This is who we were:
This is what we did:
This is why we did it:
Home! 199 days BOG, 232 days away from home.
The End.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Last night in Bangkok
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| All packed up and ready to go - 3 days early. |
Going from 100mph to zero in a couple of days is a difficult proposition, but that is exactly what we did. We went from always anticipating a page, walking around with a baseline level of anxiety (rocket attacks playing a not insignificant part in this), and ready to 'run' to the trauma bay to having literally nothing to do. I'm still halfway expecting to hear a pager go off at any time. The last couple of days at Kandahar were good though. Got to greet the new team, say some goodbyes and pack up. I wasn't really excited though until we took off for Kuwait - to say it hasn't sunk in yet would be an understatement.
We all mustered at our barracks around 1400 on Monday to drag all of bags one final time. All but 3 of our 4608 crew got on the first available flight out of country with an R and R flight - couldn't imagine having two weeks of vacation anywhere in the world you wanted for free, but always knowing you had to go back for 3-9 months. No thanks. The flight was cramped and cold, but nothing could dampen our spirits. We landed around 2200, Kuwait time, and were promptly taken back into the Navy. We were met by the crew here, grabbed some quick food, our bags and hopped on a bus for the 2 hour ride to the base we will spend our decompression time. Finally got into the rack around 0300, but could only sleep for a couple of hours as my mind was racing. Our only job here will be to turn in our equipment, come to terms with our experience (this might take years) and hop on a flight. Mix that in with a little laundry, haircut and gym time and there you have it. Due to operational security I can't give specific flight times (I'll have to do a coded email to Nancy to make sure she knows where I am), but, God willing, I should be back in the US by early next week.
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| It's only Kuwait, but being back with the Navy is good. |
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| Gear turn in. What a relief to get rid of all that crap. |
Here's to a huge sigh of relief and God Speed to everyone still fighting the good fight!
197 days BOG, 224 away from home.
All for now.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Bastion vs Kandahar - Part 2 (Censored)
I've only received a handful of hate mail from the last post, so I'm going to finish up and cross my fingers that I'm not extended for writing this.
6) Traffic - I've never driven a car in a British colony, having to drive on the opposite side of the road. At Bastion the traffic rules were American and the Brits did most of the driving. They had some obvious problems, including one who put a truck into the moat surrounding the roads there, but by and large you could walk in the middle of the 'road' and not worry about getting hit. Kandahar, unfortunately, is exactly the opposite. I'm not sure of the official acreage, but I'm pretty sure I could walk across the whole base in about 25 minutes. Therefore the number of cars around doesn't make sense - it reminds me of Los Angeles where people drive two blocks to pick up gallon of milk. Don't even think about crossing the street without looking both ways - 10 or 12 times. Nothing should scare you more than a Third Country National (Pakistani, Bengali, Indian) driving a Toyota truck on an American Base in Afghanistan - perilous to say the least. And don't even get me started with the Armored Vehicle 'Student Drivers' - yes they exist and yes I get out the way quickly.
Bastion - 3.5, Kandahar - 0
7) Efficiency - (Content has been removed for purposes of maintaining a career in the Navy and not being transferred to Adek, Alaska).
Bastion - 4.5, Kandahar - 0
8) Leadership - (Content has been removed for purposes of maintaining a career in the Navy and not being transferred to Adek, Alaska). As an aside, they have a program here called CO for the day where we can vote for a staff member to be the acting Commanding Officer while following the real CO. Apparently they were stuffing the ballot box with my name and by all accounts I should have won in a landslide. But alas, it wasn't to be - I smell a conspiracy here or just repercussions of my nickname here - AWM (Angry White Male).
Bastion 5.5, Kandahar - 0
9) Free Time (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) - Please see the GTL post for the things to do at Bastion. It was austere to say the least and the highlight was the nightly gathering to smoke cigars in between the concrete blast walls. As for Kandahar, there is Monday night yoga, Tuesday and Friday movie night, Wednesday and Saturday poker night, etc. They have official 5 and 10K races every week (yes I ran one and promptly coughed up a dirt ball the size of a watermelon at the end). Also, in their infinite wisdom, they also put in a football field with 'field turf'. FIELD TURF! Am I taking crazy pills - apparently so. They had an inaugural football tournament which was well attended. Unfortunately, as you might be able to tell from the photo below, the field has no easement so as you near the end of the turf there is about 3 centimeters transition of rubber before you careen off into rocks. Good news is that we've only had about five injuries so far - bad news is that there is another tournament coming up next week.
I'm gonna give this one to Kandahar, I do loves me some yoga.
Bastion 5.5, Kandahar - 1.
10) Cafeterias (DFACs) - At Bastion I had only two choices - Curry at the British cafeteria, or walk 20 minutes to eat at the Marine side - which, ironically, served Mongolian BBQ every night. I did get a wicked case of food poisoning in October at Leatherneck, but beside that they had a good spread and you were able to take things with you - sodas, chips, cookies, milk, salmonella, etc. At Kandahar we have no less than 5 choices. They have a British cafeteria (no thanks), an Asian cafeteria (right next to the waste facility - again no thanks), Luxemburg (a fairly inaccurate attempt at European fare), Niagra (the American offering) and the Boardwalk - kabobs, pizza, hot dogs and the like. So many choices, so much crap food. This is a tough one, so I'm calling this one a tie, it was just the luck of the draw that I didn't get E. coli here as well.
Bastion - 6, Kandahar - 1.5.
Bastion in a Landslide!!
192 Days BOG, 219 away from home.
All for now.
6) Traffic - I've never driven a car in a British colony, having to drive on the opposite side of the road. At Bastion the traffic rules were American and the Brits did most of the driving. They had some obvious problems, including one who put a truck into the moat surrounding the roads there, but by and large you could walk in the middle of the 'road' and not worry about getting hit. Kandahar, unfortunately, is exactly the opposite. I'm not sure of the official acreage, but I'm pretty sure I could walk across the whole base in about 25 minutes. Therefore the number of cars around doesn't make sense - it reminds me of Los Angeles where people drive two blocks to pick up gallon of milk. Don't even think about crossing the street without looking both ways - 10 or 12 times. Nothing should scare you more than a Third Country National (Pakistani, Bengali, Indian) driving a Toyota truck on an American Base in Afghanistan - perilous to say the least. And don't even get me started with the Armored Vehicle 'Student Drivers' - yes they exist and yes I get out the way quickly.
Bastion - 3.5, Kandahar - 0
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| Rows of cars as far as the eye can see. |
7) Efficiency - (Content has been removed for purposes of maintaining a career in the Navy and not being transferred to Adek, Alaska).
Bastion - 4.5, Kandahar - 0
8) Leadership - (Content has been removed for purposes of maintaining a career in the Navy and not being transferred to Adek, Alaska). As an aside, they have a program here called CO for the day where we can vote for a staff member to be the acting Commanding Officer while following the real CO. Apparently they were stuffing the ballot box with my name and by all accounts I should have won in a landslide. But alas, it wasn't to be - I smell a conspiracy here or just repercussions of my nickname here - AWM (Angry White Male).
Bastion 5.5, Kandahar - 0
9) Free Time (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) - Please see the GTL post for the things to do at Bastion. It was austere to say the least and the highlight was the nightly gathering to smoke cigars in between the concrete blast walls. As for Kandahar, there is Monday night yoga, Tuesday and Friday movie night, Wednesday and Saturday poker night, etc. They have official 5 and 10K races every week (yes I ran one and promptly coughed up a dirt ball the size of a watermelon at the end). Also, in their infinite wisdom, they also put in a football field with 'field turf'. FIELD TURF! Am I taking crazy pills - apparently so. They had an inaugural football tournament which was well attended. Unfortunately, as you might be able to tell from the photo below, the field has no easement so as you near the end of the turf there is about 3 centimeters transition of rubber before you careen off into rocks. Good news is that we've only had about five injuries so far - bad news is that there is another tournament coming up next week.
I'm gonna give this one to Kandahar, I do loves me some yoga.
Bastion 5.5, Kandahar - 1.
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| Field Turf and broken bones courtesy of the US Government |
10) Cafeterias (DFACs) - At Bastion I had only two choices - Curry at the British cafeteria, or walk 20 minutes to eat at the Marine side - which, ironically, served Mongolian BBQ every night. I did get a wicked case of food poisoning in October at Leatherneck, but beside that they had a good spread and you were able to take things with you - sodas, chips, cookies, milk, salmonella, etc. At Kandahar we have no less than 5 choices. They have a British cafeteria (no thanks), an Asian cafeteria (right next to the waste facility - again no thanks), Luxemburg (a fairly inaccurate attempt at European fare), Niagra (the American offering) and the Boardwalk - kabobs, pizza, hot dogs and the like. So many choices, so much crap food. This is a tough one, so I'm calling this one a tie, it was just the luck of the draw that I didn't get E. coli here as well.
Bastion - 6, Kandahar - 1.5.
Bastion in a Landslide!!
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| The BASTARDS of Bastion - British/American Surgical Team and Research Department |
192 Days BOG, 219 away from home.
All for now.
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