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. 

                                                     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. 


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!

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!

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!

Some week..

Hey all, its been a long week sorry for the delay in posting. 

As most of you already know, last Sunday, while returning from a convoy; we lost two soldiers in an explosion outside of KAF.  SGT Michael Strachota and SSG Robert Massarelli.  I will tell you briefly what happened and what has transpired this past week here on KAF. 

Last Sunday (June 24) we were returning from a mission to a base on the west side of Kandahar City. When we got to about 1/2 mile from the KAF gates, approximately 5 trucks ahead of me there was a pretty large explosion.  All I saw was a flash and then a fireball and smoke, it came out of absolutely nowhere.  At first we weren't sure what was going on because our trucks comms were temporarily down, I got it fixed shortly after we saw the smoke and heard the CC ( convoy commander) calling out "IED IED IED".  Of course the convoy immediately stopped and began pulling security and searching for triggerman, secondary IEDs, ambush points and pointing them out on the radio.  Instinct kind of took over at that point I think and its true that repetition produces habit.  You do the drills we do everytime we leave the wire, which is good, its just extremely unfortunate that it had to be used for this.  I don't really want to get into the details of it because you don't really need to know about them but it was an extraordinarily hard day.  Its one thing to hear about these things happening, it is quite another to see it happen 300m ahead of you and have it take away people you have worked with.  I didn't know either of them very well but from all accounts there were exceptional soldiers and people and it is a horrible feeling to sit there and not be able to do anything to help them. The incident is still being investigated as an IED or whether it was a terrible traffic accident.

If any of you have seen the movie Restrepo, in the movie a good friend of the unit Doc Restrepo is killed in a fire fight and the members of the unit explain how they felt.  One guy says "you hear on the radio that someone is hit and immediately in your mind you start going through the list of people on mission with you and hoping it isn't them."  I could not put this any better, don't get me wrong, the fact that anyone was hit is awful and of course you don't want anyone you're with to be hurt, but you start thinking who it could be and in this convoy I had one of my good friends and roommate PFC Delong with me and I thought it was him for about 20 mins as we didn't hear any radio traffic from their truck.  Later we learned who it was and while I still felt awful and my heart goes out to the soldiers, the 96th trans and their families, I would be lying if I didn't breathe a little easier when I saw Delong and Smith later that day.

The memorial service was a couple days ago and it was one of the saddest things I have ever gone through.  They say that there is nothing worse than a military funeral, I would have to say that a close second is the memorial ceremony conducted by those who were closest to the soldiers in their final months and weeks.  You create such a bond with these guys and girls that you become close to family.  You spend everyday, every waking minute with them and you get to know them better than some people in your own family.  It's a bond that can't really be described unless you have gone through it.  To watch those people talk about the fallen is very tough for everyone in the room, even if you didn't know them personally because it strikes a cord with you for a few reasons.  For one, you start thinking about "what if I had to go up there and talk about ________, what would I say? Would I be able to hold it together? What would I say to their family when I see them?"  The other is that the military is a massive brotherhood as cliche as it sounds, it is.  Anytime you see an ACH on top of a rifle behind a pair of boots, its sad because you have lost someone that gave up comfort in the United States, left home for a place that wants us gone, sacrificed family friends and relative safety for a place with none of that.  They came to a faraway place voluntarily to help in some way, to be something bigger than themselves and to serve the greatest country the world has ever known.  Excuse my concieted tone for a moment, but we are the best America has, because no one wants to do this but us.  No one else wants to go risk everything for next to nothing, less than 1% of Americans are willing or able to do this job.  Having said all of that, it is still an absolute honor to do what I am doing right now and as much as I miss home, my friends, my family, summertime in Ohio and Lindsey, I don't think I would rather be anywhere else.

Don't be mad for that last comment family and Lindsey, I still miss you in an amount that Im not sure I can accurately describe.

Thats really all I have for you all right now, we did go on another mission and returned safely back to KAF on Thursday but having said all I have it really isn't important.

Please just remember SGT Strachota and SSG Massarelli for the heroes they are as well as their families and the 96th TC of Fort Hood, TX.  They need your prayers more than I do at the moment.

Love you all!