HOME!!!

We left Afghanistan in Mid-September and flew to Manas Airbase in Kygrzistan. After a few days there, we moved on to Ft. Dix NJ where we would all beat the common sense out of ourselves.

Nine days were spent at Ft. Dix for the check the box mind numbing stupidity of the U.S. Army demobilization process. One would think that all efforts would be made to get us home ASAP. Not the case at Ft. Dix. No one would work past 1630 hours and the staff actually took the Labor Day weekend off while we were restricted to the barracks! We had to attend a briefing with a full bird Chaplain. The theme of the brief was reintegration and the Colonel asked the guys if they had anything on their mind. After an hour of unloading things that only an Infantryman can fully appreciate, the Colonel flat stated that Ft. Dix generally does not demob combat arms soldiers. And then we found out that the PDMRA leave many of us earned while serving on Operation Noble Eagle was denied. Welcome home assholes, Uncle Sam is done with ya, move out.

We finally left for home at zero stupid thirty on 2 October. When about 5 miles out from Geneseo, the Livingston County Sheriff Department escorted us to the village of Geneseo. At which point we dismounted the bus and marched through the center of town to the Armory about one mile down the road.

My son Ethan in the foreground and the boys forming up in the background.

SFC S marching his platoon with me in the background.

Ethan and I at the Armory. The reason I do what I do.

Afghan National Police Command Sergeant Major

My lasting legacy in Afghanistan is the establishment of the rank of Command Sergeant Major in the Afghan National Police. This rank will give the patrolmen a voice. I created the rank insignia which mirrors the ANA, this way everyone will know who is bringing what to the table in joint ANSF operations. The ANP CSM is the beginning of establishing professionalism in the NCO ranks. A way to combat corruption among the officer corps and the ANP overall. The man who was chosen, CSM Karim Khan is the first among CSMs that will be established throughout Afghanistan.

Ironically, the Afghans spent 10 years defeating the Soviets. Yet their uniforms and marching mirror the Soviets. We pinned the new ANP CSM on 30 August 08 at the Kabul ANP NCO Academy. He was pinned in front of 1500 ANP NCO cadets. Here is the honor guard.

Here I am with the newly pinned ANP CSM

The ANP CSM with CSTC-A, TF Phoenix, RPAC Kabul and ARSIC Kabul Sergeant Majors

ANP CSM Karim Khan after pinning

ANP CSM Karim Khan being pinned by Deputy Ministers of the Interior for Security Mangal, DM for Counter Narcotics Daud, DM for Logistics Basir.

KABUL

Here are some shots from a trip down to Camp Gibson. I needed to go down there in order to give a brief to the COIN academy on the ANP and PMTs.

The Queen's Palace at Darulaman

King's Palace at Darulaman

It is rumored that the hippies introduced watermelons to the Afghans in the 1960-70s. Well whoever did, the Afghans took their lessons seriously. Some of the biggest watermelons I have ever seen are in Kabul.

Here is a Hazara hauling wood the old, old fashion way.

A good look at the dwellings terraced into the mountains of Kabul.

J-Bad Again...

On 10 June, the usual crew flew down to J-Bad to check out another FDD graduation. All went well until the helicopter came in early. Everyone rushed to get their gear on and we ran out to the LZ. I knew as soon as we got on the bird, (a NYARNG CH-47) that something was wrong. There were other dudes strapped in back. The flight was supposed to be a dedicated bird for the Deputy Minister, whom we were travelling with. Anyway, after the crew informed me that the final destination was Bagram, not Kabul it dawned on me that we boarded a regularly scheduled ring flight. We departed the aircraft, took stock of things which was, damn we are hungry! We ate chow and I secretly hoped that our helicopter was on the way to pick us up. Luckily it did.

A picture of Naseri and I on the CH-47. Naseri is our Terp and the Deputy Ministers administrative assisant.

Afghan National Police NCO Academy

On 13 August, we travelled over to see how the German sponsored NCOA was doing. The school is run almost entirely by the Afghans. A graduating class of ANP NCOs has about 1500-1600 students enrolled. The school is located in Kabul and it is pretty squared away, despite the picture that I have attached to this entry.

This is an Afghan led class on how to properly clear a building. The guy immediately to the right of the door pointing his weapon at the guy across from him, who the by the way is returning the favor, happens to be an Afghan Colonel teaching the class. I guess the block of instruction on proper muzzle awareness must have come later in the day. Notice the guy on the far left, he is lined up for a headshot on his buddy as well. His buddy, if by some grace of Allah survives the potential shot to the brain case, will not even be able to defend himself because his weapon apparantly is a piece of paper. And yes, that is me watching the whole business unfold. I finally broke contact when I discovered the good Colonel had a magazine in his weapon.

Sergeant Jaime Gonzalez

Sgt. Gonzalez was killed in action on 3 August 2008, during a ground convoy by an IED. He was a husband and a father and served in the Texas National Guard. He was assigned to the CSTC-A PSD (personal security detachment). His job was to protect the various folks on Camp Eggers moving around out in the box. I had the honor, on numerous occasions to have Sgt. Gonzalez provide security for my moves.

The night before he was killed, I went running and then to the gym. On the way to the gym, I ran into Sgt. Gonzalez. We exchanged quick greetings and moved on. The next I heard about him was that he had been killed. If I only had the ability to see into the future, I would have taken more time the night before. I would have said something more cool or profound than "whats up Sergeant?" Literally here today, gone tomorrow. That quick. The finality still haunts me, that quick greeting the night before, you can never know...See ya Bro.

Sgt. Gonzalez

Fallen comrade ceremony at Camp Eggers

1 August

Drove all around Kabul today looking for a suitable place to house an ANCOP battalion. The ANCOP commander, Brigadier General Shareef accompanied us. We first went to a site about a 1/2 hour northwest of the city. The site was not owned by the MOI (Ministry of the Interior) but some another ministry. The site was currently occupied by an ANP District HQ and since there were no dedicated toilets, the police just went everywhere. The place smelled like one big pile of shit. The bonus prize was the pile of UXOs (unexploded ordnance) some jackass literally threw into a pile on the side of the buildings. The other problem was the fact that if we got this site all fixed up, the other Ministry may step in and re-possess the site.

The next stop was south of the city and like the other site it was a ANP District HQ. There was a building which was being renovated and it was quite nice. Unfortunetly, ranking officials of the MOI had their eyes on it and they were not going to give up nice, new offices for a bunch of police. So, of course the shithole was chosen. Adjacent to this site was a large mosque and a madrassa (religious school).

Mosque under renovation

Me at the shithole.

SMA

Sergeant Major of the Army Preston visited Camp Eggers on 24 July. We took him out to see primarily ANA sites. While visiting KMTC, the ANA facility east of Kabul, our up armored bus had a trouble getting up the hill leading into the gate. After touring around the facility we returned to camp, had a town hall meeting for the Army personnel and then had an E-9 dinner. Very nice indeed.

Talking with the SMA after he coined me. That is the CSTC-A CSM in the middle.

The E-9s of Camp Eggers with the SMA.

Leave

I went on leave in early July. The process of getting home was a little painful, but worth the effort. First I convoyed up to Bagram and spent the night in a huge "VIP" tent (I am a Sergeant Major ya know). The next morning, I flew out of Bagram, however, not before some little Air Force pogue tried to give me a hard time. The little shit was an E-5 and was given some authority in who gets on the freedom bird and who does not. Well, he thought incorrectly that he was going to muscle me around. So after tightening his shot group, I boarded a C-17 and flew to Kuwait. HOLY CRAP, what a desolate, dirty place 128 degrees!!! Shindand and Shouz did not have squat on this place. We landed in a military airport, Ali al salaam I think and then took buses over to a pseudo military-civilian airport to pick up a charter MD-11. The people of Kuwait drive American SUVs, ya know, Texas limos-Suburbans. We were escorted by some joker with an old M-60 machine on the back of a Taliban Toyota (pick up truck). The other escort was a Kuwaiti police officer driving an American made police car. We had to drive with the curtains closed so that no one knew who we were, HA! Despite the extra ordinary security security pre-cautions, the escort was late and we sat on the side of the road for at least 1/2 an hour. A huge RPG or VBIED magnet. Survive Afghanistan and get wasted on the side of a highway going home on leave.

A hardened hangar destroyed in the first Gulf War.

Scenic Kuwait

From Kuwait we flew to Leipzig, Germany and hung out in the terminal for about an hour. The next leg of the journey was Atlanta, Georgia for me and everyone who had a final destination basically east of the Mississippi River. After about 6 hours in Atlanta I flew home.

15 June 2008

Flew out to the sunny environment of Shindand in western Afghanistan. Shindand is half way between Herat and Farah. Upon landing, we had a tour of the Afghan Commando Battalion barracks and living area. The place was squared away and the Afghan commandos looked like certified killers. Shindand is an old Soviet airport and is located in a very remote and desolate place. It was hotter then hell and the wind was like opening the oven and sticking your head in, but not as dark. They have what is called the 120 day wind out there. The period between June and September is blast furnace time.

We jumped on HMMVs and checked out an irrigation project and agriculture school on the far side of the airport. They even had two fish ponds and beehives. It is amazing that anything grows out there. After touring the Agriculture school we convoyed down to Shouz, south of Shindand about 1.5 hours. If there could be a shittier more desolate place then Shindand, Shouz is it. We were looking at a ANP training site for a bunch of police from Helmand Province. Apparantly, these guys were causing some problems and their way of protest was to crap on the floor of their living quarters. They also utilized non-potable water to drink and washed their feet with the bottled water??????!!!!!!! Takes all types I guess. They were living in tents which was a temporary solution until the adjacent ANCOP compound could be completed. By in large, despite the poop, the training was going pretty good. The instructors were some DynCorp dudes and some very young looking Marines.

Bee Hives

Irrigation project, check out the background, utter desolation.

Two things really sucked about the trip. The week before I visited Konduz and ate some local chicken. The old Afghan quick step was still dogging me on this trip. The 2 hour plane ride and the hour and a half convoys were a real treat. What is especially nice is the fact that the HMMVs have air conditioning, not for the humans, but for the electronics. So the air blows just cool enough to keep the equipment from overheating, but is just warm enough to have a river of sweat pool in the crack of my ass. Also forcing my to embrace the "suck" was a new piece of equipment I was trying out. I was issued a under the body armor mesh shirt to ease the discomfort in the 120 degree heat. Well, I had an allergic reaction to the fire retardant crap they wove into the shirt. So at least I know I will not die of burns, but die slowly of skin cancer.

Essa and Essrar

We recognized Essa and his brother Esrar for bravery. While driving to work, they saw a suspicious individual. On their own initiative, they pulled over and followed the guy. He turned out to be a suicide bomber who they detained. Not to many people can say they captured a live bomber.

Babur's Garden

Babur was the founder of the Moghul Dynasty which lasted for hundreds of years. Of all the territory he acquired, Kabul was his favorite city. He built these gardens here in the 14th century and according to his wishes, he was buried in his garden as well.

These are some of the many roses found the garden. In the background is the remnant of one of the original trees.

Here I am sitting at the base of the garden. The entire site is terraced into the side of a mountain. The line in the middle of the picture leading to the top is the irrigation channel.

This is one Babur's ancestors buried next to his tomb.

The turret in the background is the terminus of the Kabul Wall and is where the noon gun is located.

Another one of the original trees located throughout the site.

Looking out over Kabul, in the distant background you can see the blue dome of a mosque.

A small mosque built inside of the garden by Babur's son, who by the way had the Taj Mahal built in India.

Here is the tomb of the man himself. The picture does not do full justice for the tomb. The marble on top of Babur's tomb is actually a shade of green.

Chapahar District

A GAO (Government Accounting Office) team came to Camp Eggers in order to conduct research on a report of the ANP training. We flew them down to Chapahar District, Nangahar Province so that they could see a FDD (Focused District Development) trained district in action. We got down there alright, it was what followed that will go down in legend.

We flew down on UH-60 Blackhawks escorted by this AH-64 Apache.


The Chapahar ANP District HQ is set on high ground, fortified by hesco barriers and wooden guard towers. The ANP live in either connex boxes or tents. This is a shot of the kitchen, with the proud cook posing for me.

I climbed up one of the guard towers and took this picture of the surrounding area.

After checking out the ANP District PHQ, we drove down to the village of Chapahar, which is basically this street. The storm you see brewing in the back ground turned out to be our nemesis.

This is LTC Doust with an old .303 Enfield turned in under the United Nations DIAG program. Basically, the locals are encouraged to turn in weapons for money. Of course, not a single one of the weapons were of the modern assault rifle type. Most did not function, and the Afghans here believed this pitiful collection of antiques justified a multi-million dollar dam and irrigation project. The compound we were in, is rumored to be Osama Bin Laden's hooch before we forced him into the Tora Bora region, south of Nangahar Province.

Well, the helicopters picked us up on time, even though we were late. As soon as we boarded we were informed that a storm front had moved in and we could not fly back to Kabul. So we were dumped off at FOB Fenty located at the Jalalabad airfield.

Since we did not want to spend the night in J-Bad we asked the DynCorp guys if they could drive us back to Kabul. Only problem was, the road was closed in the mountain pass. So we got our PSD from Camp Eggers to meet us on the far side of the closed portion of the road, after the DynCorp guys dropped us off on the J-Bad side. We had to walk about two miles with the GAO guys in tow to the far side of the road construction.

The following group of pictures were taken along the route to the mountain pass.

Here is where we got dropped off on the J-Bad side with a huge group of very curious Afghans.

Here we are walking up the road. When folks like the GAO come around people usually get nervous. We just make them walk, because thats, "How we roll."