7-13 July

7 July
My wife believes I’m addicted to the internet, so she probably thinks the withdrawals I’m going through right now are healthy. Since I left I have had a total of a couple hours on the internet and next to no access to TV. I think this more than anything has led to a feeling of isolation. It’s not anything serious and soon I will be set up in my “permanent” living quarters and I’ll have much better access. Jenn updated me on the Cassie Anthony trial verdict, but that’s about all the news I’ve gotten. What about the NFL lockout? I need my football. What about the political primary debates going on now? What about the troop movement in Afghanistan or plans by our new Secretary of Defense? That would be a nice chunk of information. Or how about all the stuff going on that I can’t ask about because I don’t even know it exists? Sitting where I am right now makes me wonder back to previous wars. The isolation from the “real” world must have been unbearable. We always think about letters from home to get updates about the family, but those letters must have included news also. In our world of instant information it is interesting to take a step back and realize how spoiled we are. I may have to buy some internet time at the wireless hot-spot to get a fix for my addiction. Not much but just enough to take the edge off.

8 July
Apparently “Biggest Loser: Afghanistan Edition” is starting to work. I woke up today and can barely move my arms. My triceps hurt so bad from yesterday’s workout, but sadly I didn’t even work out my triceps. It sucks being fat, old, and out of shape. For the most part I have stayed away from the sweets besides my gumballs that Jenn got me before I came over. Today is the first day since I have been to Afghanistan that it seems really hot. I’m not sure if it is any hotter than the other days or if the comparison to Kuwait is wearing off. I’m pretty much in “hangout” mode until they get me a flight to my next FOB. I already ran today, but just maybe I’ll hit the gym too. It’s pretty hard to kill time over here when you aren’t working. I have some Afghans coming to hook up internet in my room later today. That should give me something to do until I leave. Maybe I’ll get to Skype for the first time with Jenn and Emma. That would keep me going for a few days.

All in all, I’m starting to get adjusted to being deployed. I’m over the jetlag and the climate isn’t affecting me any worse than if I were in Arizona or New Mexico. In some ways it is more comfortable than a hot day in Boston or Florida, because it is a dry heat. I’m just itching to get to my FOB and get started working. My days will be filled with new adventures and experiences at the beginning. I’m sure after a while the monotony will kick in.
I’ve gotten to talk to Jenn every day since I’ve been here. I’m not much of a phone person, but just listening to her talk about her errands or what Emma did brightens my day. It seems every time I call her Emma is talking away in the background. Jenn puts me on speakerphone and says Emma smiles at the sound of my voice. That brings tears to my eyes with joy. I’m not an emotional guy but being away from Jenn and Emma sure brings it out of me. In a way I’m pretty proud of it. There have been times when I wondered if I would ever feel such an emotional connection with anyone. I thought I loved Jenn more than I could love anyone in the world until Emma came along. Just thinking about Emma fills me with such joy and love. I guess sometimes the only way that love and joy can come out is in liquid form secreting from my optical cavities.

Update: Just when I thought I was going to be sitting around Bagram for a few days I get asked “How soon could I be ready to go?” My response was as soon as I needed to be and within an hour I was on a helicopter flying through the Afghan mountains. It was my first time in a helicopter and the ride was pretty good. I was checking out how intent and zeroed in the two gunners were. They seemed ready to shoot at any second. When I got to my landing spot I chatted with one of the gunners and realized he was about 13. He couldn’t even grow a mustache. I have truly gotten old. So now I am sitting at some random FOB in the middle of Afghanistan trying to catch another helicopter ride to my new home. Let’s hope my 0500 show time pays off.
TODAY’S POINT TO PONDER: There are about 31,000 people on Bagram Air Field. The only clean water to drink comes in bottles and most people average about 10 a day. That is 310,000 water bottles a day and for the most part no recycling exists. Where are the tree huggers?

9 July
The way today began was very disappointing. I woke up around 0400 so I could get ready, packed, and over to the terminal to hopefully jump on a helicopter to my new home. After spending an hour there it finally got time for them to call names for the flight I wanted. I had no idea where I was on the list or how many people they would be taking. It’s like listening for your name at a raffle that is giving away prizes, but you don’t know how many they are giving away. When they finished calling names I sat there for a couple minutes and then went back to my room. I was down because I foresaw a day of boredom.
Then I saw an email from Jenn. I tried to get a hold of her last night to Skype and she never responded. She told me that if I got up early to email her before she went to sleep. I did and she answered, so we got on Skype. I know I have had a chance to talk to her every day, but to see her beautiful smiling face made my day. And if your day is made by 7:00 am then the rest is just gravy! We chatted about everything and nothing and it was awesome. She even took the computer into the nursery so I could see my little lady sleeping. As usual anything with Emma brought tears to my eyes, so we talked about random stuff. It was great.

After hanging up with Jenn, I had breakfast and headed to the office for this FOB. One of the downfalls of me missing out on this morning’s flight is that I won’t have any overlap with the guy I’m replacing. At this office is a nice girl I met last night and she agreed to let me shadow her around today. So I’m about to head out and do some work (sort of). It’s amazing how a week of deployment with no actual job can make you crave something to do.
So I had the opportunity to shadow the person that does my job here. It looks like it should be an easy, but interesting job. I’ll explain what I do in a future post. I also spent two hours of my day in the gym. It’s amazing how much cardio you can do when you don’t have any other commitments for the day. I wrapped up the day by watching a bootleg movie that you can buy for a dollar. Some are actually great quality. I do wonder why the bases let the Afghans sell bootleg movies out in the open. It seems sketchy to me. Finally I sat down and was able to Skype with Jenn again. This time Emma was awake, so I got to see here thrashing away as Jenn tried to get her interested in me on the computer screen. The video was shaky so hopefully my future home has better service.

Off to bed. I have another 0500 show time with hopes of catching a flight.

July 10
Home sweet home. I was able to jump on the chopper this morning and made it to my new home Forward Operating Base (FOB) Ghazni. I’ll be here until approximately Jan 3, 2012. It’s a quaint little place. It is actually a Polish run camp, so the vast majority of people here are Polish. It’s pretty small, so there isn’t much besides a chow hall, gym, and one morale building. There is not a PX/BX, so anything you need has to be shipped, bought when visiting another FOB, or bought from one of the local overpriced shops. I’ll have a work/live container housing unit (CHU) which means they took a big box like the ones on ships/semi-trucks and split it in half. The front will be my office and the back is my living space. My CHU will have internet and cable, but I have to acquire a TV from somewhere. They sell them here, but the prices are pretty steep because you have no other options unless you get one sent from home or buy off the internet. We have 3 people from DCMA here and we are in a little row. It’s like a small neighborhood with pallets for porches. The Captain I’m replacing is still here, so I’m in a temporary unit until he leaves tomorrow. Once he is gone I can finally fully unpack and start making a home.
This will be the main FOB for me to work out of but I will travel to a few others that are nearby. I should be able to ride a helicopter to most, but I hear there is one that is only a mile down the road. That will probably require me to ride in a convoy every so often, but such a short distance should be safe.
For the most part we are out here on our own, so if we do our jobs we can pretty much relax and not have to worry about the boss. Although being at Bagram would have had its perks (multiple chow halls, gyms, and PXs) it is nice not to be working right down the hall from your leadership.
I’ve already hit the gym and it’s not too bad. My plan is to spend a lot of time there over the next 6 months. I have some fitness goals in mind but mainly just want to look good when my wife sees me in January!
We had a send off for the guy I replaced. He’s heading home tomorrow and I’ll be able to move into my semi permanent home. I have a decision to make, because a bigger CHU will open up in a couple weeks. I’m not sure I’d want to pack up and move again, but we’ll see. I found out a group of guys get together each night to smoke cigars and play music. I’m not a cigar smoker, but it’s nice to see a social scene that draws people out of their rooms. The only drawback is that this little get together is right outside my new CHU’s door. That may be further motivation to move when the bigger one opens.
July 11
The first sleep in my new home was eventful. About 0300 we had some incoming mortar attacks. The sirens and speakers are pretty quiet in our section so I wasn’t really sure what was happening. I did spend about 30 minutes sleeping in my body armor, but soon the all clear was given. It’s an interesting feeling to lie in bed and hear the howitzer cannons going off when we shoot back. Strangely I didn’t have any fear something bad was going to happen. It was more of a weird calmness. One thing I did learn that is very valuable is that this area of Afghanistan gets pretty cold at night. I might need Jenn to send me some long sleeve shirts.

The helipad is right next to us, so the CHUs rattle each time a helicopter takes off or lands. In a way it’s pretty cool, but I’m sure that will wear off. It will be handy when I have to fly out or come back because I won’t need anyone to pick me up. It’s a 2 minute walk from the terminal.
Over breakfast there was a lot of discussion about mortar attacks and what could happen. The prevailing philosophy is that when it’s your time to go… you’ll go. It doesn’t matter if you are in Afghanistan or driving to work in Massachusetts. I like that idea because it takes the worry off of you. Of course this doesn’t mean you temp fate.

Since my sleep got messed up I didn’t get up early and go to the gym. I’m committed to finding sometime today to go. It may be tonight, but I’m not breaking the streak this early.

My internet in the room stopped working so I had to go to the morale building and wait in line. I was able to get on Facebook and check my email. I even got to IM with Jenn a little. After that I looked down at my watch and realized how late it was. I had to make the very difficult decision to let the streak end and resume early tomorrow morning. The new streak will be much, much longer!

July 12
The streak began again. My workouts have been killing me because of a combination of being out of shape and the high altitude of FOB Ghazni. I’ve lost a couple pounds already, but I’m expecting it to pour off over the next couple weeks. A combination of working out and a drastic reduction of sweets should do the trick. The guy I‘m working with has dropped over 10 pounds in his first 11 days.
I actually got around to doing some work today. My first event was a staff meeting with the Polish leadership of the FOB. I barely speak English good and now I have to talk to some Polish guys about how crappy their fire prevention program is. Let’s just say they didn’t always like the stuff we were saying, but they caught on to how important it is not to have a burn barrel five feet away from 300 gallons of jet fuel…among other things. I followed that up by stepping in when a Command Sergeant Major in the Army tried to chew out my Staff Sergeant fireman. I guess the Sergeant Major thought this Captain was going to stay in the room when he took my guy outside. I don’t like when people get yelled at for doing their jobs and doing them well. After a few minutes the Sergeant Major saw how much we appreciated his cooperation and how we are working together to keep HIM out of trouble.
Now I’m in my room “studying” for work tomorrow. I guess I don’t have anything better to do until I Skype or call Jenn.
Update: I have made progress. I can actually Skype with Jenn and see Emma without sobbing like a 5 year old girl that got her pigtails pulled.

July 13
Today I got a good taste of what I’ll be doing here. Many people have asked me what my job will be so here it is. When we are in a deployed environment like this we have contractors, which include some Afghanistan people, which do a lot of different tasks. What services are done by a contractor depends on how big the FOB/base is and how the military wants to set it up. These services can be small items like laundry service and port-a-potties or large services like chow hall(s), fire prevention, base security, etc. These contractors get paid hundreds of millions and sometimes billions of dollars to do these services throughout Afghanistan and Iraq. My job is to do audits and inspections of the contractors to ensure they are doing what they are supposed to and the government and taxpayers are getting what they pay for. The country is broken up into areas and there is a main FOB for each area. I live at that FOB and will travel to the other ones in my area.

I know I’m not kicking doors down, flying airplanes, or doing some other cool job (pilot isn’t a cool job), but this is very important. As an example we have inspected and discovered the fire prevention on our FOB is junk. Finding this and bringing it up will hopefully prevent some tragedy later on. Also we have all read stories about military contractors scamming tons of money for not doing stuff. Well I’m here to stop that. Another side of that is a lot of military take advantage of the contractors to get stuff done that shouldn’t be and I’m here to stop that too. For a guy with my normal career field it’s not every day that I get to jump into some helicopters, butt heads with the Army, and even have to meet with Polish leadership.

The best part is I get a 6 month break from just sitting behind a desk. And I also get to use my best quality which is being able to tell someone that they suck and having them agree without being mad. I know… it’s a gift!



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