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After we spend a few days invading the privacy of just about all the people in a town, we then hold what is called a Shura. A Shura is a meeting of all the elders from the different tribes and villages in and around the town. During this Shura, the Battalion Commander and Company Commander of the unit we are helping to support come in with trucks full of items like coal, wheat, rice, beans, winter boots for kids, school supplies, etc. etc. to give to the elders so they can disburse to their people. We also have VMO come in. A VMO is a Village Medical Outreach, which is essentially a group of male and female doctors, to include veterinarians, optometrists, and other specialists. They setup near the Shura and treat all the sick and lame. During the previous days of searching, we made sure and told all the people about the Shura. We tell the place and time so they know about it and they can spread the word.
Of course as part of such a large gathering, we have a ton of security. We use humvees to circle the area all facing out. We also have dismounted soldiers roaming around. Snipers are placed on rooftops and the ANA is used to control the Entry Control Points (ECP) so they can search and talk to people. We also use the ANA to handout Humanitarian Assistance items and the senior officer from the ANA participates in the Shura.
The Shura and VMO takes a very long time as we have to move at their speed. The afghans are not the type of people to jump right into things. There are lots of cordial greetings; drinking of chai tea, eating of nuts and candy and other events that seem trivial to us, but are important to them. So this event took the whole day and made for a very hot day in the sun as the events progressed.
It finally ended in the mid afternoon and everyone came back to the patrol base. After everyone came back, we had a scare with the generator. It would not start at all, and we pulled and pulled, and pulled. Finally we pulled out the spark-plug and saw it was already very fouled up. Since we did not get the proper oil when we bought the generator, we used oil from the ANA’s trucks. It was a little heavy for the generator and fouled the spark-plug pretty fast. Luckily I had a wire brush in my weapon’s cleaning box and we had the ANA clean it up. After putting it back in, it cranked right back up. This became the norm after every tank of gas. We had to pull the plug, clean it up, and then it would crank.
That night we had a good dinner of Afghan rice, sweetbread, some taters-n-onions that I fried up, and two cans of clam chowder that we brought. The terps never had clam chowder before, and they love it. We added lots of black pepper and cut up slices of fresh onion to put in there. The onion really made it good, and I think will be a regular addition to any clam chowder I make in the future. Like I said, the terps loved it and did everything but lick the pot clean.
The dinner was probably the highlight of the day, since the Shura and VMO are really long and boring. Day 5 was not as long as day 4 was, and was nowhere near as adventurous as Day 6 was about to be.
Day 4 started with a dismounted presence patrol in the southern part of the village that had not been searched from the day prior and a village to the south. Since Face was on the Kulat clearing team the day before, I went on this one. I moved out in the morning with the dismounted platoon from 10th MTN and 2 squads of ANA. Rather than search every single KULAT and compound like the day prior, the 10th MTN platoon leader just wanted to talk to people, asking where the Taliban were, when was the last time they saw them, and other related questions. We moved into the group of compounds that were southeast of our patrol base first. There we found what would be considered a small convenience store in Afghanistan. We talked to the store owner and some old men about how safe they felt, any suspicious activity they had seen, etc. etc.
With one of the men was a small boy between 2 and 3 years old. The boy was cute as a button, but we felt very sorry for him. He had flies all over his hair and on his body as most afghans do, but worse yet they were all over his face. They were attracted to his eyes and were just massed into the inner corners of his eyeballs. It looked like he has mascara one they were so thick. They just lined the bottom of his eyelids and also were around his mouth. None of us could understand how that did not drive him crazy, but he was oblivious to it and did not even try to swat them away. After a few minutes I asked the medic with us if he had any baby wipes or something similar to wipe his face with and hopefully take the dirt off so maybe the flies would not bug him as much. The medic did and after giving the wipe to the boy’s father, and having his face wiped by the dad most of the flies went away. A few still hung around his face, but not anything like it was. I felt very bad for that kid, and realized how just backwards these people are and how many cards are stacked against them in life. I gave him some gum and he liked that, except that he kept pulling it out of his mouth with the dirtiest fingers you ever saw and playing with it. He would then stick it back in his mouth and suck on his fingers. No wonder they have such a high mortality rate among kids in this country.
After leaving the store, the little boy and the old men, we walked through the rest of the streets and then headed east across some farming fields. While crossing the fields we came across some watermelon farmers who were working the fields with their kids. We stopped and talked to them, asking the standard questions about the taliban. They invited us to share some of the watermelon with them so we sat there and ate some watermelon with them, continuing to talk and ask questions. They were very hospitable and had some good information.
From there we moved into the southern part of the village that was searched the day prior. We found another store there and took a break. The terp, Sharif went into the store and bought cigarettes and cookies for all the guys in the patrol, US and Afghan. Of course we took that opportunity to also ask more questions of even more locals. After we moved from here we continued to clear the southern part of town and then moved 2 kilometers south and moved through another town. The same answers were given by everyone “ no taliban hereâ€, “haven’t seen then in the last 15 daysâ€, “the taliban come in on motorcycles, and beat us up for foodâ€. It is rare we find anyone that is going to rat anyone else out, especially in public. So we have lots of private conversations to get more info.
As we were about to walk out of town, my terp Sharif noticed an antenna on a rooftop nobody else had seen. That gave us enough to go through and clear KULAT. The antenna was used for an icom radio in order to get more range. We carry icom radios with us and it hooked up perfectly, even though they claim it was for a cell phone (of which they could not produce). We ripped the antenna down and all the cable. We also found a Mossberg shotgun with a collapsible butt-stock. The shotgun was so jammed up and dirty it would not even operate correctly. That did not matter because we took that too. Normally we don’t take shotguns or long rifles as long as there is only one in the compound. We realize that they are used for self-protection. But a sawed-off, collapsible butt-stock, pump shotgun it more of an offensive weapon, than a defensive one. Something else I noticed in the place was that is had electricity, to include lights, light-switches, etc. This caused us to search for the source, which turned out to be a small generator. You rarely see electricity in mud KULATS so we figured this guy must be well off.
From here we worked our back to the patrol base and conducted some rest and refit operations during the heat of the day. It was a hot one that day, so being able to take a break was nice.
Face did not get over, because after we got back he pushed out with one of the mounted platoons and the rest of the ANA to move through a village and its bazaar in order to question people and look for anything out of place. Oh, of course since it was a bazaar they did some shopping. One of the things we had fought with was how to charge the ANA batteries for their radios since all they have are re-chargeable batteries, and not a lot of them. Out of nowhere the light bulb went off in my head. I realized, hey that one guy had a small generator for electricity so why don’t we get one. I asked Face and his terp to look for one and if they could find it, to buy it. We get operational funds money for such things and carry it with us for this exact reason. They found one while there at the bazaar and WHAM-O we had power. After they got back, we fueled it up, pull the string a few times and then we were in business. The side-benefit was that a lot of the guys from 10th MTN were also able to charge their iPods, PSPs, and cell phones. Everyone benefited!!
For dinner that evening, the terps cooked us up some more homemade fries. We also got some of the ANA rice and added some packs of salmon to it that Face brought. Oh, was it awesome. We put the rice in the pot with a little oil from the fries and broke up the salmon is small chunks. After stirring it around and adding some garlic powder, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper to it, we had a very nice meal that night. It beat what most of the Army and KBR cooks have done in this country, or at least tasted like it since we made it out in the middle of nowhere. Bottom line was that it was better than an MRE.
Later that night I, along with Sharif, and 6 ANA moved out in the 10th MTN humvees to conduct a surveillance mission on a future target village. We moved cross-country in complete blackout (this is why the ANA rode in the hummers), and arrived at the target about three hours later. We had AC-130 coverage and fast mover coverage the whole time in case we ran into trouble. The place was quiet and between thermal sights, night vision goggles and some high-speed night sights that the snipers carry we kept eyes on the place. I worked with one of the snipers and helped him look for targets. It gave us a good chance to get a better understanding of what the village looked like. Once we finished this mission we started working our way back which turned into quite an adventure. After a few missed turns, every humvee getting stuck at one particular spot, and some hard-core vehicle recovery (those trucks needed some serious maintenance the next day) we made it back at 4:30 AM, rather than midnight.
This brought closure to a very long and busy day….
I was able to get on a computer this morning, but did not have my note cards with me to write about Day 4. So I decided to take a break from Op MTN Fury and write about something I have been wanting to since the start of this operation. So this entry is a break for the daily digest of MTN Fury.
I have lots of “it’s a small world†stories as I call them from being in the military so long and from traveling around the country and world so much with my job. These types of stories usually involve my military side of life, and it is something close to being somewhere and seeing someone that I knew years ago in a different place, or unit when I was active duty . Because of some of the units I was in, I can almost walk to any military base and throw a rock and hit someone I know. When you have been in for almost 20 years it is also very likely that you can talk to someone that knows the same people as you.
The infantry is a huge branch of the army, but the longer you stay in the smaller the circle gets. I know many people that are CSMs, Generals, Colonels, etc. One military example was when I was stationed at Orgun-e after first getting here, I ran into a SFC Platoon Sergeant from B co, 2/87 INF of the 10th MTN that I knew in Alaska. He was a Corporal in 2nd platoon and I was the 60mm Mortar section sergeant as a Staff Sergeant in the same company.
My civilian world is small too because I work in a very niche market of IT, so I know a lot of the same people from all the big software and hardware manufacturers in the IT security market. I routinely run into people that I have worked with or know people that I have worked with.
However I have never had my military and civilian worlds mix, until now. I used to work for a company called eForce, and at the time I worked out of the Washington DC office located in McLean VA. One of the guys I worked with was a guy named G.B. ( I will use his initials for privacy sake). G.B. is a great guy and we had some good times and big wins while I worked there. Even a few after-hours office parties that make for great memories. G.B. and I have stayed in contact via email over the years and once he knew I was deploying here he sent me an email of his brother who had just got back from Afghanistan. His brother and I exchanged emails mostly consisting of me asking him lots of questions on what to expect. We only sent a few back and forth while I was mobilizing at Camp Shelby. I had several people who had been here do the same thing so it all got lost in the shuffle.
As many of you know, I started my blog while still at Shelby. Once I got in country the stories got much more interesting and I decided to register my site on milblogging.com. Not long after registering my site there I was contacted by JP for a “virtual†interview and was asked by him if he could profile me as “blogger of the weekâ€. That kind act generated a lot more hits on my site and after that JP and I stayed in contact fairly regularly. He was in the NG at one time and did the same job as I did for most of my career, Infantry Mortarman. This bond was the first connection between the two of us.
I knew JPs last name, and knew he was in the VA NG at one time but never put two and two together. A few weeks back, right before the start of Mountain Fury, he emailed me to tell me his brother G.B. was in town visiting and I guess through their conversations connected all the dots. JP is G.B.’s brother and was the one that G.B. had email me because JP had just gotten back from A-stan. JP then remembered this and when he mentioned it to me, I did too. We had emailed each other back in March or so and both had forgotten about it. Because of the re-link via milblogging.com we were in steady contact but both had forgotten we had met before, even though it was through email. So now JP and I have an even stronger bond, than we did before. He, G.B., and I are planning some type of reunion when I get back so JP and I can finally meet and so I can see GB. again. Now that is a small world.
Day 3 started with an early wakeup and move out. Since the ANA do not always move with the zest that we would like to see, we have to get up extra early and make sure they are ready. Wake up was around 2 AM, and then we moving fast. We had to load our own gear and then move over to get the ANA loaded. Once they were ready, we moved over to the marshalling area with the rest of the convoy that we were moving with. We moved out on time and convoyed for about 90 minutes up the point where we got off the hardball. I was on the gun, and I was wishing that I wasn’t at that point. It was pretty cold (high 40s) and we were moving about 50 + mph. I was wrapped up and tried to keep the chicken shield pointed in a direction that deflected the wind.
Once we got to the objective, we secured an LZ and waited for the dismounted platoon to arrive. It was important we got there on time as the pilots would not land without a secure LZ. I had the ANA over in one corner out of the way and waiting for the bird to get in so we could link the ANA up with the dismounted platoon flying in. The ANA were going to be working with the dismounts clearing every Kulat and compound in the objective village that day.
The birds came in and instead of landing in the center of the LZ, they decided to land almost on top of us and the ANA trucks. We were closest to them as they approached and I guess the pilots thought we were the LZ since we had so many vehicles there. I was filming (will post that video later) and at the last second realized that he was landing right in front of my truck and not just flying low. I think there may be some explicatives in that video once I realized the bird was just about to land almost on top of us.
Once the dismount platoon was on the ground we linked up the ANA with them and they started clearing. The plan was for me and Face to follow the dismounts with the ANA in their trucks and then we they got to a target compound, to have Face and the ANA dismount and then help clear. However nothing ever goes to plan and once they started clearing, they never came back. In order to provide over-watch fire support I had to move the vehicle myself. So I would setup on the gun, watch over them until I could not see them anymore and then climb down, drive to where I could see them again, stop the truck, climb up on the gun and then over-watch again. I did this for about an hour and a half before I could not navigate the tight alleyways anymore. I found myself a few times all by myself, trying to drive over ditches, in alleyways that were so tight the mud walls scraped the sides of my truck, and trying to turn around when I could go no farther. Those were muscle-tightening moments to say the least. When I realized that I was in a strange village which was essentially enemy territory, all by myself, I had that same eerie feeling I had bear hunting before. That feeling I had back in Alaska chasing a wounded bear trying to put it down. I would be following a blood trail with such enthusiasm and vigor that I would forget where I was. Before I knew it I would find myself alone, with my hunting partner over a hill or out of sight. I would usually end up in front of a bear den or around several bear dens smelling or hearing them inside. That is when the adrenalin would back off and I would have what I call “a momentary degree of common sense†and would think “what the he!! am I doing here?â€. It was those moments when you realize that you have crossed over from persistence to idiocy. When I found myself in the alleyway of Kulats all alone I recognized that “momentary degree†again and knew it was time to bug out.
Of course this is what makes the ETT mission so different than the normal big army mission, as we operate in 2 or 3 man teams and without the support of other Americans and all the combat assets that the normal US Army has.
So, I was able to get the truck out of those tight spots, and back to the company CP of the company we were attached to. From that point on all I could do was stay in radio contact with Face and hang out with the Company Commander and 1SG. Of course Face was not by himself as he had a whole infantry platoon with him also. So I was not too worried about him, and if he needed help, I knew I would be rolling with the rest of the company in gun trucks to help bail them out. Luckily it never came to that.
After we were done searching that whole village, we found some orchard compounds just outside of town and setup our patrol base there. Little did we know that would be our home for the next several days as things presented themselves which would keep us there.
That night for dinner, the terps cooked up some home-made French Fries and we had Afghan rice. That along with some soup made for a good dinner that night.
I call this piece and the following entries, Phase 2 because in Phase 1 I was in the mountains with the Observation Posts overlooking a valley that was being cleared out by the ANA. This operation was the one where we hit IEDs on the way down and back and got rocketed. I was back in my home FOB for what I think was two days and then I was out again on what I call Phase 2 of what is now known as Operation Mountain Fury.
I posted the other day from Ghazni as I was re-fitting and getting cleaned up. Now I am at a 10th MTN Division Forward Operating Base (FOB) with the Infantry BN we have been working with. Face rotated out today and I am staying for another 7-10 days with 20 fresh ANA, a new terp, and 2 new ETTs. I will show these guys the ropes and then pull out myself. Today is day 11 for me, so another week or so will throw me over 20 days on phase 2, in addition to the 5 days on phase 1.
I am here at this FOB until Monday so I wanted to try and start knocking out some entries before they become distant memories blowing out of my mind like the sands of Afghanistan. Like I mentioned before, I have jotted notes on 3×5 cards, but still operations blur into other ones and I don’t want to forget too many details.
Day 1 consisted of an early wakeup after a late night of packing and prepping equipment. We rolled out with our Hummer, and 5 ANA trucks for a 3+ hour drive on pure hardball road, of which there is not much of in this country. We arrived at the FOB around noon and worked furiously to do a battle handover from the ETTs we were replacing. The three guys that were here needed a break as they had been pushed to the limits. So we were like chatterboxes, trying to pass information about who, what, when, where, and why and pass equipment, batteries, extra ammo, etc. between trucks. We wanted to get these guys back on the road as quickly as possible so they did not risk going back in the dark. It took a little over an hour and they were moving out, while we were settling in. Once they left, we unpacked, went and checked on the ANA, and toured the FOB to learn who was who and where everything was.
We got an initial warning order from the Company Commander of the company we would be attached to. This told us we had another day to prep and pack before moving out. So we spent the night and the next day getting ready and our ANA ready. One surprise we had was seeing some of our fellow ETTs from another team. One of them was SSG L from our NY Team and LT Y from Ark. They had pulled in during our first night there after some excitement they had. We visited with them for a while and then started briefing the ANA leadership about what to expect, and what they needed to do before we rolled out. We had an early wakeup the next morning (around 2 AM), so we wanted the ANA to get rest and we wanted to also. We tried to get some naps, but there was so much to do there really was not much free time. We had to re-pack the truck, clean weapons again, re-check ammo, fuel the truck, get our maps ready, etc. etc. etc.
We did get to bed at a decent hour and were up at 2 AM. However, this is Day 3 I am talking about, and I don’t want to get into that one yet.
So until then, this will have to do.
I just wanted to drop in a say Hi and I am doing OK. I have been in the field for 10 days and just had my first shower today in 11 days. Myself and Face man (also called Jerry by the Terps after Tom and Jerry, because Face is such a funny guy) have been about as embedded as you can get with the ANA. We have been living out of our Up-armored gun truck with two terps, living, sleeping, eating and running missions with our ANA. I have been keeping notes on 3×5 cards of the high points of every day so I can write more detailed blog entries when I return. I have also been taking a lot of pics so there will be some of those posted too.
We have had many high points and low points on this mission. One of the lowest points was a few days ago when I had to call in 2 medevacs within about 90 minutes of each other for 3 of our ANA brothers that got wounded. They will live, but they did get messed up. Again, I will write about that more later.
The good thing is that I got my first shower today and was able to wash clothes and clean out the truck. This was desperately needed as we had a 6 hour sand storm yesterday that socked us and cut visibility down to less than 50 feet. Face and I though we would have to sleep in the front seats of the truck last night, but it finally stopped.
Anyway, we are doing well and I am safe. I thought I would be going back to my FOB in a couple of days, but it looks like I am here for at least another week. So tonight, after sleeping on a real bed for the first time in a long time, I will be back in the desert tomorrow AM doing what I am here to do.
Five years and one day ago was September 10th, 2001 and I had just flown in to Boston-Logan Airport that day to begin another week with my client. I was an independent contractor at the time and was working on a large project for Sun Microsystems, Workscsape Inc, and General Motors. The week of 9/10/01 was a week of system load testing and performance testing. So I flew in during the morning and went to the client site. This type of work had to be done at night when users were not on the system, so during the day I got settled in, answered emails, and re-checked the testing systems and monitoring systems for the evening’s test. The testing started at 6:00 PM and went until about 4:00 AM on 9/11/01. After the testing was over I went to my hotel and fell fast asleep. Prior to going to bed, I shut off the ringer on my cell and set the alarm for noon to I could get up, get ready and back into the office for the next night’s testing.
I know it was very tough for people to watch the events of the morning of 9/11 to unfold before them and it essentially numbed our nation. However I think the way I found out was very tough, if not tougher. I woke up with my alarm and immediately noticed that my voicemail light on the phone was blinking. I remember thinking “glad I turned that ringer offâ€. I opened my phone to see multiple missed calls from my wife, brother and parents. I also saw a few text messages that told me to call home ASAP. My heart dropped as the first thought was something happened to one of my parents. I called my wife who told me to turn on the TV. As I did, she was rattling off what had happened “planes into both towers, both towers are down, one plane into the Pentagon, one plan crashed near Pittsburgh (where my brother and his family lives), the country under attack, planes being grounded, etc. etc. etc.â€. This is where I experienced what I call “information overloadâ€. My mind honestly could not handle what I was hearing from my wife and seeing on the TV. She was telling me the towers were down, but my mind was seeing pre-recorded images of the towers standing and burning and I was arguing with her telling her “no they are not, I can still see them standingâ€. My mind could not comprehend what I was seeing. It was a very emotional and confusing moment. After I hung I up from her, sitting on the end of the bed in my hotel room, I wept just plainly wept. Crying for my country, and my fellow Americans. As I drove into the office, I was on the phone with my National Guard unit trying to make contact with someone and angrily asking what I could do and when we were being called up. The next day I was flying about 90 mph down the I-90 back to Buffalo.
Five years later on September 10th, 2006 I was loading up for a night operation and sitting out on watch, looking through thermal sights for an elusive enemy that may try to attack on the eve of the anniversary. I was part of an element over-looking and standing by as a Quick Reaction Force to respond in case anything happened to several of our teams and ANA that were out of the wire setup in ambushes. Rather than load testing servers, I was loading a M2 .50 cal MG.
Not long after midnight, they tried their luck. The enemy hit the flank of one of our ambushes which opened a barrage of small arms and machine gun fire. At this point the ANA QRF was loaded up, the 50 cal was chambered and we were rolling out. Mortar illumination was called for, and the radio was busy with cross-talk and updates as the situation was developing and decision makers were trying to develop courses of action. We were out and hunting the ever-elusive enemy. The first reports from the battlefield are always wrong, as is often said and proven. Once we got out to the attack site, more information was provided and we went hunting. As we bounced around going cross-country through farming fields with one hand on the rear grips of the .50 cal and the thermal sight in the other I was hunting hard for targets. However we got there too late and they slipped away. The Afghan police showed up and we searched some Kulats but nothing was found. Eventually we came back to base around 4:30 AM in the morning.
So five years ago I was starting to load-testing some servers for GM around 6:00 PM, and finished around 4:00 AM, and this time I was loading a .50 cal at 7:30 PM and finished hunting for the enemy around 4:30 AM. Who would have ever thought?
One last ironic thing is that when I woke up today, on 9/11/06 it was just before noon after being out so late in the morning. The timeframe similarities are very striking. The rest of the day was spent flying flags for 9/11, cleaning the truck from last night, changing out batteries, and re-packing gear for another fun-filled night.
This will also be my last post for a while. I am going to be out of pocket for a week or two, so for those that follow the blog, I am sorry. It will be silent for a while, no reason to worry.
