Monday, June 26, 2006
HOT!
You know, I live in a desert. I was well aware of that fact considering all the sand and dirt laying around, but honestly, it hadnt been that hot yet. Humidity is almost unheard of here, so its just raw heat. I try to stay inside as much as I can, so it hasnt affected me that much. I think someone turned the oven to 450 and flipped the switch to bake yesterday evening. When I got up it felt like waking up in Florida in August. It was already over 90 just past 7am, and was actually humid. It didnt get better during the day, I think it ended up near 105 here today. I shouldnt complain, its the first day of heat really, but I have this funny feeling that it will continue on until the fall. No point today, just hot!
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Frustration
Today was the first day (of many I am sure) that I was very frustrated. The aforementioned 1LT Ali, is a good guy, hard working and all that, but evidently doesnt like to listen. All of the cell phones over here, use a prepaid sim card. Every month, the Garrison gets a set amount of these cards and they are spread out amoung the offices. The Garrison CO is a crook, documented of course, and he likes to take 90% of the minutes for himself and let the other offices flounder. We have been working on a plan to get him to buy off on that would essentially cut him out of the loop of the phone cards, and let us distibute them evenly. I told the LT today to NOT give the cards to the CO until we had this plan ready. He went anyway, and now the CO has all the cards, and we wont see them again. I got mad, yelled about that and some other stuff and just left. My interpreter finished telling them what I said and then came running after me. But,I was already fed up with that issue and another big one that I have been asking about for days and nothing is getting done. I am usually very patient, but I am giving very clear guidance, and assigning very few tasks at once and its still being mis-handled. Things will be better tomorrow as we will write out the plan, and have it signed and ready to go for next month. Ideally the other issue will be worked out, and we can move on.
Considering I left a bit early, I took off and did a base tour. There are some really cool old blown out buildings and a couple of tank graveyards. I have posted pictures at the link mentioned earlier. From what we are told, the missiles in the picture are SCUD's that until very recently, had warheads. I think all of the stuff laying out there is Iraqi, and orginally Russian built. The remants of the cold war laying out in a field. Good stuff.
Considering I left a bit early, I took off and did a base tour. There are some really cool old blown out buildings and a couple of tank graveyards. I have posted pictures at the link mentioned earlier. From what we are told, the missiles in the picture are SCUD's that until very recently, had warheads. I think all of the stuff laying out there is Iraqi, and orginally Russian built. The remants of the cold war laying out in a field. Good stuff.
Friday, June 23, 2006
update 9
I have started uploading pictures to google. I will try to mention in my updates if there are new pictures or not, but for now, I am still in the process of putting some up there.
It is located at : http://picasaweb.google.com/gwhopewell
Gary
It is located at : http://picasaweb.google.com/gwhopewell
Gary
update 1-8
I started all of this fun March 6th in Norfolk VA, and then headed to Camp Shelby MS on March 13th. This post used to be Update 8, but I have subsequently added 1-7 for those who came late! :)
I have these in order, so once you read all of this crap, you can resume normal blog reading.
Gary
This was sent March 20th.
Hello from beautiful Camp Shelby everyone!
I have now been here a week, and thought I would give a bit of an
update. The living quarters are ok. Barracks style, 14 guys in here.
They were bunk beds, but being enterprising Naval officers, we separated
them so now we all have bottom bunks. There are 6 barracks, 3 rooms per
and I think of all of them, ours has the least amount of complaints. It
smells good in here, the AC / Heat works, no one is a huge snorer
(unless its me and they havent told me), and we all seem to get along.
The same can not be said of the rest of the rooms.
The head, latrine, bathroom, whatever is ok. Its an open bay 8 shower
area, and about 10 sinks. Lots of hot water, so that is good, you just
have to work out your schedule to ensure you can get a spot. I dont
feel "dirty" being in there, but its not the cleanest place in the
world. Its kinda like camping at a place that at least takes care of
the bathrooms.
Another place I really cant complain to much is food. Jeez. I lost 25
pounds before I left, I have no doubts I've put on 10 of it. I actually
eat breakfast everyday now not knowing if lunch will happen, and its
always eggs / bacon etc. I think I will start hitting the cereal and
toast. MRE's for lunch everyday and I think they are an entire days
calories in one. I have tried to not eat the entire thing. They arent
bad, but I imagine after a while I'll be sick of them. Dinner has been
excellent. The army makes its people live in crappy places, but they
certainly compensate with food.
We finally started training a few days ago, a couple of classroom
sessions on the Humvee and some basic Army crap. Today we did some
Close air support (CAS) training and a little time in the simulator.
More of that to follow. Tomorrow is supposed to be an all day Humvee
driving day, including night driving with Night vision goggles (NVG's)
Dunno if we will get to that or not. Should be fun if I get my turn.
Day after that is supposed to be cultural awareness training. This has
been my only complaint so far. These orders are 365 on the ground in
Afghanistan, and I want to get there and get it done. They have not
been very efficient in getting us training everyday all day. We have
had an inordinate amount of time off, but I hope it stops once we get
some of the initial stuff done.
No real updates on where I am going (still think its Kabul), or the when
(around May 13th) or the what (Embedded Training team) that we are
doing. Status quo in this case is good.
I appreciate that you are all keeping me in your prayers. Take care.
Gary
This was sent March 30, 2006
Have I mentioned I hate the Army? :)
Ok, since the last update, here is what we have done.
First of all, the aforementioned barracks....gone. We moved. We were
here for 2 weeks, and they moved us all the way across the base to a NEW
(well, new to us) barracks. Looks JUST like the old ones. They did
give us a stand up locker, but I went from a 14 man room to about an 18
man room. I have much more storage space now, so that is good, but
moving is never fun. This new place has 2 heads now, which is nice,
alleviates the lack of shower / sink issues, BUT a new problem. The
showers in this place have about half the water pressure of the other
place, and the water cyles from 140F to about 75F pretty much at
random. Doesnt matter what you do with the knobs, it just delivers
water and you dance around in it attempting to avoid being burned or
frozen. GREAT. I did figure out last night though, that if I turn on
the shower next to me full bore hot, while I shower, it sorta keeps the
burning at bay. Its better but not great.
We did go through all of our Humvee training, drove both the 998
(regular ole unarmed 7000 pound version) and the up-armored 12000 pound
version. Pretty good time in general. All in all, I'd much rather
drive my accord.
The last three days have been spent in a Combat life saver
class......essentially combat first aid. Great training, great
instructors. This class had a level of dread involved as on day 3, we
the students were to put an IV in someone, and in turn, be stuck. Those
of you who know me well, know that I get light headed, sweaty, and pale
when that sorta stuff happens to me by professionals....having it done
by a buddy of mine wasnt fun! Pictures exist, find Kara or my mom and
they have them. It worked out fine, as my partner Brian (also from St.
Louis) hit my vein on the first try. I was nice to him and reciprocated
and we managed not to mangle each others arms. Some other pairs had to
try 2 / 3 / 4 times, and I have never seen more flowing blood in my
life. Good skill, but I can tell why I am not in the medical profession.
This morning was gas mask fittings, and then after we went out and took
our M16's and M9's apart. EARLY this morning, the General in charge of
our task force spoke to us. Good news is that he re-iterated that we
(the Navy and Air Force component) will not be used as combat forces and
will be used the way we were originally designed. Most of the training
we are getting here is a - just in case - sorta deal. All things I want
to know though, in case something happens.
We start our range training next Monday or Tuesday I think - the
schedule is fluid.
Take care....miss you all.
Gary
This was sent April 12, 2006
It's been a little bit since my last update, but that just means I have been busy.
Since the last one, we have spent some serious time at the rifle and pistol range, and I have learned a few things. #1 - Trying to shoot an M-16 right handed, when you are left eye dominant, is not easy. I was the second to last guy (out of 30) to qualify on that weapon. I eventually got it, but, I think it took me 6 tries to get it done. The range included targets at 50/100/150/200/250 and 300 meters. You had 40 targets, and had to hit 23 to qualify. If you have ever tried to hit a target while in a foxhole, wearing 60 pounds of gear and a helmet, its not particular easy, and not well suited to a Navy officer who spent most of his recent career doing admin! :) I ended up getting 27 on my last try, and the good news is that I am fairly comfortable with the weapon now.
The 9mm range was a whole different story for me. Targets ranging from 7-30 meters, had to hit 16 out of 30, and I think I got 25 my first time through. Its a much easier weapon for me to handle, and I guess I "get it" a bit more. So with both of those, I am fully weapons qualified.
The times we have visited medical to be "screened" has reached 4. I think the over / under is at 7 before we leave.
Today we started platoon and squad movement training. We were in "full battle rattle", or "full teenage mutant ninja turtle battle attire" depending on who you ask. It includes our helmet, the IBA (body armor), backpack with camelback, knee and elbow pads and both weapons. I think when its all said and done, we are carrying about 60 pounds. Then they taught us how to low crawl (its not the same thing as when you were kids), high crawl and how to rush. Basically you rush for 3-5 seconds, and then throw yourself to the ground using the butt of your weapon to slow the fall. Great idea. Then you low or high crawl to the next position. These idiots out here were setting off smoke and m-80's for realism. I was tired, filthy, and had lost 2 pounds of fluids just after the first obstacle course. I think at this point it was 10am. Argh. The rest of the day we did a forced march of about 2/3 miles practicing our wedge, V, and squad / platoon line formations. I am so well aware of why I didnt join the army. I spent most of the day flat on the ground letting bugs crawl all over me, thinking "I know why I didnt join the army" Oh yeah, this was in full gear. Dont ever forget full gear. Nazi's. End of the day, I was more filthy, much more tired, and every inch of clothing I had was covered in sweat. Just think, only three more day of this!
Just remember, if you think you are having a bad day, its very likely mine is worse :)
Take care, keep me in your prayers.
Gary
This was sent May 2, 2006
Wow, a serious extended period of time with an update. Sorry about that. Our schedule optempo has gone up exponentially with my free time doing the opposite.
They have been putting us through the ringer physically and mentally, although I can see the end of the tunnel now so its not that bad.
We did our Squad and platoon ops, where on the last day, as a group we "assaulted" a position with an attack element, and two support elements giving suppressive fire. We were given high marks by the Army guys playing the bad guys as we ended up surprising them on our approach and took the position with no casualties. I was in the attack element, which involved a series of 3-5 second rushes (described below), and ended up being a very difficult week. I think it was easily the hardest most physically demanding portion.
After that we did Urban operations which is basically how to move through a town in squad sized groups, clearning buildings if need be, and attempting to not be seen. Our 4 man squad was taught to kick in doors and clear rooms. Speed, surprise and firepower are key in this fun. I also learned you don't want to be the first man in. I was in that position all week and even just pretending, it was very tense. It was a good class, but its something I really dont ever see us doing.
Following this class we did the reflexive fire range. Its basically a range where you learn to carry your M-16 at the low ready, and as a target pops up, you bring your weapon up and fire quickly, without really aiming. Again, fun stuff, not sure how applicable it will be to me teaching the ANA how to count bullets.
We continued on from there and did 32 hours of classroom on an Army computer system, but we did it in 2 days. 16 hours of class a day isnt productive. The learning stopped around 5pm each day and then it became an exercise in staying awake.
Our next three days was spent out at FOB (Forward operating base) Hurricane here on Shelby. We lived in tents and during the day we had practical exercises on base defense, entry control points, and quick reaction forces. Again, things we wont do in country, but interestesting to learn. BTW, I also hate camping. There are pictures from this fun floating around.
Our last couple days have been spent working on what the Army calls crew served weapons. Basically anythign that isnt hand carried by a soldier. Most have tripods, or are vechile mounted. I got selected to fire the M-2 .50 caliber rifle. Its big, its loud and shoots a long way. I was on the qualifiying range today and hit 9 out of 9 targets from 400 to 800 yards. Its a cool gun, its fully automatic and you just lay on the trigger for a few seconds in the general direction of a target and it falls down. There are pictures of this, someone has them. I also have video from it, ill get that to you guys eventually.
Oh yeah, I forgot, the Army also decided to give me an M-203 grenade launcher that is attached to my M-16, again pictures are around. It makes the gun weigh about 15 pounds now, but at least it looks cool. Lets hope I never use it.
Down to our last 8 days here, and its nice to see the end. We have 4 days of Convoy operations starting tomorrow, followed by a couple days of firing the AK-47 and then I think we are about done with this fun. When its all said and done, ill be qualified to shoot or carry 5 weapons. Fun.
Take care
Gary
This was sent May 22, 2006
Hey all, greetings from beautiful, but dusty and hot Kabul Afghanistan. I have been here for 2 days now after my whirlwind travel adventure. I left St. Louis on the 16th of May in time to be back at Camp Shelby by midnight (we had intended on leaving a bit earlier, but one of the guys got delayed, so we were back 11pm). We spent the next day(17th) packing, cleaning and getting ready to get out of dodge. Our flight left Gulfport MS at 3am on the 18th, so around 9pm on the 17th we stacked all the bags, loaded the buses and went to get weighed to ensure we didnt drop the 767 out of the sky. Evidently we were underweight.
By 11 or so, we were in Gulfport, and sent to a huge hanger to hang out. We rotted there for a few hours while they loaded the plane and fueled up. We boarded a bit late but got off around 4am. We started our first leg of the journey, an 8 hour non-stop flight to Shannon Ireland. I slept almost the entire trip, which was a good thing. Landed in Shannon in a fog(a personal one) although it was raining there, at about 5pm local time, and got off the plane with the other 130 people and got in line for a guiness. I did make it, and had my guiness in Ireland. It was excellent. We were only in Ireland for about 2 hours and we boarded again for our flight to Manas, Kyrgyzstan.
This flight most of us were awake, and it was a little more lively. Watched a couple movies, slept a little bit, ate for the 4th time on the plane and then landed in Manas about 7am. In actuality, the jet lag wasnt bad, because we landed like 27 hours later, and I had slept for a reasonable amount of time. I was able to step right into the new time zone. We were briefed, sent to tents to drop our crap and then told to just wait to find out when our flight out would be. It was nice to have a bit of downtime. Manas is a really nice base. Its in ex Soviet territory, but has really nice mountains in the background and pleasant weather. 24 hour food, a nice PX/BX, and phone / internet access. Best thing: 2 beers a day! I had some Russian jobby I couldnt pronounce and a czech beer called Budweiser (evidently they think they were first cause they were touting it as "the original"). Good stuff. Ran into the first of three people that I "know" there. This guy is a policemen in St. Louis who works in the same office as my Aunt Gerri. Weird. Our flight to Bagram was the next morning at 10.
Loaded our C Bags AGAIN for the plane, and got to the airport to board. We took a C-17 flown by the Air Force, a first for me, flying Milair. Sat in the jump seats on the side of the plane and all in all, not a bad ride. 2 hours later, we were in Bagram, Afghanistan. Short lived there, but long enough to unload and load all our bags again. I think each of us moved about 3 tons of stuff that day as we had to touch the bags over and over. Got old. We then got a convoy consisting of 3 up armored Humvee's with .50 cal guns on them, 2 five ton trucks with our bags on it, and then our two school buses with us in them. The trip from Bagram is 30 miles according to my GPS, but it took us 1:52 mins to get there. CRAPPY roads. We are truly in a third world country. In that 30 miles I saw more burned out, bombed out buildings, camels, nomadic people just out wandering, tent cities and tons of crappy villages. Ive been to Mexico and Jamaica, and I thought those were bad, they just dont compare. I have to wonder how much of the damage I saw was caused by us, or how much was from the Soviets. We have been in Kabul living in tents, AGAIN for the last two days. I am really tired of living out of bags. From what I can figure, we should be at our final destination later this week after some training here at Camp Phoenix. From what I gather, I will be at Policharki, or Pol-E-Charki, or however else they spell it (most just say PeC), which is a small garrison base about 10 miles east of here. From what I gather, its a pretty nice place. At this point, I dont care, I just want to be able to unpack. Its been mid to high 80's here, and the sun is intense. Its also pretty dusty, only a few days here and my ears are collecting it. I think by the time I am done, I will just throw everything I have here away. It will be easier than cleaning it. Since being here, I have met two other people I "know". One is a Navy LT who I put in the Navy while a recruiter, and then I ran into my detailer (the guy who sends you to your next job) when I was on active duty. Its amazing that I have come 9+ thousand miles and I keep seeing people I know. I imagine that will continue.
I do have an address, but I want to confirm it before I send it out. As always, easy way to get me is via email. Its pretty good here so far.
More updates when stuff changes.
Gary
This was sent May 28th 2006
Good Morning! Well, its morning for you, but for me, its mid afternoon. I have been on my new base in Kabul for a couple days and thought I would send out a mini update.
We got here a couple days ago, and at first we had some aprehension as they were talking of splitting up my 5 man team, and sending some of us down south to a different base. Its not a bad place down there, but we all wanted to stay together, and honestly, this base we are at is by far the best in Afghanistan. We talked with the Marine Colonel that is here, and convinced him we should all stay and the 4 guys coming in behind us should fill the 2 openings at the base down south. It all made sense, and he agreed, so fortunately we are all here together. It wouldnt have been the end of the world, but we have all trained together for 2 plus months, you get close to people and you dont want to break up the team you have created.
Ok, so now that we are staying, I'll give the rundown. We live in a REAL building. Not a tent, not a plywood structure. The rooms are very similar to dorm rooms, pretty big ones at that. Usually 3 man rooms, although I think I will only have 2 in mine (more space!). We have stand up lockers and our own little area that is sectioned off with a curtain. Each room has an internet connection, and a TV / DVD. You can get sat TV as well, but I doubt I will as its probably expensive. I'm happy (thrilled) enough with a real room and internet!
Another huge bonus: I dont have to go outside to use the bathroom, or shower! Again, a real building means real restrooms. A lot of guys in my group are going to places with porta potty's and outdoor showers.
We have a barber shop, sewing place, a mini coffee shop, and a post office. The food is some of the best in country and they really try to take care of us. They also have an MWR room with a pool table, ping pong table, 3 XBOX's, a big screen, and a ton of movies / vid games you can rent out for free. The library is full of books and magazines, again, just take whatever you want to read. The place is really amazing.
Its still Afghanistan, so its hot, dirty, and dusty and its not like I am living at Disneyland, but its certainly a HUGE upgrade over where I have been living lately. Dirty tents, cots, and outdoor bathrooms get old really fast. Not to mention always living out of bag.
That is the Camp, called Camp Blackhorse by the way, and its located in the city of Pol-e-Charki (PeC), which is really just a suburb of Kabul.
We started working with the ANA (Afghan National Army) yesterday. Incredibly personable, and very well meaning. They are only a three year old army, so they have three year old issues. They like to ask for things, and have us do their work. We are here as mentors, trying to guide them to do the right thing, teaching them to be professional military officers and then if necessary stepping in to assist when their system fails them. My counterpart is the Comm guy for them, and basically they have some radios and a few computers. No real idea how to run the computers and limited radio knowledge. I have an uphill battle waiting for me. He didnt have a dedicated Navy guy during the last rotation so he is a bit farther behind some of the other ANA officers, but Ill work to get him up to speed. They all have a real sense of "me", they dont get the team concept. The fail to see how making the team stronger helps them, and cant figure out how supporting another department works in their favor. Again, something that I am here to help them learn. Ill get pictures of the place I work and some of the ANA to give you an idea of their working conditions.
Thats about it for now, notice I didnt bitch? Its on purpose. I dont feel right bitching, when I live in this place, doing the job I am doing. At least not yet! :)
Take care!
Gary
Sent JUNE 2nd 2006.
I have been working with the ANA most of the week and had a couple things that I figured I would talk about.
First, the tea. I have had more hot tea this week, than if you had added up all the other times in my life. Every time you go into an office, or sit for more than 30 seconds someone is offering you tea.
Being as the average guy there makes about 300 bucks a month, its sorta
rude not to take something they offer. I have declined couple times
but for the most part, you are trapped. The tea isn't the issue, its the system. The first time I had it, I walked into a room where 3 people were already drinking tea. When we sat down the guy grabbed those three cups, just topped them off and handed them to us. ACK.
That is a fairly common occurrence. Sometimes you get a glass that was empty, but obviously not washed recently. Occasionally you have one of the good enlisted guys actually go wash the cups, but being as ive seen where they wash them, and the fact that the water is not drinkable, I'm not so sure thats better. To top it all off, many of them assuming you
don't finish your tea, will pour it back into the pot! I am assuming
this is why the Navy gave me 10 shots before I came here.
Another issue that we are dealing with, is the fact that to the Afghan's, its the year 1385, and its March (at least what we consider
March) So, whenever we are talking to them, we have to do this mental conversion of +10 for days, -3 for months, and remember that they are
621 years behind us. Which is actually fairly fitting considering how
this place looks. They also don't have unique days of the week. They
have their holy day which is Friday, don't know what that is called yet. Then there is Saturday which is Sham bay (spelling is off I'm certain). Then, Sunday is yuk-sham bay (yuk is their word for one, again, don't hold me to the spelling), then du-sham bay (du is two), say-sham bay (say is three) etc. Basically, everyday is Saturday, and then they just add to it. Saturday +1, Saturday +2 etc. Add all this to the fact that I also try to keep tabs on central time which is 9.5 hours behind me, and I never know if I am coming or going!
I've spent my first week with them, trying to get them to tell me what their current issues are. I want them to document it, and prioritize it, and then we work the priority list. It's a difficult concept for them as they tend to grab one issue (typically not important) and only concentrate on that one. My counterpart's big issue is that he wants an office in the head building. He hasn't mentioned any of the broken printers, computers or the major phone install he has going on, but he wants an office. I am trying to teach him the value of not being co-located with the boss. We did computer inventory yesterday and found most of them, which was surprising. We also found a pile of equipment that wasn't working. So, now we have that on our list to go collect on Saturday, so we can turn it in and get new things. They found that
concept foreign. Which I guess works, because I am foreign! I am
enjoying the work so far, but its really mind boggling some of the things you have to talk about.
More updates as things happen!
Gary
Somehow I have managed to lose my latest update, so ill just tag onto the last one I could find.
Today marks the end of the first month here in Kabul. 1/12th of the way done. Doesn't sound like much, but getting through the first month here is probably the hardest part.
My days have been similar for the past week....I go over early in the morning, attempt to find my ANA counterpart and then work on whatever they have going, and if they don't have a plan, I find something for them. This past week has been inventory and virus software. We finding every piece of equipment they own, from computers, to printers, to radios. Its tedious and obviously has never been done. I am also getting them to use the computer more. Most of their reports are done with a pencil, a blank piece of paper and a ruler. Takes forever. They also refuse to make any extraneous marks on the page. If they make a mistake, they leave it. Cultural thing. The inventory will be an ongoing process, and isn't exciting. I decided on the virus software once one of our guys here used a thumb drive in a machine and promptly brought a virus back to us here at Blackhorse. We will be finished with that project tomorrow, at least until next month when we go to update. We have to do manual updates as they don't have the Internet yet. They are digging on the base, EVERYWHERE for Internet lines. Its amazing how much work a group of 20 guys with picks and shovels can get done. They really can dig. Ill be happy when they are done though, there are holes and trenches everywhere and makes driving difficult.
I learned a couple interesting facts this week. Number 1....the assistant S-6 who I spend most of my time with, is named Mohammad Ali. I had to ask him twice if he was messing with me. No significance, just funny. Two, I have been asking my interpreter what his birthday is. They don't celebrate them here, thus when you ask someone how old they are they always say "about x" In his case, he says, about 25. I got tired of that and made him ask his mom what his birthday was, as I told him, she will know. Of course she did, and strangely enough, his birthday is also March 12th. Weird.
The guy I am supposed to be working with is not well liked by the Garrison CO, and is tasked with a whole bunch of shitty little jobs. His big one is getting the food from downtown. Everyday he drives to Kabul to get the meat, rice, fruit etc. EVERYDAY. I never see him and its getting old. He is supposed to be taken off that duty soon so he can get some time with me. His subordinates have taken to calling him Commander Banana. Which is really funny because they don\'t speak English.
On the language barrier. I speak very little Dari, and they speak very little English, thank God for the terps, but its amazing the conversations you can have with someone using primitive grunts and pointing. Its like I am a cave man. I am making a concerted effort to learn what I can of their language, I have all the basics down...hello, goodbye, thank you, numbers etc. I try to have them teach me one easy phrase a day so I can pick up more. Its slow, as I really don't have the natural ability to pick up languages. I am actually lucky I know English come to think of it.
We did our first trip to the ANA side of the base today for PT. They have a soccer "field" on their side that we wanted to try out. Imagine two soccer goals with nets, and 100 yards of dry dirt and rocks in between. It sufficed for us to play some football and Frisbee, it was nice to do something other than be on the treadmill. We have to be armed while off Blackhorse, so that took a little fun out of it, but all in all, it was a good time. We got some interesting looks from passing soldiers.
Not much else going on, its sorta like the movie Ground hog day here, without all the repeated suicides ;) Thanks for all the support, I look forward to seeing you all soon!
Gary
I have these in order, so once you read all of this crap, you can resume normal blog reading.
Gary
This was sent March 20th.
Hello from beautiful Camp Shelby everyone!
I have now been here a week, and thought I would give a bit of an
update. The living quarters are ok. Barracks style, 14 guys in here.
They were bunk beds, but being enterprising Naval officers, we separated
them so now we all have bottom bunks. There are 6 barracks, 3 rooms per
and I think of all of them, ours has the least amount of complaints. It
smells good in here, the AC / Heat works, no one is a huge snorer
(unless its me and they havent told me), and we all seem to get along.
The same can not be said of the rest of the rooms.
The head, latrine, bathroom, whatever is ok. Its an open bay 8 shower
area, and about 10 sinks. Lots of hot water, so that is good, you just
have to work out your schedule to ensure you can get a spot. I dont
feel "dirty" being in there, but its not the cleanest place in the
world. Its kinda like camping at a place that at least takes care of
the bathrooms.
Another place I really cant complain to much is food. Jeez. I lost 25
pounds before I left, I have no doubts I've put on 10 of it. I actually
eat breakfast everyday now not knowing if lunch will happen, and its
always eggs / bacon etc. I think I will start hitting the cereal and
toast. MRE's for lunch everyday and I think they are an entire days
calories in one. I have tried to not eat the entire thing. They arent
bad, but I imagine after a while I'll be sick of them. Dinner has been
excellent. The army makes its people live in crappy places, but they
certainly compensate with food.
We finally started training a few days ago, a couple of classroom
sessions on the Humvee and some basic Army crap. Today we did some
Close air support (CAS) training and a little time in the simulator.
More of that to follow. Tomorrow is supposed to be an all day Humvee
driving day, including night driving with Night vision goggles (NVG's)
Dunno if we will get to that or not. Should be fun if I get my turn.
Day after that is supposed to be cultural awareness training. This has
been my only complaint so far. These orders are 365 on the ground in
Afghanistan, and I want to get there and get it done. They have not
been very efficient in getting us training everyday all day. We have
had an inordinate amount of time off, but I hope it stops once we get
some of the initial stuff done.
No real updates on where I am going (still think its Kabul), or the when
(around May 13th) or the what (Embedded Training team) that we are
doing. Status quo in this case is good.
I appreciate that you are all keeping me in your prayers. Take care.
Gary
This was sent March 30, 2006
Have I mentioned I hate the Army? :)
Ok, since the last update, here is what we have done.
First of all, the aforementioned barracks....gone. We moved. We were
here for 2 weeks, and they moved us all the way across the base to a NEW
(well, new to us) barracks. Looks JUST like the old ones. They did
give us a stand up locker, but I went from a 14 man room to about an 18
man room. I have much more storage space now, so that is good, but
moving is never fun. This new place has 2 heads now, which is nice,
alleviates the lack of shower / sink issues, BUT a new problem. The
showers in this place have about half the water pressure of the other
place, and the water cyles from 140F to about 75F pretty much at
random. Doesnt matter what you do with the knobs, it just delivers
water and you dance around in it attempting to avoid being burned or
frozen. GREAT. I did figure out last night though, that if I turn on
the shower next to me full bore hot, while I shower, it sorta keeps the
burning at bay. Its better but not great.
We did go through all of our Humvee training, drove both the 998
(regular ole unarmed 7000 pound version) and the up-armored 12000 pound
version. Pretty good time in general. All in all, I'd much rather
drive my accord.
The last three days have been spent in a Combat life saver
class......essentially combat first aid. Great training, great
instructors. This class had a level of dread involved as on day 3, we
the students were to put an IV in someone, and in turn, be stuck. Those
of you who know me well, know that I get light headed, sweaty, and pale
when that sorta stuff happens to me by professionals....having it done
by a buddy of mine wasnt fun! Pictures exist, find Kara or my mom and
they have them. It worked out fine, as my partner Brian (also from St.
Louis) hit my vein on the first try. I was nice to him and reciprocated
and we managed not to mangle each others arms. Some other pairs had to
try 2 / 3 / 4 times, and I have never seen more flowing blood in my
life. Good skill, but I can tell why I am not in the medical profession.
This morning was gas mask fittings, and then after we went out and took
our M16's and M9's apart. EARLY this morning, the General in charge of
our task force spoke to us. Good news is that he re-iterated that we
(the Navy and Air Force component) will not be used as combat forces and
will be used the way we were originally designed. Most of the training
we are getting here is a - just in case - sorta deal. All things I want
to know though, in case something happens.
We start our range training next Monday or Tuesday I think - the
schedule is fluid.
Take care....miss you all.
Gary
This was sent April 12, 2006
It's been a little bit since my last update, but that just means I have been busy.
Since the last one, we have spent some serious time at the rifle and pistol range, and I have learned a few things. #1 - Trying to shoot an M-16 right handed, when you are left eye dominant, is not easy. I was the second to last guy (out of 30) to qualify on that weapon. I eventually got it, but, I think it took me 6 tries to get it done. The range included targets at 50/100/150/200/250 and 300 meters. You had 40 targets, and had to hit 23 to qualify. If you have ever tried to hit a target while in a foxhole, wearing 60 pounds of gear and a helmet, its not particular easy, and not well suited to a Navy officer who spent most of his recent career doing admin! :) I ended up getting 27 on my last try, and the good news is that I am fairly comfortable with the weapon now.
The 9mm range was a whole different story for me. Targets ranging from 7-30 meters, had to hit 16 out of 30, and I think I got 25 my first time through. Its a much easier weapon for me to handle, and I guess I "get it" a bit more. So with both of those, I am fully weapons qualified.
The times we have visited medical to be "screened" has reached 4. I think the over / under is at 7 before we leave.
Today we started platoon and squad movement training. We were in "full battle rattle", or "full teenage mutant ninja turtle battle attire" depending on who you ask. It includes our helmet, the IBA (body armor), backpack with camelback, knee and elbow pads and both weapons. I think when its all said and done, we are carrying about 60 pounds. Then they taught us how to low crawl (its not the same thing as when you were kids), high crawl and how to rush. Basically you rush for 3-5 seconds, and then throw yourself to the ground using the butt of your weapon to slow the fall. Great idea. Then you low or high crawl to the next position. These idiots out here were setting off smoke and m-80's for realism. I was tired, filthy, and had lost 2 pounds of fluids just after the first obstacle course. I think at this point it was 10am. Argh. The rest of the day we did a forced march of about 2/3 miles practicing our wedge, V, and squad / platoon line formations. I am so well aware of why I didnt join the army. I spent most of the day flat on the ground letting bugs crawl all over me, thinking "I know why I didnt join the army" Oh yeah, this was in full gear. Dont ever forget full gear. Nazi's. End of the day, I was more filthy, much more tired, and every inch of clothing I had was covered in sweat. Just think, only three more day of this!
Just remember, if you think you are having a bad day, its very likely mine is worse :)
Take care, keep me in your prayers.
Gary
This was sent May 2, 2006
Wow, a serious extended period of time with an update. Sorry about that. Our schedule optempo has gone up exponentially with my free time doing the opposite.
They have been putting us through the ringer physically and mentally, although I can see the end of the tunnel now so its not that bad.
We did our Squad and platoon ops, where on the last day, as a group we "assaulted" a position with an attack element, and two support elements giving suppressive fire. We were given high marks by the Army guys playing the bad guys as we ended up surprising them on our approach and took the position with no casualties. I was in the attack element, which involved a series of 3-5 second rushes (described below), and ended up being a very difficult week. I think it was easily the hardest most physically demanding portion.
After that we did Urban operations which is basically how to move through a town in squad sized groups, clearning buildings if need be, and attempting to not be seen. Our 4 man squad was taught to kick in doors and clear rooms. Speed, surprise and firepower are key in this fun. I also learned you don't want to be the first man in. I was in that position all week and even just pretending, it was very tense. It was a good class, but its something I really dont ever see us doing.
Following this class we did the reflexive fire range. Its basically a range where you learn to carry your M-16 at the low ready, and as a target pops up, you bring your weapon up and fire quickly, without really aiming. Again, fun stuff, not sure how applicable it will be to me teaching the ANA how to count bullets.
We continued on from there and did 32 hours of classroom on an Army computer system, but we did it in 2 days. 16 hours of class a day isnt productive. The learning stopped around 5pm each day and then it became an exercise in staying awake.
Our next three days was spent out at FOB (Forward operating base) Hurricane here on Shelby. We lived in tents and during the day we had practical exercises on base defense, entry control points, and quick reaction forces. Again, things we wont do in country, but interestesting to learn. BTW, I also hate camping. There are pictures from this fun floating around.
Our last couple days have been spent working on what the Army calls crew served weapons. Basically anythign that isnt hand carried by a soldier. Most have tripods, or are vechile mounted. I got selected to fire the M-2 .50 caliber rifle. Its big, its loud and shoots a long way. I was on the qualifiying range today and hit 9 out of 9 targets from 400 to 800 yards. Its a cool gun, its fully automatic and you just lay on the trigger for a few seconds in the general direction of a target and it falls down. There are pictures of this, someone has them. I also have video from it, ill get that to you guys eventually.
Oh yeah, I forgot, the Army also decided to give me an M-203 grenade launcher that is attached to my M-16, again pictures are around. It makes the gun weigh about 15 pounds now, but at least it looks cool. Lets hope I never use it.
Down to our last 8 days here, and its nice to see the end. We have 4 days of Convoy operations starting tomorrow, followed by a couple days of firing the AK-47 and then I think we are about done with this fun. When its all said and done, ill be qualified to shoot or carry 5 weapons. Fun.
Take care
Gary
This was sent May 22, 2006
Hey all, greetings from beautiful, but dusty and hot Kabul Afghanistan. I have been here for 2 days now after my whirlwind travel adventure. I left St. Louis on the 16th of May in time to be back at Camp Shelby by midnight (we had intended on leaving a bit earlier, but one of the guys got delayed, so we were back 11pm). We spent the next day(17th) packing, cleaning and getting ready to get out of dodge. Our flight left Gulfport MS at 3am on the 18th, so around 9pm on the 17th we stacked all the bags, loaded the buses and went to get weighed to ensure we didnt drop the 767 out of the sky. Evidently we were underweight.
By 11 or so, we were in Gulfport, and sent to a huge hanger to hang out. We rotted there for a few hours while they loaded the plane and fueled up. We boarded a bit late but got off around 4am. We started our first leg of the journey, an 8 hour non-stop flight to Shannon Ireland. I slept almost the entire trip, which was a good thing. Landed in Shannon in a fog(a personal one) although it was raining there, at about 5pm local time, and got off the plane with the other 130 people and got in line for a guiness. I did make it, and had my guiness in Ireland. It was excellent. We were only in Ireland for about 2 hours and we boarded again for our flight to Manas, Kyrgyzstan.
This flight most of us were awake, and it was a little more lively. Watched a couple movies, slept a little bit, ate for the 4th time on the plane and then landed in Manas about 7am. In actuality, the jet lag wasnt bad, because we landed like 27 hours later, and I had slept for a reasonable amount of time. I was able to step right into the new time zone. We were briefed, sent to tents to drop our crap and then told to just wait to find out when our flight out would be. It was nice to have a bit of downtime. Manas is a really nice base. Its in ex Soviet territory, but has really nice mountains in the background and pleasant weather. 24 hour food, a nice PX/BX, and phone / internet access. Best thing: 2 beers a day! I had some Russian jobby I couldnt pronounce and a czech beer called Budweiser (evidently they think they were first cause they were touting it as "the original"). Good stuff. Ran into the first of three people that I "know" there. This guy is a policemen in St. Louis who works in the same office as my Aunt Gerri. Weird. Our flight to Bagram was the next morning at 10.
Loaded our C Bags AGAIN for the plane, and got to the airport to board. We took a C-17 flown by the Air Force, a first for me, flying Milair. Sat in the jump seats on the side of the plane and all in all, not a bad ride. 2 hours later, we were in Bagram, Afghanistan. Short lived there, but long enough to unload and load all our bags again. I think each of us moved about 3 tons of stuff that day as we had to touch the bags over and over. Got old. We then got a convoy consisting of 3 up armored Humvee's with .50 cal guns on them, 2 five ton trucks with our bags on it, and then our two school buses with us in them. The trip from Bagram is 30 miles according to my GPS, but it took us 1:52 mins to get there. CRAPPY roads. We are truly in a third world country. In that 30 miles I saw more burned out, bombed out buildings, camels, nomadic people just out wandering, tent cities and tons of crappy villages. Ive been to Mexico and Jamaica, and I thought those were bad, they just dont compare. I have to wonder how much of the damage I saw was caused by us, or how much was from the Soviets. We have been in Kabul living in tents, AGAIN for the last two days. I am really tired of living out of bags. From what I can figure, we should be at our final destination later this week after some training here at Camp Phoenix. From what I gather, I will be at Policharki, or Pol-E-Charki, or however else they spell it (most just say PeC), which is a small garrison base about 10 miles east of here. From what I gather, its a pretty nice place. At this point, I dont care, I just want to be able to unpack. Its been mid to high 80's here, and the sun is intense. Its also pretty dusty, only a few days here and my ears are collecting it. I think by the time I am done, I will just throw everything I have here away. It will be easier than cleaning it. Since being here, I have met two other people I "know". One is a Navy LT who I put in the Navy while a recruiter, and then I ran into my detailer (the guy who sends you to your next job) when I was on active duty. Its amazing that I have come 9+ thousand miles and I keep seeing people I know. I imagine that will continue.
I do have an address, but I want to confirm it before I send it out. As always, easy way to get me is via email. Its pretty good here so far.
More updates when stuff changes.
Gary
This was sent May 28th 2006
Good Morning! Well, its morning for you, but for me, its mid afternoon. I have been on my new base in Kabul for a couple days and thought I would send out a mini update.
We got here a couple days ago, and at first we had some aprehension as they were talking of splitting up my 5 man team, and sending some of us down south to a different base. Its not a bad place down there, but we all wanted to stay together, and honestly, this base we are at is by far the best in Afghanistan. We talked with the Marine Colonel that is here, and convinced him we should all stay and the 4 guys coming in behind us should fill the 2 openings at the base down south. It all made sense, and he agreed, so fortunately we are all here together. It wouldnt have been the end of the world, but we have all trained together for 2 plus months, you get close to people and you dont want to break up the team you have created.
Ok, so now that we are staying, I'll give the rundown. We live in a REAL building. Not a tent, not a plywood structure. The rooms are very similar to dorm rooms, pretty big ones at that. Usually 3 man rooms, although I think I will only have 2 in mine (more space!). We have stand up lockers and our own little area that is sectioned off with a curtain. Each room has an internet connection, and a TV / DVD. You can get sat TV as well, but I doubt I will as its probably expensive. I'm happy (thrilled) enough with a real room and internet!
Another huge bonus: I dont have to go outside to use the bathroom, or shower! Again, a real building means real restrooms. A lot of guys in my group are going to places with porta potty's and outdoor showers.
We have a barber shop, sewing place, a mini coffee shop, and a post office. The food is some of the best in country and they really try to take care of us. They also have an MWR room with a pool table, ping pong table, 3 XBOX's, a big screen, and a ton of movies / vid games you can rent out for free. The library is full of books and magazines, again, just take whatever you want to read. The place is really amazing.
Its still Afghanistan, so its hot, dirty, and dusty and its not like I am living at Disneyland, but its certainly a HUGE upgrade over where I have been living lately. Dirty tents, cots, and outdoor bathrooms get old really fast. Not to mention always living out of bag.
That is the Camp, called Camp Blackhorse by the way, and its located in the city of Pol-e-Charki (PeC), which is really just a suburb of Kabul.
We started working with the ANA (Afghan National Army) yesterday. Incredibly personable, and very well meaning. They are only a three year old army, so they have three year old issues. They like to ask for things, and have us do their work. We are here as mentors, trying to guide them to do the right thing, teaching them to be professional military officers and then if necessary stepping in to assist when their system fails them. My counterpart is the Comm guy for them, and basically they have some radios and a few computers. No real idea how to run the computers and limited radio knowledge. I have an uphill battle waiting for me. He didnt have a dedicated Navy guy during the last rotation so he is a bit farther behind some of the other ANA officers, but Ill work to get him up to speed. They all have a real sense of "me", they dont get the team concept. The fail to see how making the team stronger helps them, and cant figure out how supporting another department works in their favor. Again, something that I am here to help them learn. Ill get pictures of the place I work and some of the ANA to give you an idea of their working conditions.
Thats about it for now, notice I didnt bitch? Its on purpose. I dont feel right bitching, when I live in this place, doing the job I am doing. At least not yet! :)
Take care!
Gary
Sent JUNE 2nd 2006.
I have been working with the ANA most of the week and had a couple things that I figured I would talk about.
First, the tea. I have had more hot tea this week, than if you had added up all the other times in my life. Every time you go into an office, or sit for more than 30 seconds someone is offering you tea.
Being as the average guy there makes about 300 bucks a month, its sorta
rude not to take something they offer. I have declined couple times
but for the most part, you are trapped. The tea isn't the issue, its the system. The first time I had it, I walked into a room where 3 people were already drinking tea. When we sat down the guy grabbed those three cups, just topped them off and handed them to us. ACK.
That is a fairly common occurrence. Sometimes you get a glass that was empty, but obviously not washed recently. Occasionally you have one of the good enlisted guys actually go wash the cups, but being as ive seen where they wash them, and the fact that the water is not drinkable, I'm not so sure thats better. To top it all off, many of them assuming you
don't finish your tea, will pour it back into the pot! I am assuming
this is why the Navy gave me 10 shots before I came here.
Another issue that we are dealing with, is the fact that to the Afghan's, its the year 1385, and its March (at least what we consider
March) So, whenever we are talking to them, we have to do this mental conversion of +10 for days, -3 for months, and remember that they are
621 years behind us. Which is actually fairly fitting considering how
this place looks. They also don't have unique days of the week. They
have their holy day which is Friday, don't know what that is called yet. Then there is Saturday which is Sham bay (spelling is off I'm certain). Then, Sunday is yuk-sham bay (yuk is their word for one, again, don't hold me to the spelling), then du-sham bay (du is two), say-sham bay (say is three) etc. Basically, everyday is Saturday, and then they just add to it. Saturday +1, Saturday +2 etc. Add all this to the fact that I also try to keep tabs on central time which is 9.5 hours behind me, and I never know if I am coming or going!
I've spent my first week with them, trying to get them to tell me what their current issues are. I want them to document it, and prioritize it, and then we work the priority list. It's a difficult concept for them as they tend to grab one issue (typically not important) and only concentrate on that one. My counterpart's big issue is that he wants an office in the head building. He hasn't mentioned any of the broken printers, computers or the major phone install he has going on, but he wants an office. I am trying to teach him the value of not being co-located with the boss. We did computer inventory yesterday and found most of them, which was surprising. We also found a pile of equipment that wasn't working. So, now we have that on our list to go collect on Saturday, so we can turn it in and get new things. They found that
concept foreign. Which I guess works, because I am foreign! I am
enjoying the work so far, but its really mind boggling some of the things you have to talk about.
More updates as things happen!
Gary
Somehow I have managed to lose my latest update, so ill just tag onto the last one I could find.
Today marks the end of the first month here in Kabul. 1/12th of the way done. Doesn't sound like much, but getting through the first month here is probably the hardest part.
My days have been similar for the past week....I go over early in the morning, attempt to find my ANA counterpart and then work on whatever they have going, and if they don't have a plan, I find something for them. This past week has been inventory and virus software. We finding every piece of equipment they own, from computers, to printers, to radios. Its tedious and obviously has never been done. I am also getting them to use the computer more. Most of their reports are done with a pencil, a blank piece of paper and a ruler. Takes forever. They also refuse to make any extraneous marks on the page. If they make a mistake, they leave it. Cultural thing. The inventory will be an ongoing process, and isn't exciting. I decided on the virus software once one of our guys here used a thumb drive in a machine and promptly brought a virus back to us here at Blackhorse. We will be finished with that project tomorrow, at least until next month when we go to update. We have to do manual updates as they don't have the Internet yet. They are digging on the base, EVERYWHERE for Internet lines. Its amazing how much work a group of 20 guys with picks and shovels can get done. They really can dig. Ill be happy when they are done though, there are holes and trenches everywhere and makes driving difficult.
I learned a couple interesting facts this week. Number 1....the assistant S-6 who I spend most of my time with, is named Mohammad Ali. I had to ask him twice if he was messing with me. No significance, just funny. Two, I have been asking my interpreter what his birthday is. They don't celebrate them here, thus when you ask someone how old they are they always say "about x" In his case, he says, about 25. I got tired of that and made him ask his mom what his birthday was, as I told him, she will know. Of course she did, and strangely enough, his birthday is also March 12th. Weird.
The guy I am supposed to be working with is not well liked by the Garrison CO, and is tasked with a whole bunch of shitty little jobs. His big one is getting the food from downtown. Everyday he drives to Kabul to get the meat, rice, fruit etc. EVERYDAY. I never see him and its getting old. He is supposed to be taken off that duty soon so he can get some time with me. His subordinates have taken to calling him Commander Banana. Which is really funny because they don\'t speak English.
On the language barrier. I speak very little Dari, and they speak very little English, thank God for the terps, but its amazing the conversations you can have with someone using primitive grunts and pointing. Its like I am a cave man. I am making a concerted effort to learn what I can of their language, I have all the basics down...hello, goodbye, thank you, numbers etc. I try to have them teach me one easy phrase a day so I can pick up more. Its slow, as I really don't have the natural ability to pick up languages. I am actually lucky I know English come to think of it.
We did our first trip to the ANA side of the base today for PT. They have a soccer "field" on their side that we wanted to try out. Imagine two soccer goals with nets, and 100 yards of dry dirt and rocks in between. It sufficed for us to play some football and Frisbee, it was nice to do something other than be on the treadmill. We have to be armed while off Blackhorse, so that took a little fun out of it, but all in all, it was a good time. We got some interesting looks from passing soldiers.
Not much else going on, its sorta like the movie Ground hog day here, without all the repeated suicides ;) Thanks for all the support, I look forward to seeing you all soon!
Gary
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