Ok, to start off with.. The below email was received today from someone I work with.. well WORKED with..
He was told not too long ago "hey, we need you in Afghanistan, you leave in 4 days"
He had only been here for like 2 months.. this is his shore duty.. funny thing on how this works, he is only TAD, so even though he is in Theater for a year, it still counts towards his shore duty..
Anyway.. for all of my military counter parts out there.. I received this unclassified email, removed any names to protect the innocent and guilty, but if anyone sees anything I missed let me know.. rule of thumb, it was sent out over unlcass so it should be ok..
For anyone who has never been in the military, or has never been in a combat environment, or has never had two weeks notice telling you to get your affairs in order and kiss your family good bye because you wont see them for a year. try to imagine how it feels.
This is what our military people do and are subject to on a regular basis.. all volunteer and usually without too much grumbling.. to not only ensure freedom for all back here but most have an honest desire to help those in other countries..
One reason I get so pissed off when I hear people whine and cry about our government and our military when they have not even stepped one foot out of their state, nor have ever been involved with the military.
Most of the whiners and people who criticize our military are doing so because they are just sheep, they are following someone else's lead. they have no fricken clue in my opinion.
And what do I base this assessment on? my 20 years of working with the military, 10 as a Marine 10 as a civilian.
Knowing my Uncle who was a Marine Helo pilot and used to fly Marine One for Presidents
Next time I see someone burn a flag, or hold a protest at a funeral for a military member.. probably going to end up in jail for kicking some tail
And why am I posting this? To give people who don’t know. Some insight into the life of a service member. To give insight into leaving your family. To give insight into the hopes our military has of helping our selves and HONESTLY trying to help another country out.
I will not say what our higher government intentions are anywhere. I don’t know. And if I did know I am sure I couldn’t say.
What I can tell you is most troops on the ground do have honorable intentions. They are on the ground to do a job, to protect each other.. and to try and eliminate the enemy while at the same time protecting innocent civilians.
Here is the email I recieved today
“…You gotta apply the five D’s of Dodgeball: Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive, Dodge!†(Patches O’Houlihan, “Dodgeball.†Adapted as my personal survival strategy for my year in a country writer and adventurer Robert Young Pelton calls one of “The World‘s Most Dangerous
Places.â€)
For those who came in late: In mid March, I received extremely short notice orders for a one-year tour of duty to Afghanistan as part of a Provincial Reconstruction Team. The letter that follows, along with all subsequent dispatches from Afghanistan, will be my effort to keep all informed of the happenings in country. Far from being the group historian, my writings and musings are my own. Considering the remoteness of my duty location, writing after-hours seems like a (productive) way to pass what little off-duty time I’ll have…
But first, a word about replying…
I’d love to hear back from any and all of you, but I would caution against hitting the “reply all†button.
Doing so would send your missive to over 50+ people, soooo, respond accordingly as I assume no responsibility for thy spamming actions!
Oh, one final note: If it appears my time in-country is confined to base, this could be a short lived project. My impression is that I’ll actually be out and about with the group, with the resulting experiences providing the bulk of my writings. In the event that I’m confined “behind the wire,†I’ll cut the project short and spare you the litany of unchanging breakfast menus and the MREs I had for
lunch….
But right now, there’re definitely a few things to write home about.
Part 1. De-constructing the Provincial Reconstruction Team
It’s an absolute hallmark of Navy orders to be as vague as humanly possible when “requesting†or “ordering†an individual to an assignment of which neither they nor their command have any reasonable clue about. It’s even worse when no one in any of the half dozen or so commands involved in this process could provide even a basic description of this “Provincial Reconstruction Team†(hereafter referred to as PRT) is all about. Perhaps this lack of knowledge explains why the request merely asked for a warm Intel body with a clearance to fill a 365 day requirement. Perhaps if they knew the real requirements, things may have transpired differently from the get-go…
Following four fast days after getting official word of my assignment to out process, get my affairs in order, and kiss my wife and son good-bye, I flew cross-country for two days of processing in the hectic, confused scene of the Navy Mobilization Processing Station at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia.
Silly me, I made the mistake of assuming -based on a robust webpage detailing the process and required
documentation- that they had their poop in a group.
Not even close. So in stupefied fashion, I filled out their forms, paid medical and dental a visit, and generally pestered the helpful BM1 on where to go next. (Amazingly though, his group did a great job with the limited personnel and material resources available, especially when dealing with hundreds of de-mobilizers and us few deployers who each had our individual story to follow.) Thankfully, by noon on day #2 someone knew who just to call at Bragg and what questions to ask. “You’re already late. You fly out tomorrow,†she told me, and sent me to procure onward transportation. Mercifully, a weeks worth of mindless shuffling was cut to less than two days, all of which I would (unfortunately) repeat ad nasium at Ft Bragg
The next day, I reported to Ft Bragg and the LN1 had been correct, I was late. Arriving in the middle of the training cycle (roughly week 6 of a 10-week training program), I was told I had a steep learning curve to clear over the next month. After getting the dump on my weapons and other qualifications I had to meet, I finally learned the story behind the Provincial Reconstruction Teams. Conceived and implemented in 2002 in response to NGO (non-governmental agencies) inability to deliver aid in an unsecure (re: hostile) environment, the PRT essentially combines civilian reconstruction and aid efforts with the security, know-how, and combat strength of the US military in a smaller package. Last year, the Navy and Air Force stepped up to “take overâ€
the PRT mission from the Army to help ease their burden of back-to-back-to-back deployments. Currently in training are twelve new PRT units, each consisting of about 80 personnel (of which 50% is an Army Reserve and Guard unit providing the force protection and security element). The other 50% of the PRT consists of a staff element. In my particular unit, it breaks down to a Navy CO, an Army XO, a Navy S1 (Admin Officer), a Navy S2 (Intelligence Officer), a Army S3 (Operations Officer), an Army S4 (Logistics), and a Navy S6 (Communications). Mixed into the staff is a motley assortment of reserve and active duty sailors, from Master-at-Arms to Seabees, Culinary Specialists to Cryptologic Technicians, Electronics Technicians to Corpsman. The ranks reach across all spectrums, to an Army Major called back to duty after 11 years in retirement (our XO) to a Seaman Recruit just out of boot camp. Also found are representatives from the US State Department, Department of Agriculture, US Agency for International Development, Military Civil Affairs specialists, and other NGO representatives.
Of the twelve PRT’s, six are Navy, six are Air Force (the other seven or so PRT’s in-country are operated by our NATO partners). Upon completion of training in mid April, the PRT’s will deploy to various locations in Afghanistan and conduct turnover with the Army units now in place. For the next year, these PRT’s will coordinate construction and relief efforts within their assigned Province, maintain relations with local (in some cases tribal) government, and provide/repair basic utilities and services for the Afghan people.
Our particular PRT will be based in the town and Province of Khowst, near the Pakistan border, roughly southeast of the Afghanistan capital of Kabul.
Interestingly enough, we’ll make our stay at an old Soviet airbase and (I am told) with one of the nicer PRT locations, with buildings instead of tents, hot showers, heating and air conditioning, internet access, satellite TV, and comfy two-man rooms.
All of this -and more- I learned during my warm and enlightening sit down discussion with our Skipper, who then welcomed me aboard as the Khowst PRT Intelligence Officer.
*****
The S2.
Not part of an intelligence section, or Assistant Intel Officer or Intel LCPO, but THE Intelligence Officer. Now, it’s not easy to explain the feelings of such an assignment. I am neither schooled nor experienced in the field of intelligence support to special warfare or independent duty IS. Indeed, there is very little in my past to suggest “suitability†for such an assignment. Yet by virtue of my rank and the Navy‘s inability to clarify proper requirements, here I am. But this is where all 17 years of experience and knowledge come into play. It’s probably the ultimate “all source†intelligence assignment a Navy IS can have, and it‘s an assignment I professionally welcome.
But while previous assignments have had a distant, far-from-the-front feel to them, this truly is an assignment where good intel is critical to keeping my team alive.
As a testament to Navy enlisted intelligence however, four of the six Navy PRT’s are S2’d by Intelligence Specialists (IS) Chiefs (three Reservists, and I as the lone active duty IS.) By contrast, an astounding five of the six Air Force PRT’s are S2’d by Officers.
Hmmmm.
Regardless of rank or service however, this assignment is foreign territory for us all. Even the Army S2 training (all 5 days of it) was a vastly condensed version of their normal 2 week basic Army intelligence course as the instructors weren‘t entirely sure what we should know or what we‘d do. There are no written Standard Operating Procedures for us, no instructions or formal guidance. In every sense of the word -and all the S2’s agree- we will be writing the book on PRT Intelligence.
Thus, constant coordination and contact between PRT S2’s and a turnover with our predecessors are all we have to go on. Due to the nature of our mission, intelligence for force protection is the top priority, with intelligence primarily gained through debriefings of PRT members coming back from activities beyond “the wire,†discussions with locals, and access to local news, among others. Now, I can honestly say that while our primary focus is NOT on the search for Bin Laden, the idea of taking that on as a little pet project is on the minds of all the S2’s…
In short, I’m the paranoid one of the group. Trust no one, suspect everything. It’s a job with a hell of a lot to live up to.
Part 2. You’re in the Army now
“We do more before 9am than most people do all day.â€
-- Army slogan
Someone, somewhere, conceived of a ten-week training program to get the Navy/Air Force team in shape and prepared for ground action. Since I arrived at week 6, I was given the benefit of the four-week “catch upâ€
routine, and it rapidly became clear that that the Army thrives on a hurry-up-and-wait mentality. First there’s the muster, then wait. March to the transportation point, and wait. Get to the destination, and wait. The most trivial of matters takes the better part of a day to accomplish. Any normal activity that would take 10-15 minutes in the real world requires a block of time equal to or greater than 4 hours to accomplish. Indeed, if I were to take all the time spent actually getting something done, total training time would fill five or six normal work days. The rest is all filler. Dead time.
Now imagine the pain of a ten-week program.
Truthfully, this whole ten-week process could have been whittled down to five without any loss to our requirements. For example, the medical and dental aspect couldn’t be handled in one session. Two sessions were needed -several weeks apart- following the exact same routine, filling out the exact same forms. Yet, simple paperwork and medical requirements that should have been handled in week one were suddenly and inexplicable a serious issue on the second visit. “Yes, I had my HIV, Smallpox, and Hepatitis shot. No, I can’t explain why the tech didn’t annotate their work. What? You want me to get it again? Okay.†I probably own six pairs of glasses now, wouldn’t be surprised to learn I’ve been vaccinated against Bird Flu and SARS, and have no dental worries for the rest of natural born life.
Equipment and gear issue was equally spread out, with many of the items received with a “what the hell do I do with this…?†expression, only to go unused and turned back in over the last couple of weeks.
Oh yeah, and we had to lug most of this $^%# around with us.
My fast-track program, however, consisted of the
“essentials“: M-16 zero and qualification; M-9 pistol qualification; day and night land navigation; and convoy (Humvee) live fire exercise (essentially firing an M-16 at insurgents out the window while moving and under fire amidst IED explosions), the gas chamber, and one exciting, five-day session in the FOB (Forward Operating Base) with all the MREs I could eat. (And honestly, I’ve tried just about every variety and have yet to eat an MRE I didn’t like.)
But despite the boot camp-style way of issuing us gear and uniforms, the Army has gone all out to give us the latest and greatest of everything over the last two weeks. Laser optics and M5 rail system for our M-16’s (some even get the M203 grenade launchers) night vision goggles, modular load-bearing gear, assault bags, camelbaks, improved body amour, and a slew of other stuff. Of course, the military specialty store outside the base does brisk business selling those personal, nice-to-have items like hip holsters and gun slings, bags, Underarmour shirts, ‘biners, and other stuff to Navy and Air Force-warrior wannabes.
Some training highlights:
(1) Being subjected to the Army requirement of reading verbatim a four-page instruction on the proper procedure for urinalysis, yet...
(2) Being handed a map and compass and simply told to look for six markers in three hours during our land navigation exercise…with no instruction on how to properly read the map and align the compass (thankfully we had an Army National Guard SGT who knew slightly more than I did. Even so, we probably walked
5-6 miles through the forest and at times, swampland, looking for markers that were, oh, 1,500-1,700 metres apart, while walking in our body armour and helmets in 80 degree North Carolina weather.
(3) Hiking five miles for a “scoot and shoot†with a full load before I was even qual’ed to fire the M-16, only to learn a few days later that I could have spent that morning on a range actually getting qualified.
(4) Receiving gushing praise from our West Point graduate 1st LT S4 who said I truly missed my calling by not going Army. Seems she was impressed
-impressed!!- that I qualified on the M-16 in the 2nd round and found three of the six markers during the land navigation exercise, two feats she was stunningly impressed with having not accomplished those herself.
And to think this whole time I thought I did pretty poorly!
(5) Miraculously accomplishing three major uniform and gear issues in a single afternoon without benefit of reliable transportation to/from the barracks/issuing facility, all the time feeling as though I was back in Navy boot camp on day one. (These guys do a fine job of getting you where you need to go, but good luck getting back…)
(5) Amoured-up for over nine hours on a hot Sunday to accomplish a single 20 minute convoy live fire exercise
(6) Cleaning an M-16 for the first time. There’s a reason Sailors aren’t issued guns…(or even better, why we have “Gunners Matesâ€)
(7) The symphony of snores in open-bay WWII-era barracks with 23 of my closest friends.
(8) The unmitigated joy of getting the barracks lung crud not once, but twice.
(9) Five+ days in the FOB without a shower
(10) Learning that the Army does not think outside the box, nor draw outside the lines. Rather than change a training plan because something doesn’t work, just stick with the plan and pretend nothing is wrong.
Part 3. Home for the weekend & Final Thoughts
“Improvise, adapt, overcome.†--Clint Eastwood, “Heartbreak Ridgeâ€
There was a time about two weeks in where it didn’t look like I’d go home during the four-day pass the first week of April due to several “non accomplished“ marks in my record. Yet, I met those requirements and did indeed enjoy a much needed, yet albeit short weekend with Kelly and Glen in Fargo. If the last three weeks of being apart was tough, it’s nothing compared to the coming year. Glen has grown so much in just twenty-one days that I can’t yet imagine what changes this next year will bring. It’s the hardest thing a father can do, leave for an extended time on assignment, but I also know -and feel for- the thousands of other dads (and moms) carrying out their duty (and in some cases multiple deployments) in the Middle East who have also been away from their children for over a year. I’m glad to say that, thanks to us, some of those parents will finally go home to their children.
Following the events of September 11th 2001, and now reading the history of Afghanistan in Ahmed Rashid’s excellent and highly readable book “Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil, & Fundamentalism in Central Asiaâ€
detailing, among many things, the impact of the Soviet invasion, subsequent withdrawal and the ensuing civil war during the 1990’s and bringing with it the rise of the Taliban and the horrors they introduced. In a land that has suffered nearly 1.5 million people dead in the past two decades and the total destruction of their land, I believe that the mission we are about to undertake is a good and necessary thing. Speaking without hyperbole, Afghanistan has, by every conceivable measure, been bombed back to the stone age. It’s our job to help get them back to the 20th century. Interestingly enough, this same PRT-model concept is under examination for application in Iraq and now appears to be the template for future post-conflict operations. There is, of course, danger in country with elements still aligned with and a loyal to the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden. There also remains those malcontents who simply resent a Western presence in their land and will make attempts to drive us out. Failure in Afghanistan is not an option, and it will take time before the country is back on its feet. But I think our effort over the next year will go far in meeting this endeavour.
This PRT is, without reservation, the best and most cohesive group of the lot. Everyone meshed well right from the start, and we haven’t had a single episode of friction amongst us. Exposure to other PRT’s by my teammates illicit the same response, officer and enlisted alike, “Thank God I’m with Khowst.†Likewise, those who spent time with us training wish they were in our group. By every standard of training accomplishment, leadership and personalities, Khowst is the best PRT here. This is one hell of a group of guys I’m proud to be associated with.
And that finally brings me to the present and we’re now in final preps for our flight over. All gear has been issued, all training completed, and this marks the end of Bragg until we return to de-mobilize next year. My next dispatch will be from Afghanistan and our position in Khowst. See you all then!
<!--EDIT|thrasherfox
Reason for Edit: None given...|1145476955 -->
He was told not too long ago "hey, we need you in Afghanistan, you leave in 4 days"
He had only been here for like 2 months.. this is his shore duty.. funny thing on how this works, he is only TAD, so even though he is in Theater for a year, it still counts towards his shore duty..
Anyway.. for all of my military counter parts out there.. I received this unclassified email, removed any names to protect the innocent and guilty, but if anyone sees anything I missed let me know.. rule of thumb, it was sent out over unlcass so it should be ok..
For anyone who has never been in the military, or has never been in a combat environment, or has never had two weeks notice telling you to get your affairs in order and kiss your family good bye because you wont see them for a year. try to imagine how it feels.
This is what our military people do and are subject to on a regular basis.. all volunteer and usually without too much grumbling.. to not only ensure freedom for all back here but most have an honest desire to help those in other countries..
One reason I get so pissed off when I hear people whine and cry about our government and our military when they have not even stepped one foot out of their state, nor have ever been involved with the military.
Most of the whiners and people who criticize our military are doing so because they are just sheep, they are following someone else's lead. they have no fricken clue in my opinion.
And what do I base this assessment on? my 20 years of working with the military, 10 as a Marine 10 as a civilian.
Knowing my Uncle who was a Marine Helo pilot and used to fly Marine One for Presidents
Next time I see someone burn a flag, or hold a protest at a funeral for a military member.. probably going to end up in jail for kicking some tail
And why am I posting this? To give people who don’t know. Some insight into the life of a service member. To give insight into leaving your family. To give insight into the hopes our military has of helping our selves and HONESTLY trying to help another country out.
I will not say what our higher government intentions are anywhere. I don’t know. And if I did know I am sure I couldn’t say.
What I can tell you is most troops on the ground do have honorable intentions. They are on the ground to do a job, to protect each other.. and to try and eliminate the enemy while at the same time protecting innocent civilians.
Here is the email I recieved today
“…You gotta apply the five D’s of Dodgeball: Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive, Dodge!†(Patches O’Houlihan, “Dodgeball.†Adapted as my personal survival strategy for my year in a country writer and adventurer Robert Young Pelton calls one of “The World‘s Most Dangerous
Places.â€)
For those who came in late: In mid March, I received extremely short notice orders for a one-year tour of duty to Afghanistan as part of a Provincial Reconstruction Team. The letter that follows, along with all subsequent dispatches from Afghanistan, will be my effort to keep all informed of the happenings in country. Far from being the group historian, my writings and musings are my own. Considering the remoteness of my duty location, writing after-hours seems like a (productive) way to pass what little off-duty time I’ll have…
But first, a word about replying…
I’d love to hear back from any and all of you, but I would caution against hitting the “reply all†button.
Doing so would send your missive to over 50+ people, soooo, respond accordingly as I assume no responsibility for thy spamming actions!
Oh, one final note: If it appears my time in-country is confined to base, this could be a short lived project. My impression is that I’ll actually be out and about with the group, with the resulting experiences providing the bulk of my writings. In the event that I’m confined “behind the wire,†I’ll cut the project short and spare you the litany of unchanging breakfast menus and the MREs I had for
lunch….
But right now, there’re definitely a few things to write home about.
Part 1. De-constructing the Provincial Reconstruction Team
It’s an absolute hallmark of Navy orders to be as vague as humanly possible when “requesting†or “ordering†an individual to an assignment of which neither they nor their command have any reasonable clue about. It’s even worse when no one in any of the half dozen or so commands involved in this process could provide even a basic description of this “Provincial Reconstruction Team†(hereafter referred to as PRT) is all about. Perhaps this lack of knowledge explains why the request merely asked for a warm Intel body with a clearance to fill a 365 day requirement. Perhaps if they knew the real requirements, things may have transpired differently from the get-go…
Following four fast days after getting official word of my assignment to out process, get my affairs in order, and kiss my wife and son good-bye, I flew cross-country for two days of processing in the hectic, confused scene of the Navy Mobilization Processing Station at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia.
Silly me, I made the mistake of assuming -based on a robust webpage detailing the process and required
documentation- that they had their poop in a group.
Not even close. So in stupefied fashion, I filled out their forms, paid medical and dental a visit, and generally pestered the helpful BM1 on where to go next. (Amazingly though, his group did a great job with the limited personnel and material resources available, especially when dealing with hundreds of de-mobilizers and us few deployers who each had our individual story to follow.) Thankfully, by noon on day #2 someone knew who just to call at Bragg and what questions to ask. “You’re already late. You fly out tomorrow,†she told me, and sent me to procure onward transportation. Mercifully, a weeks worth of mindless shuffling was cut to less than two days, all of which I would (unfortunately) repeat ad nasium at Ft Bragg
The next day, I reported to Ft Bragg and the LN1 had been correct, I was late. Arriving in the middle of the training cycle (roughly week 6 of a 10-week training program), I was told I had a steep learning curve to clear over the next month. After getting the dump on my weapons and other qualifications I had to meet, I finally learned the story behind the Provincial Reconstruction Teams. Conceived and implemented in 2002 in response to NGO (non-governmental agencies) inability to deliver aid in an unsecure (re: hostile) environment, the PRT essentially combines civilian reconstruction and aid efforts with the security, know-how, and combat strength of the US military in a smaller package. Last year, the Navy and Air Force stepped up to “take overâ€
the PRT mission from the Army to help ease their burden of back-to-back-to-back deployments. Currently in training are twelve new PRT units, each consisting of about 80 personnel (of which 50% is an Army Reserve and Guard unit providing the force protection and security element). The other 50% of the PRT consists of a staff element. In my particular unit, it breaks down to a Navy CO, an Army XO, a Navy S1 (Admin Officer), a Navy S2 (Intelligence Officer), a Army S3 (Operations Officer), an Army S4 (Logistics), and a Navy S6 (Communications). Mixed into the staff is a motley assortment of reserve and active duty sailors, from Master-at-Arms to Seabees, Culinary Specialists to Cryptologic Technicians, Electronics Technicians to Corpsman. The ranks reach across all spectrums, to an Army Major called back to duty after 11 years in retirement (our XO) to a Seaman Recruit just out of boot camp. Also found are representatives from the US State Department, Department of Agriculture, US Agency for International Development, Military Civil Affairs specialists, and other NGO representatives.
Of the twelve PRT’s, six are Navy, six are Air Force (the other seven or so PRT’s in-country are operated by our NATO partners). Upon completion of training in mid April, the PRT’s will deploy to various locations in Afghanistan and conduct turnover with the Army units now in place. For the next year, these PRT’s will coordinate construction and relief efforts within their assigned Province, maintain relations with local (in some cases tribal) government, and provide/repair basic utilities and services for the Afghan people.
Our particular PRT will be based in the town and Province of Khowst, near the Pakistan border, roughly southeast of the Afghanistan capital of Kabul.
Interestingly enough, we’ll make our stay at an old Soviet airbase and (I am told) with one of the nicer PRT locations, with buildings instead of tents, hot showers, heating and air conditioning, internet access, satellite TV, and comfy two-man rooms.
All of this -and more- I learned during my warm and enlightening sit down discussion with our Skipper, who then welcomed me aboard as the Khowst PRT Intelligence Officer.
*****
The S2.
Not part of an intelligence section, or Assistant Intel Officer or Intel LCPO, but THE Intelligence Officer. Now, it’s not easy to explain the feelings of such an assignment. I am neither schooled nor experienced in the field of intelligence support to special warfare or independent duty IS. Indeed, there is very little in my past to suggest “suitability†for such an assignment. Yet by virtue of my rank and the Navy‘s inability to clarify proper requirements, here I am. But this is where all 17 years of experience and knowledge come into play. It’s probably the ultimate “all source†intelligence assignment a Navy IS can have, and it‘s an assignment I professionally welcome.
But while previous assignments have had a distant, far-from-the-front feel to them, this truly is an assignment where good intel is critical to keeping my team alive.
As a testament to Navy enlisted intelligence however, four of the six Navy PRT’s are S2’d by Intelligence Specialists (IS) Chiefs (three Reservists, and I as the lone active duty IS.) By contrast, an astounding five of the six Air Force PRT’s are S2’d by Officers.
Hmmmm.
Regardless of rank or service however, this assignment is foreign territory for us all. Even the Army S2 training (all 5 days of it) was a vastly condensed version of their normal 2 week basic Army intelligence course as the instructors weren‘t entirely sure what we should know or what we‘d do. There are no written Standard Operating Procedures for us, no instructions or formal guidance. In every sense of the word -and all the S2’s agree- we will be writing the book on PRT Intelligence.
Thus, constant coordination and contact between PRT S2’s and a turnover with our predecessors are all we have to go on. Due to the nature of our mission, intelligence for force protection is the top priority, with intelligence primarily gained through debriefings of PRT members coming back from activities beyond “the wire,†discussions with locals, and access to local news, among others. Now, I can honestly say that while our primary focus is NOT on the search for Bin Laden, the idea of taking that on as a little pet project is on the minds of all the S2’s…
In short, I’m the paranoid one of the group. Trust no one, suspect everything. It’s a job with a hell of a lot to live up to.
Part 2. You’re in the Army now
“We do more before 9am than most people do all day.â€
-- Army slogan
Someone, somewhere, conceived of a ten-week training program to get the Navy/Air Force team in shape and prepared for ground action. Since I arrived at week 6, I was given the benefit of the four-week “catch upâ€
routine, and it rapidly became clear that that the Army thrives on a hurry-up-and-wait mentality. First there’s the muster, then wait. March to the transportation point, and wait. Get to the destination, and wait. The most trivial of matters takes the better part of a day to accomplish. Any normal activity that would take 10-15 minutes in the real world requires a block of time equal to or greater than 4 hours to accomplish. Indeed, if I were to take all the time spent actually getting something done, total training time would fill five or six normal work days. The rest is all filler. Dead time.
Now imagine the pain of a ten-week program.
Truthfully, this whole ten-week process could have been whittled down to five without any loss to our requirements. For example, the medical and dental aspect couldn’t be handled in one session. Two sessions were needed -several weeks apart- following the exact same routine, filling out the exact same forms. Yet, simple paperwork and medical requirements that should have been handled in week one were suddenly and inexplicable a serious issue on the second visit. “Yes, I had my HIV, Smallpox, and Hepatitis shot. No, I can’t explain why the tech didn’t annotate their work. What? You want me to get it again? Okay.†I probably own six pairs of glasses now, wouldn’t be surprised to learn I’ve been vaccinated against Bird Flu and SARS, and have no dental worries for the rest of natural born life.
Equipment and gear issue was equally spread out, with many of the items received with a “what the hell do I do with this…?†expression, only to go unused and turned back in over the last couple of weeks.
Oh yeah, and we had to lug most of this $^%# around with us.
My fast-track program, however, consisted of the
“essentials“: M-16 zero and qualification; M-9 pistol qualification; day and night land navigation; and convoy (Humvee) live fire exercise (essentially firing an M-16 at insurgents out the window while moving and under fire amidst IED explosions), the gas chamber, and one exciting, five-day session in the FOB (Forward Operating Base) with all the MREs I could eat. (And honestly, I’ve tried just about every variety and have yet to eat an MRE I didn’t like.)
But despite the boot camp-style way of issuing us gear and uniforms, the Army has gone all out to give us the latest and greatest of everything over the last two weeks. Laser optics and M5 rail system for our M-16’s (some even get the M203 grenade launchers) night vision goggles, modular load-bearing gear, assault bags, camelbaks, improved body amour, and a slew of other stuff. Of course, the military specialty store outside the base does brisk business selling those personal, nice-to-have items like hip holsters and gun slings, bags, Underarmour shirts, ‘biners, and other stuff to Navy and Air Force-warrior wannabes.
Some training highlights:
(1) Being subjected to the Army requirement of reading verbatim a four-page instruction on the proper procedure for urinalysis, yet...
(2) Being handed a map and compass and simply told to look for six markers in three hours during our land navigation exercise…with no instruction on how to properly read the map and align the compass (thankfully we had an Army National Guard SGT who knew slightly more than I did. Even so, we probably walked
5-6 miles through the forest and at times, swampland, looking for markers that were, oh, 1,500-1,700 metres apart, while walking in our body armour and helmets in 80 degree North Carolina weather.
(3) Hiking five miles for a “scoot and shoot†with a full load before I was even qual’ed to fire the M-16, only to learn a few days later that I could have spent that morning on a range actually getting qualified.
(4) Receiving gushing praise from our West Point graduate 1st LT S4 who said I truly missed my calling by not going Army. Seems she was impressed
-impressed!!- that I qualified on the M-16 in the 2nd round and found three of the six markers during the land navigation exercise, two feats she was stunningly impressed with having not accomplished those herself.
And to think this whole time I thought I did pretty poorly!
(5) Miraculously accomplishing three major uniform and gear issues in a single afternoon without benefit of reliable transportation to/from the barracks/issuing facility, all the time feeling as though I was back in Navy boot camp on day one. (These guys do a fine job of getting you where you need to go, but good luck getting back…)
(5) Amoured-up for over nine hours on a hot Sunday to accomplish a single 20 minute convoy live fire exercise
(6) Cleaning an M-16 for the first time. There’s a reason Sailors aren’t issued guns…(or even better, why we have “Gunners Matesâ€)
(7) The symphony of snores in open-bay WWII-era barracks with 23 of my closest friends.
(8) The unmitigated joy of getting the barracks lung crud not once, but twice.
(9) Five+ days in the FOB without a shower
(10) Learning that the Army does not think outside the box, nor draw outside the lines. Rather than change a training plan because something doesn’t work, just stick with the plan and pretend nothing is wrong.
Part 3. Home for the weekend & Final Thoughts
“Improvise, adapt, overcome.†--Clint Eastwood, “Heartbreak Ridgeâ€
There was a time about two weeks in where it didn’t look like I’d go home during the four-day pass the first week of April due to several “non accomplished“ marks in my record. Yet, I met those requirements and did indeed enjoy a much needed, yet albeit short weekend with Kelly and Glen in Fargo. If the last three weeks of being apart was tough, it’s nothing compared to the coming year. Glen has grown so much in just twenty-one days that I can’t yet imagine what changes this next year will bring. It’s the hardest thing a father can do, leave for an extended time on assignment, but I also know -and feel for- the thousands of other dads (and moms) carrying out their duty (and in some cases multiple deployments) in the Middle East who have also been away from their children for over a year. I’m glad to say that, thanks to us, some of those parents will finally go home to their children.
Following the events of September 11th 2001, and now reading the history of Afghanistan in Ahmed Rashid’s excellent and highly readable book “Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil, & Fundamentalism in Central Asiaâ€
detailing, among many things, the impact of the Soviet invasion, subsequent withdrawal and the ensuing civil war during the 1990’s and bringing with it the rise of the Taliban and the horrors they introduced. In a land that has suffered nearly 1.5 million people dead in the past two decades and the total destruction of their land, I believe that the mission we are about to undertake is a good and necessary thing. Speaking without hyperbole, Afghanistan has, by every conceivable measure, been bombed back to the stone age. It’s our job to help get them back to the 20th century. Interestingly enough, this same PRT-model concept is under examination for application in Iraq and now appears to be the template for future post-conflict operations. There is, of course, danger in country with elements still aligned with and a loyal to the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden. There also remains those malcontents who simply resent a Western presence in their land and will make attempts to drive us out. Failure in Afghanistan is not an option, and it will take time before the country is back on its feet. But I think our effort over the next year will go far in meeting this endeavour.
This PRT is, without reservation, the best and most cohesive group of the lot. Everyone meshed well right from the start, and we haven’t had a single episode of friction amongst us. Exposure to other PRT’s by my teammates illicit the same response, officer and enlisted alike, “Thank God I’m with Khowst.†Likewise, those who spent time with us training wish they were in our group. By every standard of training accomplishment, leadership and personalities, Khowst is the best PRT here. This is one hell of a group of guys I’m proud to be associated with.
And that finally brings me to the present and we’re now in final preps for our flight over. All gear has been issued, all training completed, and this marks the end of Bragg until we return to de-mobilize next year. My next dispatch will be from Afghanistan and our position in Khowst. See you all then!
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