Room with a View

One of our B-Huts - 8 people live in one structure

Well, we made it to Bagram with no problems.  We flew in on a C-17 from Manas, took about an hour and a half.  The flight was fine, the pilot did a combat landing into Bagram, which basically means we made a faster and steeper descent into Bagram.  But the C-17 is a large aircraft and it didn't feel much different than a typical landing, compared to doing one in a C-130.  We offloaded right next to the runway, and were treated to seeing an unmanned Globalhawk aircraft taxiing to the runway, followed 30 seconds later by two Chinooks taking off, followed 30 seconds later by two F-15s.  I read somewhere that Bagram is the busiest single-strip runway in the world, and now I believe it.

It was very, very hot when we got in, and we had to wear our vests and helmet and carry our weapons (although we had no ammo issued to us yet, so I just considered it a 'show of force'...or the fact that someone who makes the decisions has no common sense.  It took a few hours to in-process, and we sat there sweating in a tent that had no A/C, and lots of people crammed in.  Welcome to Afghanistan.

Bagram's Room with a View

My job is to provide design and engineering support to the FOBs that are within our regional area around Bagram.  It sounds like it will be challenging but not too bad.  We have had a few days of overlap with the team that we're replacing, and quite frankly we are ready for them to go.  They all seem to have a much different personality than our group, and I think things will run much more smoothly once we're on our own.  We have already sent some of our guys out to the FOBs, and they'll be there for the duration of the deployment.  The rest of us will travel once in a while if the job requires it.

Other than that, Bagram is crowded, dirty, dusty, and the smells that are encountered on a daily basis would make walking though a landfill seem like a field of roses.  There are sooo many contractors here, the ratio is 1:1 from contractor to military.  It is easy to see first hand why this war is so costly.  I am looking forward to the winter, enemy activity seems to calm down considerably during that time, and once Ramadan ends (today) and a few days pass, things are expected to sette down.  I never really thought I'd care about when Ramadan starts and ends!  But all things considered, its pretty safe here and we're just down to counting the days.. 176.  :)

Bagram Bound

We've officially made it to Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan and have been here the past two days.  The base is used as a transition center for US forces moving in and out of Afghanistan.  The base has an interesting history - Russia and China are both unhappy that the US has a base here, and there are been several attempts to close it down.  But the deep pockets of the US have kept it open and I imagine will be here for a long time - still alot of construction going on here.  Its an interesting feeling to be in a country that was part of the former Soviet Union.  I've seen some postcards of the country - looks beautiful, however transient military members aren't allowed off base, so I can't say for myself.

Home sweet Home

View from my humble abode - 40 beds in a tent

Traveling to Manas via Leipzig, Germany

 We are enroute to Bagram today, leaving in a few hours.  Our sleep patterns are completely out of wack and I've been finding myself eating dinner at 1:30 am, and sleeping in the middle of the afternoon.  Its hard to regulate, especially since we are awaiting travel and really have no set schedule that we have to be on yet.  The food is good here, and the weather is nice (no more Texas heat), so no complaints.

Troop Greeters in Bangor, ME - They meet every military flight that goes through here,
it's very cool, and very humbling.

Leaving Ft Bliss

Will write more later, the internet has been unreliable here, but its free!  We have a 1.5 hr flight to Bagram, and then it'll be home sweet home at last.  We can finally start working! 

Final Days of CST

Short Range Marksman Course

We made it.  Finally done with CST, and ready to roll out on Monday.  It's been a good few weeks, learned alot about the Army and general ground warfighting tactics that I only knew the basics of prior to this class.  It was so much fun to have hands on training, to be able to work hard, sweat, and test your limits.  I also learned that I appreciate the Army for what they do and what they've been through, even more so after going through this training.  The past decade of war has been hell on these guys - never knowing when they'll be ambushed with some home made IED stuck in a culvert pipe, or wondering if the next local national you talk to has a bomb strapped under their shirt.  It's a different war, its dirty, and the enemy fights with no rules. 

Short Range - Switching from M4 to M9

And although noone ever comes home the same person as when they left, every soldier we met here has a true passion for what they do, and they dutifully continue to fight in whatever conflict their country asks them to fight in, regardless of their political views.  Its moving to be around so many people who share such a bond, and who would do anything to help the person next to them. We have become a solid team here, which is what happens when you live, eat, and train together 24/7.  It is now our job to continue that motivation after we leave...at least for the next six months! 

We finished up our training with short range marksmanship, which is a close range with targets between 5-15 meters, and we had to switch between using the rifle and the pistol.  We also had to learn how to shoot and walk at the same time, which was a completely new concept for most of us.  I felt like we were on a SWAT team or something, it was awesome.

Our next to last training course was the Fundamentals of Patrol, which was a two day exercise that consisted of convoy training (mounted patrol) and foot patrols (dismounted patrol).  I was the convoy commander for the mounted patrol and had to opportunity to lead a nine vehicle convoy with about 45 people.  It was a good time, and stressful - I had radios held up to both ears while getting mortared and having suspicious vehicles chase us down and blow itself up, and we also had to deal with IEDs along our route the entire way.  We actually did well and got alot of positive feedback from the instructors. 

The last training we did was mounted land navigation, which basically consisted of being trained on a military handheld GPS system, and then we used military grid maps and the GPS to locate different points on base using Humvees.  We welcomed the low key training course to wrap up our classes here.  Oh, and I also got to take a familiarization course on a program called Blue Force Tracker - its this really high speed system used on the battlefield to track all of the friendly forces on the ground and air, and it also tracks enemy movement, recent attacks, etc. It was awesome and supposedly works great to get real-time info to key leaders on what's going on out there.



Last class at CST!



Mounted Land Nav Training

  

Convoy Training

  

That's all for now, the next post will be from a few thousand miles east when we get to Bagram.  Fingers crossed for an unventful trip - via Maine, Germany, and Kyrgyzstan.  Thanks to everyone for all of their emails, letters, packages and love over the last few weeks.  Even though we were only in TX, it is still heart warming to hear from you and stay in touch.  And finally, we are ready to get this thing started.

911 CES 

MRAP Rolllover

Another fun and challenging training event this week - MRAP rollover training.  MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles are the newest vehicles in the Army inventory to protect soldiers from ambushes and IED attacks during convoys. 

They are huge, massive vehicles and have been extremely effective in protecting and reducing injuries from IEDs, however their center of gravity and sheer mass makes them susceptible to rolling over, which can cause just as many casualties if people aren't trained to be able to get through a rollover safely and then exit the MRAP correctly.  Thus, a new training requirement was developed to give soliders the rollover sensation and force them to be able to get out, with full gear, and call for support.  They also have rollover training for Humvees, but they are so rarely used in convoys anymore that training has switched to MRAPs.



MRAP rollover trainer



The trainer looks like a big spaceship / Kennywood ride, but inside it looks and feels identical to an MRAP.  Seven people trained at one time - the driver, vehicle commander, gunner, and four passengers.  We all had roles to play in the evacuation, and then had to post security and call for recovery and replacements once we were out.  The Army did a nice job of keep the training realistic and authentic.

Walking/sweating our way to dinner

Other than that, there have been some seemingly long days, mostly due to the heat and gear, but its been tolerable and enjoyable for the most part. And most importantly it's given us a trial run at working together as a team before we leave and do it for real.  We have a really strong team and I know we'll do well. 

Do not photgraph

FIVE MORE DAYS!!

But who's counting?

Check out the MRAP size compared to the people and the humvee on the right. 

These things are monsters.

Video of the training in action - the delay of everyone getting out is because they are hanging upside down with all 50 lbs of gear, plus their pistol, and a rifle that they need to keep control of and not bust anyone in the head. Then they need to get out of their harness, flip upside down without landing on your head and neck, and then open the (very heavy) doors and run out, sweating and out of breath (even the people who are in shape!).  It has to be done all without kicking and knocking into your buddies, the gunners chair, the steering wheel, and all the other crap inside that something always seems to get stuck on.  And you have to deal with the Army instructors screaming at you that you're too slow.  It was fun!!

M240B Weapons Simulator

This weekend we trained on crew-serve weapons, which are the larger automatic weapons the Army uses in their infantry, and it usually takes 2-3 soldiers to operate, assist, and carry the belt-fed ammo (they can also be mounted on gunner vehicles).  A large part of our battalion had the opportunity to fire live weapons and ammo with the 50 cal (M2), SAW, M240B, and M249.

World's best video game


However, there were limited slots available for our group, so none of the officers were put into the live fire and we settled for second best - the weapons simulator.  It is basically a huge interactive video game, except the weapons are   

M240B

real, they've just been modified with the required electronics to work with the simulator.



Target Practice



It still has the same real-world feel and recoil effect, so it's still an effective training tool for soliders.  We had the opportunity to zero the weapons, go through a qualification course, and then shoot at moving targets.  At the end, all of your scores are recorded, you can see where you had hits, where you missed, and whether you were shooting high, low, the effectiveness of your trigger squeeze, etc.  Pretty high tech, and very cool.



Loving Life



We offically have one week + 10 hours before we board and head east.  The training has been good, but we're all ready to leave, get the clock started, and do our real jobs as engineers.  The more we hear from our counterparts downrange, its looking like we'll be involved with the drawdown and 'surge recovery', so we will be directly affected by the politics and the exact numbers of troops that will be brought home.  Might be more deconstruction than construction projects, but that just means we're getting closer to bringing most everyone home, which is a good thing.

Base Defense 101

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, today some of us went through a Base Defense live fire exercise.  It was a good time - we had two different exercises, we were up at 0430 to start the morning training and day exercise, then came back in the evening to do a night exercise. 

Getting geared up for another day

Red dot optic scope

 The scenario was similiar to a deployed location, and we were manning the entry control points onto the base, and then we start taking small arms fire and mortars and had to respond.  They had pop up targets, vehicles, mortar pits, and we basically fought over a concrete wall.  First we did a trial run with blank ammo, and then we got two full magazines of live rounds.  I had a fire team of 4, and we also had teams that were set up to respond quickly if we needed backup (Quick Reaction Forces), and also casualty teams who responded to people who got 'injured' in the firefight. 

Our Army SSG was awesome and liked our team by then end of the day and a couple of us got to shoot on the three-round-burst setting of the M4, which you never, ever get to do in the Air Force.  It was pretty great, felt like shooting an automatic weapon.  Of course you lose alot of ammo that way, so you have to be smart about it.  Anyways, I don't have alot of pictures because the Army is pretty controlling when we're out on the range and working with live rounds.  By the end I was able to take a few, but you also don't want to look like a tourist when you're simulating a combat environment.  

Alterating firing procedures

Weapons on the wall - out of ammo signal

CW Fire Teams 1 and 2!

 I have the day off tomorrow, so lots of time to run, lift, eat, and do laundry.  All in a day's work. :)  The next day we are doing MRAP rollover training, good times ahead.  11 days to go...


 

Weapons Qualification Day

Probably the best day of CST thus far, so good I have to remind myself I'm getting paid for this. Need to take it in while it lasts...

Getting our gear checked and ready



Zeroing M4s



Zeroing M4s - I love the landscape in the background

 We qualified on the M-4 rifle and M-9 pistol today, of course Army style.  In the Air Force we have nice indoor ranges where we shoot at paper targets, out of the weather, nice firing posts, etc...its the Air Force.  Here we're literally in the middle of nowhere New Mexico (even more so than where our Camp is located), in the hot, sandy, sunny desert heat, and that is where we stayed for 14 hours of shooting, in full 50 lb gear, and 101 degree weather. Hooah.

Middle of nowhere, New Mexico





Cooling down after the first qual round



 

M-9 range, close range pop-up targets

 

Me shooting M4s!

For the M-4, they also qualify much differently than we do - they have pop up targets that come up anywhere between 25 and 300 meters, and you have a few seconds per target to blow it away.  I ended up with a score of 34/40, which is one away from Army expert marksman.  I also had the opportunity to fire again (the Army loves the Air Force because we actually listen and follow directions, so our classes always end early and they let some of us shoot again).  It was awesome, I could have stayed out there all day.

Then we moved to the M-9 pistols, which was pretty sweet too - no paper targets, got to shoot pop us, and also did it while advancing on the target, which we never get to do.  Needless to say, more fun.

After the daytime qual, we had to go back and do a "limited visibility" qual with both weapons.  The instructors didn't want to wait until it was that dark (it was a Sunday, and they have lives..) so we shot again in a kind of dusky situation.  Either way, it was lots of fun and I ended up shooting over 300 rounds today and life is good.  It was also good getting used to the gear and the heat, after awhile it starts feeling pretty natural and you stop getting annoyed that your uniform is soaked with sweat and you have a few extra pounds on your back and head.



I'm smiling on the inside



The up and coming class is Base Defense, which I'm pretty excited about.  I talked my way into it (not everyone gets to do it), and its alot more firing and doing legitimate Army stuff.  I figure that's why we're here, may as well have fun with it.  Two more weeks and we'll be on a plane out of here.