The End

I made if back to Austin last night. It's nice to be home.

The flight out of Kuwait was delayed about 7 hours. From the time I went into lockdown to when I landed at BWI was about 48 hours. We stopped at Ramstein airbase. Not a nice airport. Additionally, it took them many hours to repack the bags on the plane. Two of those hours while we were sitting on the plane waiting to leave. I'm not sure what their problem was.

We landed too late in BWI to make any of our connections. Before we left Kuwait they told us they'd rebook our flights while we were in route. I got a hotel near BWI and called SATO. SATO wasn't helpful. They hadn't done anything. They didn't even cancel our old flights knowing none of us would make the planes. The agent I talked to was very helpful and wanted to book me on the next flight but the Kuwait SATO office wouldn't let her. She even asked her manager if she could override their authority but wasn't allowed. Kuwait insists that we rebook the travel ourselves and pay the fees then submit them for reimbursement. It wasn't a big deal, but the short of the story is that SATO at Arifjan is screwed up and not communicating well with the WTP leadership. Double-check anything they tell you.

We got the next flight to Gulfport at 7am the next morning (Wednesday). A lot of the same people were there from when I came through last year. There is a lot of downtime at NMPS. There are a handful of briefings, medical, dental and PSD. Because they can't schedule them promptly it takes several days to get through. They managed to get us out Friday night though so I'm happy about that. My last obligation is to spend the day at the NOSC on Sunday to finish my out-processing there. I think I have to walk through and visit all the people I in processed with.

WTP - Nutshell

There is a whole lot of downtime here. I arrived on morning of the 29th. After a quick admist brief and weapon turn-in, we're on our own. On the 30th I reported in the morning to clean my weapon and turn it in officially. That took about two hours. Since I didn't have much else to do I took my time scraping carbon off.

The 31st was the actual 'WTP' day. In the morning I turned all my Army issued gear in. I thought it would take forever but it took less than 10 minutes. And it only took that long because I forgot to take some stuff off my IBA. The NAVCENT people here are squared-away. There was another admin brief at 1330 then a three hour group session (with similar rank) to go through the official ppt slides. That session was by far the worst part about WTP because it forces you to stay in a room and listen to people who love the sound of their own voice - especially when they are whining.

The 1st and 2nd were completely off. There weren't any celebrations for New Years but NAVCENT did have a Foosball tournament on the 1st. I didn't go to it however. I used all of my free time to start programming again. Trying to dust off the cobwebs so I'll be ready to get back to work on swtor.

Tomorrow is the last day here. We weigh our gear in the morning then sometime in the afternoon a bus picks us up for customs. From then on we are on lockdown. I'm told they empty out everything for everyone in customs. I mailed a couple of boxes home today to get myself down to one ruck and one backpack.

There are phones and computers. The Navy has a very nice (but small) decompression tent. When those computers are full I head over to the Army MWR tent which is larger but trashed up. I've already spent about $50 at Starbucks. There is a nice gym but I haven't worked out at all. The only thing left on my todo list before I leave is to get a haircut.

I should be back in the states soon.

WTP Day -3

I finally made it to Kuwait. I spent two nights in Bagram. I arrived there on the 26th. There was nothing for me to do so I mostly read that day. The LEPs I worked with hooked me up and let me stay in their bhut so I didn't have to stay in the 400-person transient tents. On the 27th at 1500 I had an appointment at NAVCENTFWD where they out-processed us. That only took about an hour. Then we were free until 1500 next next day while we got our flight assignment. Showtime was that night, the 28th, around 8pm.

The flight consisted of 13 IA's like me and 110 Navy (mostly enlisted) from a guard unit. So everything was slow such lining up or sorting bags. It was freezing in Bagram so I spent my last hour there freezing outside in formation on the runway while that Navy unit squared their luggage away. I hate Bagram and this trip was no exception. The primary reasons are terrible restroom facilities, crappy billeting, constant noise, and this time it was freezing cold.

We arrived in Ali-al-Salim around 0500 Kuwait time and left for Afirjon around 0700. It took a long time for that Navy unit to sort their bags into the truck or we would have left earlier. We arrived at Arifjon about 0900, sorted bags for another hour, then met in the admin tent for weapons turn-in and a quick brief. That was great that they collected our weapons immediately. They said to come back at 0830 tomorrow to clean them.

The first thing I did was take a shower, then I went to the DFAC to get chow. The restrooms here are clean and the tents are smaller and only half full. The DFAC is good. The Navy policy is that we can dress in civilian clothes if we want but I only brought one pair so I'm staying in uniform. After chow I went by Starbucks then back to my tent. Was going to read but I passed out fast.

Other than cleaning our weapons tomorrow morning I think there's nothing scheduled until WTP officially starts on 1 Jan. I should arrive in Gulfport late on 4 Jan. I suppose I'll spend the next couple of days reading and playing on my laptop.

Leaving Soon

I finally got my Letter of Release yesterday. So I'm authorized to leave Eggers on the next available transport. From here I'll go to Bagram to checkout and then I'll fly to Kuwait for my Warrior Transition Program class that starts on 1 Jan. I hope I'm not stuck in Bagram for long. That place sucks.

I'm spending Christmas packing my bags.

Goodbye Afghans

I took my last trip to MOI today. I bought lunch for the afghan cops that were there and the U.S. team I work with. It was bit sad that the main afghan I advise wasn't able to be there. His eight-year-old niece was killed a few days ago by a car. She was walking across the street and was hit by a small truck. Afghans drive pretty crazy for sure. There are no traffic laws that are regularly obeyed. No such thing as a moving violation or traffic ticket. They don't bother us because we drive armored SUVs. I've had several afghan cars bounce off my SUV over my year driving here but I don't even bother to stop. The other problem of course is that kids are all over the streets. This society hasn't yet adjusted to the having fast-moving vehicles. She was the only girl in his brother's family and her mom is very ill. It's an all-around tragedy.

My team gave me a going-away gift today. A nice plaque to hang on my wall.



The inscription at the bottom says: "It is well that war is so terrible, or we should get too fond of it."

It's finally starting to feel like I'll be going home soon. I wonder how much I'll remember of this place. I have mixed feelings about begin here but I've certainly made many afghan friends.

Farewell to Me

Tonight was our monthly hail and farewell. And it was my turn! I actually missed 90% of the ceremony because I unexpectedly got pulled into a meeting, along with my Director, with the Chief of Staff (CoS) for LTG Caldwell. The same guy I'm waiting on to sign my Letter of Release. I didn't bring that up tonight though. He would even think its funny if I don't have the general's brief finished. My boss has been out of town for the last few days so I've been up late working on briefings. I briefed MG Beare and BG Smith yesterday and I had a briefing due to my Director (an SES) two nights ago. Although I've been in powerpoint hell, I don't mind because the generals seem genuinely interested it learning about this stuff so I'm doing the best I can to simplify it.

Anyway, back to my farewell, they awarded me a Defense Meritorious Service Medal (DMSM), an Afghan Campaign Medal and a NATO service medal. The last two are automatic and the DMSM is the highest medal a Navy LT can get without participating in combat. It's not a rare medal, but its not guaranteed. If you do your job out here and don't complain, you'll get a DMSM.

Nothing much new to report around Eggers. They are digging a big hole to put sewage in. This used to be a nice rose garden. Now is a really big hole:



I think I'm in my last two weeks here. Nothing is certain though until the LOR is signed.

Iranian Food

Tastes pretty much like Afghan food. It looks like I'm still on track to leave sometime after Christmas. Since many of the cops I work with are leaving next week to be home for Christmas, they had a going away dinner for me tonight at an Iranian restaurant in the green zone. The food was good. I'm tired of the DFAC food and always try to eat native when an opportunity arises.



I haven't worked much with the cops lately. That program has slowed down a lot for various reasons. However, they are a great group of guys and they've definitely made this experience more meaningful.

De-mob orders

I received my re-deployment orders a couple of weeks ago. They have me leaving Kuwait right at my 350 day boots-on-ground date. However, I knew the dates in my orders weren't realistic because they are too ambitious about travel times. I finally received an email from NAVCENTFWD in Bagram. They gave me a schedule as soon as they received the dates for the Warrior Transition Program in Kuwait. Then they back up the schedule a few days for us to out-process in Bagram. Then I backup the schedule a couple more days according to the MRAP schedule from Eggers to Bagram.

With those factors considered, I'm either leaving Eggers shortly after Christmas, or New Years. I am TACOM to NTM-A at Eggers so I have to get a signed Letter of Release (LOR) from the Chief of Staff (CoS) before I can leave. Unfortunately, the CoS has a policy to automatically extend people if they don't overlap with their replacement for 10-days. According to the Navy, I don't have a replacement because they discontinued filling my billet - so they didn't factor in replacement turnover time. However, the Army is taking over filling my billet and no one knows what the status is of the MAJ who's supposed to replace me. So, the bottom line is that no one knows if the CoS will sign off on my LoR for the dates I requested or hold me longer. I'm waiting for my Director to return from travel so he can sign the paperwork and forward it over to the CoS. The other caveat is the the CoS typically holds on to LORs until the final day. Ensuring that we stay in a state of uncertainty about our departure date.

Thanksgiving was nice and quiet for me. The Today Show was over at the Goat DFAC filming live. Since I wanted to avoid that craziness I got dinner at the Marshal DFAC for the first time in ~8 months. The meal was alright. Nothing different than their normal menu but it was more festive.

Trining

I seem to spend most of my days at MOI now. Working on the Biometrics program. Nothing terribly exciting. I spend my time talking to afghans "having 3 cups of chai" and pushing them to move various parts of the program along. Afghans don't like to move as fast as the US military wants to. They probably move faster than the U.S. govt though.

This is in the main MOI building. The sign has been there forever. Gives you an idea of what I'm working against:




And I still run across the occasional cute stray dog looking for scraps of food and spare flea collars:

Dust Everywhere

I returned today from a trip to RC-West. I had a good time 'roughing it' on a remote FOB. I flew out there on a C-130 without any seats put up. So I had to sit on the floor. The cargo rollers kept cutting off the circulation to my legs. I can't tell you how glad I was when we finally landed. There were two blackhawks waiting at the airport to take us to the FOB. That was very cool - my first time in a blackhawk. Those things take off like a bat out of hell.

The fob didn't have a helo-pad so we landed in the farmland nearby. I think it was a dirt farm. Dust was kicked up everywhere. The sand was so fine in places it was like baby powder.

I spent 3-days (2 nights) there doing some work. The first night I slept in a small cinderblock building because the afghans I was escorting were a bit nervous. The second night I slept outside in an open tent. It was cool but they issued me a nice sleeping bag so I was plenty warm. It was very windy that night; a memorable experience.

I was told these domed buildings were chicken coops.



They had a small range there so I shot off a clip of my M9 and M16. The first time I've had the opportunity to shoot it on 3-round burst mode. I also shot a few clips from an AK-47. Including full auto mode.



There was this exceedingly cute dog roaming around camp. He looked very healthy too - not covered in mange and fleas like the dogs in Kabul. He woke me up barking while I slept outside last night. I wondered if he was barking at taliban sneaking over the wall. I decided to let him and the guards handle it then rolled over and went back to sleep.



I flew out this morning. Two blackhawks took us up to Herat. The flight along the mountains was beautiful. We took a nice twin engine beechcraft plane back to Kabul. Normal airline seats and I didn't have to wear my body armor. They even played a pre-recorded FAA required briefing asking us to make sure our tray tables and seats were upright for take-off and landing.

I just took my first shower in 3 days. I think I'll take another one in the morning.

Stacking Conexes

Here's what sunrise looks like in Kuwait. Very dusty.



And here is a pictured of the construction they are doing around Eggers. Basically they are adding a third stack to any set of conexes on base.

Time Keeps Dragging On

I've been back for a couple of weeks now. It was a difficult trip back. It took about 6 days. For some reason they were running fewer flights between Bagram and Kuwait so there was a backlog.

Many things changed while I was out. They started construction all over over Eggers stacking a third story of conexes on many structures. The DFAC lines are getting ridiculous. There have been no diet drinks on base for a while. Supposedly due to the problems in Pakistan. ISAF has Diet Coke though and Walter has been stashing them for me. I got a third roommate who doesn't want to move in until billeting puts a new bunk-bed in the room. However, our dorms have been closed during the day for construction so this hasn't yet happened.

It's been hard to get back into the battle rhythm. I have my redeployment orders which say I leave in about 2.5 months. I don't have a replacement scheduled though so they can extend me 14 additional days. We'll see.

Work is the same for the most part. Contract crap. Briefings. Optimistic planning.

The Elusive Bottom Bunk

Bah. After being on lockdown most of the day and my flight being delayed several times, they finally just canceled it. The thing to do when that happens is to head to temporary billeting asap (before you grab your bags back off the pallet) so you can beat the crowd and potentially get a bottom bunk.

Returning from R&R

I'm in Kuwait at Ali Al Salem waiting for a flight back to Bagram. My Sato itinerary put me back in Atlanta too late to take the Kuwait flight for that day so they put me up in a hotel and I took the Tuesday flight. The flight across the Atlantic wasn't as full as last time and I was fortunate to not have someone sitting immediately next too me. However I didn't get much sleep on the plane - only enough to leave a crick in my neck.

Kuwait is about what I remember. It is busier than a couple of weeks ago and they switched to be a salute-base which is annoying. We have to leave the lights on in the tents, presumably so you don't sleep deeply. They are constantly making base-wide announcements that you have to listen for. For example, my flight was canceled so I don't have to wake up as early. However, since they are constantly blaring announcements I can't sleep anyway. Some people must be sleeping though because they keep calling their names over the intercom.

With any luck I'll make it to Bagram tomorrow and back to Kabul the next day. It was over 100 degrees here when we landed and the sun had already set. I'm wondering how hot it will be when the sun comes up. Hopefully they don't make us wait around in formation like when we were outbound R&R.

Going on R&R

I've finally left for R&R. It was a somewhat drawn-out process. Here is the low-down.

I took an MRAP convoy from Eggers to Bagram. It took longer than I remembered. about 2.5 hours. You leave sometime early in the morning. The MRAPs don't convoy every day so you have to pick the convoy closest to your leave day.

Once you get to Bagram you drop off your weapon at the armory and your IBA/ACH in a conex. I actually left my weapon at Eggers because I heard the armory was a pain. They are only open a few hours per day so you can be delayed returning while you wait for the armory to open. Then you take your luggage to the terminal drop-off area and they scan your ID to process for leave. That's all until the R&R brief at midnight. There is a tent you can go to if you want. I went a took a nap. The rest of the time I spent at the MWR Dragon watching movies, or at the USO. I never got the internet at the USO to work - it was probably too crowded. I used the MWR computers at the dragon though.

The midnight brief was packed. About 500 people I think. Fortunately they had two C-17's leaving that morning. I was mustered on the second one fortunately. I found out that the first one was delayed and they actually arrived in Kuwait a day after me. Once you go to the midnight brief, if you are scheduled on a plane, you go into "lockdown" either in the terminal or tent 2. The earlier plane got the terminal so we had to go to the tent. The scheduling folks are a bit screwed up I think because they came back to verify the name list three times. There isn't much to do in the tent. They have steel folding chairs and you can watch TV. I laid down on the ground using my backpack as a pillow and dozed for a couple of hours. I was freezing. I wish I'd brought a coat or a blanket. I had a sleeping back in my checked baggage but that wasn't useful here.

Finally, an hour before our flight, they marched us back to the terminal to palettize our bags and board the plane:



The flight to Kuwait wasn't bad - slightly less than 4 hours. Without body armor the flight was much more pleasant. Once you arrive at the airbase they drive you over to the processing area in buses. This base is Ali Al Salem. Kuwait was pretty hot. I'm sure not as bad as July, but pretty damn hot. I'd heard that before, but what I didn't realize is that they muster you outside in formation a lot. There was a group of several hundred ahead of us using the tent so we mustered outside. There's the initial muster when you arrive where they take your ID to process. Then you come back at 1400 to get a billeting assignment and 1800 to fill out some paperwork. Somehow they screwed up my billeting and put me in a VIP tent with only one other guy (an Army LTC). I neglected to complain.



After you fill out a few forms you are free until 0600. There are a few things on base. A McDonalds, Subway, Green Been, PX etc. I just used the DFAC which has a 24/7 sandwich bar (not as nice as Eggers though). At 0600 they tell you if you are on the Dallas or the Atlanta flight and when the lockdown time is. Then you leave and come back will all your gear and you are in lockdown until you depart. Lockdown lasts a long time - maybe 10 hours. You don't do much except go through roll calls which seems to take a half hour. You do go through customs where they look into you bags and make sure you don't have any ammo, porn or war trophies. My flight had about 330 people. Mostly Army - so there were many formations. The gave us our itineraries a couple of hours before we boarded the bus to leave for Kuwait International. However since you are in lockdown you can't contact your family to tell them when you are finally arriving.

My plane had a layover in Shannon Ireland for about an 1.5 hours. However it took 30 minutes to get through security and another 30 minutes to stand in line for the bathroom. The wifi was excruciatingly slow but I managed to get one email off before we had to go back on the plane. Another 8 hours after that I landed in Atlanta.

They couldn't get me to my final destination on the same day that I arrived in Atlanta. I went to the US Army office in the airport and they scheduled me a room (with a roommate) at a nearby hotel. It was nice to take a shower finally. I fly out early tomorrow morning and return back to Atlanta in 15 days.

In summary, I left Eggers on Tuesday and I'll arrive in Victoria Saturday. Leave officially starts on Sunday and I fly back to Atlanta two weeks from Monday.

9/11 Memorial

They had a nice memorial today. There were people standing shifts at the memorial all day.



I spend most of the day working contract issues and getting everything in order since I'm going on leave in a few days.

Kandahar Airfield

I well down the Kandahar yesterday. I stayed at the airfield so I didn't get the chance to see any of the city. I went to a few briefings though. There is definitely a war going on down there. A-10's and other fighters are constantly coming and going on combat missions. And there are many other kinetic missions going on. Very different from the Capital region were we are focused on building government institutions. I went down there to visit the Jeff lab:



The base more spread out than most - more like Bagram.



Except this place is flat:



The one thing Kandahar Airfield is famous for is its "poo pond" and the odoriferous emanation it exudes:



Here's a picture of an ANA guy with his kids riding in the back of the truck. They looked like they were having fun.

English ONLY Please

This sign, posted on the door at an Italian FOB, says all there is to say about who's bankrolling this war:

No Hills

My friend Matt sent me this link: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/08/anti-powerpoint-rant-gets-colonel-kicked-out-of-afghanistan/

It amusing because I'm usually at work until 2300-2400 working on ppt briefings. And ISAF is just down the street. I often walk there for meetings or to have lunch with Walter.

Walter left for leave a couple of days ago. I hope he's made it home to his girlfriend. He deserves a break. His job is more frustrating than mine. Consumed with meetings and he rarely (if ever) has the chance to work with afghans. Working with afghans is not more frustrating than working with our government. True, some of the frustrations are different. Especially now during Ramadan.

I wouldn't say my command suffers from the ppt problem that guy describes. That is more of a headquarters problem. But it is the nature of headquarters to be inefficient and confused. They have too many people trying to understand too many things. At my level it's easier because we can focus on a smaller subset of the problem-space. Ppt briefings force us to clearly articulate our ideas. Or at least display cloudy ideas that we are unable to clarify. If you can't develop a good presentation for a project, then you probably shouldn't be doing it because you haven't thought through the problem thoroughly. Without a doubt, I hate making a set of ppt slides. The only thing worse is tweaking someone else's slides.

I had an afternoon meeting with the afghans. They are pretty wiped out by afternoon time. The sun comes up around 4:30, so I assume they eat right before then. I kind of like the idea of fasting for the day. However, it seems like going to work as usual defeats the purpose. It seems like one should go walking through hills pondering life and whether our species will survive to be a galactic superpower.

Water

The water in my conex was shutoff this morning. Shaving using bottled water is not as easy as it sounds.

Also, someone killed all the fish yesterday. We don't know who. The pond had a great deal more water in it so the working theory is that someone thoughtfully wanted to give them more water, but didn't realize the water here is heavily chlorinated. It was kind of sad to see all the fish floating around dead.