Day 200

I have been here for 200 days now. That’s a big milestone indeed. There was no celebration to mark the occasion. But it is routine for me to count the days since I arrived on Bagram. I do the count every morning as I sip my coffee. This leaves me with at least 164 days and a wakeup to go. I still have my R&R to look forward to as well. That’s coming up pretty fast. I need the break. My life has been so busy that it seems as though the sun is going down every day almost as soon as it came up. We are having a lot of days lately where it would be nice to stop by the local watering hole with friends and knock back a few cold ones. But that luxury will continue to wait. It has now been 204 days since my last real beer. Fortunately, my upcoming R&R will solve that dilemma and reset the “days since last beer” clock. But I need to stay focused on work between now and that time. There are a lot of things going on here with fighting season returning and the Afghan elections rapidly approaching. It could get hot for all of us.

The rains returned for a couple of days to rapidly soak the already saturated ground. It didn’t take long for the massive puddles to reform. Fortunately, there were no more t-wall collapses. However, there were a few more sinkholes around the base. The biggest impact of the rain is the delays it causes to ongoing projects we’re trying to get completed. The ground gets too soft for heavy equipment and work grinds to a halt. It seems like every project we have going continually “slips to the right” on completion date. I have realized that it is pointless to use a specific date in the future when referring to the completion of a project. Instead, I just give a general window of time that we could reasonably expect the project to finish. That kind of reporting can make people in the chain-of-command upset at times but, at least, it saves us from looking like we are continually missing our target. Things get done but they do so according to Bagram time. Bagram is a very stubborn beast who is only reluctantly tamed.

So as I reached my 200^th day on this enigma of a base I could only look ahead at good times to come. I can’t say there is anything from the past 200 days I’d like to rehash or relive. I’m just glad that I’ve come this far and can say I have far fewer days to go than what I’ve already expended here. I never thought I’d be anywhere that would make me miss Iraq. Bagram changed that. I miss Iraq. Where deployments are concerned, Iraq was much less complicated than the intricate web of overlapping levels of commands, authorities, and stakeholders found in Afghanistan. Everyone wants to take credit but few want to assume the responsibility. It’s a crazy place. When this war is over I think I will turn Bagram into a theme park and charge top dollar for folks to experience this place. They will only believe it when they see it. You can’t make this shit up. I have 164 and a wakeup.

Four Days of Rain Until a Sunny Day

Bagram is set in practically the lowest point of a massive valley. It is a giant bowl nestled on all sides between the soaring Hindu Kush. Millions of dollars have been invested in extensive drainage projects that are meant to keep water flowing off the base during the rainy season. All of these projects have been in vain. Just the mere hint of rain or snow melting and puddles form everywhere, mud encases all, and the misery factor increases. This was painfully evident over the past week. It began raining on Friday and the sun never showed itself again until Tuesday. The rain came in all forms – sheets, drizzle, steady downpour, and intermittent. Every time we thought it was going to finally clear up another round of wetness came down on our heads. The rain caused flight operations to ground to a halt, which resulted in a lot of people getting stuck for a few days waiting to leave. Muddy footprints were tracked into every DFAC, HQ, gym, MWR, and billet. Vehicles that could make their way around the base became caked with mud from top to bottom. Giant puddles formed that looked more like bottomless ponds. Coyote Creek, normally a putrid and stagnant mess, took on the appearance of a white rapid creek back in the mountains of Western North Carolina. As day three of rain transitioned into day four, some of us began to joke that we were going to need to build an ark. Fortunately, it didn’t come to that but a significant portion of the base did become completely inundated with free-standing water.

As the rain began to finally taper off towards the end of the fourth day, evidence began to emerge of the extent of water damage the base had sustained. T-walls began to collapse in places. The water had seeped underneath their foundations, causing their weight to shift precariously. Fortunately, nobody was injured (or worse) by falling t-walls. Sinkholes started appearing all around the base. Sometimes, these were so large they would swallow an unsuspecting MRAP. Roads became impassible. Pavement buckled in places. The shoddy soil, coupled with an almost complete lack of vegetation, made just about any area of the base exposed to the elements susceptible to erosion and failure. Even my own HQ suffered significantly. An ongoing project to extend a portion of – ironically – the drainage project became a massive moshpit with collapsing sides threatening the foundation of the building. I really don’t think Bagram could’ve withstood another day of rainfall.

Just when it appeared the entire base would become a big sinkhole the rain stopped, the clouds parted, and the sun returned in full glory. The planes started flying again. People started coming back outside. Life began to return to normal operations and routines. It was four days of rain until a sunny day. But it was amazing how therapeutic the warm sun was for all of us. The only downside is that the return of warm sunshine heralds the snowmelt of spring. With that comes the return of the fighting season. I suspect we’ll soon see rain return in the form of IDF. But we’ll enjoy the warm sun for now.

TGIF

Navigating a deployment means having small victories to look forward to. Fridays for me are a small victory. Programmed into every Friday are weekly events I enjoy. For me those little things are steak night at the DFAC followed by cigars at the old Russian Tower. They are constants in my otherwise mundane week that stand out. Sometimes the steaks even taste reasonable. Once in a blue moon there is also lobster to accompany the steaks. It’s also comforting to know that breaking a 365 day deployment into weeks makes the count only 52 to count down from. Every Friday night I can check the counter down another week. So far I’ve been here for 27 weeks. That leaves 25 to go. That would mean 25 more steak nights followed by cigars in the Russian Tower remain.

The past few days have been a flurry of activity. We still haven’t completely figured out what Bagram’s “Resolute Support Mission” is supposed to look like but we continue to work towards that moving target. I did get to take my Commanding General on a tour around the base. It wasn’t the normal ride. He is an enthusiastic, hands-on person who wanted to stop at various guard towers, C-RAM positions, billets, and just about every other facility where he could find Soldiers to talk to. It was an enlightening trip around the base and the weather was spectacular that day. The view of the mountains that surround the base was stunning and even better so when seen from atop guard towers. The highlight of the trip came at the end. Our last stop was Maholic Range, which is a small weapons qualification range my garrison runs. There was a unit conducting ALT-C M16 qualification on the 25-meter range so we watched for awhile. Next door at the 100-meter range some Special Forces guys were conducting M4 reflexive fire and 9mm competition shooting. The General ran to the sound of the guns. Next thing you know, the General and I were both shooting reflexive fire with SF M4’s. Then we both pulled out our 9mm pistols and blazed away at the competitive targets. It was a blast! Sometimes it really helps morale to just be a Soldier again for a few minutes. The General was all smiles at the conclusion. I was too.

There are seven more days to go until my next Friday. Then the count will be 24 weeks to go. I am definitely going to stop by the range again soon. I won’t be surprised if the General joins me again for that.

Halfway there!

Remember when the catch phrase was “boots on the ground”? That still applies.  But most deployments at this stage of the war are for nine months – not a year like they used to be. However, my tour IS for a year. To put it in the proper terminology, my tour is for 365 boots on ground. Well, with little fanfare involved, I have crossed the halfway point. Today dawned as day 182 of my stay in Afghanistan. High noon represented the moment I crossed the meridian, the midway point, the hump, or whatever else I choose to call it. At precisely that hour I reached 4,380 hours and am now counting back down. As I write, I have 4,372 hours to go. That’s a little less than 182 and a half days remaining. If, in fact, 365 is a precise number with no hiccups then I can expect to be on a big airplane out of here come September 8^th.

Appropriately so, today was very uneventful. Being a Sunday, I was able to sleep in a couple of extra hours and then lounge with some fresh coffee in my room. Sundays, barring any emergencies, are my “reset” days. After some splendid coffee (Café Du Monde courtesy of my Mom), I put in a couple of hours at the gym. The weather has taken on a spring feel with a hint of humidity. With my workout complete I showered up and headed to the office to ensure there were no pressing issues. There weren’t. None came up either so I had no significant stress events that can come out of nowhere on this base.

But the day did not go off without any incidents. Just as I was about to get up and walk to supper the dreaded IDF alarm sounded. “Incoming! Incoming! Incoming!” Damn! My supper would have to wait. Perhaps this was a Taliban sponsored celebration of my deployment milestone? No it was just the Taliban being their normal, awful selves. I hate those guys. Stupid Taliban. Fortunately, their aim was bad as usual and the “All Clear” sounded soon afterward.  I celebrated my special day with a fine selection of Dragon DFAC delectable delights. Tomorrow it will be 181 days and counting down.

sC-RAMbled eggs

And so another month comes to a close. Another month begins. The arrival of March signifies the halfway point for this tour. I’m not quite exactly at the six month milestone but it is only days away. Time is certainly flying by in chunks. It seems odd because some days drag on like an eternity. Sometimes my calendar seems to be on the same month for inordinate stretches. But, inexorably, time does march on. The drumbeat continues in Afghanistan.

I was thinking today about how significantly different my eating habits are here. Last Friday I had a chance to ride out to the giant food distribution warehouse that supplies multiple bases in central and northern Afghanistan. It is a colossal facility that makes a regional Walmart distribution center look puny. While walking through the mammoth cold storage area I saw countless pallets of fresh eggs waiting to be loaded for shipment. That triggered my thoughts that continued into today. I love eggs. But I never eat them here. As a matter of fact, as big of a fan of breakfast as I am I never go to that meal at the DFAC. I know they serve eggs to order, omelets, boiled eggs, and just about all the accompanying breakfast treats. But when I’m deployed I always choose to make coffee in my room and eat cereal. I like to snack between meals. But I don’t snack when I’m deployed. I just eat a big lunch and supper in the DFAC. Strangely enough, I eat way more fresh fruits and vegetables every time I’m deployed and this go-round is no exception. Many people say that deployments are a great place to get in shape. That is a true statement. Even though I’m already a fitness nut, I always walk away from deployments in the best shape I’ve been in since the last deployment. Again, this one is no exception either. Right now I am tipping the scales at about 157 pounds, which is the lightest I’ve been in a decade. Not drinking any beer, of course, is a big part of that. But the combination of my deployment eating habits and workouts have definitely combined to put me in the best shape since – you guessed it – my last deployment. Actually I’m in even better shape.

There’s a new edition to Bagram these days. I’ve described them before on previous deployment blogs. C-RAM (Counter-Rocket Artillery Mortar) batteries are finally on the base. They are only 12 years overdue. The past few days they’ve been announcing their presence by conducting random test fires. The C-RAM is like a big electric Gatlin Gun. When it fires it emits a stream of bullets at a rate of over 1,000 a minute. They sound like the biggest, baddest, and loudest chainsaw you’ve ever heard. I find their music comforting. I’m glad they are finally here.