There are many people reading this blog that are getting ready to come over here in the near-future or have loved ones over here. I have put together a list of good to have equipment.

The following list is from my experiences and from friends in Iraq that pertained to here also. Some of these won’t be needed until you get in country, so you may want to set them off to side for mama to pack up for you and send to you once you get settled.

1. Any extra Class VIII you can bring from HS is good to have.
2. Wolfhook single point slings
3. Desert Tan Spray paint
4. Space blanket(s)
5. 100 mph tape, 550 cord, TP, other expendables you think would come in handy
6. Drop Leg Holster (blackhawk or SERPA) and Uncle Mike’s Holster for wearing around every day (drop leg will wear a hole in ACUs over time). I also have one for my IBA so I can have my 9mm handy when in the gun hatch going through towns.
7. Weapons lube that DOESN’T ATTRACT SAND. (MILTECH or Remington Dry Lube)
8. Two copies of addresses, phone numbers, account numbers, etc.
9. 2 pairs of GOOD boot insoles
10. A Good Tactical Flashlight (SureFire, even though you will get issued one with M4)
11. Red/White light headlamp
12. Spare pair of running shoes
13. MP3 PLAYER W/ x-tra pair of spare headphones
14. Enough batteries to last you 30 days
15. Chapstick
16. Lotion
17. 30 SPF or higher Sunblock
18. Bar soap- for some reason its in short supply….almost always
19. Small compact rolls of TP. A lot of places make travel size, half the time you get to a port-a-potty the jackA$s before you ganked the TP
20. Baby wipes- 30 days worth. Expect that the power and water will either go out, or the water will be contaminated at least once a month.
21. Gold Bond Foot and Body Powder
22. Small clip on LED light-clip it to your IBA….it will come in handy….quite often.
23. Drink mix for 16/20 oz bottles of water
24. Weightlifting supplies
25. Small photo album with pics from home.
26. Hand sanitizer (small bottles to put in ankle pockets)
27. More books/magazines than you think you will need.
28. DVDs, for you and to loan out for swapping purposes
29. Tactical gloves- military gloves are sort of clumsy ( I love the $9.95 whitewater brand gloves from the clothing sales). Also standard flight nomex are good.
30. Lens anti fog agent. Shaving cream works in a pinch, but you have to apply it every other day or so.
31. Good pair of shower shoes/sandals. I recommend the black adidas….lasted me all year.
32. Small pillow (air inflatable)
33. Cheap digital camera (at least 2.1 mp)
34. Boot knife
35. Gerber multi tool
36. Fabreeze-sometimes the laundry is few and far between.
37. Armor Fresh
38. Extra boot laces
39. Stainless steel coffee cup with screw on lid.
40. Soccer shorts/normal t shirt to sleep in, hang out in your room in
41. Sweatshirts for winter times hanging around
42. A couple of poncho liners for privacy, nasty mattress cover, etc.
43. A set of twin sheets with pillow case
44. Good regular-size pillow
45. One or two good civilian bath towels
46. Buy a good set (>$200) of winter desert boots. All they will give you is a regular summer set and a set of goretex lined for waterproof needs. Desert is a cold place at these altitudes in the winter time.
47. Bring a laptop. Also may want a PSP or some other handheld gaming device.
48. Get an external USB hard-drive (>60gb). You will need this to back up data to, and to store movies and MP3s that you will fall in on from previous teams.
49. Get a Skype account and download the software from skype.com. This is how I talk to home 95% of the time. If you call computer to computer it is totally free. You can also skype out from your computer to a regular phone for $0.021 a minute. There is nothing cheaper than that.
50. Decent headset with mic for computer (skype).
51. Webcam for video calls back home.
52. Bring a min. of 18ea. M4 mags per person. 9 that are loaded and 9 that rest. Plan to do M4 mag changeover once per month.
53. Bring 8ea 9mm mags, for same reason above. Change these over every two weeks.
54. Order a LULA mag loader/unloader. It will be the best $14 piece of plastic you every bought. I have 12 mags loaded at all times and when I do change over it will do it in a fraction of the time and save your hands, and save the ammo.
55. Try to get your state or purchase yourself one 12v DC to 110 AC inverter per man for your trucks. There are crucial on mission to charge personal items, cell phone, ICOMs, and especially ANA radios (they only have re-chargeable batteries).
56. Dump the IBA tac vest you get issued. Get a Tactical Tailor MAV chest rig (does not matter if you get 1 or 2 piece one as you want to keep the front open for laying in the prone. You don’t want mags pushing into your chest making it hard to breathe) . I wish I would have bought mine at the start. It makes a HUGE difference on the back and shoulders when carrying a loaded rig.
57. Get comfortable pair of desert boots. I wear only the Converse 8” assault boots (non-zipper ones). Oakley, Bates and several others are similar in style and comfort.
58. Bring some good snivel gear for the winter time. Extra poly-pro winter hat, gloves, neck gators, etc.
59. Lock de-icer for the winter time
60. Disposable hand and feet warmers
61. Canned-air, lots of it for electronics weapons, etc.
62. Lens wipes for optics
63. Screen wipes for computers

There are probably many other things that could go on this list, but a lot of that is personal preference. The purpose of this list is to provide some insight into things that could make anyone’s tour easier.

Who knows what is happening with the weather here. The other day it was bitterly cold, but the last two days have been like spring. Everything is melting and that frozen dirt is now mud soup. We knew when we got here that this place would be a mess come break-up, and it looks like it is starting.

Smoke was here last year around this time and has predicted that in two weeks it will start really getting warm and there will be no worries about snow or ice. I kind of hope so, as the quicker it gets warm the quicker this place will dry up. Of course as soon as it gets warm we all expect the activity to pick up. It has been all over the news about the predictions from military leaders, politicians and the mix of the two called NATO. Not that it has been a slow or boring winter, as the enemy has stayed active..especially recently. I saw a report today that over 30 afghans have been killed by suicide bombers in 5 days. This of course includes the two that were killed here a few days ago too.

Most of the people on my team know our time is counting down and soon we will be “double-digit midgets”, which means we will be at 99 days or less. Many are ready to get their one last run at killing as many bad guys as possible before it is time to turn in and go home. So as we say when mimicking the Madden 07 football PS2 game, BRING IT. That term is getting pretty common lately.

The last few days we have kicked up the tempo and gotten out into the local area to talk to people. The other day Face and I went on a mission to talk to some local village elders and see what they knew about things. It was a good meeting, and Face got to enjoy some chai time. They drink chai tea here like we drink coffee in the US. When elders invite you to drink some, you really cannot turn them down. Luckily I did not have to get involved this time because I was investigating gunfire during our visit. While we were stopped, we heard a couple of shots so I had to walk away so I could find out what was happening.

Today we ran a mission not far from here, but to an area that has largely been ignored. According to the people there they had never seen US soldiers in this village, despite being within a few miles of hundreds US soldiers in two FOBs. This place was pretty poor, with no farming, no way to work. All they do is walk around the desert and mountains collecting rocks to haul to the quarry and turn them in for a little money. Think of it as a village of families that support themselves by collecting cans. That is essentially what they do. We spent some time getting lied to by the adults about there being no enemy activity (we found out through others that this was not the truth), and giving out some HA stuff. Some of these kids had nothing, and since Smoke is getting close to leaving we let him have the honors of putting smiles on kid’s faces.

We gave out toys, winter hats, jackets, baby sleepers, blankets, and some candy. There were lots of stuffed animals as CPT Ben has been getting in tons of HA stuff recently. One little boy about 2 was being carried and held by his 5 or 6 year old brother. All the 2 year old had was a shirt on. No socks, shoes, pants, underwear. He had a shirt and was naked everywhere else in about 38 degree weather. Smoke made sure to look through boxes and find the kid some pants, boots and a jacket.

Driving out there and back was pretty nasty. We drove across frozen rivers that our multi-ton HUMVEES broke through and into the water. The mud was literally like brown soup as truck after truck, US and ANA, sunk into it following in each other’s tracks. Coming back was bad as we had to cross a river of water and ice that was so deep water came over the hoods of our HUMVEES. I guess those ANA trucks have water-tight doors or they just drove really fast.

Either way, the warmth is coming and that is good. We got here in the spring last year, so with every day of warmth that comes our way is that also the day that we will get on that big iron bird back home to lives that will never, ever be the same.

Votes are in, and this blog made it

Thank you so much to the last minute push on the VA Mortgage blog contest. I jumped over 20 votes in the few hours of Tuesday morning, which pushed my blog into 9th place and a winner of $250.00. Actually because the 11th place blog was only a few votes from the 10th, the VA Mortgage team decided to add them to the list and also award money to the 11th place winner, which I think is awesome.

I have to go through some steps to have them mail me the check, but I am going to ask my wife to go ahead and send a check for the $250.00 directly to the Fischer House foundation ASAP, as I am sure they can use the money now.

Again, thank you for all that voted for my blog as it means a lot. It means a lot to me and I know it will mean a lot to the Fischer House.

You can see who all the winners were at www.vamortgagecenter.com/blog/

Thank You
Troy
Agblog

The Milblog contest ends at noon CST on 1/23/07 and I really hope I am in the top 10. I know it is impossible to achieve #1, but that is ok. The Fischer House foundation could use anything they get and I really would like to be able to send them one of the top 10 prizes of $250. Please vote for this blog if you haven’t. Please tell your family, friends, strangers, co-workers. There is one day left and I only have 62 votes so far. Currently this places me in 12th place. When you tell the people you know about the contest, please tell them about my blog also. Let them read it and see if they think it is worthy of being voted for. My blog is listed as AfghanBlog [bouhammer.com]
You can vote at www.vamortgagecenter.com/blog/2007/01/08/5000-contest-for-military-bloggers/

A little about the Fischer House Foundation
The Fisher Houseâ„¢ program is a unique private-public partnership that supports America’s military in their time of need. The program recognizes the special sacrifices of our men and women in uniform and the hardships of military service by meeting a humanitarian need beyond that normally provided by the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.

Because members of the military and their families are stationed worldwide and must often travel great distances for specialized medical care, Fisher Houseâ„¢ Foundation donates “comfort homes,” built on the grounds of major military and VA medical centers. These homes enable family members to be close to a loved one at the most stressful times – during the hospitalization for an unexpected illness, disease, or injury.

You can learn more about the Fischer House at: www.fisherhouse.org/

This morning I awoke to this story on the foxnews.com website. I don’t take full credit for this as I originally found it on another milblog, and this story has been a hot one since it hit the wire. I give credit to all of those out there that read milblogs and took action. Thank You.

An American GI assigned to one of the harshest posts in Iraq had a simple request last week for a Wisconsin mattress company: send some floor mats to help ease the hardship of sleeping on the cold, bug-infested ground.

Hess emailed that he has since found two mat suppliers willing to ship to an APO address in Iraq.

Low and behold the company that turned him down is registered to Faisal Khetani, an American Muslim of Pakistani descent.

The whole story can be found at www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,245718,00.html

The poem below was sent to me by an avid reader of this blog. I think it is a beautiful poem and something that would be a waste not to share. I would like to thank Mike G. for sending this to me and allowing me to share it with all who read this blog.

I am sure all who read this will agree that it is a great poem.

Troy

AT THE RIGHT TIME, WE REMEMBER

Thank you Vet. Thanks Dad. Today, I remember WHY I am free, and I thank you.

The temps have started to bottom out again and we are getting some very cold nights here. Last night was near zero if not below and yesterday in itself was very cold in the single digits somewhere. With the temp going down, so is the count on the number of days left here. I can tell you that everyone on my team is ready to go today. The decisions by leadership, the micro-management, the lack of people staying in their own lane continues to frustrate everyone.

When we were mobilizing for this mission we saw many of the other people that States were ponying up for this mobilization and Face started the joke of “Thank you on behalf of a grateful and DESPERATE nation”. See as the two wars and many other small actions around the world continue, the NG has been having to pony up whatever soldiers they have. Many of the states are tapped out and all the have left are those who’s specialty was not needed in Iraq, have hidden from deployments or just slipped by without getting called. The ETT mission is not really job specialty specific, so all the states have to serve up is someone close to the requested rank. Many states are scraping the bottom of the barrel, but because of the need of just soldiers here they can scrape that sludge and send it to A-stan as part of this Task Force. Of course not all the people here are bad. There are some damn good soldiers here in this TF that I would be proud to serve in a foxhole with sharing one last magazine of ammo.

This is a rank heavy mission, which means lots of senior people who think they know something, but have never been anywhere outside their own state and probably never on Active Duty. There are also some more junior people because states could not fill the rank requirement. That means there are some over here that are E-4s filling the position of an E-7, or O-1s filling the position of an O-3. Regardless of rank, there are many here that are giving 110% to this mission and deserve to sit here. There are those that should not even be allowed in the Army, much less over here. It is those that seem to be in the highest levels of the chain of command or at least high enough to have influence in the chain of command. Too many people here think their rank means they have the right answer to questions out on the ground, while they sip on their café-mochas. We have officers and NCOs on the ground trying to control a fluid and rapidly developing situation, they need to be empowered to make decisions and follow one of the quotes I have used my whole military career. Admiral Nimitz said one of the greatest things ever said during the battle of Midway, “when in command, COMMAND!”

Until senior people start to worry more about the situation on the ground and not their next evaluation report, I don’t think it will change. We need risk-takers and we as soldiers need to know we are not going to be given the 3rd degree for taking a chance, even if the outcome is not what we wanted. Start to question every time we do something and you will have soldiers questioning their split-second decisions and maybe hesitating when it comes time to pull a trigger. When that happens, US soldiers will start getting hurt or dying. Just the other day I had a red dot on the back of the head of a local Afghan cab driver as he opened up all his doors and pulled everything out of his car which we suspected was a VBIED. Mine was not the only weapon trained on him, and in fact had he tried something (as one EOD NCO put it), our bullets would have been fighting to hit him first. As those few minutes drifted by, I stayed focused on the task at hand and was totally prepared to exercise that 3 lbs of trigger pull needed to put a bullet in the back of his head and stop him from blowing up his car or hurting anyone. However that may not always be the case or the case with everyone here. Let the soldiers be soldiers, and let the politicians be politicians. If there are soldiers who think they are both, then they are politicians and need to let us be soldiers. Soldiers have to get their hands dirty, politicians never can.

The world has become to PC, and war is not a PC place. PC belongs in the media, Hollywood or talk shows. War is an ugly business and normal Americans are not ready for it. There is a reason why there is so much support behind the soldiers and why we receive a lot of love and prayers over here from perfect strangers. Even though they have not been here, many know they don’t want to be and they respect and have sympathy for those that step up to the challenge and conduct this fight. If I posted pics of all the ugliness of this war on my site or even talked about it here, I am sure it would scare people away, and that is not the intent of this blog. This blog is just to document the everyday happenings of what life is like. I have readers from the very young to the very old and I want them all to be able to enjoy what they read without getting sick from it.

Until Next time…