Kandahar: Into the Combat Zone

It had been a long night getting ready for our flight out of Kuwait to Kandahar, Afghanistan. We were told our flight was leaving at 4:30 a.m. but we had to get our bags loaded onto the trucks by midnight and be put in lock-down once again at 1:00 a.m. We all decided to hang out in the MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation center) and use the computers and phones until it was time to load up.

After some time spent shooting the breeze and emailing our loved ones, a loud voice echoed throughout the building, telling us to move out as our flight had been changed and was leaving early. We were bussed to the airfield where a gigantic C-17 Globemaster awaited us and our gear. I had never been on a military plane quite like this one before so I was nervous but excited at the same time. We were required to wear our armored vest and helmets during the three and a half hour flight into Kandahar.

Once on the plane I realized that this was not going to be a comfortable flight. There were 180 seats and the flight was full! If you have been on a commercial flight sitting in coach class it would be like first class compared to this. Not only did our bulky gear keep us restricted in our seats but you couldn’t even move your legs and were packed in like sardines. I was so tired from being up for over 24 hours I just tried to sleep most of the way and not think about how uncomfortable I was. There are no windows and all of the wires and mechanics are exposed on the inside of the plane. As we got closer the pilot came over the intercom informing us that we were now over a combat zone and to prepare for landing. That was kind of sobering. We landed safely at the Kandahar Air Field and I was relieved to feel that it was not quite as hot as Kuwait; still plenty hot though.

We were bussed once again to our new digs. They’re not bad really, small but with A/C and one roommate instead of nine. Once settled in our rooms we were given a few hours to rest or take a nap before we had to muster up at 6:00 p.m. We were briefed on what to expect the next couple of days; MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle) rollover training in a simulator and IED (Improvised Explosive Device) training. The MRAPs are so top heavy that they’re prone to rollovers so everyone has to know what to do to avoid injury.

After that we were released for the evening. After dinner Scholz and I decided to hit the showers and then call it a night. We had been briefed on what to do when the rocket attack alarms go off; hit the deck for two minutes and then find the nearest bunker until the "all clear". Earlier in the day Scholz had asked one of our chiefs, "what do we do if we are in the shower when the alarm goes off?" Chief responded, "that would be a time when there is no modesty."

She must have jinxed us because sure enough as I was rinsing the final bit of soap out of my hair I hear the alarm. I say to Scholz, "Shit, I knew that was going to happen!" So as we were trained to do, we got down on the deck, which is hard to do in such a small shower. After about thirty seconds I thought, “screw this” and crawled out of the shower on my stomach, snatched my towel and started to dry off and get dressed. You can do a lot in two minutes. All the while we are laughing so hard it was making it even more difficult. Eventually we made it out to the bunker dressed, not naked. There was time for modesty after all! Anyway since then we have had plenty more rocket attacks on base but so far I have avoided being in the shower at the time the alarms go off.

So let me tell you a little about this place. It is a NATO base with about nine other countries’ military stationed here; including Britain, Canada, Australia, France, Bolivia, Germany, USA, Belgium, and a bunch of others that I can’t think of right now. There is a large Army exchange located across the street from the sewer ponds (shit ponds as we call them) and the smell is indescribable!!

There are a lot of foreign and American civilian workers on this base and a lot of local nationals working here as well. This base is ran by NATO and is a third world country in itself; dirty, stinky, trashy and ugly. We are lucky to be on the other side of all of that and its pretty clean here where the Americans live. There is nothing but dust, sand, gravel; yeah that’s about it. On a calm day and when the dust is down you can see the mountains but they are just bare rocks as well.

One day we drove along the wire to the airfield where one of our classes was being held and you could see local farmers picking their crops of watermelon and sunflowers. There was a shepherd leading his goats to the creek for water, a father with his children planting crops AND paid locals searching for land mines in the fields near the mud huts where the local poor people live. It was very interesting.

This place is busy; go, go, go all the time but you learn to keep up. There is so much more to tell but I have to go to work now. I will update this again very soon to let you all know what it is I do here. To be continued....

Getting into the Fight; Journey to Kuwait

The time we had all been waiting for had finally arrived. I don’t know one person who was not ready to get out of Gulfport, Mississippi as most of us had been there for three months and some even longer. We were all ready to head out and start the mission at hand so we could work our way towards getting back home to our seemingly normal lives.

We were herded into the training hall for all of our final preparations. After signing out our M-16s and retrieving our 300-day supply of Malaria pills, we were locked down to the point that if you wanted to go outside to have a cigarette, you had to relinquish your military ID card to the Seabee standing door guard. You can never keep everyone together in one place at one time if you don’t have the darn door guard!

Finally, after sitting in the training hall watching old boring movies, the call came to mount up and move out. We all loaded onto big white school buses for our trip to the National Guard air station where our chariot awaited. It was a gigantic 767 jet plane chartered just for us by the U.S. Government. It was like something out of a movie or what you see on the news; 180 fighting Seabees taking one last look at their homeland before heading up the long ladder steps that led to the entrance of the aircraft.

We were greeted by smiling flight attendants ready and willing to make our flight as comfortable as possible. I found a window seat and settled in next to a young fellow Seabee I had seen around but never actually met. I promised I would not drool on him the first leg of the flight and he promised the same. Well, he didn’t promise he wouldn’t use my shoulder to prop up his overstuffed pillow on, so that is just what he did. Needless to say I did not get much sleep on the first leg of our journey.

It was a four and a half hour flight to Newfoundland, Canada! It was dark when we landed so I didn’t get to see much other than the terminal of the airport; we were let off of the plane while it was being refueled for the long haul to our next fuel stop. I thought for a moment I was back in 1981 with the bright orange leather puffy couch seating and drab paint job. Nonetheless it was fun to explore the gift shop and see the land that the great Newfoundland and Labrador retrievers were named after.

After raiding the gift shop for a fridge magnet and shot glass we boarded back onto our airplane for the flight over the Atlantic Ocean to Germany. I was excited because we were going to land during the day and I had a window seat. This would be my first trip to Europe even if it was just to a small air port. At least now I can say I had been to Germany. Lets just say that I was not very impressed. I expected green lush mountains and ancient castles but instead got flatlands, 95 degree temps and strange looks from the local police. I was told that if we had landed in the former West Germany I might have been able to see those other things. The terminal was hot due to lack of air conditioning and the gift shop reminded me that some countries are just behind the times. I was able to get a pretty flashy fridge magnet though. After spending a half hour roaming the terminal, emailing home and trying to figure out how to flush European toilets, we were back on the plane for our final leg to Kuwait.

We landed in Kuwait a few hours before dawn and all of us were really tired as it had been a very long journey. We unloaded our bags from the belly of the plane and reloaded them into waiting trucks, loaded ourselves onto buses and drove about an hour to the base that we would be staying at for a few days until our flight to Afghanistan. We had to travel with the bus curtains closed but I tried to sneak a peek when I could just to get a look at the city. To my surprise, what I could see of Kuwait City looked a lot like most American cities. As we got further out of town that changed a little bit but not much.

After arriving at the air base in Kuwait and retrieving our luggage, we got settled into our "cabins" as I call them; wooden structures with eight bunk beds each. We finally got to lay our tired, in-need-of-a-shower bodies down for a few hours before we needed to be up again for the arrival briefing. By that time we had seen the sun rise three times and set twice in a 24-hour period.

I fully expected Kuwait to be hot but I had no idea that it would feel the way it did. It had been unusually humid there and the temperatures reached 125 and up every day with winds that blew nothing but hellish hot air. It was equivalent to the feeling of a blow dryer being held to your skin on the highest temperature setting. It literally burned the skin. Even the short walk to the dining facility was challenging. All in all though it was a pretty decent base with a lot of amenities and the food was great. We spent about a week there awaiting our flight to Afghanistan and were able to have a little R&R which was very much needed. Next stop...Kandahar Afghanistan...

Bags are packed, Im ready to go....

Well once again I neglected my blog for too long. Things here are moving at lightning speed and this blog is going to be my last blog until I am "over there". Lets just say that I am moving out of my comfy room at the Navy lodge and trading it for a small box in the dessert. I am looking forward to getting out of here but still have reservations about going into the unkown.

I have to make this super short and sweet because my bags are going out the door as we speak. I will catch up with this and all of you in a few days or a week. i love you!!

TTFN!!