I’m way overdue for an update. So this will be an attempt to update you on my Afghanistan adventure thus far. Even on Facebook/Twitter my posts are pretty infrequent due to the complexity of what the military calls OPSEC(Operational Security). Meaning that pretty much everything somehow or another, if it’s on the internet, can be used as a tool for the enemy.
The last time I posted, we were still in Fort Bliss, Texas. Not going to lie, that place was miserable. Hot, sandy, no greenery, and well….hot. It’ll never be an ideal place for me to visit in the future, but we made the best out of it. After finishing our pre-mobilization(something that we as National Guard do before deploying overseas), we packed up our duffels and whatever else we could carry and prepared for Afghanistan.
We left somewhere near the end of August, and had a few days layover in Romania. Romania was a great change of pace, even if it was just for a few days. It was decent weather, they had TREES and GRASS, and our barracks stayed cool, which made it nice for sleeping. Especially after the initial flight there. I picked up a few goodies I normally buy in new places, an ornament, and a few post cards. Within a day or two, we were ready to fly out again.
We hopped back onto another(BIG) plane, and crammed in like sardines. Since the flight lasted several hours, many of us listen to music, watch movies, pull pranks and whatever else we could do to pass the time. In the meantime, we were traveling a head of time and entering into a new timezone. We landed in Afghanistan during the day, and it was 10.5 hours a head of Texas and 8.5 hours a head of home, in Ohio. Needless to say, we were all a little exhausted.
We stayed in our first location in Afghanistan, only for a short period of time. Most of us in the maintenance platoon had our mission in another area of Afghanistan. We left one squad back to help with the retrograde in our first destination, and the rest of us took a puddle jumper to another part of Afghanistan. Let’s just say, that I would rather take a big airplane over a little one, any day. I’m not usually one for getting motion sickness, but packing us into a small plane at night, wasn’t sitting well with me.
We finally arrived late at night in our final destination. Where I am currently writing this blog from. I know it’s a bit vague to not share locations, but the military doesn’t have a whole lot of tolerance for spilling the 5 Ws. Anyways, so after a day of acclimation, we got to our motor pool and started work. We worked inside a large tent where we would pull our vehicles in and out as we completed tasks. We’ve done big projects and lot’s of little projects, and even some dumb projects. But flexibility is key to surviving here. Some days, there wouldn’t be a lot for us to do and other days, we couldn’t catch up. Some notable projects included taking out an engine from a bulldozer, to swap it out with a new one, changing oil and doing services and sending guys out on missions to do quick fixes on broke-down vehicles on job sites.
Within a couple months though, the tent that we were working in was finally taken down. There’s pretty much nothing here that doesn’t fall prey to the retrograde mission. In other words, it’s a going out of business sale and everything must go. So we moved next door to an open concrete pad and built a large lego motor pool with connex boxes. Pretty awesome actually. We now do all of our work inside our new motor pool. The only real downfall, is because it’s in sort of a box shape, it creates a large breeze way and can take a normal sunny day and turn it into a chilly one. Especially now that we’re in the fall, the weather here is starting to cool down.
It’s not all work and no play though, we keep ourselves pretty busy in the evening. I, especially, find a lot of things to keep my mind preoccupied. Some of my favorite activities have been: basketball, volleyball, movies, reading, working out, cross fit, Magic, dodgeball, pool, cards…and a just to name a few. The great thing about this place, is that the USO does an outstanding job at creating events for everyone to participate in and keep their mind active. Of course, I don’t do those things every day, but I do regularly play volleyball and I read a lot.
However, one of those things that I didn’t mention was working on the web and designing. Anyone that knows me, knows that those two things have been my passion for longest time. Back home, I would eat, sleep, breathe, code and design. But one of my goals here in Afghanistan was to focus on me. Sounds a little selfish, but everyone needs time to “reset their cache” from time to time and re-grip on what’s important. At home, I wouldn’t allow myself time to sit back and actually enjoy other things because I was always so focused on “the next big thing”. So, pretty much since I’ve focused on building my relationships with my buddies, having personal time and of course mainly missing my wife and kid’s.
So far, my experience in Afghanistan has been pretty liberating. I’ve survived without knowing the next web trend and not catching up on 25 emails a day. In fact, most of the people I’m deployed with are experienced mechanics, and love to talk only about trucks, diesels and turning wrenches. Which I’ve grown to really respect. The culture of working with a bunch of mechanics is entirely different than the one I’m used to. These guys have no filter, and when they’re displeased, you’ll know it. But no one really takes any offense, because that’s just how they all are. It’s taught me a lot about myself. Not to take things soo seriously, and not hold back soo often. Issues get handled much quicker, and everyone just moves on their way. This prevents grudges and resentment.
All in all, everything is going well. As we get closer to the end of this deployment, I am get more excited about getting home and picking up were I left off. I’m looking forward to camping and hanging out with my family. I’m actually really eager to get back and start working on designing and developing again. I’ve already started a little bit here, with what good internet we have.
I’ll try and post again before I leave. Over and out.
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