So here I am... This will be the last time I write from Afghanistan (God willing). This has been an insane ride over the past 11 months. It seems like a very feeble attempt to try and sum up a deployment in a single post but I'm going try.
The emotions you run through during a deployment take a massive toll on your psyche..From the front line infantryman to the finance person behind a desk on KAF, everyone is affected differently and some have a more difficult time than others. It is an experience unique to each individual and its impossible to try and sum up your thoughts on the experience to someone who hasn't been here or had to go through some of these things. While you're hear you take it one day at a time, one day you might have a really good day and the next you may feel like not talking to anyone and its hard because you can't shut yourself off from family and friends.
You learn so much about yourself, the people around you and the people back home. You find out who your true friends are, who will be there for you and really people who ended up just being fun drinking buddies on a Saturday night. Your friends will make an active effort to keep in contact with you, whether it be through a Facebook post, an e-mail, something and not just when you are about to come home. I can consider myself to be lucky to have some friends like that.
You find out things about important people in your life and what they are capable of. My family has been incredible, there is no other way to describe it really. Incredible. The strength and courage they gave me cannot be properly explained, every day I thought of them and they guided my actions. My Mom and Dad never put pressure on me about things back home and tried to plan things around me and what was best for me. I love them both for their understanding and encouragement, could not ask for better parents. My sister, who's wedding I had to miss, was awesome. She never complained, she never once thought of herself during her special day when we were talking and it was always about how I was doing and understood I had a job to do. No matter how badly I wanted to be there, which believe me was an insane amount, she is an amazing woman and I am so proud of her and my new brother in law who I cant wait to embrace as a brother. I love them both a ton and can't wait to chill on the beach with them.
And then there is Lindsey, the woman who was the driving force behind me every step of the way. I learned more about Lindsey being apart from each other than I could ever imagine. I learned she is perhaps the strongest woman I know. I learned that she is the most supportive, genuine and caring person I could ever ask to be with. It would've been so easy for her to of quit numerous times during the deployment. But she didn't, she never gave up and thought it was too difficult, even with work being less than stellar and all the pressures of everyday life she drove on. She is my strength and my inspiration and I can honestly say if it wasn't for her, this deployment would have gone very differently in a dark way. I saw a lot of relationships fall apart while I was here because the party left back home couldn't cope with being apart for one reason or another. And I am sure she struggled in moments when no one was around and maybe even when people were around but she persevered and I cannot thank her enough for that. She is wonderful and I will stand by her as she has stood by me. I love her.
As for myself, where do I begin with what I have learned about myself? I don't know how I appeared leading up to all this, but I can tell you that inside I was a a ball of uncertainty and nerves. I didn't know what to expect, I knew going into it would be an emotional and mental struggle more so than a physical one. The mindset you go into a deployment with will set the tone for the entire deployment and I 100% believe that. So going into it I was realistic, I was a gun truck driver going into a country which had a history of IEDs, which was a pretty successful history on the part of the Taliban. But who am I to complain? I volunteered for this. Little did I know that my biggest obstacle wouldn't be someone shooting at me or trying to blow up me or my friends, but it would be trying to battle boredom, the highs and lows of everyday life in Afghanistan, dealing with people who weren't of the same mindset as me and dealing with those consequences of their irresponsible actions and the way some other people view you and your unit as a result.
In the beginning of the deployment it becomes very frustrating as I think you may be able to tell that it was upsetting to see some of the things we saw and not knowing why they were happening or what to do about it. Eventually, my mindset changed from one of frustration to one of complete and total apathy and then morphed into talking to those people and trying to help them out with things that maybe I was good at and they were weak at and then maybe if I was struggling they could help me. I learned that I am more adaptable than I could of ever thought possible. The amount times we were pushed and pulled in different ways was very strenuous but I didn't break. Somehow I managed to stay positive (for the most part, believe me I had my weak days and those were usually in the weeks were I didn't want to talk to anyone) throughout the tough times. You find a way to adapt to things that normally would piss you off or make you frustrated and ask "why are we doing this?"
It kind of stumped me for a while and the answer I came up with is that before I left, in my quiet moments at home by myself I would ask God to somehow make this place bearable, make it so that I am able to make it through and not even physically, just keep my sanity and shield me against negativity and doubt. Man and did He ever. So I thank God every night for giving me these gifts in order to keep me sane: my true friends via funny Facebook posts and just messages of encouragement to let them know they are thinking of me, through my family who supports and loves me and encourages me to continue on when I had a rough day or I am tired, through my amazing girlfriend who never strayed from my side and who pushed me to ask God and through him giving me the mindset necessary to get through this all in tact mentally, emotionally and spiritually. God is great.
So here I sit, ready to come home, back to a place where everyone I love is waiting for me to return and I wait to greet them all, maybe I'll look back and this will be a turning point in my life or maybe it will be just another experience that I remember as a giant time away form the comforts of my life in the States. I tend to think more towards the first option, I have seen and learned too much about life outside the protection of the US to go back to how I was before. I come home with a better understanding of who I am as a person and what I am capable of and a new sense of confidence in myself and my friends and family.
I will see you all VERY soon! Love you all and thank you for your thoughts, prayers and words of encouragement, it meant the world to me honestly.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Winding down.
Hello all!
I want start off by saying Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all had a great thanksgiving with family and friends. Yes, don't worry we got turkey too but not nearly as good as home cooked stuff but it was still pretty good.
Spending the holidays here is kind of bizarre. I was thinking about how big of a deal Thanksgiving and everything is back home and how much you prepared for it but over here it truly is just another day. I mean you could tell once you got to the DFAC that it was Thanksgiving because they decorated it and everything (they even had a little Indian guy standing on a pedestal with no shirt and body painted like a statue holding a bow and arrow dressed like a Native American, I wish I was kidding...seriously the strangest thing I have ever seen). But other than that it was another normal day on KAF. Not complaining just a strange observation.
Things here have being going alright, days are going by relatively quickly which is good, we are definitely winding down here which is very exciting. During our meetings things are brought up like "the 87th will be here on ____ so start preparing to train them up" and "start mailing things home that you wont need so we dont have to ship it back" so its exciting for sure.
I want to take a second before I forget to say thank you to everyone who has sent me any packagaes, letters, facebook messages anything like that. If I didn't say thank you I apologize thigns here were at an insane pace for most of the deployment so I didn't always have time to say thank you but please know that I truly appreciate everything!
We took a PT (physical training) test yesterday and it went pretty well I was happy with the result. For those that don't know, the APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test) consists of 3 events: 2 minute pushups, 2 minute situps and a 2 mile run. Basically for pushups and situps you just do as many as you can until you cant anymore and during the 2 mile run you have a time that you have to get under or you fail (for my age group its 16:36). Its graded on a scale of 300 (100 points max for each event) and the more you do or faster you run the more points you get which helps with promotions and stuff like that. The one I was most nervous about was the pushup because I am not a big guy, I have been working out a lot so I knew I would pass but for some reason I was still nervous. I ended up getting 67 pushups, 75 sit ups and ran a 14:30 2 mile for a score of 265. I was a little disappointed in my run score because I thought that would be my strongest event but we ran it outside and it was pretty cold and actually raining. Figures, it has rained 3 times since we have been here and it just so happens that our PT test falls on one of those days. Oh well, I was pretty happy over all. Thats the best score I have ever gotten but probably the 2nd highest run time I have ever gotten so that was upsetting. Oh well theres always next year!
I have been looking forward to seeing everyone whenI get back and every day I think about it! I miss everyone a lot and can't wait to see you all! Just know that if I don't see you right away its not because I don't want to, I plan on just relaxing at home for a few days before I do anything; I'll probably sleep a lot and spend time a lot of time with Lindsey and family but rest assured I look forward to seeing ALL OF YOU! Jaime and I have already mentioned a DTW night/maybe a DTC (downtown Cleveland...I just made it up feel free to use it) as well.
Thats it for now, take care!
I want start off by saying Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all had a great thanksgiving with family and friends. Yes, don't worry we got turkey too but not nearly as good as home cooked stuff but it was still pretty good.
Spending the holidays here is kind of bizarre. I was thinking about how big of a deal Thanksgiving and everything is back home and how much you prepared for it but over here it truly is just another day. I mean you could tell once you got to the DFAC that it was Thanksgiving because they decorated it and everything (they even had a little Indian guy standing on a pedestal with no shirt and body painted like a statue holding a bow and arrow dressed like a Native American, I wish I was kidding...seriously the strangest thing I have ever seen). But other than that it was another normal day on KAF. Not complaining just a strange observation.
Things here have being going alright, days are going by relatively quickly which is good, we are definitely winding down here which is very exciting. During our meetings things are brought up like "the 87th will be here on ____ so start preparing to train them up" and "start mailing things home that you wont need so we dont have to ship it back" so its exciting for sure.
I want to take a second before I forget to say thank you to everyone who has sent me any packagaes, letters, facebook messages anything like that. If I didn't say thank you I apologize thigns here were at an insane pace for most of the deployment so I didn't always have time to say thank you but please know that I truly appreciate everything!
We took a PT (physical training) test yesterday and it went pretty well I was happy with the result. For those that don't know, the APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test) consists of 3 events: 2 minute pushups, 2 minute situps and a 2 mile run. Basically for pushups and situps you just do as many as you can until you cant anymore and during the 2 mile run you have a time that you have to get under or you fail (for my age group its 16:36). Its graded on a scale of 300 (100 points max for each event) and the more you do or faster you run the more points you get which helps with promotions and stuff like that. The one I was most nervous about was the pushup because I am not a big guy, I have been working out a lot so I knew I would pass but for some reason I was still nervous. I ended up getting 67 pushups, 75 sit ups and ran a 14:30 2 mile for a score of 265. I was a little disappointed in my run score because I thought that would be my strongest event but we ran it outside and it was pretty cold and actually raining. Figures, it has rained 3 times since we have been here and it just so happens that our PT test falls on one of those days. Oh well, I was pretty happy over all. Thats the best score I have ever gotten but probably the 2nd highest run time I have ever gotten so that was upsetting. Oh well theres always next year!
I have been looking forward to seeing everyone whenI get back and every day I think about it! I miss everyone a lot and can't wait to see you all! Just know that if I don't see you right away its not because I don't want to, I plan on just relaxing at home for a few days before I do anything; I'll probably sleep a lot and spend time a lot of time with Lindsey and family but rest assured I look forward to seeing ALL OF YOU! Jaime and I have already mentioned a DTW night/maybe a DTC (downtown Cleveland...I just made it up feel free to use it) as well.
Thats it for now, take care!
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Take a breath, America.
Alright guys I am going to try really hard to not go on a long rant but I feel as though I need to vent a little bit about election day.
We are a nation of results and "what have you done for me lately". NO ONE CARES who brought the idea up, just help us! There are people legitmately struggling, wondering if they are going to be able to keep their house or even put food on the table for their family. That isn't right, Im only 26 (almost 27..wow) but I can't remember a time like this in my lifetime. It really is scary, take into account what is happening Europe with their financial crisis, Earth is going to have a tough time if American politics keep up like this. I wish that politics would adopt the attitude of most of the people here in Afghanistan which is: "Well that doesn't make any sense but we have to get it done so we will do it." In the end, no one will care how the problem was solved or who came up with it, only that the problem was fixed.
Perhaps the most ridiculous thing I have seen is the reaction from the American public. How obnoxious is everyone? I had no idea everyone worked for CNN as a political analyst and apparently every American went back to school and got a doctorate in political science! Seriously? Relax guys because I can almost guarantee you that only about 15-25% of you even paid attention 5 months ago and in another month everyone can go back to worrying more about American Idol than who is President, enough with the Facebook statuses about how screwed our country is or how insanely excited you are that Obama got re-elected. Think about what this country accomplished that seemed impossible at the time! We beat the greatest military the world has ever known at the time (twice) to gain our independence, we survived a brutal Cival War to end slavery, rebuilt and became the strongest union ever. We slipped into the Great Depression and survived by re-dedicating our lives to making it work no matter what, we freed Europe from what was seen as an unstoppable force of evil by planning the most daring military campaign ever seen by man. Now we are saying "Well the guy we wanted for President had different ideas than who is President so our country is done." Wrong answer, the second we accept that idea we may as well just call it a day and move to Canada because that is the complete OPPOSITE of what Americans have done in the past. My grandfathers and yours didn't fight in World War II to have that kind of mentality, guys here in Afghanistan now don't have that mentality regardless of who are President is, we have a job to do and we will be damned if we quit because things didn't go our way. Suck it up. Drive on.
Just the opinion of a dumb soldier in Afghanistan..go on about your days and don't forget to thank GOD everyday that you live where you do and you actually get the option to choose your leaders, many don't and many have died to keep that a reality.
RANT OVER..
We are a nation of results and "what have you done for me lately". NO ONE CARES who brought the idea up, just help us! There are people legitmately struggling, wondering if they are going to be able to keep their house or even put food on the table for their family. That isn't right, Im only 26 (almost 27..wow) but I can't remember a time like this in my lifetime. It really is scary, take into account what is happening Europe with their financial crisis, Earth is going to have a tough time if American politics keep up like this. I wish that politics would adopt the attitude of most of the people here in Afghanistan which is: "Well that doesn't make any sense but we have to get it done so we will do it." In the end, no one will care how the problem was solved or who came up with it, only that the problem was fixed.
Perhaps the most ridiculous thing I have seen is the reaction from the American public. How obnoxious is everyone? I had no idea everyone worked for CNN as a political analyst and apparently every American went back to school and got a doctorate in political science! Seriously? Relax guys because I can almost guarantee you that only about 15-25% of you even paid attention 5 months ago and in another month everyone can go back to worrying more about American Idol than who is President, enough with the Facebook statuses about how screwed our country is or how insanely excited you are that Obama got re-elected. Think about what this country accomplished that seemed impossible at the time! We beat the greatest military the world has ever known at the time (twice) to gain our independence, we survived a brutal Cival War to end slavery, rebuilt and became the strongest union ever. We slipped into the Great Depression and survived by re-dedicating our lives to making it work no matter what, we freed Europe from what was seen as an unstoppable force of evil by planning the most daring military campaign ever seen by man. Now we are saying "Well the guy we wanted for President had different ideas than who is President so our country is done." Wrong answer, the second we accept that idea we may as well just call it a day and move to Canada because that is the complete OPPOSITE of what Americans have done in the past. My grandfathers and yours didn't fight in World War II to have that kind of mentality, guys here in Afghanistan now don't have that mentality regardless of who are President is, we have a job to do and we will be damned if we quit because things didn't go our way. Suck it up. Drive on.
Just the opinion of a dumb soldier in Afghanistan..go on about your days and don't forget to thank GOD everyday that you live where you do and you actually get the option to choose your leaders, many don't and many have died to keep that a reality.
RANT OVER..
Friday, October 19, 2012
Oh, hello again.
Wow it has been a while since I have posted, I apologize. It has been a combination of laziness and being crazy busy. So what has happened since August? Well a lot of missions and some job changes as some people now know.
I no longer am on the road conducting missions, which I have mixed feelings about for multiple reasons. I legitimately enjoyed traveling all over RC-South (Regional Command South), it was fun and exciting and something I will really miss as strange as it seems. Although on the flip side I don't have to worry about being blown up everytime I leave the wire but that was half the fun of it actually was wondering if it was going to happen, its kind of hard to explain but when you do as many missions as we have it is something you just kind of accept, that at any time an IED can go off and the war becomes very real for you instead of just hearing the threat warnings during briefings.
The other reason I miss it is because I made a lot of good friends while running missions and it was fun to talk about the crazy things you see while on the road and I can't really do that anymore. Not that they aren't my friends anymore it's just that I am not involved in that anymore which I will miss.
On the flip side I have done a lot of missions and no one can take that away from me. At the time I took this new job I had run about 30-35 missions for a total of about 3900 miles from June until September. So I am proud of what I was able to do while I was on missions.
So now what is my new job? I started working for our battalion's S2 shop which is the intel section. Every battalion has shops (S sections), S1 is admin S2 is intel S3 is operations S4 is supply I think I cant remember what S5 is and S6 is commo. So basically what I do on a day to day basis is monitor enemy movements and attack patterns to look for possible threats to our convoys along certain routes. We use a variety of different software to do this and all are classified as secret so I can't really get into what they are and what they do because I could get into a lot of trouble. That kid that got in trouble for leaking stuff to Wikileaks did a slightly higher level of what I am doing now and he is currently being held in Ft Leavenworth which is not a place I want to end up so I can't get into it.
Overall, the job is pretty alright. I get in at 0500 and work until 1400 (5am-2pm) and set up all the monitoring software and go through the previous days INTSUM ( intel summary) which summarizes all the previous days attacks form the Taliban, significant activities (SIGACTS) of the enemy and stuff like that. It is interesting to read all of the things that you never really hear about if you were just on mission. When you go out for convoys you get an S2 briefing but it only pertains to the route you are traveling, now I hear about ALL of the SIGACTS in RC-South. Which is kind of crazy.
So we are at about 3.5 months away from getting home and I cannot wait to get there. I can't even fathom how amazing it will feel to get home. Its not that I am totally depressed or even really homesick being here, its just.....This place sucks, I can't even properly describe how drastic the differences are in every category from life in the US. From obvious things like terrain and cultural differences to small things like driving. Its insane how lucky people are in the US and they don't even recognize that. People think they know how lucky they are to live in a country like the United States but they don't have a clue, really they don't and I don't mean that to sound like a slap in the face if you are one of the people that say you are. You know that the US is a great country and arguably the best place to live in the world, but until you come to a country like this or another 3rd world country, you don't truly know. We get the US news here and it's really disheartening seeing some people complain about some of the problems they have there, it's borderline enraging really. There is a comedian, Louis CK that has a joke but it is entirely true, he says:
"We have white people problems in America, do you know what that is? Thats where your life is amazing, so you make shit up to be upset about. People in other countries have REAL problems like 'oh shit they are cutting all our heads off today'. Here we make shit up to be upset about like 'how come I have to choose a language on the ATM machine its bullshit, I shouldn't have to do that IM AMERICAN"
Like that is really funny but I can't think of a better descriptiong for the sense of entitlement people in the US have. I am guilty of it too, I won't lie but I think when I get home I will be looking at things a little differently. People here can't use a cell phone without the Taliban threatening to and in some cases actually killing them. Think about that, some guys come into your town and say, "don't use your cell phone or you will DIE". Then they actually kill you for making a phone call. Insane right? Well it is a reality in a city north of Kandahar. Think about that the next time you see a sign in English AND Spanish.
That's all I got for now guys, I will try to update this a little more often. Love you all and take care!!
I no longer am on the road conducting missions, which I have mixed feelings about for multiple reasons. I legitimately enjoyed traveling all over RC-South (Regional Command South), it was fun and exciting and something I will really miss as strange as it seems. Although on the flip side I don't have to worry about being blown up everytime I leave the wire but that was half the fun of it actually was wondering if it was going to happen, its kind of hard to explain but when you do as many missions as we have it is something you just kind of accept, that at any time an IED can go off and the war becomes very real for you instead of just hearing the threat warnings during briefings.
The other reason I miss it is because I made a lot of good friends while running missions and it was fun to talk about the crazy things you see while on the road and I can't really do that anymore. Not that they aren't my friends anymore it's just that I am not involved in that anymore which I will miss.
On the flip side I have done a lot of missions and no one can take that away from me. At the time I took this new job I had run about 30-35 missions for a total of about 3900 miles from June until September. So I am proud of what I was able to do while I was on missions.
So now what is my new job? I started working for our battalion's S2 shop which is the intel section. Every battalion has shops (S sections), S1 is admin S2 is intel S3 is operations S4 is supply I think I cant remember what S5 is and S6 is commo. So basically what I do on a day to day basis is monitor enemy movements and attack patterns to look for possible threats to our convoys along certain routes. We use a variety of different software to do this and all are classified as secret so I can't really get into what they are and what they do because I could get into a lot of trouble. That kid that got in trouble for leaking stuff to Wikileaks did a slightly higher level of what I am doing now and he is currently being held in Ft Leavenworth which is not a place I want to end up so I can't get into it.
Overall, the job is pretty alright. I get in at 0500 and work until 1400 (5am-2pm) and set up all the monitoring software and go through the previous days INTSUM ( intel summary) which summarizes all the previous days attacks form the Taliban, significant activities (SIGACTS) of the enemy and stuff like that. It is interesting to read all of the things that you never really hear about if you were just on mission. When you go out for convoys you get an S2 briefing but it only pertains to the route you are traveling, now I hear about ALL of the SIGACTS in RC-South. Which is kind of crazy.
So we are at about 3.5 months away from getting home and I cannot wait to get there. I can't even fathom how amazing it will feel to get home. Its not that I am totally depressed or even really homesick being here, its just.....This place sucks, I can't even properly describe how drastic the differences are in every category from life in the US. From obvious things like terrain and cultural differences to small things like driving. Its insane how lucky people are in the US and they don't even recognize that. People think they know how lucky they are to live in a country like the United States but they don't have a clue, really they don't and I don't mean that to sound like a slap in the face if you are one of the people that say you are. You know that the US is a great country and arguably the best place to live in the world, but until you come to a country like this or another 3rd world country, you don't truly know. We get the US news here and it's really disheartening seeing some people complain about some of the problems they have there, it's borderline enraging really. There is a comedian, Louis CK that has a joke but it is entirely true, he says:
"We have white people problems in America, do you know what that is? Thats where your life is amazing, so you make shit up to be upset about. People in other countries have REAL problems like 'oh shit they are cutting all our heads off today'. Here we make shit up to be upset about like 'how come I have to choose a language on the ATM machine its bullshit, I shouldn't have to do that IM AMERICAN"
Like that is really funny but I can't think of a better descriptiong for the sense of entitlement people in the US have. I am guilty of it too, I won't lie but I think when I get home I will be looking at things a little differently. People here can't use a cell phone without the Taliban threatening to and in some cases actually killing them. Think about that, some guys come into your town and say, "don't use your cell phone or you will DIE". Then they actually kill you for making a phone call. Insane right? Well it is a reality in a city north of Kandahar. Think about that the next time you see a sign in English AND Spanish.
That's all I got for now guys, I will try to update this a little more often. Love you all and take care!!
Thursday, August 9, 2012
The dead zone..
Before I write anything I would just like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the best sister in the world, Jaime. Sorry I couldn't be there but ya know this whole war thing is in the way. You're the greatest, its as simple as that.
So we have entered into what I am referring to as the dead zone. This is basically where you have been here long enough to know what you're doing but not long enough to see any light at the end of the tunnel. This results in frustration with just about everything around you. You start to see incompetence where there possibly is none (even though I totally think there is), you begin to question why you do things and those giving you the orders to do those things and you begin to become slightly complacent with your missions because you have done them so many times. Now to the 1486th credit, I think so far we have done a pretty good job of keeping alert and focused and I think the nonsensical stuff we have to do is a result of a battalion that we only cares about the bottom line and if the missions are getting completed. Its a very rough spot to be in, on top of all this dead zone stuff, the company decided to do some realignment, so some people are working with soldiers they never have before and were seperated from their guys which whom they have worked with the entire time. The reason for doing so was justified I won't debate that nor should I really get into it but it just makes it more difficult.
So anyways this past week has been kind of nuts, we did about 4 missions in a week. This past one we got back on Wednesday and it was a crazy mission. Got up at 3am to get ready to go and did not get back to the base we were staying at until about 1230am, it was a long day. Nothing really to interesting happened except a local national trucker rolled over and we had to stop and get our medic to provide aid for him because one guy broke his arm and the other guy broke a rib and punctured a lung.
Not really sure what else to write about, not much going on here. We are just doing what seems like endless missions. Tomorrow we have a culture climate survey which is basically a survey to ask how you think your leadership is doing and I have a feeling that battalion is going to be torn apart by our surveys. I hope it changes something but I doubt it.
Take care all!
So we have entered into what I am referring to as the dead zone. This is basically where you have been here long enough to know what you're doing but not long enough to see any light at the end of the tunnel. This results in frustration with just about everything around you. You start to see incompetence where there possibly is none (even though I totally think there is), you begin to question why you do things and those giving you the orders to do those things and you begin to become slightly complacent with your missions because you have done them so many times. Now to the 1486th credit, I think so far we have done a pretty good job of keeping alert and focused and I think the nonsensical stuff we have to do is a result of a battalion that we only cares about the bottom line and if the missions are getting completed. Its a very rough spot to be in, on top of all this dead zone stuff, the company decided to do some realignment, so some people are working with soldiers they never have before and were seperated from their guys which whom they have worked with the entire time. The reason for doing so was justified I won't debate that nor should I really get into it but it just makes it more difficult.
So anyways this past week has been kind of nuts, we did about 4 missions in a week. This past one we got back on Wednesday and it was a crazy mission. Got up at 3am to get ready to go and did not get back to the base we were staying at until about 1230am, it was a long day. Nothing really to interesting happened except a local national trucker rolled over and we had to stop and get our medic to provide aid for him because one guy broke his arm and the other guy broke a rib and punctured a lung.
Not really sure what else to write about, not much going on here. We are just doing what seems like endless missions. Tomorrow we have a culture climate survey which is basically a survey to ask how you think your leadership is doing and I have a feeling that battalion is going to be torn apart by our surveys. I hope it changes something but I doubt it.
Take care all!
Friday, July 27, 2012
And the Army goes rolling along...
Hey everyone, I have been slacking pretty hard on updaing this so I apologize for that.
So what has been going on here in Kandahar? Well pretty much the same as the first two months really. Missions and details can really sum it up.
We just returned from a 3 day mission last night at about 5pm. The mission itself went by pretty smoothly with no issues except for on the way back to KAF. Our convoy was about an hour from the front gate of KAF when we received a BFT (blue force tracker, kind of like a super GPS wit the ability to locate and message any friendly forces in the area) from an engineering unit, the 296th. The message was that one of their vehicles had rolled over off a small bridge and needed help recovering it and controlling traffic.
The funny thing is that the 296th is a unit that was trying to take missions from us and rumor was that they didn't like answering to a National Guard unit as they are active duty and thought they were better than us. So of course we felt pretty obligated to play hero for them. So we got there and everyone was ok, a few concussions and scrapes but nothing major.
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The flipped MAXPRO, silly engineers
At the time I was the TC (truck commander) of the scout vehicle so when the traffic was backed up in both lanes I had to dismount and try to tal kto some of nationals to move their trucks so we could get through to the scene. I got out with our interpreter Matt and walked up and down the traffic trying to tell people to move and they would but they only stack up again for some weird reason. At this point these people had apparently been sitting in this traffic for 3 hours so they were very agitated. It is Ramadan right now so they cannot eat or drink until nightfall so that adds into their irritability.
At some point while me and Matt were making our way towards the convoy a bus pulled up and it was full of people who were very angry and they began yelling at Matt and not listening to me. At one point they started to get into Matt's face so I had to push them back and then they began to come at me. At this point I charged my weapon (put a round into the rifle chamber) and told them to step back, get on their bus and move or stay put and wait. That time they listened and me and Matt kept walking. Something about an annoyed American soldier 8000 miles from home with a locked and loaded M4 makes them hear much clearer than trying to talk to them normally.
We ended up getting back to KAF about 3 hours later than we should have but it was alright because we were actually doing things and helping out instead of just sitting there waiting for something to happen.
Overall things here are good, we are almost at the halfway mark which is kind of crazy to think of. It feels like about a month ago that we left Ohio. Im sure it doesn't feel like that back home. Not much has changed here, some injuries and such has forced some people to go home, nothing combat related just stupid things. I really wish they would let us have leave so I could come home for only a few days but unfortunately that isn't the case. Especially with Jaime's wedding coming up it would be an AWESOME break but maybe it will be easier to just finish straight through.
I have kind of hit my stride in this deployment, I have a routine going for the most part and take it day by day. Can't wait to come home but I dont think I am really homesick, I miss home and everyone back home but it isn't to the point where I am sad or depressed, thigns are going ok and I am really happy that it should be cooling down here soon.
Thats about it for now, take care everyone!
So what has been going on here in Kandahar? Well pretty much the same as the first two months really. Missions and details can really sum it up.
We just returned from a 3 day mission last night at about 5pm. The mission itself went by pretty smoothly with no issues except for on the way back to KAF. Our convoy was about an hour from the front gate of KAF when we received a BFT (blue force tracker, kind of like a super GPS wit the ability to locate and message any friendly forces in the area) from an engineering unit, the 296th. The message was that one of their vehicles had rolled over off a small bridge and needed help recovering it and controlling traffic.
The funny thing is that the 296th is a unit that was trying to take missions from us and rumor was that they didn't like answering to a National Guard unit as they are active duty and thought they were better than us. So of course we felt pretty obligated to play hero for them. So we got there and everyone was ok, a few concussions and scrapes but nothing major.
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At the time I was the TC (truck commander) of the scout vehicle so when the traffic was backed up in both lanes I had to dismount and try to tal kto some of nationals to move their trucks so we could get through to the scene. I got out with our interpreter Matt and walked up and down the traffic trying to tell people to move and they would but they only stack up again for some weird reason. At this point these people had apparently been sitting in this traffic for 3 hours so they were very agitated. It is Ramadan right now so they cannot eat or drink until nightfall so that adds into their irritability.
At some point while me and Matt were making our way towards the convoy a bus pulled up and it was full of people who were very angry and they began yelling at Matt and not listening to me. At one point they started to get into Matt's face so I had to push them back and then they began to come at me. At this point I charged my weapon (put a round into the rifle chamber) and told them to step back, get on their bus and move or stay put and wait. That time they listened and me and Matt kept walking. Something about an annoyed American soldier 8000 miles from home with a locked and loaded M4 makes them hear much clearer than trying to talk to them normally.
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| SGT Reese, myself, Matt and SSG Casler trying to sort out the traffic. |
We ended up getting back to KAF about 3 hours later than we should have but it was alright because we were actually doing things and helping out instead of just sitting there waiting for something to happen.
Overall things here are good, we are almost at the halfway mark which is kind of crazy to think of. It feels like about a month ago that we left Ohio. Im sure it doesn't feel like that back home. Not much has changed here, some injuries and such has forced some people to go home, nothing combat related just stupid things. I really wish they would let us have leave so I could come home for only a few days but unfortunately that isn't the case. Especially with Jaime's wedding coming up it would be an AWESOME break but maybe it will be easier to just finish straight through.
I have kind of hit my stride in this deployment, I have a routine going for the most part and take it day by day. Can't wait to come home but I dont think I am really homesick, I miss home and everyone back home but it isn't to the point where I am sad or depressed, thigns are going ok and I am really happy that it should be cooling down here soon.
Thats about it for now, take care everyone!
Thursday, July 12, 2012
A Day in the Life..
Hola again, so I was thinking today that instead of telling all about the missions I have been on, 3 since my last post all of which went smoothly and safely, I would tell you basic stuff about KAF and daily life. I don't think I have done that yet, so here you go!
Living quarters
As most of you know, we live in CHUs or containerized housing units. Basically, they are a 18x8 room where we live. We live with 2 other people, so 3 people to a room. My roommates are PV2 Anders and PFC DeLong, its very tight quarters with such a small room and 3 people but we make it work. I have the single bed and DeLong and Anders share a bunk bed, I pulled the rank card so I win. The beds are pretty comfortable, at least I made mine comfortable by buying a foam mattress topper and sheets (Thanks Caca!). We have a TV, fridge, microwave and PS3. The most important thing is that we have AC that works very well, if not we would be dying from heat exhaustion in here!
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KAF's wonderful Amenities
So for laundry you really have two options, self service or full service. I usually always go full service because its fast and easy. We got issued laundry bags when we first got here and as long as its under 5lbs they will get your dirty laundry back to you within two days and it's free. The drop off point is right down the street, path or whatever it is these are called, so you can walk to drop it off.
The food when we first got here was pretty good, I don't know if it is because we have been for about 2 months or if the food has gone downhill but it is getting pretty old. It is pretty much the same thing on a weekly rotation, some sort of chicken and rice, potatoes, sandwiches and things like that. I will say that the pulled pork is VERY good, definitely my favorite thing on the menu. They also have the boardwalk which has some restaurants like Fridays and KFC and some food stands but its insanely expensive and somewhat of a walk so not really worth it. Just recently they opened a few places just past the chow hall you can eat. There is a Pizza Hut, Burger King, Popeyes and some other place I can't remember what it is. I had pizza from Pizza Hut and it was pretty good but again expensive so I won't be eating there very much. Now that they made us wear full uniform the chow hall busines has slowed but I still go most of the time.
The gym isn't too far from here, probably about a 10 minute walk or so. I go several times a week when I am not on mission or doing some stupid detail I got put on. There is the MWR gym which is the one I goto because it is closer and has everything I need. There is also a NATO gym for coalition forces which I hear is nicer but I haven't been, I don't see the point of walking past a gym to go to another gym.
The showers and bathrooms and attached to our CHUs on each side. Its basically two CHU rooms for the entire side of the CHU complex. It isnt too bad, somewhat community oriented which is the norm in the military but each shower is an individual stall so thats cool. The only bad thing about the showers is that the water comes from a water bladder, its kind of like a big bag that gets refilled every so often, not really sure. That means that sometimes you run out of water which SUCKS. I was coming off mission one morning and all I wanted to do after sweating and driving for a long time , was to take a shower. You know the rest, no mas agua. It was upsetting but it could be worse.
We have shopettes around to buy some supplies like hygiene items and some food stuff. They run out of stock very quickly because of the border closures in Pakistan. Apparently they dont like it very much when we bomb their borders taking out terrorists. Whatever Pakistan. The PX is over by the boardwalk which has electronics and stuff like that, not too bad but I dont go there very often. A lot of the guys buy stuff from Amazon or Wal Mart because thye have free shipping to APO addresses.
Im not really sure what else to write, in terms of missions it has been a pretty slow week which I suppose is a good thing. Weather here is incredibly hot and getting hotter. Today was really humid for some reason and I am trying to hide out in my room as much as possible. It is kind of crazy that we have been here 2 months and gone from Ohio for 3, I am kind of at the point now where I cannot wait to be home! I miss Ohio very much and the people in it!
Living quarters
As most of you know, we live in CHUs or containerized housing units. Basically, they are a 18x8 room where we live. We live with 2 other people, so 3 people to a room. My roommates are PV2 Anders and PFC DeLong, its very tight quarters with such a small room and 3 people but we make it work. I have the single bed and DeLong and Anders share a bunk bed, I pulled the rank card so I win. The beds are pretty comfortable, at least I made mine comfortable by buying a foam mattress topper and sheets (Thanks Caca!). We have a TV, fridge, microwave and PS3. The most important thing is that we have AC that works very well, if not we would be dying from heat exhaustion in here!
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KAF's wonderful Amenities
So for laundry you really have two options, self service or full service. I usually always go full service because its fast and easy. We got issued laundry bags when we first got here and as long as its under 5lbs they will get your dirty laundry back to you within two days and it's free. The drop off point is right down the street, path or whatever it is these are called, so you can walk to drop it off.
The food when we first got here was pretty good, I don't know if it is because we have been for about 2 months or if the food has gone downhill but it is getting pretty old. It is pretty much the same thing on a weekly rotation, some sort of chicken and rice, potatoes, sandwiches and things like that. I will say that the pulled pork is VERY good, definitely my favorite thing on the menu. They also have the boardwalk which has some restaurants like Fridays and KFC and some food stands but its insanely expensive and somewhat of a walk so not really worth it. Just recently they opened a few places just past the chow hall you can eat. There is a Pizza Hut, Burger King, Popeyes and some other place I can't remember what it is. I had pizza from Pizza Hut and it was pretty good but again expensive so I won't be eating there very much. Now that they made us wear full uniform the chow hall busines has slowed but I still go most of the time.
The gym isn't too far from here, probably about a 10 minute walk or so. I go several times a week when I am not on mission or doing some stupid detail I got put on. There is the MWR gym which is the one I goto because it is closer and has everything I need. There is also a NATO gym for coalition forces which I hear is nicer but I haven't been, I don't see the point of walking past a gym to go to another gym.
The showers and bathrooms and attached to our CHUs on each side. Its basically two CHU rooms for the entire side of the CHU complex. It isnt too bad, somewhat community oriented which is the norm in the military but each shower is an individual stall so thats cool. The only bad thing about the showers is that the water comes from a water bladder, its kind of like a big bag that gets refilled every so often, not really sure. That means that sometimes you run out of water which SUCKS. I was coming off mission one morning and all I wanted to do after sweating and driving for a long time , was to take a shower. You know the rest, no mas agua. It was upsetting but it could be worse.
We have shopettes around to buy some supplies like hygiene items and some food stuff. They run out of stock very quickly because of the border closures in Pakistan. Apparently they dont like it very much when we bomb their borders taking out terrorists. Whatever Pakistan. The PX is over by the boardwalk which has electronics and stuff like that, not too bad but I dont go there very often. A lot of the guys buy stuff from Amazon or Wal Mart because thye have free shipping to APO addresses.
Im not really sure what else to write, in terms of missions it has been a pretty slow week which I suppose is a good thing. Weather here is incredibly hot and getting hotter. Today was really humid for some reason and I am trying to hide out in my room as much as possible. It is kind of crazy that we have been here 2 months and gone from Ohio for 3, I am kind of at the point now where I cannot wait to be home! I miss Ohio very much and the people in it!
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