My trip home on leave was a long one but worth every bit of it. I spent about 24 hours in the air alone, and that is not counting the days I spent in Baghram. The trip was quiet and went relatively smooth. After one night in Kuwait, where I stressed most of the time trying to find a place to charge my laptop, PSP and iPod I was on a chartered flight to the US. The flight from Kuwait to the USA had every single seat filled. There was not a spare on the plane. 95% of the people were going home on leave with a majority of them from Iraq, and the few remaining percentage had people going home on emergency leave, individuals re-deploying and some civilian contractors going home.

The flight took a short stop in Germany where we refueled, the plane was cleaned and serviced and all the smokers on the plane got their nicotine fix. From there it was a “short” 10 hour flight to Atlanta, GA. After landing in Atlanta we took the formalities of getting our customs forms stamped and checking out with the military personnel there. My original flight from Atlanta was scheduled for 2:00 PM, but it was only 7:30 AM in Atlanta so I hoofed it directly to the Delta counter. I asked them to check to see if I could go stand-by on an earlier flight to Buffalo, and they were able to putting my on the next flight leaving at 9:00 AM.

From the counter I worked my way down several concourses to the one I needed to be at for my flight. On the electric tram in the Atlanta airport the graciousness of the great Americans of this country started showing itself. While on the tram I had multiple people walk up and thank me for serving my country and welcomed me home for the holiday. From the tram I went to the Delta Crown Room, which is the Airport club for Delta. Since I am a member of the Northwest club, and Delta and Northwest are partnered I can use the Delta club. Airline clubs are nice and relaxing places to sit while waiting on a flight. I use my club membership all the time when traveling and have had one for the last 4 or 5 years since I travel so much. After going into the club, I stopped at the counter to look for my NW club card. The lady behind the counter to told me not to worry about it because they let any service member traveling on orders and in uniform to use their club for free. I was very surprised to hear that. I then went to the ticket service counter and asked them to confirm my seat, in which they upgraded me to first class, another benefit of serving in the military and coming home on leave.

I found a quiet seat in the corner, dropped my bags and went to find the coffee. My clock was all messed up and even though I had not slept much in the last 20+ hours I was too excited to try and sleep now. After grabbing a cup of coffee and a copy of my first USA Today paper in over 6 months I went back to my seat, or at least tried to. Several people in the club stopped to shake my hand and thank me and welcome me home. I know for many people that live in this country, this is the closest they get to the two wars going on and all the sacrifices that are made. I always pause and look them in the eye and thank them back, not for me but for the hundreds of thousands of others that will never hear it from these everyday Americans. I know it is a small action, and can sometimes interrupt what I am doing, but I always try to remember the thought behind what they are doing. Anyway I was stopped several times and was thanked over and over. I could see the sincerity in every person’s eyes.

After a couple of cups of coffee it was time to head to the gate. I gathered up my things and moved to the gate several hundred meters away. On the way there, I could see lots of eyes darting my way and had several people walk by and say thank you or if they were a few feet away would nod and smile. Once I was on the plane I sat back in my seat and was hoping to relax, but could not even think of sleeping. I was so excited to almost be home I just stared out the window and enjoyed seeing grass, trees, cars, houses and every other normal thing we have here in the USA, but not in Afghanistan. I just enjoyed sitting there and looking at the countryside for two hours taking it all in. Taking in what we as Americans take for granted every day but never realize how lucky we are. During the flight, the flight attendant and I struck up a conversation and talked about where I was, what I did and about me coming home. She was very nice and was very appreciative of the military. It felt so good to come in on the final approach and look out the window to recognize familiar sights. Once we landed I could let out a sigh of relief. As we were taxiing to the gate the flight attendant came on to do her normal announcements and then added on that I was on the flight and I was coming home for the holiday and where I was coming from. Everyone on the plane started clapping and several people in first class with me reached over and shook my hand. I was taken back by this and could not believe the flight attendant did this. Once we started to leave, both pilots came out and shook my hand also. They thanked me for serving and I thanked them for getting me home safe.

From there I got off the plane and walked through the terminal. As I came around past security I could see the signs held by Christine and the boys welcoming me home. Once Hunter saw me, his sign dropped and he came running to jump into my arms. I was finally home.

Until next time…

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

I had one more mission before it was time to start my trip home. It may be getting cold here, but that does not slow us or stop us from going after bad guys. We have been working intel for a few weeks trying to find some taliban commanders, and while I was in Bremel it was decided we would go after the bad guys. This was near where we caught some bad guys before, so we knew the area and knew the risks. The last time we did this, I was placed on the ground to coordinate the inner search of the compound and feed information back. Based on this experience and the fact that the ANA listens to me pretty well we again decided to put me on the ground to help coordinate between ANA, ANP and the US ETTs.

Sometimes finding the exact mud kulat in a village of mud kulats can be a challenge. They are all brown and all look alike. This is where the terps come in along with the ANA. They work the locals to find the exact placement of the house. The guys we go after are well known in their villages and people know where they live. They are usually mullahs, which are religious leaders, which also makes them very well known.

Once we found the two mosques the outer-cordon circled the objectives. For some reason, most of the leaders of the enemy are mullahs and they usually live near mosques. That isn’t profiling, that is a fact. Once the area was circled and the place secure, I was on the ground working with the ANA and ANP. The ANA searched a mosque and had cleared it. The only person around the mosque was a retarded man and a teenage boy that seemed to be taking care of him. We had several target houses to search so the ANA and ANP started on the first one. I stood out in the courtyard, with my truck not far from me and Puss on the gun giving me over-watch. After the first house was cleared, they moved to the second house. The second house was locked with two locks and a chain. The ANA talked the boy and found out that as we were approaching two females were warned and they ran out of the house and locked the door behind them.

Of course this made us pretty suspicious and the ANA and ANP were determined to get into this kulat. Jawed then found out it was the kulat of the person we were looking for. I looked over and they were trying to break the lock with a knife. One of the ANA officers was on the ground with me and was the same one with me the last time I used Betsy to blow a lock off. So he asked me to help them again. I called up and informed higher that they were requesting my assistance again with breaching a door. I was told to go ahead and do it. I was carrying Betsy with me this time in holder on my back. I handed my M4 to Jawed and told the ANA and ANP to stand back. Puss was scrambling for his camera but was not fast enough. I put both barrels of double-O buck on the lock and it disintegrated. Lock, chain and all were just gone. I looked at the ANP and told them they could now go in. That alone made it a good day already. There is nothing like shooting double-O buck Remington shells out of 14” barrels. It gives a heck of a kick.

They searched the house and found a Pakistan passport with the picture ripped out, some paperwork and pictures of the Mullah and some chechnyian. The ANP took the evidence and went back in based on our recommendation to rip the place apart. The searched everywhere but could not find anything else. While this place was being searched, SFC L who was driving for me, pointed out that there were no people outside as normal. It was then I realized he was right, there were no people out except for the retarded man and the boy tending to him. Normally there are kids, and adults sitting around watching us, begging from us or whatever. This place was like a ghost town with nobody outside at all. This made the hair on our necks stand up and it made us think something could happen or that these people are definitely not friendly. Then we noticed a old man walking up heading to the mosque. He started cussing the ANA and the coalition forces, saying all kinds of bad things about us. The ANA let him pass, but I called to SFC L and told him to have Jawed stop the guy and question him aggressively about why he said those things. Jawed has a good eye for bad guys and is good at getting intel, so I wanted him to question the guy. After a while it was determined by Jawed he was harmless and was just mad because we stopped him as he was trying to head for prayer.

We got some more intel about possible weapon caches in a couple of different kulats, and started working up a plan to search them. Not long after going in the first one, which was a run-down and abandoned one, one of the ANA found 3 old Russian pineapple style hand grenades wrapped in headwrap. The fuses were pulled out, but there were two in the rag wrapped with the grenades. This caused us to search the place a lot harder. Jawed found a 9mm bullet and I found a bottle of medicine and an old syringe. Someone had been staying there as we found fresh chicken feathers where it looked like someone had plucked them to eat them.

After a few more houses were searched and nothing found it was time to pull out. We did not find the main bad guy as everyone said he was in Pakistan, but we snatched up a relative of his and the ANP determined he was involved with the taliban somehow.

So it was not a complete dry-hole, and Betsy got to bark which always makes for a good day. A couple of times during the mission, while I was out on the ground Maj D kept telling me to be careful. I reminded him that I had fully planned to be on that plane going home on leave in a few days and was not going to get shot and screw my plans up. Of course that did not happen, so now all I have to focus on is packing and getting ready to leave.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Well the voting is out for the 2006 Weblog awards. These awardees are based by category and then are picked based on the number of nominations that are made for each blog. The category for my weblog is military. I guess there is actually a weblog conference every year and that is where the winners are announced.

Since I know this weblog is followed by many people from all walks of life and like what I write, I figured this would be a good opportunity for all of you to vote for my blog. You can do this by following the steps below.

1. Go to the following website, 2006.weblogawards.org/2006/11/nominations_best_military_blog.php

2. Scroll to the bottom towards the “Post a Comment” section.

3. In the NAME section, type your name.

4. In the EMAIL ADDRESS section, put in your email address.

5. In the URL section type in www.bouhammer.com/nucleus/AfghanBlog.php

6. In the COMMENTS section, you can type whatever comments you would like about the blog.

This is all you have to do in order to vote for my blog in the annual awards nomination process. I thank you ahead of time for voting.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

By the time you read this I will be home on leave, and enjoying my time with the family. I am writing this from Baghram Airbase while I am waiting for my flight to leave Afghanistan in a few hours. I have written a few postings and delayed their showing up on the site. These are from stories and events before I left for leave, but will give everyone something to read while I am home. I am not sure if I will be writing anything while I am home, so there are no guarantees.

The trip from my FOB to home takes me from Sharana through Kabul, Baghram, Kuwait, Germany, Atlanta and then home. It is a long flight, but very very worth it. Once I started out from Sharana, I considered the journey underway and I relished in every moment, knowing that my leave is still in front of me. I know once I am home I will be trying to make every minute last an hour. I will be wishing I could make “time stand still” like it happens when someone is shooting at me or trying to blow me up. So all I can do is just make every moment count, enjoy time with my family in the hot tub, playing PS2, going to hockey practice and games, and hopefully getting to a Sabres and Bills game while I am home.

Thanksgiving has always been a special holiday in my house and it was important I was home for that. Christmas is not relaxing in a house full of boys, and my mission is to relax while I am home. Plus Christmas is the most sought after time to come home and I am too high of rank. There are more junior guys that will get priority. So I picked to be home at Thanksgiving. A time for me to give thanks along with my family that I am still here alive on this earth, and that they are still here and healthy to support me. I can foresee many emotional moments when I am home, with the most dreaded being the last one which will be the day I have to leave. That I am not looking forward to. I call it the long slow walk through the airport. I have seen many a soldier and their family do it during my travels in my civilian job.

There are many people that want to visit with me, talk to me, etc. while I am home. While I am flattered and cherish their friendship and care, do me a favor and don’t call me I will call you. I am only home for a short time, and do not want to spend the whole time on the phone. Don’t be offended and don’t take it personal. I am sure if you don’t hear from me while I am home you can understand if you possibly put yourself in my shoes. There are a few people I will be talking with, but it will be limited. Christine and the boys are PRIORITY #1, so they get first pick on my time home.

Until Next Time….

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Well it was the third time I was on the route and this time nothing exploded. It was the route that the last two times I had been on it, either IEDs blew up right behind me or right in front of me. Of course, this time we made sure that a lot of precautions were in place. We had multiple control measures in place and a lot of security.

The morning we pushed out was gray and overcast, which has been the norm lately. This is the rainy season I guess, even though I would have swore July-Aug was the rainy season. The good thing about the rain and morning dew is that it keeps the dust down. Of course this mission would not have had a lot of dust anyway because we were going so slow. We took down another D30 Howitzer to our team in Bremel, and D30 howitzers do not move that fast. The trip was quiet and slow and finally after 7 ½ hours we made it…in the dark. It took so long to get there that it was night by the time we pulled in. Once we got there, Smoke had the crane ready to pull the howitzer off the truck.

The howitzer was pulled off the truck and towed to its position. Once that was done, Smoke led us over to the area we needed to park our trucks for the night. I pointed the guys to where the dining facility was so they could get some chow and I went to meet the 10th MTN company 1SG and the ETT 1SG of the team down there. Once they pointed me to where we were staying, I went back and joined the guys for some evening chow. After chow, I took the guys to our tent and we worked on getting the generator started up and the heat blowing.

Puss, Prophet, Smoke and myself went to Smoke’s room to enjoy some good coffee and visit with him. We had not seen Smoke in a couple of months, so it was a nice reunion. We BSed with him for a couple of hours and he caught us up on what he has been up to and we told him about all that had been happening where we were.

We eventually got back to the tent and relaxed for the rest of the night after a long day bouncing on roads. A couple of us were sitting around when a young enlisted female soldier walked into the tent and dropped her gear. She then walked out and we all looked at each other. We all thought the same thing “ok, whatever”. This is a small FOB and I guess she was an EOD soldier that was here for the night. This FOB rarely sees females so it is not like they have a female tent setup. I just thought to myself, well co-ed tents, I guess that is a sign of a progressive army. But everyone is professional and nobody offended or bothered anyone else. I watched a movie on my PSP and then went to bed.

The next morning we had some breakfast and walked around the FOB to see it in the daytime. Smoke took us to the howitzer positions and pointed out the Pakistan mountains just 14 kilometers away where these howitzers and his ANA shot their guns at the enemy. It marked the first time that the ANA shot howitzers at the enemy in its history. This was a great accomplishment for Smoke and Scooter and something they are very proud of. The 10th MTN company that runs the FOB made a memorial wall in the mess hall with the very first shell casing fired and some pictures of the event. I also took this time to visit with an old friend. SFC H is in 10th MTN and was someone I served with in Alaska 10 years ago. He was a Corporal then and is a platoon sergeant now. I ran into him once when I was in Orgun-E, and knew he was at Bremel so I wanted to get a chance to say hi.

Once we loaded back up and got our ANA organized, we headed out. The trip back was blistering fast compared to the trip down. It was also quiet and boring, which is nice. No explosions, no shooting, no accidents. It took 7 ½ hours to get down to Bremel, but less than 4 hours to get back. It is much easier and faster without a howitzer going with us. Of course it was still rainy and overcast all the way back which made for a cool and non-dusty ride.

At this point I am only a few days away from getting out of here and going on leave. But my missions are not done yet. I still had one more in front of me before I start the trip home to see my family.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Well the other day we lost 3 terps within about 4 hours. It was a bad day for the team, but the terps did it to themselves. Every month the terps get 4 days of vacation to go home and spend time with family. This is in their contract. Since all of them are from Kabul and we are so far from there, we let them save up two months worth and go home every other month for a total of 8 days. So the week before last one of the terps was on leave and he did not return on the day he was supposed to. We called him several times over the days after he was suppose to be back and he either did not return the calls from the messages left or had some type of excuse. We even sent one of our regular local contractors that does work on the FOB to his house to get him but he had some other excuse not to come back with the contractor.

It was about this time frame and when the guy was 7 days overdue from when he was supposed to be back that we decided to terminate him. It is a real shame, because he was one of the best terps we had. He was smart, trying to better himself and recently engaged. He mostly terped for Maj D and myself, but we treat them all equal and this type of abuse of the vacation is inexcusable. So Maj D and myself talked about it and decided to fire him. We contacted the terp representative and informed him in writing of the situation and what we wanted.

Within hours of this decision I had to make some more decisions. This terp was supposed to go downrange on an extended mission with another terp to replace two that have been on a mission for over two months. Those two had done more than their time and it was time for them to come back. Since we were firing this one terp and he was not here anyway I had to pick another one. I picked another one who had also just got off leave and within 30 minutes of informing him he came crying. He came to me and told me he could not go because he had to take leave at the end of the month in order to attend his brother’s wedding party. In this culture, they party for like a week after someone gets married. It is a big family event that I know is important to them. I informed terp#2 that he just got off leave and did not have leave scheduled with me and he was not on the list to go. He told me he had talked to one of the other ETTs about it, but not me. I reminded him that I control all terp leave and that I am the only one to talk to and he knows this. He then told me that he cannot go on the mission and that if he had to, he would quit. He said it in a tone that I took as a threat, and that is not something a 1SG and especially me personnaly takes lightly. My soldiers know this and so do my kids, DO NOT TELL ME WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO. Surely don’t try to threaten me with quitting. I told him to pack his @#$$ bags, turn in his badge and quit. I would not stand there and listen to him talk like this. This guy also told me that his wedding party was very important for him and he could not miss it. That does not go anywhere with me either as I reminded him that we as Americans are over here for a year and we miss all types of important birthdays, anniversaries, parties, holidays and special moments. So don’t look to me for sympathy because he is being asked to miss one event in order to serve his own country.

Terps make over twice if not three times the national average of income in this country. They makes hundreds of dollars a month when a ANA soldier only makes $65 a month. All the do is terp, they eat with us, ride in our humvees, and are protected by us for only knowing the English language. There are 25 afhgans on the street that are lined up for every one terp to take their job. Heck, even our BDE HQ has a guy that is a licensed pharmacist that shut down his business to take a job as a terp because it pays so much more.

So this terp goes to another ETT, who brought the issue to Maj D. Maj D called in all the terps and explained the situation and asked the terps we had here to work it out. They are all from this culture and know how important these wedding parties are. So he asked one of the other ones to help this guy out and volunteer for the mission or do something. He gave them several ideas to try and work it out, even though I was ready for this guy to leave. He gave them one hour to work it out and then report back to his office with the resolution. In an hour we had them all back and they could not compromise. I looked at the terp and I told him to pack his gear or quit. He handed us his resignation paperwork. Once that was done we took his badge and told him to leave the office. I then looked at the rest and said “ok, someone has to go so terp#3 you are it”. Terp #3 had just put in a transfer to get closer to Kabul so he could be closer to his family because they have some type of issues. He told us that he could not go because he needed to transfer by the end of the month or he would have to quit and the mission would take him into December. I could not believe what I was hearing. I looked at him and asked if I heard him correctly, that he would quit if not transferred in 3 weeks. He said Yes, so I looked at him and said “quit now then” because there is no way a transfer will happen that quickly. He looked at me somewhat amazed and asked “you want me to quit?”. I said no I did not WANT him to, but I am telling him that he is on the mission, so either pack for this mission or turn in his ID card and pack his stuff to go home because he is done terping.

I reminded the few left that they don’t work hard, they get lots of time off and sometimes missions take priority. They were hired to terp, so either terp or leave. He resigned right there. In a matter of hours we lost 3 terps, but because of the amount of money they make there are many in the pipeline and within 72 hours of losing them we will have 3 new ones.

There was no immunity challenge or competition. There was only the requirement to follow orders and do what they are told. This is something that three of they failed to do, so they were kicked off our island.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Whenever we get intelligence (intel) and we follow up on it but nothing is there, we call it a “dry hole”. But when we follow up on it and we actually get something out of it we call it a “wet hole”. Wet holes are good but seem like they are all too rare. Dry holes seem to be what happens most of the time as the intel never pans out. Intel comes from all types of sources and through many means, none of which I will talk about here for security reasons.

The other day we got some intel right after I got back to the FOB. I was at the PRT for the morning handling some logistic issues there and it was not 30 minutes after getting back when Maj D called me to come to the TOC. He told me we had intel on where a weapons cache was located, and I needed to spin all the ETTs up to go. He said the ANA were getting their guys ready and he wanted all ETTs and as many trucks as we could take. I ran to all the rooms and told everyone to gear up and meet at the front of the Humvees.

Once everyone was there, Maj D briefed everyone on what he knew and what the plan would be. We moved out a short time later and worked our way through some villages to the site. Our informant was not exactly sure of the site, but thought he knew where it was. The ANA started digging, but came up empty. We then worked he informant a little more and through that got another informant, but things were starting to get hazy. All of a sudden, they were not sure of the exact site and it was looking more and more like yet another dry hole. It was getting late in the day and the sun was going down. We had an important and long mission the next day and did not want to be out late on a dry hole. We were close to calling it quits when things took a turn for the better. All of a sudden, memories came back and we found the “real” location of the cache. We moved the cordon and the ANA started digging again.

They dug for about 5 minutes and then I heard a lot of chatter and excited voices. They started clapping like they were watching an awards show. I asked what they found, and it was rotten pieces of wood that looked like it belonged to a crate. They may have been excited, but that was not enough to make me happy yet and make us consider this a wet hole. That was enough to get them digging faster and after a few minutes out came about four 12.7mm DSHKA machine gun rounds. We have the M2 .50cal which shoots a very big round, but the Russian-made DSHKA is bigger and meaner. Anyway, that really got the ANA happy and the clapping started yet again. At least this time when I found out what it was, I agreed they had something to be happy about. Granted four rounds is not a big find and not what we were told would be here, but it was something.

By this time there were four or five shovels frantically digging at the soft sand and dirt and before we knew it a metal “clank” was heard. Every US soldier that was near the dig all froze, looked at each other and then started backing away. A metal on metal sound could mean anything, but the worse case is a shovel hitting a high-explosive mine or artillery round or something that could go off. The ANA paid it no mind and started clapping again, because they knew they had something.

And something they did have. This something turned this into a very wet hole. The metal cases of DSHKA ammo and Chinese .50 cal ammo started flying out of the hole, and it kept coming, and coming and coming. The dig went on for almost two hours and the hole grew to about seven feet deep and about twelve feet across. When it was all said and done we had over 190 cases of .50 cal and 12.7mm ammunition. It was enough to fill the beds of two ANA Ford Ranger trucks. We even dug a few more soft spots around there but found nothing else. Regardless it was a good find, and even though we were out late and after dark it was worth it. It was a wet hole and we were glad to return with something. I called back and made sure they held chow for us and the ANA, because everyone deserved a hot meal after this. We got back to a hot meal, and some happy guys. We denied the enemy from getting their hands on a lot of ammo that could do us or someone a lot of harm. Of course there is no rest for the wicked, as the next day was a start of a long two day mission.

Be Sociable, Share!

•