Home Sweet… KAF - 5 May 2009 - 2130

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Well last night I was minding my own business when I had a bombshell dropped on me; I was going back to KAF. Not for any extended time frame, just for a couple of days to assist with a supply issue. They really didn’t know how long it would take me but they were assuming 2 – 4 days. I was pretty happy with that and was hoping that it would be as long as it could be. We haven’t been doing a ton of work in Leatherneck but we keep fairly busy and we are stretched pretty thin with more taskings on the way. I was looking forward to a nice couple days in KAF to relax and get away from some of the drama and bureaucratic crap we put up with on a daily basis. I had heard that our last 2 remaining guys had been kicked out of our old tent to make room for another unit coming in so we would have to stay in the transient lodging. No big deal, I thought. I pictured the transient lodging we stayed in when we were in Ali Al Salem Kuwait which was a GP Medium with maybe 14 guys in it (for picture check out post “Stuck On Mars” last picture). So that night I packed up and got ready to hit the Bastian Air Field for our bright and early flight. SPC Hartwell and I got there around 0700 and checked in for our 0930 flight. After we had waited for about an hour we were told that the flight was delayed about an hour. About 10 minutes later we were told that it was delay “2 hours, at least”. I didn’t like the sound of “at least”. We decided to stick it out and see what happened. 2 hours later we boarded our C130 and took off towards KAF. After the short 30 minute flight we hopped off and grabbed our bags just as our ride showed up to pick us up. SSG League is one of the 2 still left from our unit in KAF. He picked us both up in his Gator and drove us to the transient lodging office. We got our tent assignment and I was surprised to realize that it was not a GP Medium like I had thought it was. It was, in fact, a giant circus type frame tent, probably at least 4 times the size of the temporary tent we stayed in while in BAF (See pic in “Bumped For Ammo”). Upon entering, what I later realized was the front of the tent, I saw that it was completely packed with people. There was not a single bunk open. We went outside and I remembered that lodging specified that we would be in the back of the tent. I didn’t realize that there was a partition that cut the tent in 2 with a locked door in the middle. We went around to the other side to find the same thing. It was packed to the gills with nowhere to stay. I decided to check the second tent, even though I didn’t sign up for it, since it was right next door. We walked in to see two open bunks in a corner of the tent that had been flooded from a huge rain a couple days prior. We had no choice but to take the bunks. When I went to put my baggage down to claim it I saw that the person in between myself and SPC Hartwell was SGT Shimmin, and in the bunk right in front of SGT Shimmin was SSG Baker. They had both left a day before us for a 4 day pass to Qatar but had had their flight cancelled. A short while later we found SPC Bade a few bunks down who had left a couple days prior to go home for leave, but his flights had been cancelled too. We decided at that point that this was not going to be the vacation that we had hoped for. We had also been told by guys coming back to Leatherneck from a mission to Kuwait that KAF was incredibly full and lines to everything were around the block and internet was basically dead. We decided at that point that we were going to get our mission done as soon as we could and get to Leatherneck. Our first order of business was lunch. We found out that they had opened a new chow hall down on Southpark so we decided to go check that out. When we got there, despite what we had heard, there really wasn’t much of a line at all. The facility itself wasn’t like all the others on KAF. The others are all hardside buildings. This DFAC was almost the same set up as the one in Leatherneck. In Leatherneck the DFAC is made up of several GP (General Purpose) tents connected together with various connector pieces in a maze of tents with a large frame tent for overflow seating. The one on Southpark is several GPs but the first several all have food bars in them and then there are a series of passages that lead into a large cover that serve as entry ways to 4 large frame tents. The food quality was about the same but the selection on Southpark was about 3 times larger. After we ate we went and completed as much of the mission as we could. SSG League told us that the process we needed to go through was exceedingly slow and would take about 2 weeks, but that if we did all the paperwork he would turn it in and let us know when it was ready. SPC Hartwell cranked that out and we made plans to try and head back the next day. We then went and checked out the internet lab, which wasn’t busy at all and then hit the PX which I had definitely seen way busier. SSG League and I then went back out to the flight line to check on flight times for “space a” (space available) flights. Basically they are cargo flights that, if they aren’t overly full, you can catch a ride on. After that I wanted to go hit the Boardwalk, for old time sake. I went to Tim Horton’s first to find absolutely no line. We thought it was closed at first but they were, in fact, open. I got one of each of my favorites; one double double coffee, one cruller, and one cinnamon raisin bagel, toasted with plain cream cheese. It was like I hadn’t even left. After seeing that the lines rumor wasn’t true I started to think that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to stay here a while. I could just spend as little time as possible in the shitty tent and chill for a couple days. But after tossing it around in my mind a while, I decided it would be better if we just went back and came back to KAF when it was time to pick up the gear. When we got back to the tent that night we found out that SPC Bade’s flight had been cancelled again for leave. Fortunately your 2 weeks of leave doesn’t start until you get to Texas, so unless he had specific plans made for a specific date, he’s really just getting extra time off. My wife and I decided to rent a cabin on a lake in Maine for a week when I get home on R&R. It’s going to be a little risky since we paid a deposit and bought plane tickets already, but we didn’t schedule the flight until 5 or so days after my leave is scheduled to start, so hopefully we will be ok. I took the opportunity to add several pictures to my facebook while up here but still didn’t have the time to add them to my blog. I was, however, able to talk to my wife for more than 20 minutes at a time which was a very welcome perk. So we are going to try and leave tomorrow sometime to get back to Leatherneck but I may be back in a week or 2. I appreciate everyone’s concern while I wasn’t writing. It’s an issue with internet availability and PS2. I’ve been playing a fair amount of Tiger Woods 09 with my free time. I actually had my wife buy a small TV and PS2 from Wal-Mart.com and send them over. She and her mother have been a saving grace with all the care packages they have sent so I wanted to make sure I recognized their contributions. They have, as well as everyone else who has supported me in one way or another, helped make a lousy situation almost livable. We are now 40% done with our 400 day order. We have heard rumor that a unit has been identified to replace us, but I’m not going to go into any details about who or when. It’s just a relief to know that it’s being worked, because I had a real fear that we would be forgotten about, living out in the wilderness, where we really have no business being right now, and someone would realize at some point “Oh crap, who are you guys again? How long have you been in Afghanistan now? 2 years? Doing what? Oh you built this camp. Keep up the good work.” It looks like we should be home at least by when we were originally supposed to be.

Jacks Of All Trades - 23 April 2009 - 1330

It’s now been 3 weeks since I arrived in Leatherneck. Not much has changed. The temperature has gone up a bit I suppose. Our destiny still appears to be the Base Slaves for the foreseeable future. They aren’t sure if we will even start receiving Army ammo during our entire time here. We were told that we are laying the ground work for future units to come in our place. That’s all well and good, but I’m relatively certain we aren’t the only Army unit out here. Whenever a big project comes up we start the morning with like 20 people from our Battalion and like 20 from us. By the end of the day you look around and everyone from the 100th, save 3 or 4 have strategically snuck off during the day. We have now set up around 15 or so tent only 1 of which was actually ours. Again we were told we would be helping, but to me help implies that we are assisting another group, not acting as indentured servants. 1st squad is our wood construction squad. They build floors for all the tents that my guys put up, floors for other peoples tents, and desks and tables and such for various units. One Soldier approached one of the 1st squad guys and asked how they could get a desk built by our carpentry unit. People out there don’t even know what we are supposed to be doing. I really don’t mind a long, physically demanding day of work even though I was supposed to be over here sitting behind a computer the whole time, but it really gets me worked up when we are the only ones out there working. Yesterday we finished building two gym tents and setting up the equipment. After that 3 of us got roped into digging 3 trenches for some internet cable through the rock with a pickaxe and a shovel. Not easy work, but it was for our office tent and our Battalion office tent so I really didn’t mind doing it. If we had to dig trenches for the rest of the tents we put up without assistance, it would be a different story. Recently a Sergeant Major move into across the street from our tent. We have been getting railed by him over not being in “proper uniform”. Before he arrived the whole base was doing PT (physical training) in their pt shorts and our normal brown work t-shirt instead of our PT shirt. Reason being, we only get 1 – 2 pt shirts and if you’re working out in them you have to do laundry like every other day which doesn’t fly when there is only like 8 washers. Also, the policy in KAF and Leatherneck (before SGM arrived) was brown t-shirts authorized. Well when he showed up he just started busting chops without letting anyone know that he was changing the policy. We were also hammered on several other issues which were easily fixed. It’s frustrating though when you’re working your ass off for these people and they bust your balls for doing thing the way you were told, especially for something as small as walking to the bathroom in a brown t-shirt. So that along with some of the crappy tasking that are coming our way, and our HQ acting like we have 100 Soldiers instead of the 40 we have at any given time, we are stretched thin and moods have been a little edgy. On a lighter note, tonight at 2000 Toby Keith is playing a USO show like 50 feet behind my tent. Even if I don’t go, which I probably will, I should still be able to hear it from my tent. I know a lot of you have been asking what I could use here in a care package. Well, 1st and foremost is coffee. We burn through coffee like it’s going out of style. We like whole bean since we have a grinder. Our favorite is the Starbucks Sumatra but really as fast as we go through it and as often as we are out, we would take about anything at this point. Also, Kool-aid Singles are always a good. Everyone is always after my orange and grape so those are good ones to send. Jerky is always good too, any kind any brand. Also, calling home isn’t cheap and neither is calling me from the states. I have to have a special Afghani phone card so I let Sarah call me most of the time since they are hard to come by, but her calling me is kinda pricy. Anyone looking to donate phone cards we would greatly appreciate it. Those would have to be sent to Sarah though. Any other junk or snack food that you send is welcome too. If someone gets something in that they don’t really like it goes into a central pot for everyone else either in our living tent or in our office tent for the whole Platoon. During Easter our candy stash runneth over. As for pictures on here, the internet café is incredibly busy at any hour of the day and by the time I catch up on my emails and upload pics to my Facebook and such I just don’t have enough time to get more photos on here right now. Sorry for those who don’t have my Facebook. I’ll try when I can but no guarantees. I got my hair cut at the new barber shop two days ago here on post. It’s like being at a Cost Cutters or something similar back home only all the barbers are Russian ladies. Anyway as I sat down in the chair, I looked at myself in the mirror and realized how long it had been since I had really seen myself. There are mirrors in the bathroom but they aren’t great and I usually still haven’t wiped the sleep from my eyes when I’m in there. I shave with an electric razor at my bunk and brush my teeth outside the tent with a bottle of water everyday so I really don’t check myself out very often. It was just kind of strange. I looked weathered and my face looked heavy. I also got a pretty sweet sunburn the other day on my arms and face while we were setting up tents so I have any awesome raccoon mask from my shades. Above all else, I just looked tired. It’s been some long hard days in the sun lately and I’ve been taking a bit of a beating. I can’t wait to get back to the states on R&R. We get 2 weeks at home, but after all the traveling to and from, it will be closer to 3 weeks away from work. I know it will go by fast but even so, that will be 21 days closer to being home for good.