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Volume V of the My Life in Astan series is out and available for viewing and download. This video opens with Ranger hanging out with Chuck Norris and giving us one of his Chuck anecdotes. The video is put to some music that I have been holding onto for a while and wanting to use, but have been waiting for the right pictures to put it to. It is Trace Adkins’sFightin’ Words from his Dangerous Man CD. I actually pulled some of these pics from another video I made which is a graphic video that I decided not to release. Some of these pics show some of the aftermath of the war on terror and some real-time gun camera footage from aircraft here that have assisted us in the war on terror. There are also some video clips of IED’s and weapon caches being controlled-detonated (which means we blew them up after finding them.
This is the first video of still and video clips I created with some new software I purchased called AVS Video Editor. It has a lot more capabilities, but I am not sure of its output quality. Feel free to let me know what you think of the quality of this one compared to others I have made. This video is 4 min, 7 seconds long.
Well I am now in Kabul at Camp Phoenix, after flying in today on a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter. I wasn’t supposed to fly until tomorrow, but because of some seat availability issues, several of us from the team flew up a day early. It was a very good day to fly with the sun shining brightly, the skies clear and there was just enough breeze to keep it comfortable.
The birds were just a few minutes late, but not too bad by Army standards here. They landed, we loaded and then we were off. I recorded several videos while we were flying for the 50 minutes that we did. We flew just feet away from rocky mountain out-croppings, over wide open flat desert and over lush green farmland. It was quiet a variety of landscape and for the first time since I have been here for almost a year, I can say some pretty landscape. Of course, there were no sheep where the grass and green areas were. If there had been, then I am sure there would not have been as much green.
So we got here to Phoenix today and went right to work. With me came Puss, Big D, Face, and BJ. We all had a specific thing to do and we all headed off in different directions. Since we have all been downrange and have not had anyone up here coordinating our return, all we have had is rumors. Face and Puss handled the logistic issues, BJ handled the personnel and administrative issues, and Big D and I handled the operations, flight, and process issues. It was a pretty busy day and I am very glad a quartering party like us were able to come up earlier than the rest of the team so we could get things straightened out.
Of course there was also the first day at Phoenix mandatory task that Face, Puss and I always do, the massage. Face scheduled us all for an appointment at the same time and we made sure we were there in plenty of time. The full body massages here (they are on the up and up and nothing bad happens) are the highlight of coming here. I tell all the new ETTs coming here that it is the best $20 you will ever spend. $20 for a one hour, full body message is a deal you will never find in the states. After the message, Face and I hit the gym so we could work out for about an hour. As we were about to finish, a loud and brilliant thunder and lightning storm hit the area, along with a dust storm of course. A complete 180 degrees difference from the weather we flew in earlier in the day.
From the gym, we ran in the rain to the mess hall for dinner. When I walked into there, I found my good friend Marc B. Marc saw me, got up from dinner, walked around the table and gave me a hug like a brother does and not like a friend does. He told me it is was good to see me finally and glad it looked like we would make it out alive. Marc and I hugged for a few seconds, very glad that both of us were there healthy and safe. We got a few looks from people as this field-grade officer hugged me like we were related, but that is ok. He is definitely a brother-in-arms. Marc is someone that mobilized with me at Shelby and I have ran into a few times here. He has been in Phoenix for about a month, so he was the one I was talking to almost daily on the phone to find out what was happening with us going home. He has the connections and contacts to find information out. Anyway, Face and I sat with him for dinner and enjoyed a nice long dinner catching up on things. While we sat there the other three guys from my team showed up and we all chatted for a while.
A hour or so after dinner we met back up with Marc in front of the PX and BSed for a couple more hours about things we saw or did where we were and things that he saw and did in his area of operation. Marc is an ETT also, and even though our areas were a long ways apart, the frustration, issues, threats, and many other topics are very similar, if not identical. After coffee, we went out separate ways and promised to link back up tomorrow in order to share information about us going home.
One highlight that happened earlier today was my swinging by the B-hut where the authors of the blogs on AWAC live. I had mentioned before that I was going to visit these guys the next time I came up here, so I made sure to stop by and introduce myself today. The main author of the blog (Doug Traversa) was not there, but all the rest of the guys were. Morton, Templeton, and Toomer were all there and we spent about 30-40 minutes talking about blogs, our experiences, the ANA, the Afghan people, and anything else that came up. I told them I would try to come by tonight so we could all visit more and I could meet Traversa, but I got side-tracked with Marc and did not make it. I will definitely swing by tomorrow and hopefully catch up. I think we will celebrate with some cubans and take a few pictures. I will post those up as soon as I can. I will also be posting up some of the video and pictures of my flight up today.
So now I am in Step Two and one more hurdle has been crossed in the trip home. We are not exactly sure on when we are leaving here, how we are leaving, or where we exactly go from here but we know we are leaving. See that is what happens when you work for Task Force command that came into so country so close behind you that all they care about is getting themselves home and essentially forgot that there was close to 50 of us that were supposed to leave before them.
Well I have left my FOB and am no longer in Sharana. We pulled out yesterday and our whole team is back together at or CORPS HQ here in Gardez. It is the first time our entire NY team has been together since the day we split apart at this exact location on May 17th, 2006. We are now back under our own chain of command and doing what we need to in order to take care of ourselves and not being directed by people that would not know a ANA soldier from a camel. We are back to making sure that our team is taken care of and gets out of here safely.
This was the first step in our way home, and soon we will be onto the second step when we get to Camp Phoenix, which is the Task Force HQ. Yesterday we cleared all the staff sections, except for the logistics section which will be tomorrow. So now we are on our own time. Not that there is a lot to do here, but we are working on our tans some more. We did that yesterday too and got lots of sun.
This morning I ate breakfast, took a shower, shaved, game myself a new shiny haircut (hehe) and put on my SPF. After I get done in the computer room, it is tanning time. I think when I get home Christine will think that I have been in the Bahamas and not here in Afghanistan. But then again this is like a beach, just without the water, babes, and beer. But it does have bombs, bullets, and sheep. So I guess that is a trade-off.
The days are winding down to what will soon be hours left here on our FOB. This morning I was on QRF as Loon and Prophet took out some of the new guys to show them the AOR (area of responsibility). They took them around to show them all the main avenues of ingress and egress for the enemy, where the enemy has attacked us before, the friendly areas and the very unfriendly areas. They showed them the main parts of the town of Sharana and where we know the bad guys hang out before and after an attack.
The poor new guys have been drinking from a fire-hose the last few days as we have been shoveling them information left and right about everything. We have been teaching them about the vehicles, weapon systems, communications equipment, other electronics, personalities within the ANA, ANA capabilities, reporting requirements, TTPs (techniques, tactics and procedures) for both us and the enemy, and other various equipment and information that we think they need to know.
The sad thing is that you have 13 guys with a year’s worth of experience trying to teach 2 guys everything we have learned over the last year. I am sure it is over-whelming but they are keeping up, or seem to be. I feel really bad for these guys and everyone here. There are a few here that know what they are doing on this FOB, but not many. Also there are many others leaving right behind us, so I hope the new guys that come in will be combat arms guys, hopefully Infantry, that have some experience and know how to quickly adapt. Otherwise I may be reading names in the news of guys I know from here and I hope that does not happen.
The rest of the day was spent doing some final packing, figuring out what things would go where, getting my laundry done, and other tasks. I also spent some time cleaning out our fridge so the new guys would not have old and moldy stuff in there. I tried to clean the room some, but there is still too much crap everywhere from Puss, Prophet and I packing that we need to get our stuff picked up before we can really clean. I also walked through with Gonzo ( a guy on my ANP training team) on signing over my truck, and all the gear in it. He had to look up every serial number, confirm them and then check it off. There are a lot of serial numbered items in there, so it took a little while. That did not bother me because it just meant I am getting close to leaving, and that my friends is a very good thing.
I have created and posted a new video in the Afghanistan Photos section. It is a compilation of videos and photos taken out on our range over a two day period. There are credits at the end listing all who is in the video. We spent a couple of days last week shooting a variety of weapons and just having a good old time shooting at something without someone shooting back.
The video is 7 min, 55 sec long and has two songs that are very appropriate. The first is a song titled “Click, Click, Boom†and the second is “Planet Boomâ€.
I hope you have fun watching it, because we sure had fun making it.
The days are lazy and slow. Well they have been at least. I wish they weren’t so time would go by much faster. Back when Face and I had been on operations a lot I remember telling him that I wish we could be on missions every day our last two months here. He looked at me like I was crazy, and then I explained that the days go by so flippin’ fast when we are out on missions for days on end. I was afraid our last two months would go by slow (and I was right) and I would rather be busy up until it was time to leave. He understood that and agreed that yes, it would be nice to have that time go by fast….but not nice getting shot at and blown up the last couple of months.
Well it has been slow the last couple of weeks, that is no doubt. Actually it has been slow since several of us got put on the ANP mission, because they are slow. They are so messed up that when one guy is on leave, then nothing happens in that dept. So for those of us that work with that section, there is nothing to do. They are on leave and extraordinary amount of time and even when they are not, they are hard to find. So we have not been too busy with them. Plus those of us that are short and about to leave, never really got into that mission anyway. We had been with the ANA for almost our entire year, just to have them jerk us out and work with the ANP our last two months. That was one of the most idiotic decisions I have ever seen happen here. We had made some progress with the ANA, yet when they gutted our teams the few left to mentor the ANA were not enough to do it effectively. The ANP is like starting all over, especially since they have never had mentors. There have been a lot of frustrating things that have happened over here that make say some things like “ I ******** Quitâ€, “ Not gonna make itâ€, and other comments that are similar. But when they took us off our normal mission and put us on one mentoring guys that we truly consider the enemy and even some we have shot at and have shot at us, well that took the wind out of our sails.
So the days have been slow until today. Last night we had some new guys (replacements) get here. So today was busy and the next few will be, running them through our RIP (relief in place) training program. From what they and the ones before them have said, the training at the mobilization site continues to stink, filled full of lies, opinions, and utter BS. So we take a few days to spend with the new guys and show them how it is really done, how things really work here, and how to use the equipment they get very little training on back in mobilization. Of course we will take them out shooting and shoot some more ourselves. We love to shoot and we have lots of ammo to burn up. So some more range time is in the works for us.
Around the training and range time, we continue to pack, inventory items and slowly take down the comforts and amenities we had that made our little rooms comfortable. Soon we will be living out of our rucks, but that is fine. When that starts happening, it means the journey will have started. The journey home.
The question a lot of us has is, will we really get out of here without getting attacked again? It is starting to look like that may happen. Which is perfectly fine with everyone I work with.
Well yesterday was my Birthday, and again it did not mean much. No different than any other day, except that could have been out of here. That would have been a Birthday present like no other. At the first of the month, when I posted an entry saying to cut off all mail ASAP, it was because we were told that it looked like we would be leaving country on the 18th, which would have had me back in the US on my birthday.
Well needless to say, that did not happen and I am still here. Not much time left though. My birthday dinner was great, because of course it involved Puss grilling on the shit-barrel grill. He cooked about 5 racks of ribs that he soaked in brown sugar, bbq sauce and our NA beer that we have here. I could not have had a better birthday dinner in the middle of the desert.
My day started just after midnight on the 20th, when I called home to wish my son Jordan a Happy Birthday. I had to wait until he got home from school, which made it just after midnight here. It was the first time that we could both celebrate and wish each other a Happy Birthday at the same time. Since his birthday is the 19th and mine is the 20th, the 9.5 hours time difference allowed us both to have a birthday at the same time.
Once I got up on Friday morning, I was moving pretty fast. Not because of a mission, or shooting or any military reason. It was because it was the day of our Short-Timers yard sale. I had put up flyers a few days before that we were having one and since Friday is usually a day off for the ANA, it is for every one of the ETTs too. Puss, Prophet, me and Loon all had stuff to sell and had spent the night before putting little for sale stickies on everything. At 9AM when I opened our door for the sale to start, you would have thought it was Black Friday at Wal-Mart or Best-buy. We had to keep people outside, because there were too many in the room. There were some things that were so popular that I got more than what I wanted as guys bid against each other to get things. That was the way it started and I figured this sale was a good idea. Of course I did start thinking that maybe we should have done an auction instead. I can’t imagine the money we could have made had we done an auction. So after about 4 hours of nothing but people in our room, things finally quieted down. We sold most of the big items and lots of other of the smaller items. Overall it was a good day, and things ended up well.
By that afternoon I was done with my workout with Face and sitting in the sun working on my tan. Puss was working on getting the grill ready and marinating the ribs. A lot of the short-timers and a few that aren’t quite ready to leave yet came down and enjoyed the rays, NA beer, and sun.
Of course after the day was over I had to sit down and go through the ton of emails in my inbox, of which most were e-cards from family, friends and just great American supporters of the military. I also had some great emails from Christine that included videos from each of my boys and Christine that were to me for my birthday. I loved seeing them all and cannot wait to hug them all and see them in person. Soon……soon.
