TRAVELING

(16SEPT2008)

I’m hoping to get on a flight to FOB SHARANA tonight or tomorrow morning and will be there the next several days. As flights are cancelled and diverted at the drop of a hat due to weather and changing mission requirements, I have no way of knowing exactly when I’ll get down there, or when I’ll return. One of the many joys of flying with the military.

FOB = Forward Operating Base

FALLEN COMRADES

(12SEPT2008)

Most bases, especially the larger ones, have a “Big Voice” that makes announcements to the entire base. In Balad, Iraq, where we had incoming mortars almost daily, the Big Voice often told us “There has been an indirect fire attack”, and to be wary of unexploded ordnance. She – the Big Voice was a woman’s voice and we often joked about having crushes on her – she would also serve notice that “There will be a controlled detonation”, so that we knew the coming explosion was not in fact an attack.

I have only heard the Big Voice in Bagram a couple of times in my two weeks here. We have had no attacks of any sort and they don’t announce controlled detonations like they did in Balad.

This morning, the Big Voice wakes me up around 0730, though I can’t understand what it’s saying. My housing is apparently located in an area covered by multiple loudspeakers, and the slight delay between them results in a garbled message. When the Big Voice (it’s a man’s voice here) speaks up again a half hour later, I leave my room and find a place where I can catch the message.

“There will be a Fallen Comrade ceremony this morning. all available personnel are required to report to Disney Drive no later than 0850 hours. No cameras, PT uniforms, or sunglasses are allowed.”

Disney Drive is the main strip on Bagram, named after SPC Jason Disney who was killed in an industrial accident on Bagram in 2002. I put on my uniform on and join hundreds of others lining both sides of Disney leading to the airfield; there are uniforms as far as the eye can see down the road. We stand at parade rest until an MP escort leads two HMMWVs carrying flag-draped caskets guarded by the fallen’s friends and colleagues.

As the HMMWVs pass, we stand at attention and all of the soldiers salute their fallen comrade. It’s an altogether moving and sobering reminder of what happens here.

PT = Physical Training

SPC = Specialist

HMMWV = High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle (‘humvee’)

SEPTEMBER 11th

(11SEPT2008)

Eventually, every day will start to feel the same and I will enter what most of us refer to as “Groundhog Day” (after the Bill Murray movie). As I’ve only been in country for 13 days, I’m not quite there yet. I’m still learning things, still getting the hang of my position here, and my office & living quarters remain in flux.

Even in that state of unchanging days, though, there are occasions that refuse to go unnoticed. Holidays, as an example, remind one of how far away we are from our families and friends, marked in theater only by a meal of dry turkey and ham instead of the usual dry meatloaf and fried chicken. Other than that, it’s business as usual, and if you don’t notice the gray stuffing at the DFAC the holiday can come and go without your knowledge. I didn’t notice Labor Day until dinner.

September 11^th is of course such a day – not a holiday, but a day we can’t help but notice and one that speaks directly to the armed forces and what we’re doing all the way out here in the first place. I was in Iraq last year on this date, and the day was subdued, as it was here in Afghanistan today.

Flags were flown at half-staff, and I spotted several units raising and lowering flag after flag, no doubt to be presented to someone with a certificate stating that the flag was flown over such-and-such HQ in Afghanistan on September 11^th.

I have a flag that was flown on a UAV last year on this date in Iraq, even brought the flag with me to Afghanistan, though it didn’t occur to me to look for opportunities to fly it today.

It’s not always easy to draw the connection from that tragic day to our life and work in Afghanistan, though we often try to. I went about my business today, reflecting and remembering the events of 7 years ago, but focused, as we all are, on what we’re doing here and now.

DFAC = Dining Facility

UAV = Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

ABOUT TO SMELL BETTER

(08SEP2008)

The PX had soap and shampoo today, though they limit the number of each one can purchase. I learned in Iraq that if there's something you need, you just have to keep going back, because you never know when they're going to stock certain items.

I think it took 3 months for me to get clothes hangars in Balad (where I was stationed in Iraq).

Anyhow, I got my shampoo and soap, and I'm excited to take a shower and smell like something other than a dead skunk.

I FEEL THE EARTH MOVE, UNDER MY FEET

(06SEPT2008)

I’m sitting at the desk in my room this morning, at about 1030, when the floor begins undulating, like the little building I live in is being lifted and shaken slightly. It feels similar to being on a helicopter just as it begins to lift off. Turns out we had a little tremor, something I wasn’t expecting and, hopefully, that will never manifest itself more seriously.

GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER. NEVER MIND, YOU'D NEVER GET IT.

(04SEPT2008)

My colleague and I stopped by the PX so that he could buy a television, but he decided that the line was far too long, as it often is. I desperately needed soap and shampoo, which the PX had been out of but now had in stock. I didn’t want to make my buddy wait, though, so I decided against getting any.

As we were leaving, we saw a line of people waiting for a book signing by LTC (RET) James Megellas, touted as “the 82^nd Airborne’s most decorated officer” which is pretty impressive considering the history of the 82^nd ABN.

The line wasn’t very long, and we’re both of the mindset that we should take advantage of any unique opportunities over here, so we stood in line, shook the guy’s hand, and got a signed copy of his book chronicling his combat experiences in Holland and Germany during WWII.

I later saw him and his wranglers at the DFAC at lunch and again at dinner. I wonder what he thought of the chow halls here compared to what he was eating in the 1940s in a very different war.

When I returned to the PX later that day, they were entirely out of shampoo and soap. I reek.

PX = Post Exchange

LTC = Lieutenant Colonel

RET = Retired

DFAC = Dining Facility

TRYING TO SLEEP or THAT CAT’S LUCKY I WASN’T ISSUED A SIDE-ARM

(03SEPT2008)

Sleep can be hard to come by in theater.

The walls of my little room are not very thick, so between helicopters flying overhead, jets taking off not far away, soldiers loading/unloading their vehicles, people walking by, people talking, car wheels in the gravel, and the wind whipping itself against the walls, it can be hard to get to sleep or to stay asleep.

Add to that the furious squawking of irate birds just after sunrise. I’ve been awakened twice now to the beating of wings against the walls, door, and A/C unit of my little room. I jumped up the first time to see birds all atwitter, a cat slinking around obviously having caused the ruckus.

It was a little weird seeing a cat here. In the 7 months I spent in Iraq, I never once saw a cat and only once saw a dog that wasn’t an MWD. I walked into a unit’s barracks looking for someone and they had a pet dog, entirely against regulation, in their living area. I pet him and asked for the CPT I was looking for.

I woke early on purpose a couple of days ago to watch the first NFL game of the season. Given the time difference, the game was in progress when I awoke at 0445, and so was the call to prayer. My housing is right next to the base perimeter fence, and there is an Afghani village just on the other side. I’d slept through this call to prayer a few times, apparently, but being awake already it was hard to get back to sleep. At times chanting and other times simply speaking, the voice is amplified through a loudspeaker and is enough to leave me staring at the ceiling until it ends.

I awake the next morning at 0445 again because I forgot to change the alarm on my watch, again hear the prayer service, and again lie in darkness waiting for it to finish.

MWD = Military Working Dog

CPT = Captain