Afghanistan

29 Days and Counting

2009-06-19T02:12:00.000-07:00

Well it has been awhile since I have updated this. Joan got on me this week to get it done so to make my wife happy I will update it one more time before my long journey home. We are supposed to leave out of here on the 19th of July, but I am not holding my breath because this is the military. Anyway I cannot wait although I am sure this last month will drag. We already have 2 of our replacements here. Not sure why so early, but they are here. It is 3 Army personnel and 7 civilians replacing us. The Air Force unit that was supposed to replace us is getting shipped to another base near here that is growing fast and needs help. The Air Force people are from my base also as will be the following how ever many teams needed until this place calms down. Yes that probably means I will be back here somewhere in about 3 years if it is still a hot spot.

The day after my last post we had a car bombing at the front gate of our base. Yes right where I was standing the day before. This time I was about 75 yards away, but inside the base. The cowards pulled into the parking lot where the locals who work on the base park before entering the base and blew themselves up. There were lots of causalities of unarmed locals just trying to make a living. I have to say it kind of hit me hard. Not only the blast which I felt and saw from very close, but the fact that some of the casualties worked for us and were good people. These people live a rough life and no wonder their life expectancy is not long. Our heavy equipment supervisor has recently been getting phone calls from the Taliban saying he has 3 chances to stop working for the U.S. or he and his family will be killed. So everyday he has to take a different route to work, come in at different times or take a taxi. I could not imagine living like that everyday. Trying to make a living to feed my family and having a group telling me to stop or they will kill my family. Crazy world. Other than that we still have our occasional rockets that luckily the idiots cannot shoot, hit around the base.

The project that I was in charge of in building a new safer parking area for the locals is complete. The locals love it because it provides some protection for them instead of being out in the wide open for the idiots to take advantage of. I am now working on making the way into the base safer for the locals and our soldiers that man the front gate. It is in front of the base between where our Afghany soldiers tower is and the main entrance where our soldiers tower is. Yes I am outside the wire quite a bit and yes I still sometimes do not have my body armor on. I kind of feel bad wearing it because our front line of defense is the Afghany soldiers who themselves do not have any body armor. They do not have boots to wear so I feel like I am rubbing it in their face when I am out there. Yes Tom I get told every time I come back in that I am supposed to have my body armor on. I am stubborn, just ask Joan.

I am tired of the food for sure. Tonight is our weekly steak and seafood night which you would think would be a great night to eat, but it is the worst night to eat. They start cooking the steaks at 7am in the morning and so Friday night has become my brat night. Every day is a new experience which helps pass the time. I have many projects and a few that I need to get designed before I leave here. I am also taking a class online that is keeping me busy writing a paper each week. I love it though. You work at your own pace and the class is done in 8 weeks. Still looking for new jobs because after making money like this it is going to be hard to go back to work for half the price.

This will probably be my last post as I am busy with work and my class. I want to thank everyone for everything sent or said. I have learned quite a bit in my 6 months over here. I think it has changed me to be a better father and husband. To see what these people do not have and the struggles they have over here is an eye opener. No one in the states should complain about not having anything. We are a lucky country, nation, society.

Happy Fathers Day to all the fathers. Happy Fathers Day DAD.

In 29 days a flight over the ocean paid by the government. A one night stay in a hotel room on the coast paid by the government. Another flight to Saint Louis paid by the government. A kiss from my wife and a hug from my son PRICELESS.

Miss you all and see you in about a month.

Love you Joan and Drew

Crazy Day

2009-05-12T08:15:00.000-07:00

Hello All, One of those days. Makes time go by a little quicker I think, but some would call me crazy. This article below is from my base and the town is about 10 minutes away. We also had a rocket take out one of water bladders today. 5000 gallons of water flowing down the road. Its warming up and the Taliban idiots are coming out like the Lizards of Salerno. Ive been trying to get good pics of these lizards, but they are quick. As soon as they see you they take off and hide under the connex's. Ive heard we have a 6 foot one on base somewhere. I have seen a few that are at least 3 to 4 feet long. Going to catch one before I leave. The snakes are coming out too. Some pretty venomous ones around here so I'll leave them alone. Our locals who run the heavy equipment on base brought us in a 6" centipede that looked like something out of a Indiana Jones movie. I let it go on our porch outside our office and we later looked it up on the web. Found out it was poisonous, 3 people have died from bites from it. So yes, it now lives under our wood porch in front of our office. Ive been told there are some big spiders here. I have not seen any (knock on wood) and I really hope I dont see any. If you know me, you know thats my favorite thing in the world.

I started a new project today outside the base. We are securing the parking lot where the Local Nationals park. These are all the workers who risk their lives to work on the base everyday. So I am in charge of a contractor who is putting up some walls around the parking area to help reduce the damage from blasts. Of course it is getting hot so I was outside the base without my armor for 2 hours. Maybe not the smartest thing especially on a day like today, but Im writing tonight. What else is going on you ask. I played in a volleyball tournament with my heavy equipment guys. Me and 5 Afghanies in their man jamys and either slippers or no shoes at all. It is supposed to be sand, but over here it is like concrete. These are the guys you have seen in other pics that I'm eating lunch with. The final four teams were mine, 2 other Afghany teams, and a mix of guys from countries around here. I was the last military person playing and we took 3rd which turned into 1st because the top 2 teams got mad and quit. We got certificates that I will be proudly framing when I get home. Needless to say volleyball is their sport over here.

A little over 2 months left. My work load has increased double because my Senior Master Seargent had to go home on emergency leave. Dave Wilde's mom passed away early Monday morning. He left on Friday and made it home late Saturday night to see her. Keep him and his family in your prayers. He is supposed to be coming back by the end of the month. Not so sure I would be heading back after that with so little time left.

When this new Army group came in they changed the way we carry our weapons around. We were just keeping our ammo on us but not in the weapon. Now we carry the ammo in our gun ready to take off safe and fire. I dont agree with this, but I am not in charge. If need be, I can get my ammo from one side of body to my gun and loaded in about 3 seconds. If I need it any quicker I am dead anyway. Where this is going is that a few nights ago 2 young soldiers were horse playing and one got shot. He is going to live, but probably will be paralyzed since there is a bullet lodged right by his spine.

On a good note, one of my Lt. Col's got some corn and cucumbers growing. I took my brothers advice and helped fertilize his crops. Kidding. We are all ready to head home and I miss you all. Not too much longer Joan and Drew. I love and miss you.
KABUL – Eleven Taliban suicide bombers attacked government buildings in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, sparking running gunbattles that killed at least 20 people and wounded three U.S. troops, officials said.

The assault began around 10 a.m. when a suicide bomber in a burqa attacked the governor's compound in Khost, an eastern city on the border with Pakistan that houses a major American base. That blast was followed soon after by a suicide car bomb explosion, said Wazir Pacha, the spokesman for the provincial police chief.

U.S. forces attending a nearby meeting responded to the attacks and killed an unknown number of militants, said Lt. Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker, a U.S. military spokeswoman.

Khost residents hid from booming explosions and running street clashes that lasted until 5 p.m. At least eleven insurgents and nine others — including police and civilians — died, the Defense Ministry said.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed that 30 suicide bombers had attacked the government buildings. A U.S. spokesman summed up the chaos in the midst of battle: "A lot of stuff is going on right now."

Militants in recent months have carried out an increasing number of complex attacks that involved several assailants. Military analysts have said the increasing sophistication of attacks in Afghanistan is a result of training by Pakistani militants and al-Qaida fighters.

The Khost attack came as President Obama sought to put his stamp on the war, appointing a former three-star general as the country's ambassador and replacing the top American military commander in Afghanistan. Karl Eikenberry presented his credentials to President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday.

The attack began with several suicide attacks on the Khost governor's compound, which drew small arms fire from nearby U.S. troops, said U.S. military spokesman Chief Brian Naranjo.

Then a team of six suicide bombers tried to attack the nearby police headquarters, but were rebuffed by security forces and entered the neighboring municipality building, Pacha said.

Three bombers detonated their explosives, the Interior Ministry said, while other militants took 20 city employees hostage, Pacha said.

A second U.S. team was sent from the nearby American base, Camp Salerno. But those troops were fired on en route, Naranjo said. A U.S. soldier and an Afghan policeman were wounded and taken to Camp Salerno for treatment where they were in stable condition, he said. A number of militants were killed, he said.

After the militants entered the municipal building, a number of explosions reverberated from within, as U.S. and Afghan forces surrounded the area, an Associated Press stringer said from within the police chief's compound.

U.S. and Afghan forces later stormed the building, freed 20 hostages and killed three insurgents, Pacha said.

Taliban and other insurgent fighters have increased their attacks the last three years and now control wide swaths of territory, and Obama is seeking to reverse their momentum.

To that end, the Pentagon fired Gen. David McKiernan as the top U.S. commander in the country and replaced him Monday with Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a former leader of special forces.

Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, Afghanistan's Defense Ministry spokesman, listed three priorities that McChrystal should focus on when taking over the command.

"Prevent civilian casualties, strengthen the quality and quantity of Afghan forces, and focus more on coordinating the military operations with Afghan forces," Azimi said.

McKiernan's exit comes as more than 21,000 additional U.S. forces begin to arrive in Afghanistan — dispatched by Obama to confront the Taliban more forcefully. A record 38,000 U.S. troops are already in the country.

Im Still Alive

2009-04-24T07:12:00.000-07:00

Its been awhile since I have been on here. There hasn't been much going on here lately as far as the enemy is concerned. It has actually been pretty quiet. I guess we had some RPG's come in last night, but when I sleep I do not hear anything. Everyone else heard it but not me.

Want to thank everyone for all the goodies you have sent. Our office is now the snack center for the FOB. We have people that stop by just for snacks. They say they are there for business, but we know better. One of the pictures is the shelf where all our snacks are placed. Everyone on the team is trying to lose some weight so we try to get the locals to eat as much of the "bad" stuff as possible. Rockman loves cookies so he may end up being the first overweight Afghan's ever.

I tried to grow some tomatoes and hot peppers outside our office in some wooden flower beds, but the soil here is horrible. I could not go down to the local Home Depot or Lowes and get some fertilizer either. I had Nick one of our local engineers bring in some seeds, but as you can see by the picture which I just took today we are not going to get any tomatoes. I dug up where I put the seeds and there is nothing there. Lt Col Crouch is trying to grow some sweet corn behind the office so we will see if he has better luck.

We are under 100 days now. In fact I think we are under 3 months from when we will be leaving here. That's a big if with the military. Not sure how my brother and sister did 12 months because this 3 months seems like it has been a year. I may be going to another base for a week or 2. Again this is the military so that may be a month or 2. It is a smaller base that is starting to grow and they do not have an engineering team there so me and Major James may be going to get it started. I will be the surveyor and CAD operator and he will be the master planner. This is the 3rd time I have been going to another base and the other 2 did not come through, so we will see. I don't really want to go, but a change of scenery may make time pass a little faster.

I think I have said this before, but I love my job over here. If anyone has an opening for a project manager/CAD operator let me know. Since I have been here I have had about 4 to 5 jobs spread out, but this week it jumped up to 6 all at one time. I design the job to be done which is done on AutoCAD with drawings. I then have to format a reason the FOB needs this construction to be signed off by the commander of the base and then sent up to higher ups at the big base in Afghanistan to be approved. In this packet I have to have my drawings, my reason for the construction, a cost estimate, a timeline for construction, and a statement of work explaining how to do everything on the job. This all goes up, after the commander signs off, to get approved for funding which can take up to a month or more depending on the size of the job. 5 of mine hit this week so needless to say I will be busy trying to get my contractors badged and writing memos to get equipment on the FOB along with managing their production. Plus this means many more tea breaks a day because it is disrespectful not to drink tea with your contractor when asked. I think I got a dose of Montazubas revenge from some parking lot tea so I backed off for a few days. It didn't take long though to get back to drinking parking lot tea. Of course I have had more meals in the parking lot and I try to make it to the "Godfathers" bakery once a week for a meal.

I lose my patient once a week with stupidity here, but I am trying to work on it Joan. As she always tells me, you cant fix stupid, but I am trying day by day.

We have a couple things coming up here on FOB Salerno so it gives us something to look forward to. First Toby Keith is coming by for a little concert here sometime soon. I'm not the biggest country fan, but it should be good. Second, next week is the anniversary of the Taliban taking over Afghanistan so I'm sure those idiots will be up to no good more than usual.

That is all for now. Hope everyone is doing good. I will try to post more often because my sister said I should. You all just don't know how hard it is for me to get this many words out. I am drained for about a week after I write these things.

Also I don't know who thought I was a "Best Team in Baseball" fan of the ST LOUIS CARDINALS, but I think I have received a magazine from everyone now. Thank you.

Love and Miss you Joan and Drew

Howitzer

2009-03-26T10:17:00.000-07:00

This ones for you Dad. Four of us got to shoot the Howitzer today. Me, Senior Wilde, Major Harrold and Lt. Col Crouch. I'm sure its a little more sophisticated than the ones you shot. We shot 3 hotels which are the charges that send the mortar farther. It can have up to 5 hotels. The 3 sent the mortar about 10 miles out maybe further. You can see the small cloud of smoke on the mountain in some of the pics. This particular Howitzer can send a mortar a little more than 35 miles away. It is rather loud. Much louder when you stand away from it. Not so bad when you are actually pulling the rope. Another thing checked off my list and it was fun. You have to wear your body armor and helmet because if not it will shake your insides and damage them more than they already are. The ground shakes and it feels like little rocks hitting your legs after it goes off. There is a little wood shed about 20 feet from the gun that they have to fix or replace every so often because the power of the gun destroys it.

In other news we have had a few rockets hit nowhere on base. Not sure if these Taliban people could hit the broad side of a barn. They did hit about a 100 yards away from our local heavy equipment operators. There hangout is on the outer part of the base. I guess they were diving under dump trucks. Since none of them were hurt I had to laugh at the thought of them running and diving in there baggy outfits. I also asked them if any of them peed there pants, but no one confessed.

The Afghan new year was this past Thursday so many of the locals had a 3 or 4 day weekend. It was pretty quiet around here and boring when they are not around too. The new year is 1389 here. Of course 90% of the population just wanted to have parties and celebrate, but then you have the coward Taliban had to blow up a bus that day. And then yesterday they blew another bus full of women and children about 10 miles from here. Some of the injured were brought to our base for medical attention. The Taliban are such cowards. They are pathetic people or scum is what I call them. They don't deserve to even be called people.

Well that all for now. I miss everyone. Hope all is well wherever you are.

Joan and Drew I Love and Miss you.

Patience

2009-03-14T04:28:00.000-07:00

Hello all. It has now been 3 months since I left. Major James just informed me its been 2 months. Time flies when your having fun. Haha! Sorry posts have been few and far between. We have been quit busy from day one and are dealing with a change in command as I speak. The 101st is going home after being here for 15 months and to be honest I am not sure who is taking there spot. What I do know is that everything is changing from the old group to the new group. The way you do memos to the projects we were working on that the new group no longer wants. You would think there would be some sort of communication between the old group and the new one coming in, but no, not at all. I am hoping the new group can help me control my patience and temper. I have lost it a couple times with the way stuff was run previously. Not with any from my group, but with a certain office that we have to deal with daily. Common sense does not apply to some people.

Anyway, since my last real post I have been on my first convoy to a base near by. Most the pictures I post this time will be from this trip. I had to take a excavator, some concrete and a concrete bucket over to this base so they could finish up a project. You could probably throw a rock and hit the other base from my base, not really, but its close. It was about a 15 minute drive there. It was a bit of a adrenialin rush being my first convoy trip. All traffic has to stop and pull off to the side of the road as the convoy passes. We passed probably 20 cars and trucks on the way there and the same on the way back. In the back of your head your wondering which car you pass is going to hit the button to make a nice explosion. I can see why many people come home with combat stress after that trip. We actually passed by where the idiot did set off his vehicle bomb a month ago taking the lives of 2 soldiers. Lets just say it wasnt hard to miss with the hole it left in the side of the road.

On our way there we had a couple vehicles with us that had the Afghany military leading the convoy. We stopped at one point and the Afghany soldiers got out of there truck and pointed there weapons and yelled at someone. As we were sitting there I looked off to my right and a woman and her child were walking up to their house. The front door opened and a bearded man stepped out and with a full swing smacked the woman across the face. She took it like a champ and walked in the house like nothing happened. I was baffled along with my driver. We continued on and right before arriving at the front gate a large explosion went off that made me jump just a little. It was the base's EOD setting off some explosives they had found, but it was perfect timing. The rest of the trip was quiet which isnt always bad in this area. What I did notice along the trip was that every family has many many children. After talking to some locals on the base it is common to have very large families. I have one contractor who has 12 children and another who has 26 children. I tell them that they are crazy and they both agree.

A couple things I have noticed about the locals is that they are very respectful, courteous and they have the most patience of anyone I have ever met. Joan would like me to bring some of this patience home with me, but I dont see it happening. I will try my beautiful wife. I put a memo in for my contractor to bring in some equipment to the base. the office that I do not get along with which makes me lose my patience of course did not get it to the gate like they are supposed to. I felt sorry for the contractor because he wanted to begin work. He was at my office at 8am and stayed out on the porch until I finally told him to go home at 2pm. He would have stayed there for days without complaining. Not me, I was inpatient for him and let the office know. Thus why I am called "Death Blossom" around our office. They are all like that though. Will wait for hours without complaining.

Well hope all is well back home. Sounds almost as dangerous as over here with everyone going crazy about the economy. If anyone needs a job the civilians are making over 100,000 a year here. 80,000 of that is tax free.

Joan and Drew I Love You

2009-03-02T21:08:00.000-08:00

TEAM PANTHER
FOB SALERNO, AFGHANISTAN
FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER

FET OFFICE STAFF
Left to right: Hiwad, Azghar Jan, Maj Frank Harrold, TSgt Justus Upperman, Lt Col Tim Crouch, Maj Tim Crosnoe, Lt Col Russ O’Daniell, Maj Aaron James, SMSgt Dave Wilde, Dave White, Eric Gonzales, Nait Hashanti, and Nick Mohammad

It’s hard to believe, but Team Panther (aka Team 2) has been here over a month now (we arrived on 23Jan09). Time really flies when you are having fun. Actually an important part of our team was here before we arrived and will still be here when we depart…the civilian members of our team. We are really lucky to have their help.

There are the three Afghan Engineers on our office (Hiwad, Azghar and Nick). They act as inspectors on the jobsites as well as interpreters. They help us understand the Afghan culture and are a great help when we are dealing with the Local National (Afghan aka LN) contractors.

The three KBR* employees (Dave, Eric and Nait) do drafting and survey work. They are a great help and provide much needed continuity between teams. They are true volunteers. No one told them they had to come here, they signed up to come. They make decent money here. But more importantly they are serving the same cause as the military members, bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan. Plus their pay doesn’t seem as great when you look at it on an hourly basis considering they work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.
*KBR, HQed in Houston Texas, is the contractor responsible for most of the maintenance and services on base. They operate the dining facility (DFAC) and laundry, fix everything from air conditioning to roofs, operate the water and sewer facilities…the list goes on and on.

Besides members of the 231 CEF (Frank, Tim, Dave and Russ), we have TSgt Justus Upperman from the 131 CES (almost like a member of the 231st, since his office is adjacent to the 231st in St Louis), Lt Col Tim Crouch from the Iowa ANG and Maj Aaron James from Arizona ANG. Everyone (except Dave) got to know each other while attending Combat Skills Training (CST) in Fort Lewis Washington. Originally we had Chief Orf on the team but he had to drop out from CST due to medical reasons (actually he never got started). Dave Wilde filled in for him. Chief Orf will be on the team to replace us. We have a good mix of skills, aptitudes and attitudes.

The Facilities Engineering Team (FET) is responsible for managing the construction and maintenance projects on base. We currently are managing 40 construction projects worth $10 million, with another $4 million in projects awaiting funding. Plus 30 projects in design (so the next FET will have something to do when they arrive). All the guys are responsible for putting together project packages (estimates, site plans, need statements, etc.) for approval and funding. Tim Crouch is then responsible for tracking their progress through the various boards, etc. of the approval process. In addition many projects require plans and Statements of Work. Sometimes the hardest part is just figuring out what the customer really wants/needs. This is made more difficult when units rotate in and have different ideas than the units they replaced…so the process starts over again.

The FET also has a heavy equipment crew of Afghans that do many projects around base. Lately their main project is to spread gravel to keep soldiers out of the mud. Dave is primarily in charge of their supervision.
Below is a picture of Justus, Frank and Nick having lunch with Mohammad Ullah, the leader of the heavy equipment crew.
This is a picture of the heavy equipment crew having lunch.
The food they prepare themselves is very good, especially considering they don’t have a kitchen. They prepare the food outside on camp type stoves. A typical meal is meat cooked in a sometimes spicy sauce, bread, rice, vegetables and sometimes fruit. It is followed with green tea. Most of the other LN contractors also have someone on their crew that cooks lunch and makes the tea.

Below is a picture of the inside of Russ’s hooch. It is a “large” hooch at approx. 8’ x 16’. The guys in bay D have slightly smaller quarters (8’ x 10’). Others on base are as small as 8’ x 8’.

Below you see a long line of living quarters (hooches). Each building has 4 bays with up to 8 people per bay. Dave, Tim Crouch and Russ live in bay C (1st door on the right). Tim Crosnoe, Frank, Justus and Aaron live in bay D (second door from the right). Luckily for us the shower and latrine buildings are just across the gravel street you see in front of our hooches. This is especially nice when it’s cold, dark and raining.
There are over fifty of these brick and mortar quarters on base with many more nearing completion. One of our highest priority projects is to get everyone out of tents and into brick and mortars.

Below is a picture of some of our team taking the afternoon off to teach another unit how to play volleyball.
Many places in Afghanistan are still covered in snow, yet we are sweating in the sunshine here. The only snow we’ve seen in Salerno is on the surrounding mountains.

Later editions of the FOB Salerno newsletter will go into more details of the projects we are working on and life in Afghanistan. I hope this newsletter was a good overview of life at FOB Salerno.

Just a quick update

2009-02-26T08:37:00.000-08:00

Hello all. Sorry I have not been on here for awhile. This one will be quick because it is bed time. There is a new story every day here. In fact in my next post I will tell you about my trip to another base near by. It was very exciting and I plan on doing more things outside the wire. Anyway, today's story is about our government. It was pretty warm here today. Clear sky and business as usual. About 1115 there was announcement over the big voice saying there was a breach on the FOB(base). So everyone had to either get in a fortified building, bunker, or if outside had to be in your armor. Everything shuts down. The dining facilities, gym and all work. Yes it was lunchtime and I was just getting ready to go get something. Not a happy person. So about 30 minutes goes by and we find out it was a plane that did a touch and go without authorization to be in the area. One of the escorts on base told base defense he saw someone get off the plane and run. We are at war, but not too worried about the Taliban flying planes into our base. The fact though that we are at war and it is protocol to let someone know that you are flying into a base is nice. So this goes on for about an hour and a half. All the soldiers out searching the base for anyone suspicious. We finally get the all clear and find out it was the FBI. They flew in, dropped off an agent and flew back to Bagram before anyone found out what had happened. Needless to say that agent was in a office with an angry Commander soon after. Makes you feel safe, but like I said, we are not too worried about the Taliban flying in anytime soon. Many more stories that I will catch everyone up on later. Time for sleep. Miss everyone and take care.

Love you Joan and Drew

Hero's

2009-02-15T06:08:00.000-08:00

I would not be telling this story while I am over here, but Joan already knows about it so I feel everyone should be able to hear it. With some advice from the older brother it will be the last time I tell this kind of story before I get home to save every ones worries. Anyway is was a normal day about a week ago. I went out in the morning to meet with my contractor, off base, who was delivering gravel to the base. I met with him and came back on the base about 1030am. Of course I leave the base in a gator type vehicle with my body armor and helmet. Anyway as soon as I pull up in front of my office a large explosion rocks the entire base. Just so happens that the explosion was in front of me the way I was facing. A large mushroom cloud climbs up above the trees and into the clear sky. I decide, the idiot that I am, to go and see if I could see anything since it seemed so close. I take off on my gator toward the area where the mushroom cloud has risen. I get over near our airfield and can see that the explosion came from a village right on the other side of our runway. The village is off the base, but the fence is almost touching the buildings in this village. I do not see anything other than the cloud of smoke so I turned around and headed back to my office. On my way back there were a lot of soldiers running from building to building and down the roads. I'm sure most of them were getting into their vehicles to go out and find out what I wanted to find out. Helicopters began circling the area over where the blast happened. I made it back to the office and about 15 minutes later a BLUE SHIELD was announced over the loud voice. This means 3 injured and all medical personnel are to get to the hospital. Up to this day it had always been the locals or terrorist trying to set up there own bombs. This was a different day though and you could just sense it. About another hour later all forms of communication to the outside world went dead. There was no internet, base email, or phone service out. By about 1pm we found out that it had been 3 soldiers in a Humvee. They were hit by VBED(vehicle born explosive device) less than a 100 yards from the base. The driver drove his vehicle right into one of the Humvees in the convoy and detonated his bomb. It was powerful enough to send the Humvee 80 feet and flip it. Not a light vehicle by any means and it was sent flying. The driver a 20 year old and the gunner 19 were killed instantly. The passenger made it although with many injuries. The 2 soldiers were to be leaving to go home in 1 month. They had been here for 14 months. The next 3 days were dedicated to the 2 soldiers. They held a Hero's walk later that evening. This is where anyone on the base can line up on the airfield as they carry the soldiers through everyone saluting them onto the plane. The plane then takes off and everyone salutes again. I did not make it to this because I was busy with work. I hope there is not another one, but if there is I will not miss this event to give them the honor they deserve. There was a memorial the following day. Then another memorial just for the base he was from the next day. They kept all communication cut off for about 48 hours until the families had been notified. I finally got to talk to Joan and she knew something was wrong. I have been told not to tell her stuff like this from many including my brother John. When I called though she was crying and I could not think of a story other than what had really happened. It was an eye opener for me as I leave the base daily. Not in a way that these soldiers leave the base, but I am still outside the fence.

I had a little hatred towards the locals who work on the base thinking they may have known that this was going to happen. They all live in villages close to the base. About a day later though my senses came back and realized that they are not all cowards and bad people. In fact I would befriend most of these people before I would someone from France. They are very courteous and giving. They will offer you a seat and then sit on the ground. Everyone of them says good morning when they see you and has to shake your hand and then place their hand over their heart. I find them more like me everyday. It takes them awhile to get comfortable around strangers. They are a very quiet culture. You do not hear them yelling ever. I drink tea with them daily at one job site or another. I eat lunch with them at least 2 times a week and the food is unbelievable. We have been playing volleyball once a week and the local engineers (Haywad and Osgar) in our office play with us. They are pretty good volleyball players. Not a sport I thought was over here, but it is pretty popular. The weather has been great. Perfect golf playing weather, but I have not seen any golf courses in this area? I have caught up on most the movies that I get for 2 or 3 dollars at the bizarre across the street from my office. "Blockbuster" as the local calls his shop somehow gets movies that are still in the theaters and I have not had a bad one yet. I have also bought a few gems that I plan on sending to my dad to see if I made a good investment. I got a good tip from a guy who we replaced, about a gem. When he got home he had the ones he bought appraised and made some decent money. I went and bought the 2 biggest stones this guy had of the same kind. Dad let me know because he told me he would take them back if they were not real. My machine gun will influence him to take them back if so. Just kidding.

I have been gone a month. It has not been as bad as I thought it was going to be other than missing Joan and Drew. I see them daily on Skype and Drew is like a parrot. He is a genius already counting to 8. I'm sure that Joan is not letting him turn into a brat? Are you sweety? To everyone thanks for the comments and goodies you have sent. We do not realize how good we have it in the United States even though the times are bad there. It does not compare to the way these people live.

In the photos are some of the villages right next to our base and some more scenery.

Got Rock!!!

2009-02-07T07:08:00.000-08:00

The day after my last post I was in a bad mood for some reason. Anyway I went to visit the India contractors who run the concrete plant to vent my frustration on there not being any concrete. I walked into their office with their contract in hand and told them that we were going to do this the American way. There would be no "God Willing", a common phrase used by the locals around here. I told them they had until Saturday, today, to get concrete going for the base. Friday is there Sunday and no one works. I told them that if the plant was not running by Saturday that I would be bringing in another contractor to open another concrete plant on base. Guess what! The American way works. We had concrete this morning at 8am and all the jobs are back up and running.

Every day I have to carry a weapon around. I usually carry my handgun because you hardly know it is there and it is less intimidating to the locals. The other day though I was carrying my M-4(machine gun) around and the locals noticed. They all call me chief and this day they would come up to me and say Wow Chief, what are you doing today? Keeping there distance and a little more timid. I didn't think it would be such a difference since all Afghanies can carry an AK47 around their villages if they want. I told them later that if they made me mad they would know because the following day I will have my M4.

We have 4 vehicles assigned to our office. A Humvee, a Polaris which is like a gator and 2 Toyota Hilux SUVS. The Humvee is mainly used by the soldiers I am in charge of to take out to the gravel pit which is outside the fences of the base. I drive one of the Toyota's for my travels around the base. The only problem is that the steering wheel is on the wrong side. I cannot get used to it because every day I get in the drivers side which is the passenger side over here. Not only that, but the turn signal and the wipers are on the wrong side also. So every time I go to turn I flip on the wipers. I guess after almost 20 years of something its hard to change.

Yesterday was an exciting day as was today. Like I said before Fridays are their Sundays so no locals come on the base. It is a day of catch up for us at the office. They call Fridays holidays because they all have parties in their villages. For some locals though yesterday was not so festive as the Howitzers fired all day long. The gunner helicopters were busy too. I walked out of my office at the perfect time during mid morning to see a C130(transportation aircraft) getting ready to land, but instead shot off a bunch of flairs and went back up. A gunner helicopter then flew down the runway and the C130 circled and landed. There is a small village right at the beginning of the runway. I did not hear any gunfire, but the helicopter made someones day not so Holy. We stopped work early for the 1st day at 2pm because another group of Air Force individuals challenged our office to a game of volleyball. They are a fairly young office where as my office is a little older. I am the youngest at 34 and everyone else is 43 or older. Needless to say they beat us pretty good the first game, but the other five after we warmed up were ours. Its a little interesting playing volleyball outside with the sound of Howitzers going off every 5 minutes and gunship helicopters flying overhead.

Today I received rock!!! I was approved for $106,000 worth of rock so you do not need to send me any. That is 7000 cubic meters of 3/4" rock and 500 cubic meters of rip rap(large rock). That is a bunch of rock. They delivered 5 trucks today because we had to meet with the contractor to inspect the rock first. Making sure it was the right size pretty much. Me and the Col put on our vest and helmet and met the contractor outside the gate, decided it was good and sent the contractor back to start loading his trucks. An hour later the contractor calls and says his 5 trucks are at the gate, but the wrong one. The gravel storage area is outside the fence of the base and there is a gate that you can go through where your vehicle does not have to sit in a holding cell for 24 hours. The driver can just bring his rock and dump it and be gone. The contractor does not speak the best English and I am trying to explain how to get to this other gate and it was not working. I finally had one of my heavy equipment guys, Rockman, talk to him. They got it worked out. So I go out to the gravel pit on the Polaris(gator) in my combat gear because it is outside the fence. I am out there with 3 soldiers as all these dump trucks with other contractors are pulling in and out. I waited about 10 minutes and a black pick up truck comes down the road pretty fast with one dump truck following him. I'm thinking that's not my contractor because he said he had 5 dump trucks. He pulls up and it is my contractor. He gets out of the truck shakes my hand and at this point I had no idea what had just happened. We start talking and I am trying to explain to him where I want my rock dumped so it doesn't get mixed with the other contractors. I then get a call from my Col who asks what is going on out there. Me clueless said I'm talking to the contractor. What I didn't know, since none of the soldiers or myself have a radio while we are out there, is that this contractor ran the gate. This particular gate is run by the Afghan Army and they fired a warning shot over the vehicle. If it would have been run by our Army he would have been dead. I get told by my Col that I needed to bring the contractor into the office because base defense wanted to talk to him. I take him in and the Sergeant with base defense, a very angry man, tells him that I saved his life. There is a tower behind the gravel pit that is manned with a 50cal, a big gun. The soldier was going to unload on the vehicle, but I walked was walking up to the vehicle so he did not fire. The contractor acted like it did not phase him at all. It came out in the end though because when we first talked he said he would be bringing 30 to 40 trucks tomorrow. When I took him back out to his vehicle he changed it to over 100 trucks and asked what kind of gift I wanted from downtown. He grabbed my hand with both his hands and prayed. Not my style, but someone was looking over him today.

By the way the boy who got treatment at the base hospital is doing good and received a blood transfusion. He is at home now and the father thanks me everyday.

Joan and Drew, I love and miss you.

Frustration

2009-02-03T08:29:00.000-08:00

Camp Salerno is surrounded by mountains on all 4 sides and as far as you can see. Small mountains and then big mountains with snow. Yet we cannot get rock on this base. I am charge of the concrete plant as one of my many jobs. They cannot get rock or sand to make concrete. It is the rainy season here right now. The base does not have grass, but instead every where there is foot traffic there is supposed to be rock put down. Pretty much that is any land on base. Guess what? We do not have any rock so when it rains it is nice and muddy because the water does not settle into this ground. I am in charge of the heavy equipment guys who are supposed to be spreading the rock we do not have around base so no one has to walk through the mud. I am in charge of buying the rock for the heavy equipment guys to spread around base, but they will not fund it. Every group keeps coming up to me asking when we are getting rock. I went out today to talk to my heavy equipment operators which either do not speak english at all or are very broken with their english. Somehow we manage to communicate though. I pointed to a mountain while I was out there and told them I wanted it moved on the base. I was joking in my frustrated way, but Supervisor of heavy equipment points to one of his workers and says "he very good at crushing big rock to make little rock, he will move mountain". I started laughing and left, but got to thinking tonight that I hope they did not take me seriously. I might wake up in the morning with plenty of rock. We will see.

In my last post I said I was going on a trip. Has not happened because I am supposed to be delivering concrete in a convoy. No concrete because there is no rock or sand. The Captain I am dealing with on the other end sensed my frustration as I have tried to set this up for a few days now. She said not to worry that it is Afghanistan and it happens with everything here. You may of heard, but the idiots in Pakistan blew up the only bridge that lets supplies from there to here in by roadway. Most of our supplies come this way, mainly food. It may be MRE's here in the next few days if they are not able to find another route through the mountains.

Other than that I am busy. I wish I was this busy at work at home. It makes the day go so much faster. Like I said I am in charge of the concrete plant and heavy equipment. I also am in charge of all 64 aminas which are the translators and escorts for the locals on base. They are from all over the world. I am in charge of the locals getting medical screenings and interviews set up on base so they may enter to work. I am in charge of our office with going through BDOC(Base Defense ??????) on everything the locals need to bring or take offthe base to do their job. There are over 50 different jobs on base right now run by locals. If you need a Memo I will be a pro when I leave here. I also have the duties of getting all the Autocad drawings that the officers need to them for there meetings. On top of that I have jobs myself. Awnings on all the doors on base, AFN(ARMED FORCES NETWORK) poles and satellites at every housed building, an extension on a pole barn that covers all the bottled water that is distributed around base and finally the perimeter fence being upgraded. I love it even though i get frustrated when things do not go right.

I do have some good news that you will not hear in the news. I went out to do my checkups on all my people this morning and I always stop by to talk with my heavy equipment guys first to tell them what they need to do for the day. One of them who speaks no English at all comes up and hands me a stack of papers. The Supervisor who can understand English and speaks broken English tells me that his son is very sick. He has been to a Pakistan hospital and an Afghanistan hospital and neither could help. Something to do with his blood as I cannot read the writing on the papers. It is in Russian or something other than English. I ended up taking them to the hospital on base and speaking to a Master Seargent about seeing this boy. He said they do not usually do stuff like that because they are busy with wounded. A Major overheard us and told me to bring the dad in to talk to him. I brought him in and the Major got an Afghany doctor to talk to him to figure out what was going on. The Major then told me to take him to the gate so he could go home and get his son. They came back about an hour later and I brought them to the hospital where they admitted the boy, who looked around 5, for testing and an overnight stay. The Major said they would do what they could here and if he needed more they would fly him to a bigger hosptial elsewhere. Hopefully he gets the treatment he needs. Thats why we are here. To change the younger generations attitude toward America.

Its too bad

2009-01-29T06:40:00.000-08:00

This country is run by idiots. And it is sad because it is actually a beautiful country. Mountains everywhere. This time of year where I am at is perfect golf weather. A little chilly at night, but in the upper 60's or low 70's during the day. Grass doesnt grow so well in these parts, but then you wouldnt have to take the time to mow. I am starting to get my locals more and more outgoing. I joke around with them all day. I have taught them some American sayings such as Badonkadonk and Whats up instead of good morning. Rocman is quite a bit like me. He is always hungry, asking me for food, and likes to joke around. One of the few I have met who is outspoken and doesnt take much serious. Joan will like that! We have 3 locals who are engineers in our office. 2 of them are fairly young, middle 20s and the 3rd is probably early 40's. Hiwada, the youngest of the 3, we feel will be president of Afghanistan some day. Very good head on his shoulders and hates the Taliban. Just to give you a figure on what we are doing for some of the people here that want to make there country better. The 3 engineers would normally take home about 300 to 400 dollars a month. They all have a contract with our FET team for 29,000 dollars a year. Needless to say they all live on the base now because people in their village would try to kill them. To give you and idea of what they are making, I bought 10000 dollars of Afghany money for 20 dollars U.S. Although the way the economy is going it may turn the other way soon.

Up until today every boom we heard was from the 2 howitzers on base. 6 hours of nonstop pounding 3 days ago. 3 hours yesterday and today. This morning right when I got into work at 7am I heard a rather large boom. I later found out it was a car bomb at a base 3 miles from mine. 3 miles away and it shook my office building. Luckily only the driver died and no one else was hurt. This is the second time this base has been car bombed this week. I also found out today that I get to go outside the wire to this base in a few days. I have to go with some equipment to make sure it is installed properly as I am the civil engineer. Hopefully I am in a MRAP and not a Humvee, but I did train to be a gunner before coming overseas. No worries I will be fine and be well protected with my gear and plenty of weapons. It is only 3 miles, but it takes about 20 minutes to get there. It will be an experience.

I get to see Joan and Drew on Skype usually everyday and that helps although it is not the same. It is not bad here and I actually like the slower lifestyle of the people. No one is rushed to do anything. I do miss many of the small things though like not having to go outside to another building to go to the bathroom, shower and eat. I also miss everyone, but especially Joan and Drew. All the men need to be wrestling with Drew because I do not want to come home to a sissy. Should have stories after my trip within the next few days. Until then take care.

Getting to know the people and culture

2009-01-27T07:55:00.000-08:00

It has finally stopped raining and is beautiful out today. The scenery is mountains all around like being in Arizona. Behind those mountains though is even larger mountains covered in snow. These surround the entire base. Just outside the fence of the base are small villages. The day after we flew in to the base in pitch black, my Chief took me around the base to show me things. This is when i saw how close these villages are to the base. I could not believe how close they were with planes and helicopters flying in all the time. They are very primal. Mud and brick houses with many little kids running around outside. The new year in Afghanistan is coming up and it will be 1389(they go by the birth of Mohamed) and that's how I correlate them to us. Some have cars and even fewer have electricity. One of the contractors "Mike" lives in a village near the base. He has a wife and 1 year old girl. He is one of the more wealthy Afghan's saying his house is a 100,000 dollar house. His house though is run on a generator, which is shut off during the day while he works. Yes he leaves his wife and daughter at home with no electricity. He only turns the generator on for 6 hours a day while he is home. The woman in this country are not allowed to shake the hand of any other male or speak to any other male that is not related. I can ask the men if they are married, but I cannot ask anything specific about there wife or how their wife is doing. This is disrespectful to them. We have a few escorts that are woman that are translators and look over the local Afghans while they work. Only adult men come on the base to work and they do not like at all that a woman is in charge of them. There was one instance before i got here where the work crew was throwing cut off 2x4s and rocks at a female escort. My Chief put a stop to that real quick though.

To me and other males on the base they are very respectful. They are very soft spoken people. They also observe everything going on around them in great detail. I have now had 3 lunches with the local Afghans. One was with the Godfather who has here before the base was here. 'He is a baker, makes awesome cinnamon bread, who's house was kept on the base as we built around it. Everyone on base though goes there for his bread and tea. Tea is there coffee over here and they drink lots of it. It is good and I asked "Mike" how he made it. He said "i boil water 5 minutes, crush leaves put in, boil 5 minutes more". Then they put large crystals of sugar in that does not dissolve they are so big. Needless to say I have had more tea in the past 5 days than I have my whole life. My other group that I have eaten lunch with is my heavy equipment operators. We have Supervisor, Scooby Doo, Ching Ching 1 and Ching Ching 2, Bobcat, Rokman, and Cookie. Cookie is the cook of course. They cook there food in a gravel parking lot over a wood fire. The first time we had a rice and been mix that tasted almost Mexican. Very good with tea. Just today we had a bean mixture and in another plate was a cauliflower dish that was the best cauliflower i have ever had. It was spicy and very good with tea. Once again they are very respectful giving me a seat while most of them sit on the ground.

On the other hand we have to talk about the media. We probably let over 200 local Afghans that go through an extensive background check to get on base to work. They make more in a month on base than they would have in a year outside. They are provided food and clean water to drink. They do very good work and do not complain. Does the media say anything about this. No, no one would ever know. When you talk to them they hate the Taliban and most want to come to America with you. I have found a new respect for the people over here that I did not have at all before i came.

3rd Day at my permanent base Salerno

2009-01-25T06:41:00.000-08:00

I finally arrived at Camp Salerno 3 nights ago. We flew from Bagram to Kabul, dropped off a few people and 8000 lbs of ammo. Thirty minutes later we were back in the air to Salerno. This was a combat flight as we were flying over Afghanistan airway. The flight started at 1am from Bagram. All lights on the plane were shut off, inside and outside. I give new respect to the Air Force C130 pilots because we landed on a gravel runway in Salerno at 330am in pitch black. The base is in complete blackout every night. There is no white light allowed at all. We can only use small blue, red, or green keychain lights to get around. If the moon is not out, which it has not been since being here, it is dark beyond description. We ended up getting our luggage and brought to our rooms about an hour later(430am) and then had to be up and at work at 715am because the team we were replacing was supposed to fly out that evening. They needed to go over everything with us that day on our jobs. As of today though they are still here because of rain. The C130 cannot land on a wet gravel runway to get anyone in or out of this base.

Stuck near Russia Day 5 January 18 2009

2009-01-25T04:47:00.000-08:00

Day 4 and still stuck in Kyrkyzstan. When we first arrived 6 of us were put into a large tent with 6 rows of 25 bunk beds. The 1st two nights there was maybe 25 people in the entire tent. Plenty of room to spread out your bags and move around. In the middle of the night 2 nights ago 250 special forces soldiers came in to invade our privacy. Now there is not a single bed top or bottom that is not occupied. Not only that the special forces brought with them all their gear which is at least 3 bags a piece and 1 of those bags takes 2 people to carry. So do the math and the tent is now full. There are about 6 of these tents in our area set aside for those of us who are supposed to be going down range. We were supposed to be here for 2 days max. No planes have been coming in or out from Afghanistan because of weather and that story they have talked about on the news(troop buildup on Afghanistan). It is happening except they were not prepared for the movement of this many troops from here to Afghanistan. The special forces of course nocked my group back in the line to get out of here. I have not had a warm shower since getting here in fact they are very very cold. Thus I have gone on strike against showers. Not here to impress anyone so I will wait it out until I cant stand myself. The special forces are very friendly although it is hard to believe what they tell you they are doing. Im sure they dont want to tell us exactly what there mission is. They all have beards which is weird to see in uniform. All of them speak Russian and some other language that I cannot distinguish. The one building for showers and toilets is constantly full. Hard to find toilet paper in most stalls. The phone line which was the 1st 2 days a walk up and get on process is now an hour wait. I am getting paid though and the food is edible. Other than that it is trying to find ways to burn the hours of the day. Didnt think I would ever say this, but cant wait to get to Salerno. Take care and update you when we move on from this mess.

The Adventure begins January 14 2009

2009-01-25T04:41:00.000-08:00

Hello all, just wanted to thank everyone for the support over the past month. Laura thank you for getting everyone together this past Sunday. Do not worry about me. I will be fine. I am with all officers and when I told my older brother I had my own room in Afghanistan he said I was going to be okay. I am in the Air Force our motto isnt Hoooraa it is "Room Service". The article at the bottom is the team we are replacing at Salerno and i will be taking over the job duties of TSGT Carlisle. Just to give you an idea that we do not kick down doors and road march through cities.

Today started with Joan and Drew taking me to the base at 6am for a 9am flight. Yes 6 months of hurry up and wait. My older brother called me last night and told me that leaving the family at the airport was the hardest part of the whole trip. I hope he was right because leaving my best friend and my 1 year old son who is going to change and learn so much in 6 months was very difficult. Joan on the other hand may need some support grandmas and grandpas. I have spent alot of time at home with Drew over the past few weeks. Joan said she wanted Drew more vocal like his cousin Riley. I taught him how to yell in 1 day. She has 6 months to teach him how not to. Also over the past week he has gone from a mild laid back me to a bouncing off the walls nonstop Jessic at a younger age.

Tomorrow begins by leaving Virginia at 10am to New York to pick up some more people, then to Germany to fuel up, and finally to Manas where we spend a couple days and get more equipment. I will not be at my final destination for about a week. Some of you wanted that address. Here it is.

TSGT Justus Upperman
FET Salerno
FOB Salerno
APO AE 09314

Again just want to thank everyone. See you soon.