0415 Ground Hog Day

The past few weeks of my life have been kind of a blur. I now know what Bill Murray’s character, felt like in the movie Groundhog Day. I’m going to attempt to explain the average day for me here in Afghanistan. Keep in mind that I’m a 10 inch bear living with a 67 inch human so; my schedule is pretty much whatever his schedule is.

Wake up is 0415 in the morning. Now, don’t get confused not everyone wakes up at this time. This is the time that Gunny and I get up. I’m not really a morning bear but, Gunny is definitely a morning person.

0415-0435: Hygiene

0435-0500: Attempt to call Gunny’s family via Skype. (The internet service is not top notch and often times will not work at all) Every now and then Gunny will hold me up to the camera and show me to his daughters. One of his girls, the smaller one will usually laugh at me and claim that I belong to her. She says to Gunny “Papa that is my bear”! I can assure you that I have never been that little girl’s property. I have no idea why she assumes that I belong to her.

0500-0510: I put my uniform and boots on.

0510-0530: I use a Roman Catholic Daily Missal (1962) to say my morning prayers.

0530-0545: I have small talk with Big Red; it’s usually about sports or video games, two subjects I really don’t give two hoots about anymore. 


0545-0550: I walk to the chow hall with the members of my platoon. We are always the first ones in line. I usually knock out my first set of 25 pushups while we are in line. (Note: Gunny, Big Red, and I are doing 25 pushups and 25 setups every hour for 13 hours a day) Our goal is 500 of each per day.

Big Red

0600-0615: Rush through morning chow. I usually eat two hard boiled eggs, a bowl of apple sauce, and drink a cup of hot tea with honey. Pooh is not the only bear that enjoys a little honey from time to time. (Note: Gunny, myself, and a guy we call Larry have a little challenge/penance going on, it applies to every day of the week except for the Sabbath. The challenge consists of the following. No red meat, no coffee, no pop/soda, no adding salt to food, and only one sweet a day).

0615-0625: We walk back to our tent, grab our gear (kit), and head to the trucks.

0625-0640: Board the trucks and make our way to the ECP. This is one of the worst parts of my day. The truck is always freezing cold and the dirt road we drive on is full of holes and rocks so the ride is extremely uncomfortable. To make things worse it is always really dark out. We conduct a quick change over with the night shift crew and our day at the ECP begins. (Note: On a later post I will cover my complete work day at the ECP)

0640-1825: Carry out ECP operations.

1825-1845: After a quick brief to the night shift guys. We load up in trucks and depart the ECP. This is another, worst part of my day. Once again it is dark and very cold out and the ride back is just as rough as the ride there.

1845-1900: Walk to our tent, drop our kit, and then walk to the chow hall.

1900-1930: Evening chow.

1930-1940: Walk back to our tent.

1940-2000: Conduct small talk with a few of the guys and reminisce about the craziness of our day.

2000-2030: Attempt to read but this undertaking proves to be difficult because my only option is to read Gunny’s books. The balk of his collection contains religious books. Gunny is under the impression that any catholic book written after 1965 is probably no good. So, I find myself trying to read old religious books. To make matters worse Gunny is always reminding me that as a bear, I do indeed have a soul however; my soul is not an eternal one so he does not fully understand why I even bother with the books. (A couple of the guys tell Big Red the exact same thing)

2030-0415: The funny thing about sleep is, even when you are extremely tired, it is still hard to come by. I try to say my evening prayers but sometimes it is hard for me to stay focused. At night my mind usually wanders. I initially fall asleep but after about 20 minutes I wake up. Once, I’m awake I find it extremely difficult to fall back to sleep. The sounds I hear in my tent are the same every night. Helicopters, jets, airplanes, controlled or uncontrolled explosions, distant gunfire, and last but not least the sound of the generator that attempts to heat my tent. All these sounds play a role in keeping me awake. Every now and then the thought of a rocket hitting my tent comes to mind as well. I take about 10mg of melatonin every night but I don’t think it works very well. I usually toss and turn for at least 3 to 4 hours. About once every hour and a half or so I reach over to ensure my rifle is still next to me. It’s not that I think I’m going to need it in my tent; it’s just that it is something that is with me every minute of the day. I often have dreams about losing my rifle I guess that is why I always find myself reaching for it in the middle of the night to make sure it is still there. In the end my rifle and Gunny’s crucifix are the only two things that make me feel safe in this land so far away from my home.

0415… Groundhog Day


g/b
Pvt 1st class and 1/2

A quick update!

Good Morning,

Just a quick update:

Our internet service is very "spotty" here and we might not be able to go online for 3 or 4 days at a time.

I hope to be able to talk with Paula tonight on Skype and hope to tell her to post some of the other stories and adventures that I have written about in the past but, never shared with my readers yet.

Thank you so much for reading my posts I hope you are enjoying them and thank you for all of your good wishes, thoughts and prayers.

Pvt 1st class and 1/2
g/b

We've Landed!

My second posting:

The C-17 landed in Afghanistan at around 19:00 (Afghanistan is 11 ½ hours ahead of El Paso TX) on the evening of the 16^th. Gunny, his good buddy Uncle B, and myself were tasked to secure tents for our platoons to live in. Gunny runs the Mortar Platoon and Uncle B runs the Scout Sniper Platoon (Uncle B’s the guy in the picture with me on the plane). I’m in the Mortar Platoon. Being that I’m the newest and smallest mortar man I get picked on a lot. Being the new guy is never good but being the new guy in an infantry unit is horrible. Earning the respect of your fellow soldiers is essential if you want to fit in. Lucky for me I’m not the only new guy in the platoon. Besides myself there are two other guys in my platoon that have not been to Afghanistan before.  

We finally got some shut eye around 0200. At 10:00 the next morning we headed down to the Entry Control Point (E.C.P). The Entry Control Point is basically the entrance to the Forward Operating Base (FOB) where we live. The Entry Control Point is the FOB's first line of defense. All vehicle traffic and foot traffic have to cross through the Entry Control Point to enter or exit the FOB. Picture the border between Mexico and the United States but a great deal more secure, that might give you a hint of how an ECP is operated. The E.C.P is not really on the FOB but it is not really outside the wire either, I think of it as kind of a no-man’s- land. Anyway, the ECP is where my platoon is currently assigned. Hopefully it will only be for 2 to 3 months. So, we were down at the E.C.P on our first full day in country to learn how to run the thing. The outgoing unit was more than happy to train us, the faster we were trained up the faster they could fly home.

 About an hour before we were due to depart the E.C.P I got to experience my first 107mm rocket. Or as everyone around me called it “INCOMING”! I heard a loud whistling sound directly above my head, instantaneously everyone around me dropped to the ground; seconds later I heard a huge explosion. Gunny told me to get the %@#* down. My heart was beating really fast and my legs were shaking a bit but I obeyed and dropped to the ground. Once we were sure that there was only one rocket in that volley everyone got up. A soldier on one of the nearby towers radioed up and reported that everyone was okay and that the rocket landed 200 meters from our location. It was dark at the time and I could not see the cloud of smoke from the explosion. Gunny told me that the enemy was welcoming us back to Afghanistan. I did not think it was very funny. Minutes later all the guys joined in to make fun of me and the two other new guys for being so afraid of the rocket. I was ridiculed the most because both of my boots fell off when the rocket hit. The government does not make boots for bears let alone boots for bears my size.  Later Gunny told me not to worry about being teased and that everyone is afraid of rockets (Indirect Fire “IDF”).

 Gunny told me that making jokes about IDF is a method soldiers use to hide their own fear. Rockets or mortar rounds do not discriminate when they land and I don’t really know anyone who wants to die that way. If you don’t keep your mind occupied during the day and especially before you go to bed, the fear of being killed by a random rocket always seems to creep up on you. The fear of dying does not stop with IDF. All the vehicles and people that we have to search on a daily basis are scary as well. The guys I work with are always joking about which truck is going to be a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED). Or does this guy approaching have a vest on filled with explosives? Oh, yeah there is always the threat of being shot from a distance as well. We will be standing around talking with a bunch of guys and one of them will just randomly bring up the point that we could get shot in the neck or face or anywhere else not protected at any time. Sure, we all laugh but deep down we all know that it is true.

After about three full days of training up on the E.C.P my platoon had the job pretty much down. The outgoing unit left and we had the E.C.P all to ourselves. Well, that last statement is not completely true. There are dozens of local nationals that work with us. Anyway, the first morning working on our own we got hit with another 107mm rocket, this time it landed in the middle of the E.C.P. I was in a tent about 75 meters away. I heard a screaming whistling sound and then boom! It happened so fast that I did not get a chance to hit the ground. The platform of the tent shook, I dropped to the ground. Gunny picked up his radio and asked the towers if everyone was alright and if they could see where the rocket hit. The locals that work with us took off running to a nearby bunker. Fortunately, no one was injured but pieces of shrapnel could be found throughout out the E.C.P.

The very next day at around 1700 (at the E.C.P) the local nationals were getting ready to leave for the day. At the time there were five members of my platoon in the tent and two local nationals. We were standing around talking and out of nowhere came an incredibly load roaring thunder sound. A guy nick named Big Red (the guy has red hair) yelled “rocket” and everyone in the tent dived to the floor instantly. My heart dropped from my chest and half my body was under a desk. A local national named Sarwar that does not speak English was still standing, he was pointing to the ceiling of the tent laughing hysterically trying to say the word airplane. His Afghani coworker was down on the floor with the Americans trying to find cover. What we thought was a rocket turned out to be an F-18 fighter jet flying at about 200ft right over our tent. The entire tent broke out in laughter (a great deal of relief as well). Sarwar called in the rest of his coworkers and told them the story, both the Americans and the Afghanis laughed for a good 15 minutes. Now whenever a plane, jet, or helicopter is in our area Sarwar points up to the sky and attempts to say “airplane airplane no rocket”!

g/b 

A Date I Won't Forget!

I departed for Afghanistan on Friday the 13^th. Being that I’m a bear I’m not all that superstitious. However, the guys in my platoon are. The discussion while drawing weapons from the arms room the morning of our departure was whether or not our flight was doomed or our deployment was doomed. 

I’m currently here in the fur typing so; my outlook of the next nine months is not a positive one. About an hour before the weapons draw we had a formation on the brigade parade field. The purpose of the formation was for family and friends to say their final farewells to the deploying Soldiers. The Gunny and I did not have any family there to see us off. Gunny told me that it makes it harder to leave if you have your family their right before you board the bus. At first I did not agree with him but, once I saw all the family members crying and hugging their solider I knew Gunny was right. When this misfortune was taking place Gunny and I hung out with a group of single soldiers that had no one there to see them off. 

These guys were joking, laughing, and making comments about the wives and mothers that were there but I could sense sadness in them. I kind of felt a little gloomy as well. It is funny how you can be around a group of guys laughing but at the same time feel alone.

We left the families on the parade field and headed to the arms room for weapons draw once that was complete we boarded buses and headed to the airfield. The temper of the men changed right away once our bus began to move. Nobody on the bus was talking. Some of the men were staring at the floor of the bus others were looking out the window. It was the most somber bus ride I was ever on. I can’t say for sure what the other guys were thinking about but I was wondering if I would see my base again or the El Paso sky line but, most of all I was thinking about my family. As depressed as everyone felt on the bus it all changed the second we boarded the civilian Boeing 747. The sober mood passed and everyone was once again pumped up to go to Afghanistan. My platoon got to sit in the business class section of the airplane and our flight attendants were pretty good looking. The one that served us was Pilipino and she really seemed to enjoy the attention she was receiving from the men in my platoon. 

I would really like to go into great detail about my journey to Afghanistan but unfortunately I cannot. The jerk that Paula left me with kept me in a rucksack for most of the trip. The guys in the platoon call this guy “Gunny” I believe it is a nick name because that is not a rank that I associate with the Army. Anyway, lucky for me every stop we made I would hear someone yell “check your sensitive items”! Immediately Gunny would unzip his rucksack and pull out his night vision goggles (NVGs) that were tied down to the inside. When this would take place I would latch myself on to the cord the NVGs were tied to and drop down to the floor. Gunny would pick me up and shove me right back into the pack but I did get to observe a few things.

The first flight we were on lasted about 13 hours. I’m not sure where we stopped but I’m pretty sure it was at a military airfield somewhere in Western Europe. We were only there for about one hour while the plane was being refueled until we boarded the plane again and took off. I might not know exactly where we landed but I can tell you that the replacement flight attendants were all hot and they all spoke German. 

The second leg of our trip was a six hour flight. This time when the plane landed we were told we would be staying at this location for at least one to three days. Our new location was cold and we were surrounded by snow capped mountains. Once again I can’t say for sure where we were but the people in this country looked to be of Asian descent but they all spoke Russian.

My morale and the platoon’s morale were high at this Asian/Russian winter wonderland. The chow hall at this place was amazing. The place also had several morale tents with phones and computers that were free of charge for us to use. Most of the men took advantage of this to call home and let everyone know how they were doing. There were tents set up where the guys could watch movies or play video games. There were also tents set up were one could just sleep if he wanted to. Unfortunately, the time at this location did not last very long. Within 24 hours of our arrival we received word that our plane was ready.

This time before boarding the bus we had to put on our helmets and body armor (kit). The bus ride to the airfield was only about a 10 minute ride. Instead of a civilian Boeing 747 sitting there waiting for us, it was an Air force C-17. We were told that the flight to our destination in Afghanistan would take about 3 hours. Once we boarded the C-17 the excitement once again diminished. No one seemed to want to talk, the quietness of the flight made me depressed. Some of the men looked anxious others looked afraid.  I did not really feel anything during the flight; my mind was kind of blank. All, I wanted was for Gunny to shove me back into his rucksack but on this flight, this miserable flight the only flight of our trip without beautiful flight attendants he sat me on the seat next to his.