The End

I have been putting this post off for months.  I apologize to my faithful readers who have followed my blog for the past year.  It has been a hell of a journey and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to share it with all of you.

Since December 19, 2009, it has had over 5,600 hits from Kuwait, Germany, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Japan, Guam, United Kingdom, Australia, Bangladesh, Czech Republic, Iraq, Philippines, Ukraine, Austria, India, South Africa, New Zealand, Italy, Serbia, Denmark, Romania, Israel, Qatar, Singapore, Russia, Pakistan, Taiwan, Thailand, Croatia, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Bosnia And Herzegovina, Spain, Slovakia, Poland, Ireland, Jordan, Portugal, Macedonia, and Belgium.  That's 42 countries!  Also, people in 45 states, including Hawaii and Alaska, and 6 provinces in Canada have followed my travels.  I am truly blessed to have so many people around the world reading my ramblings.

So, what happened??  Shortly after posting the last February post, I began examining my motivations behind my overseas travels.  I realized that, although the money was great, I wasn't having fun anymore.  I enjoyed Iraq, but Afghanistan just wasn't my cup of tea.  I felt unsupported and forgotten by my company, which is not a great feeling 10,000 miles from home.  I began investigating my options, eventually taking the early non-renewal option on my contract. 

While away from home, I believe that one has to neccesarily distance oneself from family and friends in order to mentally cope with and survive the extended absence.  While in Kuwait and Iraq, I "forgot" about home, about the friends I had left behind, and about the family experiences that I was putting off.  However, I was unable to do that on this trip.  I am getting married in 6 weeks and am happier now than ever before.  Do I miss the money?  Sure, but I've found something much more important.

It has been said that sometimes in the course of looking for what you want, you find what you need.  I would say that has certainly been the case.  My experiences overseas have changed me in profound ways.  My grandmother told me before I left that I would come back different, but I brushed it off.  However, she was right.  I don't have the words to describe how my outlook on life has changed, but I am a different person than I was a year ago.  I hope, a better person. 


Now, for pictures of my "last days." 

As promised, I finally was able to capture some great pictures of the decorated semi trucks used to transport everything from ammunition to food to gear from base to base.  Great attention to detail and artistry is evident in many of these trucks. 


TRUCK PICTURES




As some of you may know, I had started losing weight almost as soon as I got boots down in Afghanistan.  I started the trip at 280 (274 officially) and landed in Chicago on April 2nd at 225.  I didn't cut my hair or shave for almost the entire time, making those 80+ days the longest I have ever went without shaving. 


WEIGHT COLLAGE



The day before I left, M.M. had a suprise up his sleeve.  He asked me to follow him and trekked off towards the drone compound.  I have previously described how the drones fly right over our clinic every morning at launch.  Today, M.M. had arranged for us to be present during the launch of one of the Allies major weapons in the war on terror in Afghanistan.  This was definitely one of the highlights of my time overseas. 


DRONE



I now go to whatever life has in store for me.  I have no idea what is "around the bend", but I'm sure that it will be an adventure.  Life's a journey, not a destination.  Thank you all for reading. 


THE END

Getting a Little Bit Better, Kind Of

About a week ago, our tent where we lived and from where we ran our clinic was cleared by the Army for use by soldiers.  We were displaced to another almost completely full tent where we were forced to take top bunks. The fullness of the tent meant that we had no place to put our personal gear, let alone our clinic supplies.  Needless to say, we were not in the best of spirits early last week.  M.M. and I made the executive decision to move our sleeping quarters and clinic into our living CHU.  The CHU has not been set in its permanent location, nor does it have power ran to it.  It is, however, A LOT better than sleeping on a top bunk in a stuffed to the gills tent.  We are living and working in both sides, and so far it has went pretty well.  It got cold a couple of nights, but it always warms back up by about 12 or 1 p.m.  

Our clinic/living quarters.  The porch was delivered to us this afternoon

by forklift by one of the mechanics we made friends with.  I don't know

what used to be on it, but it's made with 2x12s and is quite sturdy!

Entryway/Foyer

Room #1--Exam/Mike's Room.

Room #2-Supply and Administration.  Also, my room.

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!  It was a beautiful sunrise this morning over the waste treatment ponds here at Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan.  Our clinic and our living CONEXes have arrived and are in the process of being put into place.  Our clinic floor was slightly damaged by unknown causes, so will have to be fixed before we can move into it.  Our two room living CHU has been placed "generally" where it is going to be located and they are planning on running temporary generator power to it in the next week or so.  Once they do, we will move operations to there, living in one side and working in the other.  Should be a definite step up from where we are now.  We have been seeing patients in our living quarters inside the tent for a little while now.  It's a little tight squeezing  two people and gear, AND clinic into a 16' x 8' area, but we are managing.

Our living area.

Our temporary clinic area.

Looking in from the front door of the tent.  We are all 

the way back by the back wall.  Notice the tarps 

people have put up to section off their little areas.

Me working on a guy's foot.

As I had previously posted, we got an amazing amount of rain in a few days.  Most of the time it rains for a day or two, and the ground is porous enough to soak it all up almost before puddles form.  However, we received too much rain too quickly.  All that rain mixed with all the fine dirt made a bunch of mud and made movement on the base difficult for a few days.  Cleanup has been ongoing since the rains ended, even causing a few tents to be condemned and torn down.  The pictures below illustrated just how much mud there was around some of these tents.  The mud ring is over a foot high!

Ok, one last picture.  This one is of the waste treatment pond that Kandahar is known (infamous?) for.  It is a little juvenile, but it's funny.  

Read the signs......

Some General Pictures from KAF and BAF

Sunrise at Bagram.

Small village outside the wire at Bagram.  Only about half of the 

windows in the buildings have glass in them.

The above photo reads:
In the summer of 2003, this crossing only existed as a jump across the ditch with a steep climb up the road.  One sunny afternoon wile CJCMOTF LTC Tom Berg and CSM Kevin Kamps were executing this crossing, they noticed a slightly exposed metal ring in one of the footholds created by many soldiers wanting to cross the street en route to the original Viper tent village.  Having previously attended a landmine class (and having paid attention), they stopped movement on the gravel walkway and alerted Base Ops.  The entire intersection was cordoned off, stopping Disney traffic for over 30 minutes, and EOD was brought in to unearth the potential mine.  The mission was successful and EOD dug up........an unopened can of Russian tuna fish.  Not long after, the bridge was constructed and named "Tuna Bridge" in honor of this event.

EOD is Explosive Ordinance Disposal
Disney one of the main roads at Bagram, and is heavily traveled.

Ok, can anyone see the problem with this picture?  Remember, 

this truck is full of diesel fuel.

Lonely road on the far southwest side of KAF.

Controlled detonation (I hope) of a land mine taken from above road.

Canadian drone launcher and recovery system.  The drone gets 

sling-shotted from the device on the right.  When it is time for 

recovery, the drone flies into the wire hanging from the boom on

the left, gets caught in midair and goes into a controlled spiral, 

landing at the bottom.

Sunrise over KAF.  

The last four pictures were all taken within a few feet of each other, 

on the southwest corner of KAF.

Porches

I had mentioned in a previous post that we are back living in a tent city again.  As you may remember, we spent a week living in the transient billeting at Ali Al Salem, Kuwait.  The big difference between KAF and Ali's respective camps is that KAF is a "permanent" home to most of its residents, whereas Ali is only a rest stop on a person's way to somewhere else..  Several of the people around us have put porches on the fronts of their tents. These porches range anywhere from very basic to very elaborate.  Some of them even have electricity ran to them for lighting.

Basic tent with no breezeway or porch.

Tent with a breezeway and a raised platform to keep mud 

from being tracked in.  This happens to be my tent.

Nice canopy and outside sitting area.  Note the large grill

on the left side of the photo.

I believe this one is made from part off a parachute.

Getting a little more engineered now.  There are always a bunch

of people sitting in this one.  It was pouring down rain tonight 

and they were sitting inside nice and dry.

This is one of the ones that has power ran to it.  The floor is made 

from steel treadplate.  I have no idea where they got that much

steel.  

This one is the most elaborate of all the porches here in the Southpark complex.  The guys are

understandably proud of it.  As you can see, they have a walk out so they can sit on top of the

bunker in their chairs and sun.  Other interesting points are the dartboard and upper deck with

its parachute canopy.  Seriously, where are these guys getting all of the wood and the parachutes??

First Pictures From Kandahar

Here are some of the pictures from my first few days at Kandahar.  More to follow soon.

Looking down the main drag.

Random picture.

Random picture #2.

In tent city.......again.

Inside our mechanics' tent.  Mine is a 

little smaller with a lot less people.  

Fire alarm.

The line to get into DFAC Harvest Falcon.  The DFAC is the 

single peak tent in the center background.  There were about

30 or 40 more people behind us.

Inside the DFAC tent.

Our temporary clinic.  Everything we have fits into the first desk.

Going to Kandahar

On the 21st M.M. and I left Bagram, boarded a C-130, and flew to Kandahar Air Field, which is to be our home for the duration.  Our clinic is in the process of getting to KAF, after being incorrectly routed to a FOB 20 miles away.  As such, we are currently operating out of a desk in one half of a 40' CONEX that belongs to one the AECOM operations personnel.  We have limited supplies, limited meds, and limited space.  This is truly operational medicine.

KAF is considerably different from Bagram.  Everything is much more spread out; we walk 2 km to our clinic every morning and 2 km back, and we walk about 1.5 km one way to chow every time we eat.  Needless to say, we are both getting in plenty of exercise.

That being said, the following are some pictures before and during the flight from BAF to KAF.

Right before we left BAF.

Out the back of the plane.

I'm not sure what that expression is on my face.  

Still pretty blurry, but it gives you a little better idea of 

what the interior of a C-130 looks like.

Villages and fields.  If the lines were straighter, it could almost

be Iraq.

Whole lot of nothing down there.

Goodbye mountains.  We won't get to see you in KAF.

In the next post, I will be putting up pictures of our first look at KAF, including the DFAC at the South Park Compound and some general pictures of the base.

What Remains

Between December 25, 1979 and February 15, 1989, a total of 620,000 soldiers served with the Soviet forces in Afghanistan.  
After the war ended, the Soviet Union published figures of dead Soviet soldiers: the total was 13,836 men, an average of 1,512 men a year.  According to updated figures, the Soviet army lost 14,427, the KGB lost 576, with 28 people dead and missing.
Material losses were as follows:

• 451 aircraft (includes 333 helicopters)
• 147 tanks
• 1,314 IFV/APCs
• 433 artillery guns and mortars
• 1,138 radio sets and command vehicles
• 510 engineering vehicles
• 11,369 trucks and petrol tankers

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_in_Afghanistan

Evidence of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan is still visible even twenty years later.  Wrecked and blown petrol tankers litter the landscape at Bagram Air Field.  Thousands of Soviet mines remain buried behind fences of barbed wire strung up to protect personnel from wandering into a mine field.  Skeletons of buildings and half collapsed bunkers are scattered throughout as well.  As hard as Afghan people try to put the memories of years of occupation behind them, reminders lay all around.

The Friday Bazaar, Moving a B-Hut and Seriously, What Else Can We Build Out of CONEXes.

On Friday, M.M. and I rode the shuttle bus to the Friday Bazaar held at the BAF front gate.  The vendors sold everything from the ever popular iPod accessories, to semi-precious gemstones, to traditional garments all displayed in small booths or on large pieces of canvas laid on the ground.  I had been looking for a traditional style scarf to wear around my face during the walk to the DFAC in the evenings, as it has been getting colder lately.  I found one rather quickly, then spent the remainder of my time wandering aimlessly through the booths.  As I have experienced elsewhere, the vendors' command of English varied greatly between stalls.  Also, they were very receptive to haggling, as they knew their customers would walk away and buy from "the other guy" if they didn't drop their price.

On the way back from the Friday Bazaar, a small convoy drove by, apparently relocating a small housing unit.  These small buildings are called "B-Huts" and house up to 24 personnel.  B-huts are filled to overflowing with bunkbeds, wall lockers, foot lockers, and other assorted gear.  They are so cramped that some people are said to prefer a GP-Medium tent over the B-huts.  I believe that the crowding in housing has led to a lot of our almost endemic viral conjuntivitis that was burning through the living quarters like a runaway wildfire.  We have the tide mostly stemmed now, but for a few days we were seeing up to 10 patients a day with pinkeye.  There were only a few cases last week, and the number is expected to decline even further as our public service campaign against it takes further hold.

As M.M. and I walked from the Bazaar to the PX, we came upon a housing situation that is becoming more and more common in foreign theaters of operation.  I noticed it a few times in Iraq, but here in Afghanistan, housing units made from CONEXes are all over.  We have several on our compound alone.  Not only are ours used for housing, but several departments use them for offices.