Eight Years Later

As the eighth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks takes place, it’s important to understand why the struggle started at ground zero in New York City and extended to Afghanistan and Iraq still takes place. First of all, your military is not losing in Afghanistan. Anyone who says that doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Who controls the high ground in this country? We do. Who moves at night and hides in the shadows? They do. We’re simply not winning to as high a degree as before. That’s it. If you really think war is as seamless and thought out as the massive invasions everyone watched live on TV in both Afghanistan and Iraq, you have to grasp the full spectrum of what we deal with now. In Afghanistan, an enemy that would at one time come out and fight us like men, now hide from us and rely on suicide attacks and IED’s to do their damage. Any time they meet us in a combat situation outside those two realms, they lose. Plain and simple. Our work isn’t winning the actual fight; it’s denying them the two aforementioned comfort zones. So don’t think for a minute we’re running and hiding from these cowards, it’s exactly the opposite.

The events of 9/11 made us painfully and intimately aware of the struggles and dangers of the places we had deemed “the third world”. Mass acts of violence that don’t discriminate against civilians and military targets, or women and children, terrified us. Though attacks against civilians had become commonplace in flashpoints like Chechnya, Syria and Afghanistan, never had it been seen in the grandiosity of 9/11. What was more painfully obvious in the following days, was the fact that had we done more in the years leading up to 9/11, the attacks that cost nearly 3,000 civilian lives and almost 6,000 military lives in the subsequent military operations, could have been avoided completely. Had we only paid more attention. It was on that day that America essentially fractured and united at the same time. United in mourning and the common goal of recovery, while bringing those responsible to justice. Fractured in how to go about bringing the culprits to justice and the severity of the American response. I’ve always said and continue to maintain that President Bush’s response was the best possible answer. Years from now, when the real history is written of these events, people will appreciate the restraint it took that man to not hit our enemies with the fury of God’s own thunder. It’s how everyone felt, warmonger and peace activist alike. The response was calculated and deadly efficient. Only the mismanagement of the war in Afghanistan the following years put us where we are now. That initial action was spot on.

For as much as 9/11 is now about America at war, we must never forget the human price that was paid and continues to be paid. The real tragedy of the day isn’t found in planes hitting buildings, but the chairs at dinner tables that remain forever empty. It’s children who lost parents, parents who lost children and lives pointlessly shattered in ways most of us can’t begin to imagine. It’s people running into buildings as unspeakable death and destruction took place around them, so they could do something, anything to help people they didn’t know, or would never see again. It’s about people with nothing in common flying flags in front of their homes in a show of pride and solidarity. Most importantly, it’s about coming together in the darkest hours of our young nation to show that good triumphs over evil, as long as decent people refuse to remain silent in the face of what they know to be wrong. As much as we disagree on certain things, when it came down to it we put all that aside, and as a nation pulled together. Without that, 9/11 would have been successful in destroying us; with it the acts only strengthened our resolve to refuse to live in fear, or live in a world where fear is used to silence the innocent.

Today we mourn, not for what was, but for all that could have been.

Until next time,

-DM

Filling Gaps

Ok, so I lied about posting much more now that I have the internet. The bottom line is really that not much changes here on a day-to-day, or week-to-week basis. Days blur together and there isn’t much to differentiate one day to the next. That’s probably a good thing though as far as making the time pass. This is probably why professional writers don’t write about themselves as much as they write about subjects, or other people. Your life isn’t interesting to you when you’re busy living it.

The weather is changing in that it’s cooled down considerably; the high the other day was 94. Sounds hot, but when you’re used to 114-120, it’s almost pleasant outside at 94 degrees. When it cooled down at night under 70, I was freezing and needed three blankets on my bed to sleep at night. Due to Ramadan business has slowed some in some aspects and sped up in others. The thinking is that in anticipation the bad guys threw everything and the kitchen sink at us when we got here to try and deter us. Truth or wishful thinking? Time will tell. I don’t think they’re expecting us to stay, so they’re in for a rude awakening.

As you might have seen in the news, our brigade has lost some soldiers. I can’t begin to tell you how it feels. The part I have the hardest time getting over is the absolute waste of life is exposes you to. Everything these people have ever done; every day, every memory and every ounce of effort that went into making that person what they were is abruptly ended. It’s just a waste; that’s the only word that really comes to mind. As you try and go about your daily work, it’s hard to not think of the family and friends who are having their worlds turned upside down. If we lost a single person in this tour it’d be one person too many, so multiple losses hit especially hard.

With the Department of Defense no longer publicizing enemy losses due to the fact that our losses versus theirs is longer an indication of how the war is going, they should have also considered that in a war that is growing more and more popular, the morale of the people on the ground and the common mind at home see consolation when they see in the man to man fight at least, we are supremely superior. When you consider the situation, it’s hard to believe how superior we are when they come out and face us. We win where we fight, plain and simple. Even still, it is no consolation to the people who have lost loved ones in this war, or any war.

Until next time,

-DM

Update

Another one down here in Afghanistan. It’s obviously been awhile since my last post, so I guess I’ll do a little recap of the comings and goings of the past few weeks.

Officially, really not much has gone on. We’re beginning to make our presence known in the area, but other then that it’s been work, work and more work. The brigade was in the news the past few days, but that’s all I’m really going to say about that. It appears the elections went off without a major hitch, though turnout was lower then it was in 2004. The Taliban threatened widespread attacks on election day, but as usual those were just idle threats to keep people home. The few attacks they did carry out were aimed to keep those on the fence from leaving their homes. How it can be possible that people would chose to be ruled by fear over a democratically, internally responsible government is beyond me. For as low as the turnout was, consider that a 50% voter turnout is about par with what we have in the perfectly secure United States. What’s that tell you?

Anyways, the weather is becoming milder, and by milder I mean it isn’t 125 degrees anymore, but a cooler 100-110. It’s amazing how quickly we’ve all adapted to the extreme heat. No dust storms, sandstorms or camel spiders to report, thank God. Looks like the Giants are hanging in there while the Red Sox sweep Toronto, only to give up 20 runs to the Yankees in Boston. The 49ers still haven’t signed their number one draft pick wide receiver, but even if they did they really don’t have anyone to throw to him. It’s amazing that for a team that scouted the talent that became 20 years of Hall of Fame quarterbacks, they can’t find a good arm with the amount of early draft picks they’ve had. The Sharks, in an offseason of change, really haven’t changed much of anything other then who wears the leadership letters, which could very well end up being they same guys who wore them last year depending on how camp goes. Unless I missed something, Phil Kessel has yet to resign with the Bruins and another member of last year’s team has signed with Carolina, the team that knocked them out last year. That’s too much business in sports for me. Unless nobody else will give you a job, or you were in the minors, you shouldn’t sign with the team that knocked you out. And under no circumstances should anyone sign with Montreal. Ever.

At home apparently all the talk is about government providing health care, in a move that will probably squeeze out private insurers eventually. How is it that the entity responsible for protecting the economy by breaking up monopolies is now in the business for establishing them for themselves? Also consider the bracket of taxpayer who’ll foot most the bill for these plans are the people who already have quality health care, who don’t need to pay for it twice. It’s really income redistribution under the guise of “universal health care” because everyone health care seems to be a soft spot, everyone agrees people should have it, but not how to go about it. In past 8 months your government has bought several hundreds of billions of dollars worth of financial securities and private banking institutions. They also provided several more who didn’t necessarily need rescuing with billions in un-needed, and in some cases unwanted, aid. If they control your money and your health care, really what else is there? As Richard Nixon’s Special Counsel Charles Colson said, “When you’ve got ‘em by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow”. Just food for thought. On a side note I’ll also be the guest hosting the Rush Limbaugh Show all next week, live from Afghanistan.

Until next time,

-DM

Sandstorms

August 19 Update: Forgive me for my lack of posting. Due to being busy at work and the aforementioned lack of internet, I haven't posted in a good while. Because we now have the internet in the tent, hopefully such a gaps are a thing of the past.

-DM

Finally, we’ve made it to August, which means getting through that first calendar month on deployment. I’ve been deployed longer then a month, but getting to August I guess is a ceremonial victory. Next time we’ll be in the July’s neighborhood it’ll be time for me to go home. If ever someone tried to turn an entire calendar year into something that could only be called “the micro year”, it was someone on deployment. Each day, each week and each month can be a victory in itself when thinking about eventually coming home.

To kick off August we had our first semi-sandstorm. I say semi because while there were high winds and blinding sand flying around everywhere, it wasn’t the kind of real storm that you hear about that ends up blocking out the sun or something. I guess it would have been more appropriate to call it a dust storm, but it was sand getting airborne mostly, so for our purposes here we’ll stick with sandstorm. I had the fortune of being caught outside when it came through. In walking from lunch back to work, I apparently appeared to have aged 20 years as my hair was turned grey by all the sand. It’s an amazing thing a sandstorm; you close your mouth but you still can feel the sand crunching in between your teeth and you close your eyes but still some finds it’s way in. It’s absolutely intolerable. It’s situations like that where I wonder how the Taliban actually believes we’re here to conquer Muslim lands for ourselves. Have they ever seen the United States? The few places like this in the US are either used for weapons testing, ground speed tests, or as a tourist attraction when people want to go down to Death Valley and see what real heat is. With it’s tropical locales, vast forests, snowy mountain peaks, quiet countryside’s and urban jungles there is no place more beautiful than the United States. Don’t believe me? Spend some time out here.

I am very happy to report I have not had another encounter with the dreaded camel spider since my last reporting. It’s an event too terrifying to temp fate with so I’m going to leave it at that. We’ve taken some real steps to finally solve the internet issue in our humble living spaces. We should be seeing some results in a week or two. I’m really pretty ready to get back to school, plus it’ll obviously be significantly easier to stay in touch with home and post a little more here. You’ll probably notice the dates are growing further in between one another and that’s only because of a significant increase in work, not a lack of interest. Accessible high-speed internet will also allow me to follow the upcoming hockey season, baseball playoffs and football season. It’s the little things in life out here.

Until next time,

-DM

All Quiet on the Eastern Front

Not really much new to report over the past nine days. It’s hard to believe it’s been nine days since my last post, which is a good thing in that the days are indeed going by. I’ve started to receive some of your care packages, so thanks very much for that. It’s always nice to get things from home and if you do plan on sending something, don’t worry so much about what you put in the packages, it’s just nice to get things from home. It’s nice to get things you can use, but it’s also nice to get things as simple as notes. As weird as it sounds, written sentiment still holds a lot of meaning out here, even in the age of email, blogs, Facebook, etc.

The weather is holding true with clear skies and temps into the 120’s. We’re about to head out of July and into August, which means it’s either going to cool down or warm up as the summer will peak before descending into fall. Fall could be my favorite season for no other reason then it stops getting hot outside. The colors and clarity are also unparalleled, and it means the start of hockey season, football season and baseball’s postseason. A time where legends are made and new campaigns are begun. For a sports fan there is no better time.

I still haven’t found out anything about my mid-tour leave. I was asked what country I would be visiting yesterday though, and I was one of a handful that said they were returning to the United States. If I’m going to go vacationing in Europe, Dubai or the South Pacific I’d rather do it in the obscurity of a private citizen, than with the guilty conscious which accompanies one temporary leaving their mission in a combat zone. Home is where we all irrevocably belong, and that’s where I’ll be going.

Thanks again to all who’ve sent me care packages I have received or have yet to receive, and for checking out the blog.

Until next time,

-DM

One Month

Well, we’re starting to make some progress; I’ve been deployed a little more then a month now. It’s not really that long a span of time, but it’s in one of the increments that you look forward to while going through a deployment. A lot has changed from the old way of life. Not so much that it makes you a radically different person, but enough to where you notice how being the military gears you for adapting to changes. Of course most of us don’t have to adapt to changes like this unless we’re in the military, so it might be a one-way street. Either way, getting that first month out of the way leaves hope that the remaining months will eventually just blur together.

We’re still trying to get set up so we can get going. It’s getting increasingly crowded around here with the continuous flow of new troops. We’ve been doing a lot of work to get our work site ready to go so we can have a place of our own. It’s kind of a drag when you’re spearheading an operation because you aren’t really relieving anyone or taking over facilities. A lot of prep work to do. As a new development, yesterday I saw my first camel spider. It was a little smaller than my hand and headed away from me when I saw it. Either way, when I stopped running I realized I was lost and had to find my way back to our work site. I really, really dislike spiders, especially ones that big. A spider that big will take the bug spray out of your hand and throw it at you. It’s not a joking matter.

I noticed today the Yankees have overtaken the Red Sox. It happens about this time every season, the Red Sox start off well, everyone thinks the Yankees are going to choke, then things start to even out and the Sox chase New York into October. The only exception to that rule was last season where the Yankees and their $250 million pay roll did choke and missed the post season. I don’t think that’s going to be the case this year. The Giants are trailing in the Wild Card now, too. It must be a case of the post All-Star Game slumps. The Sox are under .500 in their last 10 and I think the Giants might be a little better then that.

Here in Kandahar the temps are still hanging around the 110’s and 120’s. It was insanely hot the last few days, but not as bad today. For someone who doesn’t like warm weather, the bad guys sure chose a spot that wasn’t inline with my best wishes. Oh well, we don’t chose our fights anymore, we just win the ones we end up in.

Until next time,

-DM

120 degree temps follow Don Shula to Kandahar

The past couple of days the temperature here in Kandahar has reached into the upper 120’s were told. We’ve all gotten used to hot, but when you go outside right now it’s like standing next to an open oven door. It is ungodly hot here. Luckily we have various ways to keep water cooled so you can find some relief from the heat. We have air conditioning in the tents, but it’s almost a futile effort when it gets this hot.

As far as comings and goings of the area are concerned, the great Don Shula visited us this past week. I didn’t find out about it until he had come and gone though. It’s a pity, how many times in your life do you get to meet someone like Don Shula? I guess that’s one less chance for me. It’s nice that people who do things like that. They obviously don’t have to stop their lives and come out here. They do get to go back home after like a week, but they do make their rounds and we appreciate it.

For those of us looking towards life after deployment, apparently by mid 2010 the Army wants to extend dwell time to 18-24 months. With the conflict slowing down in Iraq and hopefully Afghanistan turning around, it’ll be a nice change of routine for people with deployments. The way it’s worked, you have people deployed for 12-15 months, home for 12 months then back out for another 12-15 months. I guarantee there are some married soldiers who’ve been married for three years, and spent two of those years away from their spouse. Things cannot successfully work out for people in their lives with things working that way.

So, with change here and in Iraq, hopefully things can draw back a little bit and people can direct more of their attention to the homeland and their families. It’s been almost 9 years, I think people deserve a break.

Until next time,

-DM

The Swelling of the Ranks and Sharing Cy Young

As has been published many times over, our brigade has been in the process of moving out here to Afghanistan for almost a month now. Getting here early as I did, the influx of soldiers has started to make itself obvious. Where you could at one time just walk up to the mess hall without waiting in a sizeable line, you now have to wait in a line that might be a quarter mile long. It moves fast enough, but had me wondering if we were waiting in line for food or Rolling Stones tickets. I can’t tell you how cool the latter would have been, but I don’t think the Stones play Kandahar. Even still, aside from waiting in lines and busses jam packed with people, everything else remains nearly the same here. It’s still hot, still sunny and by some freak happenstance, I have a cold.

Some of the “issues” I have mentioned in these pages before are beginning to find solutions; I have wanted to go back to school and stay in better touch with home via some sort of internet service. It seems that in the near future we’ll have an answer for that one through the expensive wonder that is satellite internet. It’ll cost some capital to start, but should pay for itself in the long run. Being able to better keep in contact and start classes will be a major weight off my shoulders.

In a similar tune, more permanent barracks are going up for us, so we may move out to more proper quarters in a little while. What was an open area a few weeks ago is now covered with work tents, and a small, but growing city of portable housing units. When we may take advantage of these units I don’t know, but I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough. Either way, we’ve done what we can to make the tents work for now. There is also talk of putting a party together to approach the Canadian’s about perhaps a MICO hockey team for next season. I have made it known that me and my nearly 2-point per game average in regular season and playoffs will reluctantly accept the captaincy.

I found I also missed another no-hitter by a player on one of my teams. I missed the no hitters of Clay Bucholtz and Jon Lester at Fenway in the past two seasons, but did catch Hideo Nomo’s no-hitter with the Red Sox at Baltimore (1999 or 2000?). Jonathan Sanchez, who was in the doghouse when I left home, threw a no-no in his return to the rotation. Really, how good is the Giants pitching? Not since the days of Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux in the early 1990’s have two pitchers done what Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain are doing this season. Then on top of that the guy who throws a no-hitter is neither one of them, nor Cy Young winners Randy Johnson and Barry Zito? That and somehow the Giants are in the top 5 in hitting in the National League. Who saw that coming, or the emergence of Pablo Sandoval? Unbelieveable.

Matt Cain is finally coming into his own and getting some run support. He’s always been an excellent pitcher with bad luck. This season it appears his luck has changed. If they keep it up could there possibly be talk of the first shared teammate Cy Young? Last time I checked they were both 10-2 with ERA’s flirting with the low 2’s. I’d like to see one of them with an ERA under 2, but not since the early days of Pedro Martinez with the Red Sox has that been a more common occurrence, for it’s a true mark of the elite pitchers. Could the Giants make the playoffs this year on the backs of dual 20-game winners? For you hockey fans, that’s like having two 50-goal scorers on your team. You might have one score in the 50’s and one hit 40, but never both in that same elite, upper echelon. I think they’re both under 25, too. I guess we’ll wait and see.

Due to the wonder that is the NHL schedule, I have found out that each set of mid-tour leave dates I have asked for coincides with a Sharks’ home stand. Outstanding. Thanks for stopping by and reading.

Until next time,

-DM

News and Notes

First off, a note: Due to the lack of readily available internet, some of the blogs are back dated because I write them over time, but usually am only able to get around to posting them later on. So with one time to post, you’ll usually get a few blogs. Nothing is lagging; I just have to post multiple things all at once.

Anyways, in the news you probably saw something about a suicide bombing we had here at one of our entry points. While I’m nowhere near an entry point it was a big enough bang to be heard and felt throughout the base. I think you can of have yourself geared to accept that those things will happen, so it neither bothers nor shocks you when it does happen. You just wish it didn’t. I’m also in a position to where I can’t say anything about something that happens out here because I have no way of knowing what is public and in the news, and what isn’t. Things happen here, it’s part of being in a warzone. Unless it ends up in the news, I’m simply not going to disclose things long considered part of the weekly routine, as unfortunate as that may be.

Another thing I wish to mention, which is completely unrelated, is a little situation I noticed that I feel merits your public attention. When a member of the coalition is killed in action here, all flags are lowered to half-staff. Everyone is familiar with that being a unanimous, official sign of mourning. Whether British, Dutch, German, Canadian or American, all flags are lowered as a sign of respect. All flags that is, except for the Afghani flag. Could someone please explain that one to me?

The Afghani government asks us here to take care of their security problem, and their flag stands tall at full staff amongst American, British, Canadian, German, Australian and French flags, all at half-staff in mourning. It’s an outrage and an insult, both to me as a person sent here to fight, and for you as an American who’s sacrificed several billions of your tax dollars, as well as hundreds of American lives.

Simply put, if their government doesn’t appreciate and value the loss of life from people of other nations in defense of their country, I don’t even know why the hell we’re over here. If you have the time, do me a favor and send your Congressperson an email, and ask them why you as an American are sacrificing so much, and the Afghani government can’t do something as simple as lower it’s flag in mourning when a member of the international coalition is lost for their cause. The absolute least they could do is render proper respect.

Until next time.

-DM

Luxury and Adaptation

Not a day goes by when you don’t miss something about home. Whether it’s somebody or something, at least right now, when you aren’t occupied it’s where your mind kind of leads itself. It’s natural this early on I think. I’ve realized how much I took for granted how easy it was to send an email, or make a phone call. The internet here is so slow you almost see how much you took for granted just being able to check your email. Things that seem to be implied stateside are luxuries here. You find just being in the United States is a luxury.

We’re starting to get to work here as we begin to establish ourselves more and more. As you have no doubt seen in the news, things are heating up significantly. I can’t say there’s really a work routine established yet, but we’re starting to fall into grooves and fall into the mindset that the mission requires. It’s a little different then NTC when you were doing an Afghanistan scenario in a section of the Mojave Desert. We’ve gone from a place that size to something the size of Texas. It’s obviously a significantly larger area, so you have to kind of modify and adapt what you’re used to for a larger scale.

Everything associated with being out here is kind of an adaptation. It’s an adaptation of tactics, an adaptation of routines and an adaptation of your every day life. How do you fill the day before and after work that makes it so you aren’t just sleeping and working? What else is there that you can do? What is there you have to do? Due to the chow halls only being open at certain times, you have to schedule times to go and eat too. You have to schedule times to shower, do personal hygiene, get haircuts go to the gym, etc. Back home you can kind of do things just to do them, here you do things in order to free up time for something else you have to do. There is no autonomy in your routine really. You are afforded some of the privileges of a free man, but the general restrictions of a prisoner. It’s not depressing, just what they call the initial culture shock of deployment. It takes getting used to.

Until next time.

-DM

Independence Day

Independence Day outside the formerly comfortable borders of the United States is really something else. Do you think Washington, Jefferson, Adams and Franklin could have ever imagined American’s celebrating their crowning achievement in a place like Afghanistan or Iraq? The idea of an offensive war on the other side of the globe is probably an idea they couldn’t fathom. At the time of the signing of the declaration, they were about to fight a war on their home soil, which at that time was British, and they couldn’t promise security to even their own families. Times have changed.
Like Thanksgiving is a day to be thankful for the family, friends and blessings in our lives, the 4th of July should be celebrated as a day to be thankful for the work and sacrifices, past and present, of our fellow countrymen in creating the nation we celebrate today. It’s about more than barbeques and fireworks, it is about the most improbable event in world history. Because it’s hard to fully comprehend the difficulty of the tasks they faced, we should all take some time today to look back and reflect on the great things our nation has achieved. Take advantage of the opportunities afforded you by a prosperous, free society. Do those things that make each of you unique and our country what it is. Be thankful every day you live in the greatest nation on Earth, as we enter our 234th year of independence.

On the front here in Afghanistan, we have celebrated Independence Day by moving from our temporary barracks to our cramped, long-term temporary barracks on the complete other side of the airfield. I say long term temporary because when our two man portables are done some time this fall, we’ll be moving again. Relocating to the other side of the airfield means being far away from all the amenities here on the base, which include food options, MWR facilities and the much coveted wireless internet. The only good things we have after moving is that we’re passed the open-air waste pond, and the air conditioning works. Other then that, it’s going to be a pain to stay connected unless some sort of viable option is found.

My major personal goal out here was to go back to school and get a big part of that completed. Well, that requires the internet, so I have been somewhat vocal about school being a major concern of mine. Hopefully something will be done to rectify this situation. I understand we’re in a war zone here, but there isn’t anything I have mentioned which was something we were told wouldn’t be provided to us. I only expect what I was told to expect, and unfortunately it hasn’t come to fruition yet. You get through a deployment by going to work and dedicating (or rededicating) yourself to a purpose or cause; to use this time away for something personally productive long term. When you find that something already difficult is being made more difficult still, it’s disheartening. Then again, it could always be worse.

With that I will close this less than inspiring chapter of our journey. I hope all of you enjoyed your long Independence Day weekends, spent the holiday with great people around great food, and took some time to reflect and be thankful for Our Republic (never forget it is YOUR republic). Thanks for coming by and reading.
DM

On the Soapbox

Not much new really to report, just still going through the reception process here. Believe it or not, it looks like we're all starting to get more acclimated to the excessive heat. I guess when it's 110-120 degrees outside you really don't have a choice but to get used to it. Between the hours of 8pm and 8am it's actually really not bad out, but as soon as that sun starts to make an appearance, it gets nothing but hot. It's been super dusty out, like there's this dust haze everywhere. It wasn't like that the first couple of days, but now there's this dusty haze that just sits on top of the place.

Today we did various types of training out on a site way on the other side of the airfield, right up against the wire. It wasn't until then I think, that some of us realized where we were. On the base you only really see other Americans, Brits, Canadians, Romanians, etc. You see a few local nationals but not a lot, and they're working on the base so you don't really think twice about it. When you're up against the wire, the actual boundaries of the base, you're looking into the real Afghanistan. Mere yards away are Afghani's working in their fields, looking up every now and again to take a look in your direction. An Afghani boy kept coming up to the fence trying to get our attention. In all probability the Taliban is paying him a few bucks to count how many Americans he sees and reports about what were doing. It's not the kind of thing you like to hear, but its the reality of the situation. If you were a kid growing up in an impoverished nation and someone offered you more money then your family makes in a month to just count how many people walk in and out of a certain place during certain hours of the day, you'd do it too. I know I would. That's really what we're up against here.

Really, compare the situation here in Afghanistan during the Taliban to that of 1770's America. Both faced a regime that oppressed their rights. Both faced violent repercussions for actions against the status quo and both had to deal with an insurgency of loyalists. The courses change when one group united behind a cause of national independence, then fought and sacrificed to achieve their goal of creating a new world for themselves. There is a huge amount of national pride American's have in that. It takes events like 9/11 to realize how dedicated people are, even subconsciously, to a cause that is about to enter it's 234th year. In a nationalistic sense, what does an Afghani have to proud of? That major national powers, terrorist groups and religious extremists have used their home like a punching bag for most of modern history? During the American Revolution, you didn't talk to or deal with loyalists, simply because if you did you were a traitor to "the cause" and people came looking for you. Here? The new boss is the same as the old boss and $50 is still $50, no matter if its from us or the Taliban. There are no sides, just opportunities to get through every day life. The bottom line is they can't comprehend the extent of American power, and they couldn't comprehend the extent of Soviet power before that. By the time the war on terror came around, they had widely given in to the fact that they had been beaten and would continue to be beaten into submission as a people. Operation Enduring Freedom, while branded as an operation to free Afghanistan, probably looked to the normal Afghani like the same thing they've been seeing for thousands of years. It's a hard trend to break.

All that being said, don't confuse the difficulty of the mission with a lack of a will to fight on the part of the US. Is it a tough task? Absolutely, but we're the United States of America and that fact alone speaks volumes. One thing you get from coexisting with a multinational force is the respect other nations have for the United States. There's a reason we're here; they know it and we know it. It's because we don't work just 9-5, we work until the mission is completed and we get things done. It's one thing when you represent the military inside the US, it's quite another when you represent the US in a place with nearly 50 foreign nations represented, and though you're new in town, you're immediately top dog. We don't come to sustain, we come to win.

Anyways, off my soapbox. Thanks again to all who visit, read and follow the blog, as well as support the military. There is no amount of home they can bring here that substitutes support from family and friends at home.

-Danny

The aforementioned hockey rink.

Kandahar

Today's Temp: 116

It's hot here in Kandahar. Very hot. Like sweat when you aren't doing anything, drinking a box of water yourself in a day hot. We got in pretty early in the morning a couple of days ago. While waiting on the airfield we were promptly greeted by the white and purple afterburners of two fighter jets taking off from the airfield. We got to sleep for a little bit, then started orientation classes. The first thing you notice in Kandahar, other then the fact that it's hot as hell, is it's dusty everywhere and there seems to be this sand like powder on top of everything. There's is nothing that even comes close to appearing green in color, and things brought here that had been green are stained tan by the dust and sand. Numerous nations are represented here and a lot of cleared local nationals work for contractors on the base.

Some of the rumors, however are true. There is indeed a hockey rink there. God bless the Canadians. There's a few fast food places and the boardwalk has some shops run by local nationals and the wifi available is slow, but it's there. I also noticed my MacBook Pro has about 2 hours of battery life and with no place to plug in that seems to be near the wifi, it's going to be a bit of a struggle for now. We're in temporary barracks at the moment for our mini reception period, but after that I guess we'll move out to something more permanent,

Other than that, yes I'm here in Kandahar and no, not much of anything exciting is going on, which probably in the end isn't a bad thing. For some reason we have most of the day off from reception activities, so I might have to run out and play some hockey later on. With it of course being as hot as it is, I think I'll keep the shifts short.

Until next time.

-Danny

NATO on the Boardwalk: Allies Chill Out at Afghan Base

By Peter Graff

Reuters

KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Down on the boardwalk, a knot of Romanian soldiers are sitting under the umbrellas at the French patisserie, sipping non-alcoholic Becks beer in the shade. At Tim Hortons, the Canadian doughnut place, U.S. airmen are drinking coffee, surfing on the wireless internet on their laptops and listening to Beyonce on British Forces Radio. The only people sitting in the scorching sun are the bright pink British officers, a dazzling glare shining off one sweaty bald pate. Super-secret special forces guys stroll by, glowering coolly in baggy shorts, T-shirts and floppy sun hats, "under cover" in their tell-tale woolly beards.

Welcome to Kandahar Air Field, or KAF, the most cosmopolitan NATO base ever assembled inside a combat zone, where troops from a host of countries relax after missions on a boardwalk that feels like a multi-national beachside resort. The United States and many of its allies have been fighting shoulder-to-shoulder in Afghanistan and, to a lesser degree Iraq, for almost eight years. In both war zones, large bases are usually run by a single country, bringing restaurants, shops and amenities to make the troops feel like home. But the headquarters for NATO forces in southern Afghanistan is a bona fide alliance mish-mash.

Command rotates every nine months between generals from the Netherlands, Britain and Canada. Troops from more than a dozen countries work here full time. The United States is represented of course -- not just by the Army, Air Force and the Marines, but also by Subway, Pizza Hut and Burger King. But Americans are far from the majority on the boardwalk, built in the centre of the base in a square about 90 metres (100 yards) on each side. It is covered by a wooden awning that provides shade. In the sandy centre are two volleyball nets, a beach-style soccer field and the large wooden hockey rink, with bold red Canadian maple leaf emblems, in case anyone might wonder who plays hockey in Afghanistan. Like any good boardwalk, it's cool even in the hot part of the day.

The smells of its various fast food shops waft pleasantly -- except for a few times a day when the wind blows from the direction of the camp's giant septic pit, known as "poo pond". Afghan shops sell rugs and bootleg DVDs, and rent bikes for pedalling around the base. The Kyrgyz shop selling fur hats has few takers in June. Most of the shopping is at the PXs -- the military shops each country maintains separately and which have a not-so-subtle competition for hearts and minds. The American PX is the biggest, with the longest lines and cheapest underwear. The French one is neat and clean, with much trendier clothes and a cafe serving espresso and croissants. The Germans are coming soon. Posters on the boardwalk announce that "Deutscher PX" is opening this month. "The first real military store in KAF!" the signs boast.

Allies: you have been warned.

Greetings from Bishkek

Hello all, finally signing back on from Bishkek, in the northern part of the former Soviet Republic of Kyrgyzstan. I spent about 30 hours on an airplane and made more stops then most current rock bands make on their world tours. We left sometime on the 24^th and got in here early on the morning of the 26^th. We stopped in Indianapolis, Nova Scotia, Iceland, Germany, Romania and then here in Kyrgyzstan.

The most interesting stop we made was in Iceland, probably because it’s the only airport where we were allowed in the normal international terminal and there were some locals in there. All very tall and all very blonde. In Germany we were in what I guess was a US military holding area, and in Romania it was a really small airport that was completely empty, there were no personnel at all, it was like they just left the doors unlocked and the lights on. Heading into the former USSR was interesting, even from the airfield. The airports were really pretty small, in isolated rural farming areas and the construction and cars were all very 80’s. Considering Bishkek is the capital of Kyrgyzstan and the airport wasn’t real busy is an indicator of the differences between US life and living everywhere else. Really, major differences in every way when you compare to a modern US airport. Plus, seeing a lot of things written in Cyrillic with no English translation was interesting. Hard to imagine less than 20 years ago an American couldn’t get to places like this. True, why would you want to when talking about Bishkek, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

Here in Bishkek it’s sort of interesting. It’s chilly in the evenings and mornings, but really hot during the day. It’s pretty dusty too. There’s a pretty big mountain range called the Ala-Too, which is an extension of the Tien Shan Mountains. Past that is Kazakhstan, apparently. According to wikipedia it has peaks up in the 16,000 foot range. We can’t leave the Manas Airbase so we can’t really see any of the sights or anything, just the mountains really. All of the cars driving around are either Mitsubishi or Mercedes Benz, which is only interesting because on US ran places you’re used to seeing all US manufactured cars and here it isn’t the case. The food here is pretty good, one perk of being deployed. It’s all you can eat, there’s tons of it and it’s really not that bad. It’s also open 24/7.

We’re currently billeted in a big tent with the Romanian Army. They’re nice but interesting to say the least. They sleep most of the day, wake up around dinnertime and do whatever, then go back to sleep around 1 or 2 in the morning. Due to our jet lag, us crazy Americans were out around 4-5pm and up again around 4am. Everyone got some much needed rest, though. Half of yesterday I would sit down and still feel like I was on an airplane. It’s good to rest though, especially since in awhile we’ll be moving out to Kandahar.

That’s really about it for now. As a side note, I can make free phone calls through my computer with a VOIP program. If you have Skype already (Mac and PC) then I can phone you for free. If not, I can call your mobile phone or landline for like 3 euro’s a month. Just an FYI. I can get a phone number and a voice mailbox, so it’ll be almost like I have a normal phone. They have Afghani phones but I haven’t looked into that yet. Still exploring options I guess. My iPhone gets good service out here, but it costs $4.99 a minute and $20 per MB of data. Luckily I turned my data-roaming off. I put some pictures up on my Facebook page and will post some here as well.

Until next time.

-Danny

The Ala-Too Mountains

Some signs in Iceland.

The airport in Bishkek.

Thoughts on Deployment

Department of Defense Press Release

February 17, 2009

Pursuant to President Obama’s decision today, Secretary Gates ordered the deployment of two additional combat units, totaling more than 12,000 troops, to Afghanistan. The 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB), from Camp Lejeune, N.C., with approximately 8,000 Marines will deploy to Afghanistan in late Spring 2009.

The 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division from Ft. Lewis, Wash., will deploy approximately 4,000 soldiers to Afghanistan in mid-summer 2009. This Stryker Brigade and the MEB will deploy to increase the capabilities of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Approximately 5,000 additional troops to support these combat forces will receive deployment orders at a later date.

Thoughts on Deployment

Preparing for a deployment is about the most surreal experience I think I’ve gone through. It’s almost an out of body thing; while you prepare yourself mentally and go through the days of packing up to move down range, it’s still hard to associate those actions with the person you see in the mirror. This might be because if you attempt to take on an entire 12 month deployment all at once, you probably can’t get your head around it. A year away from life, a year away from family and friends, a year away from everything you’ve ever come to know or feel was comfortable for you. It is the ultimate in going outside your comfort zone. Either way, in the coming days and months, coping with life in a combat zone will become very real and in the end, we make the best of it. We don’t really have a choice and they do what they can on the other end to bring some home to the field.

On a professional note, we’ll be working with a lot of different people from different countries. Operation Enduring Freedom has become largely a NATO operation, so we’ll be working a lot with British, Canadian, Dutch, German, New Zealand and Afghani forces. The common goal is to secure the country for the people of Afghanistan, and eliminate the Taliban. Every person, no matter of race, creed, color, or national origin deserves the inalienable rights we enjoy in the United States. Our goal is to stop those who restrict it. That’s by far the greatest thing about being an American; we are not indifferent to the suffering of people not yet ready or capable to stand up to their oppressors. American’s come to liberate, not conquer. That being said, the success of our combined mission is ultimately hinged on the ability of those aforementioned peoples to stand up and secure their country and their futures.

I’ll do everything I can to stay in touch in every medium I can. Anyone can mail me via letter, or email. If you don’t have it you can talk to my mom or dad and get it from them. I would put in on here, but for security reasons I don’t want to post it publicly. I’m thinking contact via telephone is going to be a one way thing, but one I’ll do my best to keep up with. Through the internet there are VOIP phone services from free to relatively cheap, so I’ll try to keep up with that. Either way, I’ll do everything I can to make the transition as painless as possible. Just because I don’t post for a few days, or maybe even weeks, it doesn’t mean something bad has happened to me or anything. I might be busy, tired or just have spaced off posting for awhile. I’ll try not to do that. I want a written record of my time overseas probably as bad as some people might want updates, or to know what’s going on with me in Afghanistan. Even still, I’m always emailing family directly back and forth, so if there is anything pressing, or you wish to say something personal I encourage you to get my email address. Personal correspondence via email, or written letter is always appreciated.

Thanks for all your support.

-Danny