Christmas Morning Rocket Attack

Well, Christmas started off here at Bagram Air Base with a bang… literally!  I awoke at 1:08AM this morning to the sound of sirens going off, lights flashing, and commotion in the hallway.  A loudspeaker situated outside my room repeated, “Rocket attack, don your IBA (individual body armor) and take shelter immediately”.  Phones were ringing in the rooms next door as everyone began to take accountability.  Everything was moving so fast.  I was still rubbing my eyes after being sound asleep and couldn’t really process what was going on.  I never heard the first rocket attack, only the flash of light from the strobe outside my room and speaker.  After about 3 minutes though I heard a second explosion.  A loud rumbling shook the ground. 

From my B Hut I could not determine exactly where the rocket hit, but knew it landed somewhere on the Eastern side of the base.  I called my three people and reported accountability up to the Colonel.  A few minutes after the second explosion, you could hear a slew of jets taking off from the runway.  Security Forces vehicles were dispatched to conduct perimeter checks.  At about 2:00AM a voice came over the speaker to declare “All Clear”.  The jets landed after being in the air for about 20 minutes. 

After the attacks in the early morning hour I could not go back to sleep.  My mind was racing.  What is next?  Is tonight going to be it?  Will I live to see Christmas day?  Will I be able to attend the morning worship service?  I spent time praying that God would keep me safe and allow me to return to my family.  By the grace of God the rockets did not kill or injure anybody.  This morning I learned the rockets hit an unoccupied side of the base on the South East side. 

Today’s mortar attacks reminded me that we are at war here.  Not just a physical war.  A war against Christianity and Islam.  The day they chose to launch rockets over the fence is no coincidence.  The Christmas morning attacks send a clear message that our recognition of Jesus entering the world is reprehensible with Muslim beliefs.  The Muslim world is outraged about Christianity.

The person and work of Jesus is absolutely central in Christianity. He is our foundation, our cornerstone, our pillar by which we stand.  Yet 99.9% of the Afghan population is Muslim.  Muslims and Christians do not worship the same God.  Muslims do not believe in a Jesus who entered the world, who gave His life as a ransom, who arose from the dead, and who claimed to be the divine Son of God.  All those things are rejected by Islam.  Today is a day I praise God that He sent Jesus, and He answered my prayers for safety.  Have a Merry CHRISTmas!

Mission to Kabul: The Most Dangerous City in the World

Well, today is a day I will never forget.  This morning I woke up as usual, took a shower, and put on my clothes.  But what I did after that was different from any other day in my life.  I suited up in full body armor, put on my helmet, loaded both guns, and joined 15 Army guys to take a 5-truck convoy into the most dangerous city in the world.  I try to recount my experience for you through my eyes, sitting in the back of vehicle number 3.

At 0730 this morning we had an intel brief.  Before any mission military personnel have an intel update to assess the current situation and determine any threats in the area.  1Lt Prince, our SECFOR Army Convoy Commander, gave our intel brief.  For obvious reasons I can’t discuss much of what we covered in the brief today.  I can tell you we covered high threat areas, we went over the route, gave a weather forecast, discussed escalation of force measures, and briefed the radio frequencies we’d be using.

I was nervous starting out because the intel brief revealed our route had been “code red” for the past 2 days.  Code red means there has been credible intelligence that suggests enemy presence in the area.  Anytime there is a code red, you should limit travel to only mission critical.  There is also a code black which is a complete restriction of travel of any type.  For example, after the Kabul Mosque bombing last month, the Commander declared a code black.  Our road has just re-opened for travel today.  When you are going out on a mission, you are told to bring a bag with you in case your route goes red or black and you have to stay the night.

After the intel brief we loaded onto our trucks.  Each person was assigned a specific truck.  My commander here has a policy that anytime someone goes “outside the wire” you must have at least 4 trucks for safety.  Today we had 5.  If one breaks down or gets attacked, at least you have the help from the other guys.  Each truck has a commander, and each truck commander reports to the Convoy Commander and takes orders from him on the radio.  My truck Commander was Army Specialist Gallagher and the Convoy Commander was Lt  Prince.  Being an Air Force officer, I don’t think the Army guys had a whole lot of confidence in me.  They placed me in truck number 3, the safest vehicle apparently.  I sat in the back next to the gunner.

The surroundings were surreal as we left Bagram Air Field.  It was a clear day and you could see the white, snow-capped mountains in the distance.  The air was cool, about 40 degrees as we left.  I have never seen anything close to what I saw today.  There were throngs of people walking alongside the road, many of them with donkeys.  They were all wearing loose fitting garments and turbans.  The men all had long flowing beards.  They all looked like pictures of Bin Laden to me.  The women were covered in clothing, from head to toe.  They were living in makeshift clay buildings and working in lean-to shacks selling produce.  Small kids were walking by themselves with no adults nearby.  Construction projects were about half-way built.  For miles and miles all you could see was dirt.  When the wind picked up it became a storm, which severely restricted our visibility. 

In the distance we could see stand-alone chimneys in the middle of a field with black smoke pouring out of them.  You could see several locals standing by them feeding the chimneys.  According to the guys the Afghans build these chimneys and melt rubber from tires to heat clay to make bricks for their homes.  The rubber from the tires released an acrid smoke into the air, which could be seen and smelled for miles.  The chimneys were scattered all the way to Kabul.  It made sense they were making bricks because we passed truck after truck with beds full of bricks. 

The entire trip was about 1 hour and 15 minutes.  After 45 minutes into the trip, our Convoy Commander announced over the net that we had entered the high threat area.  We were on the outskirts of Kabul.  After entering thru a checkpoint I became even more nervous because traffic had picked up significantly.  There were now traffic jams and people everywhere.  In my 10 day Combat Skills Training we were taught to look out for certain things.  Everything I saw today was a potential threat: abandoned vehicles on the side of the road with truck beds full; suspicious looking men standing on towers looking at you intently; freshly swept dirt on the streets, suggesting emplacement of an IED (improvised explosive device); people watching you drive on the street and quickly turning to make a cell phone call; rugs on the street suggesting a possible place-marker for a vehicle attack; random people walking on the street with high-powered rifles.  All of this was more than enough to keep me on the edge of my seat.

Riding along in a convoy as a passenger does not mean you can kick back and read a book or listen to you iPod music until you get there.  It doesn’t mean you can have a conversation with the guy next to you about what’s for dinner at the chow hall.  No, everybody in the vehicle has a responsibility to spot threats and call them out to the vehicle commander.  I was calling out everything.  “Suspicious man at our 9 O’Clock”; “Potential VBIED (vehicle based IED) at our 3 O’Clock”; “Weird looking dude at our 12 O’Clock”; “Watch the bridge as we approach for IED’s”.  Being part of a convoy means you must quickly assess the situation.  Is the guy watching us at out 9 O’Clock a friendly Afghan who is glad to have Americans here to help re-build the country and stabilize the government?  Or is he part of Al Qaeda and has he been waiting for us to arrive so he could accomplish his mission of detonating the roadside bomb to explode our vehicle into pieces?  You just don’t know.  And there is no way for you to know.  These thoughts were going thru my mind almost the entire time. 

Traffic was heavy in the city.  Vehicles swerve in and out of lanes constantly.  There were no stoplights.  Kids were throwing rocks at our vehicle.  Men in turbans were holding up the middle finger as we drive by.  As we entered the city we closed the distance between our vehicles so we could stay together.  According to the guys in the truck, drivers will intentionally try to make you hit their vehicles.  They know that America will reimburse their damages, so they can get a free check.  Being involved in a moving traffic accident, as part of a military convoy, is dangerous work.  It means you have to dismount the vehicle and conduct patrols while someone gathers information from the driver.  Oftentimes, intentional vehicle accidents are grounds for secondary attacks too.  So you have to be on guard at all times.  I am so glad we didn’t get in an accident today.  It would have meant everyone in the truck dismounts to conduct security, including me.

After an hour and fifteen minutes we finally arrived at Camp Eggers in Kabul.  Camp Eggers is located near the US Embassy and it is where the 4-Star General works, at the NATO Headquarters.  The General over the coalition forces in Afghanistan is responsible for conducting how the war goes.  I didn’t get to meet the general today, but I did get some good training from his staff.  I met with our higher headquarters staff at the Combined Support Transition Command.  The purpose of the visit was to meet Financial Management leadership and undergo about 4 hours of training on databases we use to track construction and services contracts.  The visit went well and I learned some good pointers I can use with my job here at Bagram.

As we were waiting to get the vehicles going, I got some pictures and talked with some of the SECFOR guys about their trucks.  These MRAPS we used today are incredible!  I just bought some late last week at a price of $500,000 each.  That price is without the equipment.  The vehicles weigh 40,000 pounds without the equipment  You should see what kind of equipment we have in this truck.  First, the driver has a system for night driving where he can lower down a shade in front of the windshield and everything lights up, as if driving in the day.  On the passenger side we had a “Blue Force Tracker” which is a GPS locating device.  Our team back home was tracking our every movement on large screens to make sure we met our checkpoints on time.  The gunner in the back next to me was aiming a camera with a joystick.  At any point in time he could pull the red trigger and unload rounds from the comfort of his seat.  We have electronic jamming capabilities and black-out technology.  Simply put, it’s the most amazing vehicle in the world.

The convoy experience today stirred up my affections about God.  Do I really believe the promises God gives to us in the scriptures?  Does my faith hold up, even in the toughest situations?  When I am pressured, does it push me toward God or away from him?  I am thankful that I have a Savior who loves me.  His grace is sufficient, even in perilous times.  He gives us strength to live each moment for him.  We can do nothing without him.  Thank you to those who prayed for me today.  God answers our prayers and he answered our prayers for today by bringing me home safely.

As we entered back onto the base, I thanked our truck commander, convoy commander, and the entire SECFOR team. As the senior ranking officer, I shook each of their hands and told them I am proud of them. As nervous as I was today, these guys have each been on multiple missions outside the fence. They all have families like I do with small children. Our military is doing incredible things each day. At any time of the day, people over here are going out on missions.  They don’t know if they will make it back safely or not.  But because of our brave soldiers, we live with freedom.

It made me proud to be part of our military and a citizen of our country. Until you are on the front lines, you can’t really feel like you’re contributing to the mission. Today I felt like I added something to our war effort, albeit relatively small.  Alright, time for the pictures.

Here is our morning intelligence briefing.  We met at 0730 to go over today’s mission

Here is a view from my seat, in the back of vehicle number 3

Here is a shot of us entering into Kabul.  Notice the heavy traffic, no stop lights/signs, and no street markings or lines.

Thumbs Up!  This shot is taken of me from our vehicle commander.  He offered to take some pictures for me.

Another shot of downtown Kabul.  This roundabout we approached was near the bombing of the embassy last week.

Here is a shot of us leaving the city.  Cars would intentionally cut in front of us to get insurance settlements.

Back to base!  Passengers enter and exit the MRAP thru a mechanically lowered door at the back of the vehicle.  This vehicle was amazing!

I carried a full combat load with me today.  That means 210 rounds for the M4 and M9.  Also packed on me was my first aid kit, protective eye-wear, ear plugs, notebook, and personal locator beacon.  If you’re under attack and you need to call in for extra help, you can push a button on the PLB and “heaven and earth will move to get you out”, according to the guys.  A team of F-16s will immediately dispatch and take care of fire support.  I was trying not to accidently hit the button today. :)

That is all I have for now.  Hopefully, you won’t see too many more postings with my experiences on a convoy mission into the most dangerous city in the world.  I think I am happy to sit in a heated office from now on with a cup of warm coffee studying spreadsheets and contemplating the things of God!

Boots on Ground: 1st Week in Afghanistan

After a 17 hour plane ride from Norfolk, VA, a 4 hour delay in Leipsteg Germany, and a 48 hour stay in Krgzystan, I finally made it to Afghanistan.  I will be staying here for 6 months as I fulfill my deployment rotation.   I will be supporting coalition forces in monitoring services and construction contracts for forward operating bases in Eastern Afghanistan.  In some ways it doesn’t seem like I am finally here.  We were notified of the deployment back in August.  So for 4.5 months we’ve had this looming over us, but now it is finally real. 

For anyone visiting this base for the first time, you might be surprised at some of its amenities.  We have a Pizza Hut here, a Popeye’s, and a small shopping district.  I found out this week you can even buy a car over here and have it delivered to the states.  They have a salon here where people get 1 hour massages for $20.00.  And there is the Bazaar here where you can haggle with locals to to get rock bottom prices on everything from fake jewelry to ugly rugs to illegally copies DVD’s.  The main road here is Disney and the traffic congestion results in backed up traffic just like at any other base in the states.  I’m typing this in my room with high speed, wireless internet in the middle of an Afghan desert.

But don’t be fooled, we are in a wartime environment too.  You don’t go anywhere without an M9 strapped to your leg or M16 on a shoulder strap.  My housing compound is situated near the runway and I can hear all kinds of aircraft – fixed wing and rotary – taking off at all hours of the day (and night!).  Disney Road is packed full of soldiers heading out on convoys to run missions.  Outside my housing unit is a bunker we are supposed to enter when the base gets rocket attacked.  Under my bed is a chemical warfare suit, body armor, kevlar helmet, and extra ammunition issued from the armory.  The base gets attacked about once a month, but according to the guys the Afghans are not very accurate. 

When I first arrived here I thought I would enter transient tents until my housing came thru.  Most people stay in tents until they can find somewhere to live.  But my sponsor was able to secure a B-Hut for me.  A B-Hut is a small, shoddily made wooden structure with 8 rooms separated partially by 1/4 inch ply wood.  It offers little privacy, but when you’re comparing it to a tent it’s like Beverly Hills.  In the states you would find structures like these in the poorest neighborhoods.  But B-Huts are prime real estate here!   All the rooms are completely full.   I live in Infantry Village with 7 other guys – 4 Air Force, 2 Navy, 1 Army.  After I landed we had to convince an Army First Sergeant that I needed to live here.  We got him to say yes, and the sergeant had to take a pair of bolt cutters to get me into it. 

A look inside one of our dining facilities. I have eaten in about 4 different facilities here at Bagram. The food here is surprisingly good. Last night they offered steak and lobster at one of the dining halls.

Here’s the tent I stayed in for 2 nights at Manas AB, Krgzstan.  The tent was completely full of bunk beds, about 50 of us sleeping in here.

Here we are suiting up in our armor, getting ready to board the aircraft bound for Afghanistan.  It was kinda weird getting on an airplane with an M-9 and M-4. 

Here we are sitting in the airplane getting ready for take-off.  Notice the green lights?  Those turned to red when we entered the combat zone and everyone had to don their gear.  It was about a 2 hour flight from Manas to Bagram.

Here’s a picture of where I’ll be living in the B-Hut for the next 6 months.  It’s about 6 feet by 8 feet.  Here’s the before shot.

After shot

A look at the outside of our B-Hut, with the bunker to the bottom right

Another angle

A look at traffic on Disney Rd.  I happened to shoot this right as the MRAP entered the picture

Living on a larger base here has its privileges, as many of the USO performers will come here to perform.  This is American Idol Winner Jordin Sparks performing.  I’m guessing there were at least 1,000 troops here.

That’s all  I have for now.  Will continue to keep everyone posted with my adventures here!

Equipment

Ever wonder how much equipment it takes to deploy for 6 months?  This was not much fun to drag around.  Here's the equipment I brought with me: Lip balm, insect repellant, sunscreen, bath towels, wash cloths, nail clippers, permanent marker, laundry bag, t-shirts, undergarments, socks, AF PT uniforms, 2 pair of running shoes, 3 pairs of boots, cold weather inserts, shower shoes, ABU Blouse and trousers, ABU APECS Coat, belt with buckle, 2 patrol caps, 2 rolling duffle bags, 5 TSA approved pad locks, cold weather undershirts, long underwear, cold weather socks, ballistic eye-wear, fleece watch caps, name tapes, captain rank insignia, ABU fleece liner, 2 flashlights, leather work gloves, tactical gloves, cold weather gloves, web belt, hydration system, chemical warfare mask with filters, M4 Rifle, M9 Pistol, magazines and pouches, M9 Holster, M4 tactical sling, weapons carrying case, Airman Battle System - Ground, combat ear plugs, pillow, elbow pads, knee pads, advanced combat helmet, body armor, first aid kit, 6 month supply of medications, shaving kit, set of civilian clothes for travel, note-taking materials, notebook computer, Kindle, deployment folder, 2 sets of twin bed sheets, 2 reflective belts, airman's manual, 550 survival cord, face mask, weapons cleaning kit, auto-injector, iPhone, and a partidge in a pear tree.

Here's what the packing looked like before the bag

Here's what it look like after it was placed in bags

And this equipment was only part of my total baggage.  When I arrived at Manas AB, I got issued body armor, a kevlar helmet, chemical warfare gear, and a cold weather bag.  Also not shown in the picture is my M4 Rifle and M9 Pistol I had to bring.  All in all, I ended up dragging 2 rolling duffles, a gym bag, a gun case, 2 large bags, and the body armor and helmet.