IDF to remind us

Bagram is such a large installation that it could almost pass for a base somewhere in the western United States. As a matter of fact, with just a little spit and polish, this place would be a reasonable base just about anywhere. It has all the trappings of a normal military air base - sans alcohol, commissary, bowling alley, and all-ranks clubs. Other than that, it is a healthy combination of old and new with a lot of construction projects ensuring the lasting modernization of the garrison. Before long the base will have a very nice two-story gym, a modern MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) facility complete with two movie theaters, and state-of-the-art dining facilities (DFAC). Soldiers based at Bagram currently live in a mixed bag of anything from containerized housing, tents, rickety wooden "B-huts", and more modern - albeit spartan - barracks. However, with the ongoing construction projects, coupled with the downsizing of the current population due to the drawdown of forces, everyone based here will be in new, hardened buildings very soon. There will be an internal power-generating plant providing electricity to the entire base (as in no portable generators), water plants that feed an internal, pressurized water system feeding every building, and updated road networks that safely route traffic on hardened surfaces. By the time it's all done a person could swear he or she is on a base in Colorado. But then there's the IDF...

IDF - Indirect Fire. It's a nasty animal that frequently invades the serenity of our peaceful Bagram. IDF reminds us all that we are in a war zone. It brings us back to the reality that there is a huge perimeter fence of t-walls and razor wire that surrounds this entire base. Beyond the perimeter fence are a lot of people who like to cause trouble to both the people of Afghanistan and the NATO forces here to defend them. These nasty folks are normally affiliated with the Taliban and Al Qaeda or both. They know they can't get into Bagram (and they've certainly tried in the past). So another way to cause potential death and destruction is to drop explosive ordnance inside the perimeter of the base. It's impossible to simply walk up to the wall from the outside and toss explosives over - a person with hostile intent would never get within 500 meters of the base without getting dropped by a hail of death. So the easier thing to do is to employ a weapon system that provides some "stand-off" capability - ie a mortar or rocket. When I was in Iraq the insurgents would employ both. Here in Afghanistan the weapon of choice is a rocket. Typically, their rocket of choice is Chinese-made 107mm rockets. But they typically don't have the correct launching platforms, which forces the bad guys to improvise simple racks that can't be adjusted. This, coupled with the fact they have no spotters to see where their rockets are landing, means aiming is impossible. So when they launch a rocket it is anyone's guess where it will land. As a caveat, many times the fuses are faulty or improperly attached so the rocket fails to detonate upon impact. Regardless, the rockets are a risk to life, limb and property and we have to be on our guard. Several times over the past few weeks the radar systems detects a launch, which will set off the base-wide alarm with it's claxton sound followed by "incoming! incoming! incoming!" This forces us to the ground to take cover until notified over the speaker system that it is "all clear." A daily reminder of this threat can be found just about anywhere on the base - bunkers made of reinforced concrete and sandbags. They are adjacent to just about every building serving notice that danger lurks just beyond the perimeter fence.

Fortunately, the nights have been very quiet the past few weeks. There have been a few random attacks but no damage and, more importantly, no casualties resulted. But they were enough to get our attention when the alarm sounded. IDF is there to remind us that this isn't a base in Colorado. It's Afghanistan.