August 11
Earlier this week a Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan. Thirty Americans lost their lives along with some Afghan commandoes. This was a sad event for our nation. I believe this moment touched a little closer to my wife’s heart because of how often I fly here. One thing that has helped relieve her and my fears is that I never take a Chinook. I have flown in a Blackhawk which is fast and has gunners on both sides for protection. But mostly I take a helicopter called a Presidential. I’m not sure why it is called that name. These helicopters are unarmed and mostly flown by civilians. Although not nearly as quick as a Blackhawk they are pretty maneuverable especially when compared to the Chinook. Those things are slow and mainly created to carry heavy cargo and lots of people. Although it would complete my tri-fecta of helicopters here, there is little chance that I’ll be on one.
Until today! I was supposed to board a Presidential as always. Then all those flights got delayed because someone loaded the wrong fuel in either the choppers or the tank they get fuel from. It grounded the whole fleet. There were a few of us trying to get to FOB Ghazni, so the people at the counter started looking for alternatives. They were able to acquire a Blackhawk. They went down the list and called off seven names. Although those seven were happy there was a pretty good size group of us that weren’t. Then someone had the idea of trying to get the Chinook to take us. Some strings were pulled and sweet talking done (none by me) and off our group of 15 were headed to the big helicopter. If you have never seen one of these they have two propellers on top and a drop down door in the back. It has two gunners also to provide some protection. We loaded up and after some time we started to get into the air.
Once airborne I learned something really quick. This thing is slow. We got high into the sky and the gunners were on full alert. I turned to look out the window and wondered what on earth are the gunners looking at? Imagine you are flying in an airplane. You are responsible for looking out the window for a bad guy pointing something at you. I wouldn’t be able to point the bad guy out. It would be worse than a “Where’s Waldo?” book. So we moseyed through the country side on our way to Ghazni. We only went past a few mountains and I definitely felt an eerie feeling knowing what had happened a few days earlier. I was comforted by the experts that said even though a Chinook is slow it was still a very lucky shot for the bad guys to hit it. I’m not going to say I was at peace during the flight, but I wasn’t worried either.
When we landed there was a large group surrounding the flight line with many taking pictures. FOB Ghazni doesn’t get a Chinook very often so I guess we were kind of celebrities for a few minutes. Like I have said before, it’s amazing how the little things excite you over here.
August 12
We are getting ready for a bi-monthly review over here. Our three person team has been gathering information, building a presentation, and doing a dry run to make sure we have everything ready. One of our guys is really responsible for this thing and it’s truly his moment to shine. Needless to say he is taking this very seriously. The other guy is a somewhat control freak, but he is getting our part together and doing a great job. Since I just landed I’m more of a reviewer and learning what’s going on so I can take care of the one in October. Stress seems high for two thirds of our team about this thing. Obviously I’m the third that isn’t stressed. As I told them before I have had to brief a 3-star general on who to award a $1billion contract to. This is important, but not nearly as stressful as that.
After a dry run and making some corrections I think we are ready to go. I only had to break up one shouting match between the other guys. Apparently one of them said something that made the other mad, so they argued. Both then looked at me to be the referee and I just looked at them and said “drop it so we can finish because this fat kid needs to get to lunch.” I’m just not one for being involved in some petty “he hurt my feelings” discussion.
So the day finished with the gym, Skyping, and reading “The Challenges of Leadership and Command” for my Professional Military Education (PME) test that I have to take in 10 days. I’m not much of a reader, but I have about 250 more pages. My reward for finishing and passing will be some Pizza Hut pizza and getting to start the next book of studies. Obviously no Pizza Hut on Ghazni, so I’ll have to make a trip to Bagram. After spending time at Ghazni, Bagram will look like New York City.
August 13
I went to sleep and was awoken by the sound of several helicopters outside. I have no idea what they are doing, why there are so many, and what is taking them so long to leave. The good news about this is that it reminded me that I needed to do my entry for today.
Today was a pretty normal day. Nothing too exciting happened which is probably why I almost forgot to do today’s entry. I did my normal workout and did some reading for my test next week. I tried to catch up on the Buccaneer’s preseason game. I did a little work. I Skyped with Jenn and Emma. So it was pretty much a basic day in the life of Paul in Ghazni.
The highlight of the day was attending a going away for the Army Sergeant Major that works along with us. He is an older gentleman about 60 years old. That may not be old in the civilian world but in the military that’s getting up there. This is his last deployment and he’ll retire about six months after he gets home. I jokingly asked him if he was going to miss deploying and he quickly answered “yes.” I have to be honest that I was taken back by that. What is there to miss? After putting some thought into it, I can understand. There is a certain level of purpose that we all feel here that is different, not necessarily greater, than what we feel working back home. The military has a lot of bureaucracy which probably doesn’t surprise anyone because it is a government entity. When you are deployed especially at a small FOB, the main goal of everyone is the mission. Get the mission done no matter how long it takes. It’s all about making sure your job is done. You don’t have people watching over your every move because everyone here has a job. It’s a nice feeling not to feel like the political games are happening around you. People always wonder how to increase the efficiency of the military back home. It’s simple, act like you are deployed. If you don’t need that person, position, review, briefing, etc when you are deployed then you don’t need it there either!
Well, the helicopters have finally left. It’s quiet and my CHU is no longer vibrating. I guess it is time to sleep. Tomorrow is Sunday which means laundry day and some relaxing (I know I do that most days).
August 14
Wow it is Sunday already. I can’t believe this week is already over. Since it was Sunday I had a relaxing day (like most aren’t). I knocked out some laundry, worked out, and just sat around watching some TV shows. Just like being at home.
A friend of mine sent me an Excel spreadsheet titled “Donut of Misery.” You enter in the day you left home and the day you should be back. It will then calculate exactly how long you have been gone and how long until you get home. It shows you the time in years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds. The reason for the donut portion of the title is that it has a round circle similar to a donut that fills in as your days tick by. As of today I am 22% done with my deployment. I don’t think I’ll check this daily, but it will help keep it in perspective. I guess I should do some work tomorrow since its Monday.
August 15
There are certain difficulties that everyone expects when they deploy. People know they are going to miss their families, miss their beds, good food, going on vacations, and many other things. One of the interesting things about deploying are dealing with the things you never thought of. For me the two biggest have been boredom and the limited people to interact with. The team I work on is three people. One of the guys is nice but antisocial. So that leaves my one coworker that I socialize with most of the time. He’s a nice guy, but we don’t have a ton in common. It took us a month and a half, but I think we have done all the small talk we can do. It’s gotten to where stories are being repeated and the same discussions are being done again. We’re on a small FOB with only so much to do each month and we do the same things month after month. So there isn’t much hope for new conversations. Maybe we’ll be saved by football season when I comes around.
August 16
Facebook is an amazing thing. We all know how it has changed the way people connect. We also (at least those with a Facebook) know that it connects us to people we would have never spoken to again. But you get a whole additional perspective of Facebook when you are deployed. I have so many people such as friends, family, and acquaintances that like to know if I’m doing ok and for that I am blessed. I think back to the old days (preFacebook) and think how many letters, precious phonecalls, and news spreading it would have taken to quell everyone’s curiosity. With Facebook all it takes is a quick status update or comment on someone’s wall and everyone knows I’m ok.
On most of these FOBs there is an internet café for people to use. For example the FOB Ghazni café probably has about 20 computers on the American side and another batch on the Polish side. I’ve sat there waiting for a computer and noticed that at any one time there can be 18 or 19 computers on Facebook. It’s the first and many times only site that people go to when they sit down. Even on the Polish side most are on Facebook.
When I first got a Facebook account I was working on a college campus. It was the easiest way to get a hold of my cadets. Very few of my friends and none of my family had an account. Heck most of the “social networkers” were on Myspace…haha That was about five years ago. Now it is strange for someone NOT to have an account. I wonder what will be the hot thing five years from now.
POINT TO PONDER: Today is the 9th anniversary of me being commissioned as an officer in the Air Force. I’ve been in the Air Force more than 13 years, but on this day in 2002 I switched to the dark side. Although I may have changed a couple things if I could go back, going to Officer Training School (OTS) was definitely one of the smartest decisions of my life. That being said, I do miss enlisted life because it was a whole lot more fun!
August 17
I completed a couple audits today, so officially my work for the month is done. Even though it creates a lot of downtime, I like that I know on the first of the month everything I need to get done. I can choose to relax and do a little here and there or I can go all out and finish early giving me days of nothing to do. This will pay great dividends when it comes to getting my professional military education course done.
I definitely did something to my left shoulder when I was working out a couple weeks ago. It only hurts when I lift weights or try to turn on the light switch. There is a sick-call clinic here that I need to go to and get checked out. I’m lucky that if it is something bad there is an orthopedic surgeon at the trauma unit, but hopefully I don’t need that. I’m sure the diagnosis will be taking some Motrin and rest it. I don’t want this to get in the way of my workout progress, but I’m sure it is only a minor setback.
Tonight at dinner there wasn’t any water to drink, all the milk was gone, and the Gatorade had been used up. The only thing left was soda. So for the first time in a month and a half I had a Mountain Dew. This is the drink I routinely called the nectar of gods. I haven’t really missed soda since I have been here. I had a few times that I looked and thought about getting one but resisted the few temptations. So now I didn’t have a choice. So I got one and to be honest it just wasn’t that good. In fact I could only drink about half of it before I started feeling a little sick to my stomach. We’ll have to see if I feel this way once I get back home.
UPDATE: I’m having some problems getting to sleep tonight. I’m not really sure why. A lot of the time I’m just thinking about Emma and how much she is growing. She is starting to get a personality. She and Jenn will lie on the floor when we Skype and she’ll just stare into the computer at me. And when Jenn talks she turns to look at her in the cutest way. She’ll role around smiling and laughing. She loves to grab her toys and sling them around and bang on stuff including the computer if it is close enough. Her newest thing is taking her pacifier out and putting it back in her mouth the right way. When you are a new parent these small things seem like such a huge deal. I’m very lucky to be able to see Emma on Skype just about every day and see her growing. It’s just amazing how much I miss hugging her especially now that she is actually starting to hug back. When I get home I’m going to hug her so hard, but I’ll try not to break her in half.
August 18
According to my “Donut of Misery” spreadsheet, I am 24% done with my deployment. I have been good and have written every day, but I’m starting to feel my days are very monotonous. There is no way I’ll be able to keep these posts interesting for approximately 150 more days. I will do my best to try…haha
Jenn called me this morning (it was about 1am her time) because Emma had a fever and wasn’t feeling good. It saddens me to know my baby was hurting and I couldn’t do anything about it, but it helps a lot to know Jenn is a great mom. By the time we Skyped this evening Emma was back to herself laughing and rolling around.
Today was filled with procrastinating on a homework assignment and binge eating. I have been so good watching what I eat, but today I fell completely off the wagon. I couldn’t get full and finally broke into the snacks that Jenn sent me. I offset some of it by playing basketball, but due to a meeting I had to attend at my regular gym time I was easily in the red when it came to calories for today. Well, I’ll have to get back to the routine tomorrow.
As I write this I am about to go to bed and there are explosions happening. I’m not really sure if they are incoming or outgoing. I didn’t hear an announcement to warn of outgoing shots. I’m listening for people heading to the bunkers and there isn’t any noise from outside. I guess I’ll do what any normal person would do in this situation. I’ll turn off my light and go to bed.
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