Hey all, Today I went on a CMA mission. That's civilian medical assistance, or something like that. Pretty boring actually. This is where we go to a village, set up some doctors and medics and the locals come with their aches and pains and so forth, and get treated. I wasn't involved with any of that mess. I was the medic attached to the security force on scene. That means my only job was to treat those guys if something happened. Once again, pretty boring. So, rather than sit on my 4th point of contact doing nothing, I jumped in and pulled security. Six hrs of standing around in our armor really does a number on the shoulders! 40lbs or so of vest, water, ammo, 20 something lbs of med gear, rifle and pistol. I need a massage!!
I did see some of the most interesting things I'll probably ever see today. Jingle trucks stacked to twice the size of the truck. Donkey carts on the road. Motorcycles with 3 guys on it. Cars with right side drive or left side. Vendors walking their carts down the road. A few had coconuts. That surprised me. I didn't think they had those here. The vendor by where I was posted had a version of sugarcane that he would cut into 1-2" sections. People would just chew on that as a snack.
Speaking of people, the ones that showed up were like any you would find in an ER in the states. The funniest part of the day was when these 2 girls walked by to go to the entry point. They must have been 13 or 14, not wearing any veil or wrap. As they walked by, they were looking at us, smiling and giggling. No big deal. About an hr later, we see one of the girls about 50 meters from the exit, getting yelled at by who we figure was grandma. Well, grandma's yelling and then points to us. The girl looks over at us and smiles. CRRRAAAAACK!!! Grandma went and slapped the taste right out of her mouth! The she started putting the wrap on. Kinda funny, but not for her.
Today was a great day to take pictures. It really was. However once I got there, I realized that I left my camera back at the hooch. Guess I'll try again.
For you fashionistas; the burka of choice this spring is ankle length and a light blue. All the most fashionable are wearing them!
Till next time...keep your powder dry!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Hey all, how's it going? Not too bad here.
Yesterday morning I had duty in one of the guard towers. Pretty easy stuff. You look around, and if something looks wrong, call it in. If something bad happens, call it in. Now, do this for 6 hrs...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. The only thing that seems to give it any entertainment value are the rotten little bastards that like to hang out on their side of the fence. Mista, candy. Mista, candy. We're not allowed to toss any, because they are like stray animals. If you feed them, they never go away. The other side to this is that when they don't get candy, out come the slingshots, and the assault begins. They will stand there and throw rocks at you for 5-10 min, sometimes actually getting one in the tower. Then it stops.
But wait! There's more! About an hour later, they come back and do the same thing all over again. Wish I had a slingshot.
Last night I went outside the wire with a team sitting on a hilltop. Great lightning last night. Lit up the entire sky. Each strike lasted a few seconds. Looked really cool. A little rain came with it, but that's ok. It stopped shortly after it started. I tell ya though, night time on a hill top at this elevation gets mighty chilly! Good thing I didn't have to get out of the truck. I just sat there and enjoyed the heater while sitting parked in a spot that was dug out for a Soviet tank back in the day. Four hours of boredom later we got back.
Today I had my first patrol in the city. I was in an area that's part of the "business district". There's a few villages there along with quite a few businessess of some sort. I don't know how they can be in business, because there's quite a lot of standing around. We walked around for a few hours, spoke to some of the locals and kept our eyes open around all these 2 and 3 story buildings that apear to be abandoned.
At one intersection, I got approached by a few little kids. They recognized the med pack. Then they did what all kids around the area do..."Mista, Mista, candy, candy." I don't eat or carry any, so, sorry. Then they started with the fake coughing. I mean the kind of fake like my Mom does about my smoking. The kind of fake that 8yr olds use to tell Mom that they can't go to school. Well, that wasn't the mission and we had to move on. Standing in one spot too long...not good. Don't worry, the mission for giving medical care is in a few days.
Other than that, not much else going on. SSDD. I'll try to post some pictures soon.
Here's a brief overview of the medics mission:
1. Jump through your ass
2. Go to BAF and wait. (Bagram air field)
3. Dismount for MRT (Memorial Rock Throw)
4. Slip into coma on QRF (quick reaction force)
5. Relapse for RRF (rapid reaction force)
6. Dismount; wait patiently for locals to impliment PAPDs (Palestinian anti-personel devices...rocks). Walk through animal carcases, urine, mud, human feces. Smiles everyone! BIG SMILES!
Untill next time...
Yesterday morning I had duty in one of the guard towers. Pretty easy stuff. You look around, and if something looks wrong, call it in. If something bad happens, call it in. Now, do this for 6 hrs...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. The only thing that seems to give it any entertainment value are the rotten little bastards that like to hang out on their side of the fence. Mista, candy. Mista, candy. We're not allowed to toss any, because they are like stray animals. If you feed them, they never go away. The other side to this is that when they don't get candy, out come the slingshots, and the assault begins. They will stand there and throw rocks at you for 5-10 min, sometimes actually getting one in the tower. Then it stops.
But wait! There's more! About an hour later, they come back and do the same thing all over again. Wish I had a slingshot.
Last night I went outside the wire with a team sitting on a hilltop. Great lightning last night. Lit up the entire sky. Each strike lasted a few seconds. Looked really cool. A little rain came with it, but that's ok. It stopped shortly after it started. I tell ya though, night time on a hill top at this elevation gets mighty chilly! Good thing I didn't have to get out of the truck. I just sat there and enjoyed the heater while sitting parked in a spot that was dug out for a Soviet tank back in the day. Four hours of boredom later we got back.
Today I had my first patrol in the city. I was in an area that's part of the "business district". There's a few villages there along with quite a few businessess of some sort. I don't know how they can be in business, because there's quite a lot of standing around. We walked around for a few hours, spoke to some of the locals and kept our eyes open around all these 2 and 3 story buildings that apear to be abandoned.
At one intersection, I got approached by a few little kids. They recognized the med pack. Then they did what all kids around the area do..."Mista, Mista, candy, candy." I don't eat or carry any, so, sorry. Then they started with the fake coughing. I mean the kind of fake like my Mom does about my smoking. The kind of fake that 8yr olds use to tell Mom that they can't go to school. Well, that wasn't the mission and we had to move on. Standing in one spot too long...not good. Don't worry, the mission for giving medical care is in a few days.
Other than that, not much else going on. SSDD. I'll try to post some pictures soon.
Here's a brief overview of the medics mission:
1. Jump through your ass
2. Go to BAF and wait. (Bagram air field)
3. Dismount for MRT (Memorial Rock Throw)
4. Slip into coma on QRF (quick reaction force)
5. Relapse for RRF (rapid reaction force)
6. Dismount; wait patiently for locals to impliment PAPDs (Palestinian anti-personel devices...rocks). Walk through animal carcases, urine, mud, human feces. Smiles everyone! BIG SMILES!
Untill next time...
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Hey out there in the 21st century! I say this with jest because I believe everyone here in Afghanistan is back in the 1200's.
Well, I finally got here. I left Ft Bragg on 30 Mar, got to Kuwait and stayed there for a few days on a couple of different camps. Hot, sunny and sandy. That's all there is too see. Then I made my way to Qatar. Spent a few days there. Same thing different country. Got to Kabul, and; what a hole!!! We're in a valley a mile up. The mountains around us are a couple thousand feet higher. Yes the air is thin and smeels like shit. That's because the people here burn everything. Still trying to get settled in. Still quite a few troops from the last unit trying to get out of here. Shouldn't be too much longer.
By the way, I was at the airfield in Qatar when the B1 blew up. 2000lb bombs make a cool mushroom cloud!! No one was hurt.
Yesterday I made my first convoy. We went from here to Bagram. Pretty boring really. The traffic in Kabul is worse than Manhattan. There are no rules of the road. We own the road. We blow the horn and they move over. Once we got to the country area, its a 2 lane road going through nothing. There are a few goat herders. A couple even had a few camels. They must be the rich guys. Heading north the terrain goes from dirt and rocks to scub and rocks then to grass and mountains.
One thing these guys can do is build walls. Dirt walls, rock walls, brick walls, and various combinations therof. These walls are a couple hundred meters long too. If they put some thought into it, they might connect the walls and throw something on for a roof; but that's just me.
Don't worry, there's plenty of checkpoints along the way. Manned by the ANA, one was manned by the Germans.
Well, that's all for now.
Well, I finally got here. I left Ft Bragg on 30 Mar, got to Kuwait and stayed there for a few days on a couple of different camps. Hot, sunny and sandy. That's all there is too see. Then I made my way to Qatar. Spent a few days there. Same thing different country. Got to Kabul, and; what a hole!!! We're in a valley a mile up. The mountains around us are a couple thousand feet higher. Yes the air is thin and smeels like shit. That's because the people here burn everything. Still trying to get settled in. Still quite a few troops from the last unit trying to get out of here. Shouldn't be too much longer.
By the way, I was at the airfield in Qatar when the B1 blew up. 2000lb bombs make a cool mushroom cloud!! No one was hurt.
Yesterday I made my first convoy. We went from here to Bagram. Pretty boring really. The traffic in Kabul is worse than Manhattan. There are no rules of the road. We own the road. We blow the horn and they move over. Once we got to the country area, its a 2 lane road going through nothing. There are a few goat herders. A couple even had a few camels. They must be the rich guys. Heading north the terrain goes from dirt and rocks to scub and rocks then to grass and mountains.
One thing these guys can do is build walls. Dirt walls, rock walls, brick walls, and various combinations therof. These walls are a couple hundred meters long too. If they put some thought into it, they might connect the walls and throw something on for a roof; but that's just me.
Don't worry, there's plenty of checkpoints along the way. Manned by the ANA, one was manned by the Germans.
Well, that's all for now.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
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