So after 3 days in Kabul and Baghram and 4 days at my home FOB it was time to head back downrange and see the boys of Devil company again. The Face man was back on this mission with me again and it was good to walk into the Devil company TOC and hear the commander say “Oh they sent the A-team back” when Face and I walked in. After we walked around and visited with everyone it was time to get busy on the Hummer. This was my truck that had been brand new 4 weeks earlier but after all it had went through, did not look new anymore.

Jawed the terp, Face and myself stripped the vehicle of everything that was in it. We took out everything that was not bolted into the truck. The amount of dust and dirt was unbelievable in there. In some places it was over one inch of caked dirt. Once everything was pulled out of the truck we left Jawed to watch the stuff while Face and I took the truck over to maintenance. We got in line behind several other trucks to use the air compressor and then finally got up there to blow it out. It took us over 45 minutes to blow all the dust out of the inside and blow out the air filter with high-pressured air. Once we finished this nasty job we took it over to the wash point and washed the whole outside and the under-carriage. I also took this time to remount my Tacsat antenna to a better place on the vehicle.

After we finished it up, we went back to our tent and I worked on “jingling” up the truck. I mounted a new speaker that we had got in for the radios and worked on other maintenance issues replacing broken cables and other things that had happened to my baby over the last several weeks. We were also able to glom some new towbars from the 10th MTN guys and mounted one on the front of the truck. After lunch we got everything re-loaded and organized into the truck. A while later we moved out with Devil company and moved to one of their company FOBs that is located in this 25’ high wall KULAT that they acquired. It is a fortress that is very well laid out. We bunked in there for the night and got a decent night rest inside a very-defendable patrol base, at least more secure than where we normally stay out in the open desert.

The next day we split the ANA into two groups and put each group with a platoon. Both platoons had very different missions and since one was going to involve more with the locals and ANP we went with that one. The day mainly consisted of village presence patrols and linking up with the local ANP to coordinate issues for the local area and share intel. After a day of patrolling we found a good spot for a Patrol Base that gave us the ability to overlook several villages. We setup here and stayed the night. This night for dinner we had Korean ramen and teriyaki rice from some of the rice packets that were sent from

The day after this we went to check out one village that we had heard intel about and conducted a dismounted patrol through this village. It was very hot this day and I was up on the gun the whole time, so I was baking. Lets just say the old bald noggin has got quite tan out here. Once this several hour mission was over we moved back to out patrol base and worked on weapons maintenance, and personal maintenance. While we were there I was talking to Devil-7 about what I thought looked like an upside down turtle in a wadi the day before. I was saying that it looked like a turtle as we drove past but I can’t believe there would be one out here with no water anywhere. Jawed heard me talking about this and made it his mission to find me one. He walked over the edge of the hill and came back about 30 minutes later with a turtle. A honest to God live turtle in the middle of the desert with no water anywhere. I always thought that turtles had to be near water myself. Jawed had pulled him out from underneath a rock. So we all played with him a little bit and decorated his shell also. The ANA got a bottle of water and kept pouring it into a little paper bowl and holding it for him so he could drink. They sat there patiently feeding that turtle a whole bottle of water. Once that was done he crawled under my truck and stayed there all day, out of the sunlight. He was very content all day.

Late in the afternoon we pulled out of there and moved to a new area not far from the main hardball highway. It was Ramadan and the ANA really wanted real food and not MREs. They wanted to go to the bazaar and get food (because they again failed to buy some before we left the 10th MTN FOB). It was after dark by the time we got settled into the patrol base, so we told them no they could not go as it was not safe to leave now. They were upset with us, but at this point we did not care as we needed to all stick together. We told them that if there was time the next day, we would let them go to a bazaar during the day and get some stuff for their evening meal.

Dinner that night was more rice from the packets with Tuna thrown in. We had to cook in the dark, but that was ok cause it was hot and good.

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Well on day 20 it was time to leave. I had been downrange for almost 3 weeks straight and my Team Chief wanted me back. I had some administrative issues to tie up and I had been downrange more than anyone else. They wanted me to have a physical and mental break regardless if I wanted one or not. So I said my Goodbyes to Devil company on this day thinking I would never be back or see them again. I was doing this while they were prepping the area for the Shura and other activities of the day.

So we moved out and headed to Ghazni to get replaced. Once the new team met up with us there we swapped trucks as they wanted to keep mine downrange. See mine is the newest one and has some of the more advanced technologies so it made sense to keep it on combat operations. So, after the relief in place (RIP), we headed to Kabul and Baghram to drop two guys off, one for pass and one for leave. About halfway there SSG G complained something was wrong with the steering. Since I was up on the gun I could smell the hydraulic fluid. I asked him if his brakes were ok and he said “No, I lost them too”. Having went through this before, I knew exactly what was wrong. Back in June I had to drive a Humvee through a mountain pass with no brakes or steering.

He pulled over and I told him where to look under the hood. He looked and sure enough that same hose had ruptured. Since SSG G had never driven through the mad-house of Kabul before and I had, and I had driven one of these beast without power steering or power brakes I told him I would drive. He did not argue that and knew that was the best option. So he got on the gun and I got a workout. We put the other truck in front of mine so they could help clear the way. About 45 minutes further and we entered the outskirts of Kabul,,,,then it was game on.

Since Kabul has had a rash of suicide bombings and car bombings lately it is always a hair raising event to drive through there. Then throw in the people, traffic and the fact that I had to manually steer and brake a truck that weighs multiple tons I would have lots my hair had I not shaved it off already. I stayed tight on the back end of the other Hummer in front of me, which was being driven by Face. Since I did not have the normal maneuverability the risk of being rammed by a car bomber or something was much greater. Everyone was paying attention to everything and I was just sure I would fender bender with someone. It was by the grace of God that I didn’t, however I came within inches of running over 4 num-nutz that did not want to get out of my way. I slammed the brake pedal with both feet to just barely stop from plowing them over. We eventually made it to the FOB that houses the HQ for the ETT mission, which was our stop for the day. As soon as we got there, the truck went right to maintenance. This ended Operation Mountain Fury also, as it had ended a few days earlier even though our missions did not end.

The next day we went to Baghram to drop off the two guys that were heading out. While there we hit the PX and other stores and venues that they have. After a few hours there, we loaded up to head back. The ride between Baghram and Kabul is not long at all and soon we were back at the ETT HQ. Once we got back, we went into our transient barracks and ran into one of the guys we know from the Ark team who had come in that day. He asked if we saw the suicide bomber, and I told him we didn’t. He said as they were driving into Kabul (the same route we were on the day before) some suicide bomber had blown himself up right in the road. They came up on it minutes later and said it was a mess. I guess this idiot killed 13 afghan school-girls in the process. He said it was a madhouse and it took them a while to get through it. This made me very glad that we came through the day before. It is one thing to see adults die and get hurt, actually you can numb yourself to it and not really let it bother you. But to see kids hurt and killed would bother anyone, especially a father. If it doesn’t bother you to see kids hurt, then you need to get yourself checked out, at least in my opinion.

So we were back, did not have to see hurt kids and I again enjoyed a nice Café Mocha at the java shop, and a massage (see they have those types of places at FOBs like this, but not at ones I live at).

The next day we headed out and went back to our FOB in Sharana. It would be good to finally sleep in my bed after being away from it for 22 days. I missed the guys from Devil company, but I soon found that my time in my old bed was limited to a few days. I would be back downrange hunting the bad guys soon enough.

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After a night in the garden kulat we had two patrols for the following day. One was going to be dismounted and the LT would be on that one, the other would be a farther patrol and mounted. Myself and SGT W were on this one. After a typical breakfast of coffee and oatmeal or pop-tarts we headed out on the mounted patrol. We went back to a village that was a pure Hazara village.

There are several major ethnic groups in Afghanistan. There are Pashtos, Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Hazaras as the main ones. Pashtos make up the largest majority are what you see in most dark-skinned Afghans. Hazaras are the smallest majority and are generally treated like second-hand citizens in this country. Hazaras have Chinese ancestors and can easily be picked out of a crowd by their lighter skin and oriental facial features. Even though Hazaras are looked down upon like slaves were back in the 1800s, they are known to be the cleanest of the people in Afghanistan and they are the only tribe to kick the taliban out of where they live. They were the first tribe of people to refuse taliban in their villages after we rooted them out in 2001-2002. The Hazara people band together and will stand up against any taliban that try to infiltrate their villages.

The village we visited this day also stood out like the one before. It was also very pretty with almost every house painted, clean and hardly any trash laying around. This village was very long as it stretched out along the base of a mountain range and had a river running through the whole village. This availability of water allowed for a very lush and green area by Afghan standards. The kids that ran out were also very clean. Their clothes were clean, their skin and hair was clean and their hair was also combed and in good order. The men were very forthcoming and talked to us easily. They were proud to tell us there were no taliban in their village but some lived on the outskirts. The kids were funny and liked to talk to us. I put one up in the seat of my truck and we looked for anything we could to give them. Unfortunately we had given most of our stuff away the previous two days, but luckily we found some more toys and candy in the truck that had fallen in the floorboards. We gave this out and I even showed the kids how to use the small lego sets we gave them.

One of our ANA is from this village and he has told me about being stopped on the road by a taliban checkpoint on his way home one time for leave. He pointed out the house where one of the men who stopped him lived. It was a house at the edge of the village and not really included in the village. I grabbed 4-5 ANA and 3 10th MTN soldiers and we moved to this house dismounted to cordon it. Once we surrounded it, the ANA brought a truck up in the front yard with its PKM machine gun pointing at the house. This house did not have a kulat wall around it and was open to the road. As I approached it with my terp, Hadi, the old lady told us she did not want US soldiers in her house. She was fairly aggressive in tone and pretty demanding. I told her she was not in a position to tell us what to do, but I would honor her request and not bring in US soldiers right now. I went to the front of her house and stood on what would be considered her porch. I told the ANA to search the house and I told the US soldiers to stay in the yard for now and just search the animal pens. I then had Hadi start with the standard questions about the men of the house, taliban presence, etc. One of the ANA brought out an old US large rucksack from the house. This gave me reason to turn up the heat on the lady and start demanding what was in the house. She said nothing else was in there and that was left over from the Russian war where we gave gear to the mujihadeen. My terp confirmed it was from this time and from the looks of it I believed it. They soon brought out another one and then some new rifle slings. At this point, I had the US soldiers on the porch with me and was yelling at the lady that I was going to let the Americans in to tear the place apart. After the slings came out, I took it up a notch and told the ANA to tear it apart. In their follow-on search they found a long-barrel single-shot shotgun. I then told her that she should have told me about that and that if one more thing is found I would release the US soldiers. I told the soldiers to stand near the windows and look in. I wanted her to know I was not kidding. I told her that I don’t care what it is, but if she had anything the taliban could use or that I thought could be used for weapon we would tear the place apart. Lucky for her nothing else was found. I then told her that we knew her husband was involved with taliban checkpoints and that we were watching. I told her not to support the taliban because that would keep us here longer. I left the stuff on the porch and we left with no real reason to detain anyone or do anything else. Even though we did not find anyone or anything substantial, I hope I played enough mind-games on her to make her think twice.

From here we moved back over to the kids and hung out there, while the terps, ANA, and Pysops guys talked to people about the Shura. One thing was clear, and that was none of these people would come to the Shura because they said there were a lot of taliban in the village we were staying in and where the Shura would be. They did not feel safe outside of their village and did not want to risk it.

Just before we left, about 5 young guys 19-22 years old came up to see us. These guys were dressed like they were heading to the disco, with styling shirts, tight jeans, and their hair looking like they just walked out of a Regis hair salon. One of them had a serious Billy Ray Cyrus wannabe mullet. This guy was just missing some parachute pants to fit into the 80s. I don’t know if those guys dressed like that every day, or if they knew where some secret disco was buried in the mountains. But they were dressed to impress.

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While I was out on mission, some brass on high decided it was time to enforce a long-standing General Order of not allowing pets to be maintained by US Forces. Since it was an order, all commanders had to follow and get rid of the dogs that live on the FOBs. We had two dogs on our FOB, Esse and Mushama. Esse was a scrawny afghan wolfhound that nobody except CPT W liked. It routinely snuck into people’s rooms and peed or pooped on their floors. Esse was on several hit-lists, and wound not be missed. Mushama was Esse’s girlfriend and pal, and was the only reason Esse was allowed to live. Mushama was liked by all and was a very good dog. She was part German Sheppard and part something else. She listened, she played with us and she was very cool. I liked her a lot and she reminded me of a dog we had when I was a kid named Ranger. I would wrestle with her and play fetch with her all the time. In fact everyone on our team played with Mushama. We would take empty water bottles, put a few rocks in it to make noise and then throw it. She would chase it every time and then bring it back to us or someone else. She liked to play tug of war with the bottle too. We also took a big chunk or rope and put knots in it just to play tug of war with her.

So while I was downrange, someone from our FOB followed orders and took both dogs outside the wire a couple of kilometers away. Apparently very soon after being released they both found their way over to the PRT FOB down the road (probably by smell of the food or garbage). I am not sure of why or where, but some soldiers for some reason shot Mushama 6 times with a 9mm pistol and killed her. Esse ran away and continued to live. Why could it not have been the other way around. Why do the good ones always have to die young. Both dogs had survived the last big attack on out FOB and in fact both had received shrapnel wounds from that attack and lived. But good ole’ Mushama could not survive some asshole’s pistol. I will miss her, and will treasure the good times playing with her and the pics I have of her. She was one of the few things on our crappy FOB that reminded us all of the good things we have back home

Goodbye girl…

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Day 18 started with some local village patrols. We had specific intel about two villages so we established plans to go into both of them and snoop around. We were also looking for a good place to establish a SHURA, HA drop, and VMO. The first village was fairly large and was the one we had the most info about as far as bad guys are concerned. Another 10th MTN unit had been in there and were treated very rudely and not well accepted. We drove in with a few trucks of ANA and a platoon of 10th MTN soldiers. The village people were great to us and came out in droves. There was a high number of kids, or at least it seemed more than normal.

We stopped in the middle of the village and started talking to people. One of the other ETTs (LT W.) had brought a whole bunch of candy, toys, coloring books and other things for kids that his family had sent. He was busy giving that out along with SGT W and I was up on the gun. I was high enough to see across the tops of many of the roofs so I was constantly scanning. We had more than enough security around but with that many roofs you want to be looking, especially when it is your head sticking out. The ETTs, ANA and 10th MTN were also all talking to the villagers. Most of it was the same old thing, but we eventually had one man come to our terp and start telling him things. We separated this guy and had the terp question him. There were definitely taliban in this village and I could see the other old men sitting on the mud wall paying close attention to this guy by our truck. So I took the opportunity to give the kids candy and distract the men. I started throwing handfuls of candy over the old men’s heads into the field behind them. The kids practically knocked the guys off the wall to get to them. I had well over a 100 kids chasing every piece of candy I could throw. I threw some in front of the men at their feet and threw it over their heads. Those handfuls of candy were worth it as the old men that were snooping into our intel gathering became surrounded by yelling and screaming kids. I also used my old technique of throwing candy away so the boys would chase it and then threw candy and stuffed animals down to the girls that would not dare try to compete with boys. The girls would get a baby doll or beanie baby and haul butt back to their house. I am sure they went to hide it and play with it so the boys would not take it.

One little boy that caught our attention was this boy that had the side of his mouth split open. It looked like someone had fish-hooked him in the mouth and just yanked it. He had a split from the corner of his mouth about ¾ of an inch long and his face was swollen like it was infected. I called on the radio for a medic and the medic came over to clean him up and put on some anti-bacterial healing gel. The kid did not flinch or cry as he was treated. One thing that caught my attention was that when the medic was done, all the boy wanted to do was show his dad the tootsie roll I had given him. He did not care about some US soldier prodding around a very sore mouth or that he was treated. He was just proud to show off that candy.

Not long after we were done with that boy, it was time to go. From here we moved back to the patrol base for about 30 minutes of downtime before the next mission went out. This time we moved out with another platoon from 10th MTN and do our secondary target village. This village really stood out from every other one we had ever been too. It was laid out nicely, with trees, creeks running through it, and not as trashy. The mud kulat houses were even painted white, yes painted. Many of the houses had actual glass windows and there were lots of power lines running around from generators.

This village was much larger than it looked like on the map and was very spread out. We picked one spot that was somewhat opened and setup there. The Pysops team started broadcasting from their big speakers and slowly people started coming out and walking to us. Not long after getting there an old man told one of our ANA that as we were pulling in about 15 guys ran over the mountains and west of us. He said they all huddled as we were entering the far side of the village and then took off. He said they were all taliban. We called back to our patrol base which had put in a sniper hide site to overwatch and they had confirmed this information. They had been trying to reach us to tell us they saw the 15 guys take off as we entered. Missed em again…

LT W gave out the rest of his personal HA items and the rest of the candy was given away too. The Pysops team also gave out many Afghan government sponsored papers called the Peace Paper. Funny thing about these kids is that all the other kids have to do is see one kid running towards us and they all take off. They are so worried about missing out that if the people know there are US forces in a town and kids see a kid running, that must mean we are giving something away. I guess no different than our own kids…all are materialistic.

As we were there intel led us to check out some kulats to our east. I took about 6 ANA and we, along with a dozen guys from 10th MTN, moved down the trail This took us over a small hill to the other kulats we wanted to check out. As we came over the hill and out of eye-shot of where all the US forces were, we saw the Peace Paper all over the ground and ripped up. It looked like about 40-50 of them had been taken over the hill and then ripped up and thrown on the ground. Myself and the 10th MTN Platoon Sergeant noticed this and knew immediately that there were people here that did not like us. That paper had not been given out more than 10 minutes earlier and they were already ripped and tossed aside. Apparently these people don’t want peace.

After we returned to the rest of the patrol everything was gathered up, the terp and ANA ended their conversations with the locals and we moved out. We headed back through town ever aware that this place was not friendly either and an attack could come from anywhere as we drove through the kulats. Luckily we made it back to the patrol base ok, only to find out we were moving. The patrol base we were in was not the best location tactically so we decided to occupy a garden kulat at the edge of town of the first village we went into that day. We had gathered enough intel to know that even though those people came out in droves, many of them would just as happily see us dead. It was not a friendly town to coalition forces, even though they put on a good face. So we drove back into the first village and occupied this garden area.

Dinner that night was some good old fashion Beef Stew. In one of the care packages I got from booksforsoldiers.com was a can of this dehydrated beef stew mix. It had all the veggies, potatoes, and stock. That along with a healthy serving of Afghan rice and we were stuffed. We invited over any of the 10th MTN guys that wanted to partake in some of our dinner. Everyone slept well that night, with full bellies.

Until next time….

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My blog has generated quite a following. I am sure everyone that reads this does so for a variety of reasons. Some are my family and friends that want to stay in touch with what I am doing. Many people just want to follow what is happening over here because the news has all but ignored us. Several are family members of soldiers deployed here and they want to have an idea what their loved one goes through via my experiences. Some are members of my company up through my State HQ back in NY. I also have reporters and other website administrators (milblogging.com and uscav.onpoint.com) that follow my site. Recently I was contacted by the NY Times and asked if I could write some op-ed articles for them also. There are also those that are getting ready to deploy here as part of a future rotation of ETTs.

When I look at the members list that has registered on my site, I see lots of army.mil email addresses. I have also been contacted by quite a few soldiers that are coming over here whom have many questions. I can understand their need for information because my team had all the same questions when we were training up. There was nil to no information coming to us from Afghanistan at the time. Some guys, like JP from milblogging.com, had been here on a different type of mission but were still able to give us country specific information.

There has been enough interest from many in the military that want to be prepared for when they come here that it has motivated me to take the time to answer specific questions as best I can. If you are reading this blog, and you want to or are planning to come over here as an ETT, send me an email (you can do this by registering on the site), from your AKO address and tell me who you are, what rotation you are coming on and any specific questions you have. I have already received quite a list of questions, but you may think of something someone else has not. I will then put together a list of the Q&A and email to each person that requests the information. This way it will save me time from answering each individually and hopefully give everyone the info they are looking for.

Granted my blog will give anyone a good idea of the types of things we do, but I by no means speak the whole truth. If I did in my blog while I am deployed, I would have lots of angry brass trying to shut me down. I don’t bend the truth, I just don’t mention things that could violate operational security or hurt the overall effort here. Some of those stories may be covered later, after I am back in the states. So until then, if you are destined for A-stan, drop me that email and I will be getting back to you.

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After several days of rest and refit at the 10th MTN FOB it was time to go again. We had a late move-out, not leaving until the afternoon. About 45 minutes before departure we went and linked up with the ANA to bring them to the fuel point and get their trucks filled up. After we got the trucks filled up, we moved to the staging area. Once we got there the ANA XO informed us that one of the NCOs had taken 4 cans of fuel that we filled for them to carry on the back of their trucks and had sold it at the bazaar. He said all the NCOs knew about it and when the XO approached him and asked him about it the NCO pointed his AK-47 at the XO, charged it and then threatened him because he said the XO was a thief.

I was floored by this info and was furious. I questioned the XO a couple of more times to make sure what I was hearing was accurate and that nothing was lost in translation. Now, why all this was happening, Devil company was loading up and ready to go. I went over to talk to the Company Commander and gave him a brief of what was happening and asked for 5-10 minutes to sort this out. I then went back to the NCO, pulled him aside and asked him directly if he took four 5 gallon fuel cans full of diesel and sold them. He danced around and acted like he was not understanding what I was saying, and then said he had made a mistake. He also tried to use the XO as an excuse and say it was because he (the XO) was stealing from them (the food money), that he felt it was justified and that he would not make that mistake again. I very angrily told him that it was not a MISTAKE, that it was a CRIME. That he had stolen 20 gallons of fuel from my country, and sold it for a personal profit. He repeated mistake a couple more times, but I shut him down. I reminded him that it was stealing and he could be arrested by me for it. I then stopped that part of the conversation and asked him if he drew his weapon on the XO, charged it and threatened him. Again he tried to say that was a mistake and misunderstanding, and again I shut him down hard. I stopped his excuses cold and told him to answer my question, which he did and he admitted he had did that. I told him that was a VERY serious crime and that I would not stand by for that.

I walked away to talk to the other ETTs and thought about what our options were. Since we were literally about to leave on a new mission and no idea when we would return I did not want to arrest him and ask 10th MTN to guard him as a prisoner. I decided to get all the NCOs together (about 8 of them) and talk to them from the Sr. NCO point of view for their Kandak and as the Sr. NCO there on the ground with them. I know enough about the Afghan culture to know that you don’t have to yell or scream at them to make them feel bad, just shame them. Honor is a big thing with them, and I figured I would start here. I talked to them about setting the example, doing what is right even if others are doing what is wrong. I tried to explain some of the things I say to my American soldiers about discipline and responsibility, but not as in depth. I told them that they were all guilty of the theft of fuel because they all let it happen. I talked about 2 wrongs not making a right also. I also talked about the charging of a weapon and promised them that if I saw any one of them doing that again I would personally shoot the person. I told them that this was a very serious crime and that one private doing it to another private is a crime much less a NCO doing it to the officer in charge. I told them that the only reason I would not arrest this NCO right now for both crimes was because we were leaving right then on mission. I did however confiscate his weapon and ammo. I told them this NCO would not drive and would not participate in missions at all. I let them know I was going to report this to the Kandak and my higher and they would deal with this how they best see fit. I was very disappointed in them for not policing up their own and they knew it, and I told them they had let me down tremendously. I reinforced that I would shoot anyone on the spot that I saw threaten another soldier because I am charged with keeping all of them alive, even if they are threatened by their own. I think they knew it when I said it, but I told them that if they doubted me to try it, and it would not be a wounding shot, but a kill shot.

I saw Devil 6 getting antsy so I broke off this one-sided conversation and asked the ANA XO to bring me the weapon and ammo, of which we put into our Hummer. We finally moved out and after a couple of hours we got to our new patrol base in the mountains. That tasks once we got there mainly centered around us, the ANA and 10th MTN securing the patrol base, setting up OP positions, security and then settling in for the night. That night Hadi the terp made some afghan rice and we mixed in some canned chicken. That along with some footbread made for a good ending on a long and stressful day. I went to bed that night hoping I handled the ANA the right way and hoped I would wake up in the morning without a bullet in me and with the ANA still there. Lets just say my weapons were extremely close that night, but everything was fine the next day and as I would see over the next few days my methods worked well with them.

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