I have not posted any blog entries in a few days because we have been very busy here. If I am not out on a mission, then I am getting ready for one or getting mail…which has been a mission in itself. I have not even talked to my family in days, when I at least talk to them every other day if not every day. We have had some good intel lately and had some missions planned which were cancelled or just delayed. This is Afghanistan, and this is a war…so there are lots of bad people out there and we have been working hard at trying to trick them up and kill ‘em. If it were up to some in the ANA organization it would be easy because as far as they are concerned we can kill anything moving after 10 PM at night. However, we as Americans don’t work that way, because lord knows the press would hang us out to dry.

So we set up ambushes and other traps to catch people at night and hopefully surprise them and then see how they act. If they are innocents that are just out after curfew when they are not supposed to be, they will be able to live another day but will get a stern butt-chewing from the ANA. If they venture into our forces and return fire or try to run, then it is game-on. Anyone that is out late at night, driving around without lights and then tries to run when they see us..won’t make it far. They are in season at that point and there is no bag limit.

Yesterday we went out to recon a site for today’s mission. I have some pics from yesterday’s recon and today’s mission in the photos section. We RECONed the site because one we wanted to make sure there were no coochies living near where we would be today and two to make sure that we had a good route. See today, we performed an historic event. We shot a pair of D30 Russian Artillery howitzers for the first time in the 203rd Corps. The artillery soldiers got to shoot when they were in training in Kabul, but have never been able to shoot since graduation. So we took this as an opportunity to get the tubes out and shoot them and also close up some caves that we think the enemy has been using to stage weapons and themselves prior to attacking the FOBS in the area like ours and the one attacked a few nights ago. We have been in the caves before and have found evidence of people staying in there. So we hit them yesterday to see if there were people there and to make sure there were no coochies around. We also RECONed them once more this morning prior to shooting.

Anyway, back to yesterday…before we left, as I was loading up the vehicle I could see big dark storm clouds to our west over the mountains. I mentioned that it looked like we might get wet, but thought nothing more about it. After we left our FOB, we were driving up a wadi that is commonly used as a road here in Afghanistan. All wadis are used as roads here. In this wadi, you can only drive so far, and then you have to get out of it and drive along side of it as there is a man-made drop made of stone. We were the last Hummer with one ANA truck behind us, and as I was scanning from the gunner’s hatch I looked forward and saw this chocolate wave rushing towards us. The 30 feet in front of us was bone dry, but just beyond that and coming over the stone drop came this chocolate flash flood of mud and water. I yelled down to my driver (Face) and he gunned it up and out of the wadi. As I looked back, I saw the ANA in the truck behind us with eyes as big as eggs hot on our tail trying to get out of the wadi also. They barely made it by maybe only a few feet. It seems the rain had been dumping in the mountains and this was the beginning of the run-off. I cannot believe our timing or how lucky we were, because if we had been 20 seconds further behind than we were, there would have been some flooded and washed away LTVs and our operation would have changed dramatically. The Up-armored HUMMERS would have done fine, but those Ford Rangers would not have.

After that little bit of excitement, we continued on to our objective, having to cross the wadi 3-4 more times but we all made it ok. When we came over the hill to where we run our ranges at, I could not believe the amount of coochies, coochie tents, sheep, donkeys and camels everywhere. Just a few days earlier we were there test shooting out M240 MGs and there was only one family and one tent in the area. Now there were at least 10 tents and thousands of animals of every type. It looked like a little city overnight. In just a few days that happened, and I thought that was amazing. Coochie tents are not small, and when they move in, they are settled there for a while. However, I was really amazed when we drove back through there today on the way to the Artillery shoot, and there was nobody there. In 24 hours all of those people, animals and everything were gone. I cannot believe they move so much, so fast.

So after all of that, and a dusty ride we got back to the caves area and the artillery guys got busy. They setup their 2 D30 Artillery pieces and after some final safety checks by the US ETTs, they started shooting. They shot about 10 rounds between the two guns starting with one gun at a time shooting, but before it was over they were firing both together. It was a big success and everyone was pretty excited about the big booms. Our Brigade Commander, S3, and CSM are all artillery guys so there were there. Maj D is also artillery so this was a good day for him too. For the ANA it is a big deal because it was their way to prove to themselves and to the American Army that they have combat multiplier capabilities.

I am hoping it slows down a little so I can keep up better on the blog. I know people follow this religiously like I follow Scott Kesterson’s. I am always looking forward to his entries to know what else is happening where and because I know him and like to read his stories.

Until next time…

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DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier
who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

1st Sgt. Christopher C. Rafferty, 37, of Brownsville, Pa., died on July 21 in Sharana, Afghanistan of injuries sustained on July 20, when his
unit encountered small arms fire during combat operations. Rafferty was
assigned to 37th Engineer Battalion, Fort Bragg, N.C.

On the 21st, I wrote an entry titled “Early start, late ending…” and at the conclusion of that entry, I said I would write more later but could not at that time. I could not, because I cannot discuss soldiers killed in action before DOD has a chance to notify the families and then publishes the notice I have above. That morning we went looking for these bad guys because we had intel they may be staging an attack. That night we responded when they did attack. This time, they got lucky in a couple different ways.

They got lucky that we did not find them early that morning, and they got lucky when they killed a great soldier like 1SG Rafferty. I did not know him, but I knew of him. Our FOB is right next to the 37th’s FOB and we work with them a lot. We shoot on their ranges, we pick up our mail from them, they fix our vehicles, and like the other night we respond on a moments notice to help them out as they do us. We all have US ARMY above our left chest, and we all wear the Flag on our right shoulder. We are all brothers in arms that are here away from loved ones and friends fighting the same enemy. We are all on the SAME TEAM. I had heard 1SG Rafferty’s name a few times as a point of coordination for some things I needed from the 37th, but have not had the time to link up, and now it looks like I never will. This lost has hit that unit hard as I saw it in the BN CDR’s face this morning in a meeting with him. They have had a lot of tough times lately, and to lose a 1SG (of which there are only 5 in a Battalion) is tough.

1SGs are the mommys and daddys of a unit. They are the top of the food chain essentially since they run the companies and run the soldiers. This is why a common nickname for all 1SGs is TOP. They take care of the soldiers, handle discipline, enforce standards, advise the commander on technical and tactical issues and are the resolvers of all issues. I should know as I have been in the 1SG role for 7 years and been wearing the rank for 4 years. 1SGs are probably the smallest percentage in numbers in the entire Army by rank. 1SGs are only in charge of companies, and have one of the toughest jobs. This is why any soldiers, NCO or officer that sees one automatically has respect for them because they know what that rank means. There are high expectations of the 1SG rank and to hold it means to be able to do the job, or you are removed and someone that is capable will replace you.

1SGs and Master Sergeants (MSG) are the same rank, E-8. It is just that 1SGs are in charge of troops. Several weeks ago, we lost SGM Mac, who was posthumously promoted to SGM. He was actually a MSG and the guy that I replaced here on this team. Now another E8 is gone fighting the fight here in Afghanistan, 1SG Rafferty. I knew Mac slightly and never met Rafferty, but I have a bond to them. I have a bond of the rank. They were fellow Sr. enlisted NCOs that took care of troops, made the tough calls, and put a lot of personal sacrifice into being soldiers.

Today when I was up on that FOB, I walked right by if not almost on top of the exact spot where 1SG Rafferty was hit. I slowed down a little and looked around to try and imagine what his last visions were. I know what he was doing when he got hit, what he was wearing and why he was doing it. He was DOING HIS JOB, organizing his unit and base to respond to an attack. He was not hiding under a desk or in a bunker, he was leading his men, and Thank GOD he was. Thank GOD he was doing his job and what I am sure he loved to do.

Take Care Top, I hope to meet you on the other side…a long time from now.

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Today was even a bigger mail day than before. I received several postcards, envelopes with items in them and a total of twelve (12) boxes today. Ten of them were from wonderful people associated with Books for Soldiers, one was from family and one was from my good buddy Jon W. in the big D (Dallas TX). In a previous post I talked about the Books for Soldiers website and referred to the people that sent me stuff from there as complete strangers. I now think that was not the right choice of words. I would not call them complete strangers, but instead as good friends I have not met yet. The whole team got a ton of stuff today from those boxes. Movies, magazines, books, food of every type, spices, cooking utensils, stickers, magnets, calendars, post cards, and on, and on, and on. I have some pics of before box opening and after-box opening in the pictures section.

See the reason I got so many at one time, is apparently in Baghram Airfield (BAF) which is the main incoming/outgoing point for country, and where all mail comes into country at the mail was held up. The official word is that they were throwing mail into a conex waiting for enough to build up to push it forward and they either forgot about a conex they had full or they kept filling it and forgetting about the older stuff in back. Either way they just found it and have been pushing out special flights to get all the mail out to all the FOBs.

You may remember me talking about mail being an important part of a soldier’s morale in an earlier entry. Well, it was starting to get gloomy around here for some, and they are very happy now as the flood gates are starting to open.

Getting the mail today was a nice cap to a pretty sucky day overall. This morning as I was getting ready for a mission I was thinking about ideas to write about as it has been a few days. One thing I was going to write about was the fact that I guess it has been really hot back in the States (hot enough to kill people and cause disasters to be declared). A lot of people have written me in the last 7-10 days telling me they are hot, but that they would not complain because they think we are hotter over here. So my idea today was to talk about the heat here and how it is actually hotter there because of the humidity.

See in my life, I have lived all over the world and have lived in some of the hottest and coldest places that man has ever stepped foot in. Some of these places include Panama, Arizona, the Southeastern US, Texas, Korea, Alaska and Buffalo, NY to name a few. I know HOT, and I know COLD. Trust me, spend a year in Korea on the DMZ. There are two types of weather in Korea, friggen HOT and flippin COLD. Anyway, dry heat (Arizona) like dry cold (Alaska) are bearable and can be dealt with easily. For example, here in Afghanistan the temp has been 101-106 for the last few weeks and even though that is hot, if you are in the shade or there is a breeze (i.e. in the gunner’s hatch) then you don’t feel it. It is very comfortable. If you are standing still out in the sun and there is no wind, it does feel like the sun is so close you could touch it, no doubt. But we didn’t have the humidity that much of the US has so I think a lot of you have been hotter than us.

Until today. Today when I went outside about 7:30 AM to get ready for a mission I noticed a lot of clouds in the sky and it looked like it was about to rain. I then realized I was already sweating and it was because of humidity. The humidity was high today, or at least high for Afghan standards. I could not believe it, as even the Afghans were complaining. Which leads me to think they have not seen humidity much either. I am not sure what caused this rare occurrence today, but it made a 105 degree day miserable. Especially when we are out in the sun with no wind for 3 hours conducting a vehicle checkpoint (VCP).

I have put some pictures up of myself, some of our terps and our new addition to this team, SSG G from Buffalo. He was one that was split from us, and we just got him back. He is the only one here that actually is one of my soldiers and has served in my company under me for the last 4+ years.

I again thank all of those who sent things or everything they have sent. Even if you send nothing more than a postcard or letter, it means a lot.

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I just wanted to send an update on where we are and what we need and don’t need. We are good on the flav-o-ice Popsicle things. We have over a 100 that are not even in freezers because the freezers are full. No more need for them right now. We are also pretty good on the small 1 oz bottles of hand sanitizer. We don’t need pop-tarts as we get lots of them through regular channels. I know some people want to make sure they send stuff that is needed and I don’t want people wasting money on things we don’t or on shipping costs when they don’t need to. I hope this list helps.

Some things we could use are:
1. Pancake mix that only needs water
2. long oven mitts that go up to the elbow. ( our outdoor grill is big and we are steadily losing all hair below the elbow).
3. cans of cheez-it. That non-refridgeration needed canned cheese.
4. sliced pepperoni
5. of course spices, recipes, etc like that
6. plasticware of spoons.
7. canned air for computers and weapons
8. one a day vitamins for men
9. Chewable Vitamin C
10. Gold Bond Foot Powder and the body powder
11. lens paper and lens cleaner for optics, scopes, goggles, Ballistic glasses and night vision devices

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• 

The start of my day yesterday was early, and the ending was late. In the middle was boring and relaxing at the same time. For OPSEC reasons I have to keep this pretty sterile and will try to do that but get the message across.

The day started at 0300 AM for an early mission start. We had to go out with a large force and look for some bad guys that we heard about. The mission was a bust because the guys (idiots) that were supposed to take us there got lost and we went to the wrong mud huts. Of course the wonderfully smart and experienced ANP (NOT!!) decided to search these kulats anyway and in order to save face PUCed a guy (PUC means Person Under Confinement, i.e. arrest) because he had two weapons in his home which were legal. But they could not go back empty handed so they had to come back with someone. Aren’t you glad our country has laws against such idiocy. Regardless of that FUBAR mission, we did do one good thing. There was a small girl with burns over 30% of her body from something, so we convinced the ANA to give up a truck and run her and her parents into the hospital. We put some burn bandages on her and I gave her a little beanie baby that my brother and his family sent me for the kids over here. After that they whisked her away and I hope she is getting good treatment.

After making it back, we downloaded everything and I started cleaning weapons to include my shotgun, 9mm, M4 and M240B MG. Once those were all clean it was Football time. After a couple of hours of Madden 06 (yes, my Bills are doing great, and I think they will go the SuperBowl in my imaginary football PS2 world) I went looking for my ANA CSM. The other day I got onto him about burning the crapper barrels, because they were starting to overflow and nobody had burned them. To my surprise I found out he was AWOL. After being back from leave for just a few days and spending several hours with me the other day talking about how we will get this Kandak into shape I find out he is gone…just left. Enshala, I guess I will start all over with a new one once they appoint him. Until then, I essentially have nobody to mentor.

So, I went back to the room to work on some personal projects. We are working on new stencils for our Trucks, so I went Googleing for ILoveNY logos and outlines of the twin towers since that is what we are going to put on them. I also took care of some house cleaning tasks, etc. One of them was getting a new mattress. See, for the last few nights I realized that I was sleeping terribly and the mattress was poking me. Come to find out I was sleeping on essentially a box spring that looks like a mattress. The Prophet had the same thing so he and I went snooping and found some brand new mattresses in transient quarters that were still wrapped in plastic. We grabbed a truck, took our box springs over there and got brand new REAL mattresses.

Once dinner was over, myself and the Face (AKA Nixon), setup a projector, my laptop and some chairs and had a movie night outside. We put on the long time family classic, Pulp Fiction. We invited the terps over to watch it with us, cooked up some popcorn and made a little MWR time. See it was Thursday night, so we figured if we occupied the terps time that would , ahhem, keep them out of trouble.

After the movie we put everything away and I was just working on emails, etc. Christine called me on Skype and we started talking about both her and my days. After about 10 minutes on the phone I heard what I thought was someone knocking on my door 3 times. I mentioned to her that it was late but to hold on, while I yelled to come in. Nobody opened it, and I heard 3 “knocks” again. This time, while trying to shield the mic so her ears would not get blasted, I yelled COME IN. I then heard 2 more noises, and this time I knew they were not knocks, they were shots from a heavy machine gun. In a matter of 1 second, my mind knew that was the .50 cal up on QRF shooting. I yelled “gotta go” and through down my headset. After that I was focused and my mind was racing. It is amazing how fast your mind can think and how you can multi-task in your head. I was thinking, sleep pants off, ACU bottoms on, don’t need socks, forget putting on army shirt, just tie boots and don’t worry about tucking laces, gotta grab my weapon, grab the 240, where is my headlamp, and I was out the door from throwing down headset to moving out in less than 2 minutes. I ran over to CPT T and MAJ D’s door, banged on it and yelled I am heading to the truck. I heard something I could not understand but I knew they got my message. As I ran to the truck with shots increasing and now the sound of RPGs, the 50 cal still rocking and now AKs shooting from almost all directions I figured we were being attacked again. But it did not sound violent enough. I heard RPGs, but had not heard any booms against our walls or see any rounds land inside the wire yet. So even though my mind was saying we are getting hit on all sides, it was also saying this is a weak attack. As I rounded the back of the building I tripped over those stupid un-filled HESCOs that I have been complaining about to BDE for them to fill. At a full sprint with a M240B in one hand, and my M4 in the other I went flying. I hit hard and landed on both weapons. My knee piled into the metal wiring on the HESCOs and took a good lick. I got up swearing and ticked off that those things were in my way and in the way of our route to the truck. I was also mad that they had slowed me down even though I was the first to the trucks.

A few minutes later everyone else was there, I had the doors open, truck running, radios on, my IBA and helmet on, 240 mounted and loaded and I was getting settled into the gunners hatch. Soon thereafter we were moving out of the gate with a sizeable force of US in HUMMERS and ANA in their trucks. The attack was not against us, but actually against another FOB near us. Our guys saw the attack from where it originated and started laying down suppressive fire. We went to the area we needed to in order to find the guys and we went a looking for them. However they were not there and reasonably so, as I am sure our force could be seen leaving the FOB plus all the rounds of .50 cal ammo that came at them is more than enough reason to take off. By this time there were a lot of friend-lies on the ground and in the air looking for them. We were all in contact with each other so there would be no fratricide and once the area was clear we came back. Less than 3 hours had passed since the first rounds left that .50 cal. After we parked the trucks, downloaded what we needed to and returned to our rooms it was time to let the adrenalin get out of us. I sat here thinking through everything, where we made mistakes, where I made mistakes and already thinking of my own TTPs that I would implement within myself and within this team for the next time this happens. We are constantly learning from what we do to make ourselves better, faster, and more responsive. The enemy changes their tactics and we have to change ours.

I then settled into my new mattress and slept like a baby. I don’t think I would have heard anymore shots if there were any. I was emotionally drained and I was on a real mattress for the first time since leaving Orgun-E. What a day, and what a night….but so is the life in this non-standard mission we are embarked on.

I will write more about this event in a few days, but cannot right now.

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The words spoken by many a First Sergeant and Platoon Sergeant in the history of the Army. I have always said to many of my US soldiers during my career and to the Afghan NCOs more recently that it does not matter what country a soldier is from there are only a few things that motivate a soldier and keeps them happy in the worse of conditions. Those are good hot chow, being paid, time off, and mail call. Of course the latter of those is more important to US soldiers who have a mail system than it is for Afghans who really don’t have a mail system.

Earlier tonight I put up a post, but after I heard those words MAIL CALL, I had to drop one more post tonight. I have been expecting some mail for a while because of all the emails, IMs, and postings on booksforsoldiers.com that I have seen which said boxes were on the way. Mail has been delayed the last few days because of some shots taken at a helicopter recently.

So tonight it rained and poured those red, white, and blue flat rate boxes from our beloved USPS. I personally received 7 boxes and about 5 letters/cards. The ironic thing is that our of 7 boxes, only one was from my family. The rest were from a bunch of wonderful people that are members of Booksforsoldiers.com, that I have never met physically but consider friends via email. The boxes that came in tonight were full of things like spices for out kitchen, recipe books, snacks, candy, drink mixes, books, summer sausage, deodorant, toothpaste and many other things. Not to sound sexist, but it is apparent that women packed some of the boxes. I say this because a man (especially me) would never think of packing greeting cards, thank you cards, stationary, postcards, and wrapping paper. See these things were purchased and sent by complete strangers to us so we can send them to family and friends. I am sure a gift from me to my sons will mean a lot, but if it is wrapped I am sure it will be even more special.

I have a picture of the mail from tonight in my pictures section located at:www.bouhammer.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=20

I know there is even more mail at my old FOB in Orgun-E, and I should see those in a couple of days when some of our guys get back from there.

I cannot believe the love, patriotism and outpouring of hearts that has come through since I have been here. It means a lot to get stuff from family and friends, it is humbling to see that love from perfect strangers,,,,thank you all very much.

T

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The Afghanistan calendar is a little bit different than ours. Their week starts on a Saturday, which means Friday is their “Sunday” and Thursday night is our “Saturday night”. What I mean by that is that just like Saturday night is the night a lot of people go out, party, or do whatever, that is what they do on Thursday night. Friday is our down day as they use it to relax, clean weapons, barracks, catch up on laundry, go downtown to buy things or even use that day to take off and head home on leave.

Just as in our country, where Saturday nights mean parties, drunks on the road and weird things happening in nightclubs and house parties, the same is going on here. This has caused us to nickname “Thursday Night Man Love night”. We love to joke with our terps about this and mess with each other when it is a Thursday. When I say “mess with each other” we will joke like “hey are you getting dressed up tonight, because you know it is Thursday?” or something like, “hey, is your terp coming by for a meeting tonight, because it is Thursday?”.

It does not matter what the Koran says about homosexuality, it is rampant here. Just like in the US where people ignore the bible where it talks homosexuality, and still practice it and practice their faith. According to my terp Aziz, this southern area of A-stan if very heavy in homosexual behavior. I thought great, I leave a 18 month project in San Francisco, USA and come to war in San Francisco, Afghanistan.

When I first got here, I thought maybe it was just the US personnel being mean Americans and making jokes that are not true. But the longer I was here, the more I see it. We have several stories from our terps and from eye-witness accounts of our US soldiers that leave no doubt there is a lot of homosexuality here. From the guy in Lawara who brought his wife to the US medics to find out why she could not get pregnant, only to find out his aim was a few inches off to the couple of soldiers we caught in their rack the other day snuggled up and kissing. Yes, it is here, and a common thing that is known but no acknowledged. Kind of like that deep dark secret of a family or black sheep member of a family.

It is what it is, so that is their issue, no different than the US. Most of our terps are engaged and I think all straight. I know this because they are all saving and paying for the dowry of their fiancés. See in this country they have to pay a dowry to the father of the women they want to marry. It seems the average price is $4,000.00 USD, but I have heard as cheap as $2,500.00 USD. The other night on a night mission as we were talking to Terp Hameed about his future wife and what he paid he asked me what a normal dowry is in the US. I told him we don’t really have a dowry, but we do pay. He asked me to explain, and I told him rather than pay up front to marry, we tend to pay for it after we marry for the rest of our lives. HAHA. Of course that got some laughs from the other US personnel around. I also explained how marriages are typically paid for by the bride’s parents if they can afford it and the rehearsal dinner is paid for by the groom’s parents. He said that it must be better to be the groom’s parents then, and I told him he does not even realize how much better it is.

So if you hear jokes about Thursday Night man love or anything to do with Thursday night, now you know why. They are not all gay here, but enough for us to look at them with a puzzled face and then question about hard-core faith, praying 5 times a day, and all the other parts of their faith, but still being able to openly disregard their Koran. Who knows?

Things have been slow lately as we are in a heavy training and planning phase, so I thought rather than write about a boring day I would give a little insight into Thursday Nights, Afghan style.

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