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.