(18DEC2008)
My friend and colleague Alex has been trying to get out of Afghanistan going on 4 days now.
He wants to be home for Christmas and, while we’re still optimistic he will be, the clock is ticking. We only have one vehicle and given his constant trips to the APOD to check on flights, wait on flights, and get bumped from flights, he’s had it most of the last few days and keeps in touch with us to let us know how his efforts are fairing.
I have watched him, over the past several days, deteriorate before my eyes. His spirits are continually trampled on by flights being cancelled, waiting lists that don’t advance, and the false hope of alternate destinations snatched away. The lack of sleep – because he’s checking flights every few hours and staying in a transient tent until he leaves – appears to weigh more and more heavily on him. His eyes are perpetually bloodshot and he looks beaten and cowed.
This night he has the car and calls me from the APOD to update me on his latest attempt to go home.
Alex: Hey, Joe. I got manifested and everything… and then they cancelled the flight! Can you believe that?
Me: Yes.
Of course I can believe it. It’s been happening every day. The rain and heavy fog have cancelled flights, the President’s visit a few days ago ceased all air travel for a spell and backed things up even more; the end result is that BAF is teeming with new, frustrated faces trying to get home for the holidays.
The weather has matched the moods of all the stranded folks; it was been grey and wet – raining daily off and on, at times coming in frantic downpours that make a homey thunder on the tin roof of my little hooch.
My phone rings a few minutes later and it’s Alex again, on his way to the other side of post. He tells me he’s being diverted because of a recent rocket strike on the base near his route. I’m incredulous – this is the first I’d heard of such a thing here at BAF in almost 4 months here.
A few days later I have a conversation with a friend of mine who is a Force Protection officer and he brings me up to speed on the threats here. As it turns out, in contrast to the base I was on in Iraq, these types of attacks are not announced and have occurred a few times since I arrived, entirely without my knowledge.
Strangely, this knowledge does not make me feel any les safe here. The base is enormous and is home to thousands of people. It is all far less than I put up with, and got used to, in Iraq.
I suppose ignorance was bliss, though.
APOD = Arial Port Of Debarkation
BAF = Bagram Air Field
Of course I can believe it. It’s been happening every day. The rain and heavy fog have cancelled flights, the President’s visit a few days ago ceased all air travel for a spell and backed things up even more; the end result is that BAF is teeming with new, frustrated faces trying to get home for the holidays.
