for now, time to get ready for bed.

Sept 21, 2010 - Convection Oven

Still in Kuwait, not much to update on.  I've already talked about how hot it is here.  Today there was even a breeze, but the breeze brings no relief from the heat.  I think that the breeze actually does the opposite of the winter winch chill, by making it feel hotter.  It's crazy to think that it is probably 20 degrees off of the summer highs here, so maybe the 109 isn't *that* bad.

My wife asked me how I'm passing the time and the simple answer is slowly.  So far I've gotten into a routine of sleep, eat, movies, and music.  That's about it for activity.  It's too hot to leave the A/C of the tent during the day, with the exception of the 150 foot walk to the latrines (bathroom).

My movies have been a little savior for everyone in my group.  I brought perhaps 200 movies with me, and everyone has eagerly been devouring them up to help relieve the boredom. 

I really want to read some of the books that are on my iPad, but I'm not sure if the adapter is 220v compatible.  The power in the tent is 220, so I'm afraid of frying it if I use it.  Ok, I just Googled it and it turns out that the charge is compatible!  Yes, that means that I can continue reading my book.

That's about it today, time to head back to the tent.

Sept 19th 2010 - Kuwait is hot

I’ve begun to lose track of what day is what, and I’m sure that my date count is off.  I’m either going to have to reset my clock or just go off of the old fashioned date for my main titles.  After all of this traveling everything is starting to get a little blurred.  

Today was a long long day.  I woke up at 7 or 8 am local time and went to my first roll call.  Basically while we are in Kuwait we are waiting for a military flight into Bagram.  We had a roll call at 9am, 10:30 am, and 5:00 pm.  At the 5:00 pm one we were notified that we had to report back at 6:00 pm with all of our gear for a flight out at 9:00 pm.  We proceeded to have a mad dash to get everything packed and moved to the staging area.  At the staging area we had all of our baggage loaded onto pallets for transportation.

We were then “locked down” in a certain area for our flight.  At 7:30pm we were supposed to have a final roll call and then load up onto the bus for transportation to the flight line.  The 7:30pm time came and passed and eventually at 11:00pm we were notified that our flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems.  While something like this isn’t that uncommon it sucked for us since our gear was already palletized up.

We had to dig through over 100 other people’s gear to find all of ours and then move our stuff back to our tent.  We moved everything back and then decided that we wanted to eat since we didn’t get a real meal since we were locked down waiting for the flight.

They serve midnight chow here so we grabbed a sandwich then came back and showered.  The shower felt absolutely wonderful.  Now I’m back in the tent, it’s 1:37am and we have to be at roll call at 10:00am to start it all over again in the morning.  

The Colts are playing in another hour and twenty minutes, and it’s darn tempting to just stay up and watch them, but I better not, I have to adjust to the time difference.

Today was pretty steamy at around 109 degrees.  The power went out of our tent for a few hours today and that meant no A/C.  Thankfully I managed to get a seat at the MWR (Military Welfare and Recreation) tent and sit in the A/C.  

There’s a lot of sand here.  I guess that goes with being in the desert and everything.  It’s the finest sand that I’ve ever seen; it feels almost like talcum powder.  It’s always hanging in the air like a fog.  It creates a haze around the sun.  Definitely a unique experience.

Alright, time to get some sleep.

Day 28 - Kuwait

Ok, please excuse my count, it may be off right now.  I've lost all sense of time after spending 36 hours traveling around the world. 

I'm in Kuwait right now, where it is 10:41am, and it's like 3:41am back home. 

We got in yesterday evening where it took the better part of the evening getting everything squared away and making it finally to our temporary housing.  We are in a 16 person tent, thankfully it's air conditioned since it's hot outside. 

After we finally got in, I made it to a phone to call my wife and let her know that I made it here.  After that I decided to get some food since it had been over a day since my last real meal.  I ate at KFC where it tasted just like KFC.  The only difference was that the soda was little cans like Red Bulls and all the writing was in Arabic.  So strange...

When I finally got to my bed I had trouble sleeping since I'm a little jet lagged.

I finally fell asleep and woke up to a thud.  No, we weren't attacked or anything, the guy in the bunk above me fell out of the top bunk.  That was a 5 foot drop onto concrete.  Luckily he is ok, because that would have been a helluva note to make it all the way here and go down with an injury by falling out of bed. 

This morning, I woke up and did some hygiene and realized it was hot.  Hot is an understatement its &**% hot outside.  We did a roll call and now I'm sitting in the USO.  We have some time to burn since it may be a few days until we can get a flight out of here to Afghanistan. 

It's strange to think that I'm in Kuwait, in the Middle East, in Asia.  That makes 3 continents in less than 24 hours. 

The base that I'm at seems to just be a hub for shipping people all over everywhere.  Our little are where we are confined is probably about a 1/2 mile by a 1/2 mile. 

I'll try to post some pictures sometime, but for now my time is about up at the computer.

Day 27 - Traveling

Today has been exhausting and draining. The day started out at 0200 (2:00am) when we had to get up and get on the bus by 0230. Then it was off to the Indianapolis airport.

At Indy we thought that things were going ok and then we got to Atlanta. I'm at Atlanta right now and it's been nothing but frustrating. I'm not exaggerating an ounce when I say that I spent over 6 hours standing in one location waiting to check myself and my baggage onto a flight.

Finally after all that frustration I was able to get everything checked and eat something. I'm not sure whether we'll get food on our next flight so I ate more than I normally would.

I have an hour or so to attempt some relaxation before I have to go get ready for my next flight and then the torture starts.

I'm really dreading a long flight over the Atlantic. Last time I flew transcontinental I was able to upgrade, but this time I'm not able to be that lucky. Hopefully going on such a small amount of sleep, I'll be able to crash on the plane and sleep most of the trip.

On to something a little more positive...

The people that we've encountered have been nothing but supportive. I've had people applaud our group. I've had men and women of all ages come up to us and shake our hands and thank us for our service.

I've had mothers break down in tears.

I've had people ask for us have their picture taken with them.

While this traveling has been exhausting, it's nice to know that some people appreciate the sacrifice so many men and women are making.