Galan in Afghanistan

Adventures in...Nope not Babysitting, I was going to say "March"

2011-05-14T22:38:00.000-07:00

SPC Riggle and SPC Slaton get the aircraft ready for refuel

Taking off following another aircraft in formation flight.

Picking up patients for transfer to a better care facility.
One of our crew chiefs running back to the aircraft after helping get a patient to an ambulance.

I guess you never know when you are being watched. SFC Peden takes a picture of me taking a picture of him.

Flying over some of the fields of residents living West of Kandahar. These types of fields are common, surrounding a walled compound/home where the owners live.

Here's the reason that SFC Peden and I had our cameras out in the first place. It's not everyday that you get to see your 1SG getting violently sick while flying.

Sometimes while waiting for the next mission we have the chance to take a breather and do some people/aircraft watching of our own.

A view of the landscape of Afghanistan through the chin bubble.

Watching the other aircraft do their thing in a multiship operation.

CW2 Pete Latham and I flew several missions together in March and we had a good time. During some of these long missions, one of the best things that help pass the time are the stories that you hear from the other pilot or the crew chiefs in the back.

Afghanistan: A pilot's eye view

Because you demanded it...

2011-04-07T09:26:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to be more consistent with my updates. Since my last deployment I decided to specialize as a maintenance test pilot. To accomplish this I had to spend several months going through the appropriate courses, and most of that time was spent away from home. It was a struggle and my family and I had to make a lot of sacrifices to make it happen, but I am glad I was able to finish the necessary courses and progress in my career.

As a maintenance test pilot, I now spend a lot more time on the ground, trying to make certain that I can do my part to keeping the aircraft flying. The real stars of this process are the crew chiefs, most of whom fly with us, but also accomplish the maintenance required of the aircraft. That means long hours turning wrenches to remove broken components and install new ones.

CW2 "Rabbit" Parks (he hates it, but it has kind of stuck, and it fits) trying to get some of the glory and SPC Gibson, one of our Comanchero crew chiefs

SGT "Cookie" Cook, our maintenance NCO fixing stuff

SPC "Its funny no matter how you decide to pronounce it" Weiner and SGT "S-Rod" Strickrodt in the middle of what must be a profound discussion...I mean look at the backdrop!

And yes, these days even I get to help out a bit with the maintenance, although most of my work gets started after the maintenance has finished.

Since Last Time

2011-03-20T01:11:00.001-07:00

I didn't take many photos while I flew in the US, but I did catch a few as we flew to Texas during one of our training exercises.

It was fun to fly cross country and to be able to see the US from the air.

It's Been Awhile

2011-03-17T12:21:00.000-07:00

Well, I am back in Afghanistan and so it is time to start up the blog again. I really enjoyed the time that I was able to spend with my family, watching the kids grow and learn. I was also able to see some extended family and spend time with them as well. This post will be short, just a prelude to starting my regular posting. Thank you for your support and your comments, its very appreciated. More to come soon!

Here We Go Again...

2011-03-01T07:22:00.000-08:00

I'm back in Afghanistan, and this time I'm at FOB Wolverine. When we arrived it was still cold out and we even had snow several days. I did not expect this kind of weather, but the change from snowing almost everyday to sunny and mostly warm only took a few days; it was strange. Luckily we are at a higher altitude than Kandahar so we should avoid the worst of the upcoming summer months. Last deployment we left Kandahar in April to go to FOB Shank, and it was just really warming up. I went back to Kandahar in May and it was nearly unbearable...sorry to all those that "get" to spend their deployment there.

Rest and Recuperation

2009-10-09T10:22:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in over a month, mostly because I have been home visiting my family. I have been back for about two weeks now and have been busy getting back into the swing of things. I wanted to post some photos and write a little about my vacation with my family.

First I had to travel from Shank to Bagram in the back of a Blackhawk. Not quite the same as riding up front. After a few days of travel, I arrived in Atlanta.

My wife and I surprised my four children, Samantha, Ethan, Noelle, and Emily by taking them to the airport in Atlanta to pick me up, but we told them that they were going to pick up their grandparents. They were very surprised to see me show up, they knew that I would be coming home eventually, but they didn't know when.

We visited Varasano's in Atlanta, and the pizza was great. They even brought us some doughnuts made out of the pizza dough and covered in sugar for free. They were messy but delicious!

We then drove home, or at least that is what we led them to believe. I know, we are horrible, but we drove to Florida to go to Disney World. Samantha, our oldest, figured it out before we arrived, by paying attention to the signs, but the others didn't realize it until we told them. We rented a house for six nights and it was great. Four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a pool and jacuzzi. We spent five days at Disney World, visited all of the four major parks and had a great time. When we had extra time we would play in the pool. We enjoyed several of the rides so much that we rode on them multiple times. Some of our favorites were Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Expedition Everest, and Kali River Rapids.

After five days in Florida, we drove back to Fort Campbell. We enjoyed the food at Varasano's so much that we called ahead and ordered a couple of pizzas for take-out. When we got to Tennessee we enjoyed a little over a week at home before I had to return. It was good to relax and spend time with the family. All in all it was a wonderful trip.

Photos from August

2009-09-07T11:13:00.001-07:00

Some of the photos I took during August. Just thought I would throw them all up at once to try to keep up. The first one is of me flying; I don't get too many of those, since the other pilot had to take the picture for me.

Flying in formation, stag left.

Crossing a mountain ridge enroute from Jalalabad to Shank. This reminded me of the mountain from Lord of the Rings...Mount Doom or something like that.

The trip to Jalalabad was very beautiful, with a large river providing moisture for the whole valley. It was all very green; unlike most of the rest of Afghanistan that I have seen.

Another photo enroute to J-bad

I really liked this area, with a larger city built around the river.

Same area as above.

Quick fuel stop in between carrying passengers in the Jalalabad area.

Near the entrance of the valley to JBad

Some Bedouins we overflew on a recon near Shank. They are everywhere, and they move from place to place. Looking around you can see signs of their previous encampments; usually rings made of earth or rock that surrounded their tents at one time.

Another photo from our recon.

Northeast of Shank, right before the larger mountain peaks.

Some of the taller peaks northeast of Shank.

Another Funny Story

2009-09-03T18:52:00.000-07:00

This is an old one, from way back in February or so when we were still at Kandahar. We were up early for a flight, probably around 5AM, getting everything ready and about to go to our brief. Being as early as it was, the chow hall was not yet open, and so everyone was finding things around our CP(office) to eat. Each morning, someone will usually put on a pot of coffee for anyone who wants some hot coffee. For this reason, I was confused when one of our crew chiefs, SPC Joshua Leppink, was heating his coffee in the microwave. He was drinking it and I asked him, "Do you like your coffee really hot?" He replied, "The coffee was cold." Someone there overheard and mentioned that they had just made coffee and that it should still be hot. We asked him where he got the cold coffee from, and he pointed to a large coffee maker that was not the one that was usually used. It was promptly opened, only to find what you can see in the picture:

That's right, its mold! That coffee had been there for quite a while, especially since no one there could think of ever having used, or seen anyone use that coffee maker. SPC Leppink's only response was a embarrassed smile and the reply, "I thought it tasted funny." We were laughing about that one for quite a while afterward.

Planning for R & R

2009-08-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

In about a month I will be home for R & R and have spent some time planning our trip to Disney World. We will be taking advantage of the great deal that they currently have for service members: Service member gets a 5 day pass for free and can buy up to 5 additional 5 day passes for $99 each for friends and family. For an extra $25/ticket you can convert those into park hopper/water park passes. We are excited and will be surprising our four children, they currently have no idea, so no one say anything!

These last two months or so I have been working out more consistently and eating more healthy food to try to whip myself into shape. That means that good food is on my mind constantly, so I have already thought of several places I would like to eat out at when I get home. I have really been craving pizza, so we will be visiting Mellow Mushroom, which we used to eat at quite a bit while I was in flight school, since there is a Mellow Mushroom in Enterprise, AL.

I love pizza and have always heard so much about authentic NY pizza, but have never been able to try it since I have never really lived near or visited NY. We love to make pizza at home, but the dough never turns out the way I want it to. Don't get me wrong, I still love the homemade pizza, but I want it to taste better. A few months before deployment, I ran across a website of a man who has been trying to recreate an authentic NY pizza at his home in Atlanta, GA for the past 10 years. Jeff Varasano has a website, www.varasanos.com where he details how he came up with the recipe and cooking technique to make a NY pizza. In March he opened a restaurant in Atlanta, Varasano's Pizzeria, and seeing as how our journey will take us right through there, part of our vacation plan now includes a stop at his restaurant.

Once I thought about going to specifically visit an establishment specifically for the food, I started to think about what else I would like to eat while on leave. Something else that I like to make at home is donuts. Homemade donuts are the best, since you can eat them hot and fresh and whenever you want to. I make a mean spudnut, although it has been quite a while since I have taken the time to make them. I started looking on the internet for the best donut shops in the country and ran into a few different sites that have a top 10 donuts list. Unfortunately, some of the best donut shops are not along our route of travel. I found the blog, www.theblognut.blogspot.com recently which follows the donut tasting adventures of blognut as he visits some of the most highly-touted donut shops around the country. I like his dedication to donuts; they're delicious. I would someday like to taste a Round Rock donut, as my brother and his family used to live in Round Rock, TX and have been praising those donuts for years. Fortunately, we will probably be visiting Siesta Key beach on the gulf coast of Florida while we are there, and nearby is Yummies Donuts, that has received some very good reviews on several websites; I am excited!

If anyone knows of any other noteworthy stops from Clarksville, TN to Orlando, FL area, please let me know. It could be food or just something worth stopping to see.

Thanks!

Checking out Ghazni

2009-08-15T13:57:00.000-07:00

I have been to Ghazni before, but the rest of my crew had not. We took some time to see all of the sites; the little market place with a barber shop, two little electronics stores, a coffee house, a restaurant, and a couple of miscellaneous shops. We went to the Oasis Restaurant today for lunch.

I believe that the owners are Indian, and they have a variety of dishes, from spicy chicken meals to pizzas.

SPCs Marc Raglin and Javier Medrano and I ordered the Chicken Sizzler. It is chicken cooked in a red sauce, with your choice of steamed rice, fried rice, or french fries on the side. It comes on a plate similar to a fajita plate/dish and is served sizzling, just like the name implies. It took a few moments before it was cool enough to eat. It is a spicy dish with plenty of hot peppers added in, but they offer a normal spicy or the "spicy" spicy. Of course when they asked if I wanted it spicy I had to man up and say, "Of course." Of course that meant that Raglin and Medrano ordered it spicy as well; isn't peer pressure cool? I took the first bite and within two minutes I started to sweat. Soon after my nose began to run. Looking across the table I was pleased to see the other guys using tissues to blow noses/wipe foreheads as well. I am no foreigner to hot foods, but when half of what is on your plate is peppers and you can't take a bite without biting into a pepper seed, it is probably going to be hot. CW2 Justin Mix was the smart one; he ordered a pepperoni pizza. All in all it was an "experience" not soon to be forgotten.

Marc Raglin placing the order; two orange slushies.

Afterward we checked out the coffee shop for the slushies that I highly recommended. Unfortunately I was too full to properly enjoy, so I will have to get one at a later date. The taste is great, reminds me of a shaved ice!

A photo of me, Justin Mix, and Javier "Javi" Medrano. I know I'm not photogenic, so what! Plus my stomach was already beginning to feel the effects of lunch.

Medevac Chase Again!

2009-08-14T13:19:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a while since my last post, sorry about that. However, I am finding myself with a little more free time since I have been put on medevac chase once again in Ghazni. I believe that I am far in the lead in my company as far as time spent on medevac chase, with a total of approximately 15 weeks under my belt so far. I am here with CW2 Justin Mix, SPC Marc Raglin, and SPC Javier Medrano. There is also a medevac crew here with us as well as a few Pathfinders that came with us to help us out. I was hesitant to come, as I was already used to the day schedule, but I must admit that it is nice to get away from the everyday drudgery at Shank.

We are sharing a building with the other med crew and it is the same living quarters that I posted a photo of approximately two months ago. It is pretty nice and everyone has their own room with a wool Army blanket for a door! There is even internet in our rooms if you shell out $10 a week and are patient and don't mind being unable to get to certain sites, (however, not being able to get to yahoo mail is a deal breaker for me, so I just visit the MWR).

Things are getting more and more busy with the elections coming up in a few days, which generally means that we are more busy, which is unfortunate because of what we are called in to do. Yet we are always ready to launch as fast as possible because we know that every second counts, literally, and the faster we can get to the helicopter and launch, the better the chances the injured have of making a quick recovery. Anytime we are not in our quarters, we are tethered by a radio that is always on, waiting for that, "MEDEVAC, MEDEVAC, MEDEVAC!", that means it is time to launch on a mission. We have been here two days and launched twice, but it would have been several more if they hadn't called in the medevac from Bagram to help us.
Here is a little photo montage of the call we received today. There were two wounded, I am not sure of what cause, but neither was life threatening.

Get in quickly...

Stick the landing...

Waiting for the patients...

Here they come...

Leaving the rotor disk...

Take-off quickly...

Get the patients to the hospital...

Another successful mission! It really feels great to know that we were able to help people get the treatment that they need and quickly. However, as a pilot, I am only one of a team that accomplishes the mission. The crew chiefs keep us safe from obstacles as well as man the weapons in case we start taking fire. The medics in the back begin to treat the patients immediately and ensure that they make it to the field hospital in the best possible condition. The surgical team at the hospital finishes up, and starts the injured on the road to recovery. I have had an opportunity to at least interact with all of these people, and it is great to know that they all take their jobs seriously and give their all every single day, every single time.

A Funny Thing Happened...

2009-07-22T19:43:00.000-07:00

So, one day a couple of weeks ago I was in our CP (office building), doing some work. There are two doors into the CP, one on either side. I came in the South entrance, finished some of my work, and started to leave out the North entrance, which is closer to our tents. As I am about to exit, I notice the following sign...

I wasn't sure what the sign was talking about so I opened the door and lo and behold, there are no steps, just a two and a half foot drop right onto the gravel below. First, you need to understand that there used to be stairs there, just a couple of hours before I went into the building. Second, there was no reason to believe that the stairs that had been there for two months would suddenly disappear. I went outside to investigate and apparently the deck that was being built between the Chinook CP and our CP was going to extend to the far end of each CP as well. After a little more investigation I found out that Captain Summers, one of our platoon leaders was the one who wrote the note. He did what anyone who entered the South side of the CP would have done when leaving through the North side of the CP; he opened the door, stepped out into space and fell two and a half feet onto his face into the rocks below. CPT Summers is a pretty happy-go-lucky type, so when I heard the story from him he was laughing about it and joking, but it seems that right after the incident he was quite upset, even uncharacteristically so. It may seem cruel to laugh at someone else's misfortune, but hey, it breaks up the monotony and he was actually no worse for the wear. The second photo is of the next day, after they had begun to build the deck outside of the CP exit and added a couple of planks to walk across.

4th of July at Shank

2009-07-10T12:51:00.000-07:00

Although the 4th of July here was another work day, we still took the time to celebrate it in our own way. There were a number of competitions starting on the 3rd and continuing on the 4th. Since I was flying both days, I was unable to go see much of what was going on but I hear there were tournaments for chess, Call of Duty 4, cornhole, volleyball, softball and quite a few others.

Softball was a big draw with a multiday tournament and I believe they even flew in a team from Bagram to compete.

I was able to compete on our company's volleyball team. As I was waking up a little after noon, (I am currently flying at night), I heard some of the guys talking about competing in something. I got up to brush my teeth and shave and saw that they had started the volleyball tournament. We won the first game and I was able to play in the second game which we also won. However we fell apart on the third game and ended up losing to the medevac team. It was a blast though and very exciting. I think that everyone who participated in any of these events really enjoyed themselves. It was a nice break from the usual groundhog day routine, (great movie by the way!).

Some of the guys from our company, A Company Comancheros, watching the game before our 3rd volleyball match. Pictured left to right: SPC Raglin, SFC Nelson, CW2 Wilson, SPC Bryer, CW2 Hollandsworth, SPC Powell, CW2 Brillhart, and 1SG Horn. The team consisted of myself, CW2s Hollandsworth and Brillhart, 1SG Horn, and SPCs Powell and Leppink (not pictured).

One of Our Medevac Missions

2009-07-02T03:25:00.000-07:00

I am unable to go into much detail about what types of missions we do and how we accomplish them because of security considerations. Several people have asked me to tell them stories about some of the things we do and we ran across the following story in the Army Times:
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/06/army_riverrescue_060109w/

This story is one that we took a small part in by launching and retrieving PFC Lucas "D" Dispennette to take him to the FOB Lagman (Qalat) medic station for treatment, where we were stationed on medevac standby.

A photo of the area around Qalat and FOB Lagman.
The Crew: Top left to right: SPC Spencer and SPC Alvis. Bottom: CW2 Mix.

Our crew consisted of myself, CW2 Justin Mix, SPC Anthony Alvis, and SPC Bradley Spencer, along with the crew of the medevac aircraft. It was very interesting to read this article because as we launch, half the time we don't know much about the circumstances of the patient(s) and we never find out what really happened in this much detail. It is great motivation when we find out that we were able to help somebody out to get the care that they needed within the required timeframe.

This is a photo of an Alexander the Great era fortress next to the city of Qalat.

The door inside of the medevac chase tent in which we stayed. We continued the tradition of writing the names of all of the crews that had been there and during what time periods and how many 9-lines they had launched on. This door was just our company, A Company Comancheros 4-101 AVN Regt.

Medevac in Ghazni

2009-06-26T08:54:00.000-07:00

I recently got back from a Medevac mission at FOB Ghazni and took a few photos. Ghazni is about a half hour flight to the Southwest of Shank. The medevac aircraft over there needed some repairs so we flew down to cover as the chase aircraft until the other aircraft was back up. The medevac crews live in a nice building that they gutted and rebuilt when they arrived there. The first photo shows the common area that they set up. They built a little bar that has two refrigerators behind it as well as a bunch of food. They are currently using a bed as a couch and setup a projector with a screen that looks like a tv with a bunny ear antenna. They did a great job with the place.

There is also a little marketplace on the FOB. They have a barber shop, coffee shop, a couple of electronics shops and a couple of other little shops with local crafts for sale. They even have a small Indian restaurant on the other side of the barber shop. We went there the first night and the food was pretty good.

The first thing I noticed when I got to Ghazni was this enormous blimp. Every now and then they launch it and it is tethered to a long cable. It was quite surprising to see for the first time as we were coming in for a landing.

After we had been in Ghazni for a couple of days we had aircraft problems of our own. SPC Garvey, one of our crew chiefs was hard at work trying the get the aircraft ready to fly. By that time the medevac aircraft was fixed so they came back and relieved us so that we could continue the mission back at Shank.

The last photo is just a panoramic of the flight line at Ghazni.

New Additions

2009-06-24T06:07:00.000-07:00

You might remember the photos of the green tents as well as the photo of the tent that was foamed over for insulation. They finally got around to foaming all of the green tents. They even foamed over the roofs of our office building. All of the buildings look like they are covered in a foam-colored snow.

There is also a new barber shop in "town". It is quite large, with about 6-8 barber's chairs. I got a haircut there a few days ago and those guys go all out, they take their time but they want to make sure they do it right, and don't rush just to get more haircuts in so that they can make more money.

There is also a new shop that features some off-brand/fake brand electronics (I have seen names like Della and Braon, with logos almost exactly like Dell and Braun), DVDs of movies still in theatres, DVDs of US TV shows, and even custom-tailored suits. Every time I go there someone is trying to convince me that I need a suit, and not just a suit but that I need it now, in the middle of summer, with 6 more months until I head home. I must admire their entrepreneuring spirit though.

Shank Recreation

2009-06-24T05:59:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the things that you can do over at FOB Shank when you have free time.

The softball field is the pride and joy of CSM Lange. There is even a league with regularly scheduled games. It is pretty elaborate, with an announcer's box and even something like astro turf in the infield.

The Pathfinders put together this nice little outdoor gym. It even has a climbing wall as well as a bench and a couple of machines.

This is a photo of the expanded gym along with the MWR tents. The center and left tents are for the gym expansion. There are a couple of smaller dome tents behind these two where the original gym was. The tent on the right is the MWR. It is connected to another tent that houses the computers and phones.

This last photo is of the crew chief offices. 1SG Horn and the crew chiefs and door gunners built this covered deck. The lower deck is for playing corn hole. It was all the rage in Kandahar, almost everyone got into it, including the staff officers. Maybe it will take over again.

MWR/Gym

2009-06-20T07:15:00.000-07:00

In response to a question, I'll tell you a little about the MWR and the gym. There is an MWR on the far side of Shank East that has about 10 Spawar phones(you need to purchase a Spawar number to use them, I think you get it for 4 cents a minute) and 28 computers. They also have webcams and headsets you can check out as well for the computers. There is a small gym which is housed in two small tents. One has free-weights and a few benches and the other has cardio equipment about 4 of each of bicycles, ellipticals, and treadmills. It looks like they are about to expand the gym, because they recently put up a couple of slightly larger tents next to the gym tents. I have yet to see any new equipment, but it could be coming.

At the aviation side of Shank East, I have seen several brand new computers that are supposed to go into the MWR, but it hasn't been built/setup yet, so I don't really know when that will be ready. There is also an outdoor workout area that was setup with just a couple of pieces of equipment, so that is all that we have on our side so far...

When I get a chance I'll add some photos to this post.

Training

2009-06-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

I took some photos a little while ago of some day and night training that we were doing.

Everybody watching as a Blackhawk does a traffic pattern before coming in for a landing. You can see several Blackhawks in the photo because the same one was in most of the photos I used to make this panoramic.

The crew chiefs having fun while waiting for their turn in the aircraft. From left to right: SPC Crotts, SPC Leppink, SPC Garvey, SFC Peden.

I just thought this was a cool photo. The moon was already up as the sun was going down. This Blackhawk is making an approach to the runway as some bystanders watch on.

Training is underway!

We Have Internet!

2009-06-18T11:01:00.000-07:00

I won't pretend that it was easy, but it is finally 90% done. Everything is set up and everyone has internet, but I am currently trying to make everything work better, install servers to monitor bandwidth, and possibly add wireless.

Getting the internet all ready was quite the struggle. I was placed in charge of finding a suitable system for our use, collecting all the money (what a headache!), ordering, setting up the dishes (3 of them with quite a bit of help from multiple people), cutting and finishing about 50 ethernet cables, connecting it all with 10 switches, setting up and installing 3 servers (still a work in progress), and troubleshooting (a daily if not hourly job). I still have to finish the servers, and on Monday I have a phone appointment with a Bentley Walker technician who is going to walk me through some fine-tuning adjustments for the dishes.

To the right I have a photo of CW2 Michael Wick and CW3 Joseph Morano. These guys took it upon themselves to get the platforms for the dishes ready, thank goodness! They built the platforms, levelled them out and then attached the pole stands to them and made sure that those were also level. Once other companies saw their handiwork they quickly replicated the design. Now there are dishes all over on stands similar to, yet in my opinion inferior to, these ones.

Here is another that shows all 3 dishes set up. It sure is a beautiful sight.

Kabul

2009-06-16T12:01:00.000-07:00

FOB Shank is located South of Kabul, about 15 minutes flight by helicopter. As a member of a Blackhawk crew, I am not able to see any part of Afghanistan from the ground, except for being within a FOB, but we do get to see it from a different perspective. I was surprised when flying over Kabul the first time because it is a much bigger city than anything I saw in Southern Afghanistan, even bigger than Kandahar. In the South, most of the population lives in small villages in houses made out of mud. Kabul boasts a population of over one million and looks like a modern city, at least from the air.

As you can see from the photo, the city stretches into the distance. There is a soccer field and maybe even a park in the center of the photo. There was a soccer game going on as we flew by.

The buildings here seem to be built using concrete and brick as opposed to the mud and straw used in the South.

Houses are built using every last inch of land with quite a few homes being built into the hills that surround the city. There were even a few houses on the ridges of the hills themselves. Communications towers are plentiful in this area of the country as well.

There are a couple of large buildings that look like hotels on the south side of Kabul. The roofs of both are partially missing. I don't know if they were bombed or have been damaged by some natural disaster or have just fallen into disrepair. It seems like a shame that such nice buildings are now abandoned and falling apart.

And the Construction Goes On...

2009-06-13T10:05:00.000-07:00

This place changes more and more everyday. I thought that once they had everything we needed for our task force to function, it would all be over. The construction just goes on and on. Everywhere you look there are teams of people building something. Whether it is the taxiway and helicopter parking or the new buildings that keep popping up, things keep changing.
On the right we have an open field with a building of unknown purpose that just sprung up in about three days.
Then a photo showing the GP Medium tents that we lived in, and have subsequently moved out of, including the foamed one on the left.

A group of soldiers hard at work putting together the platform for another structure. A Chinook is flying overhead; helicopters are always coming and going, moving people and equipment back and forth.

Our humble bathroom facilities. One trailer is full of toilets and the other is full of showers. The water is trucked in regularly and kept in the large tan bladder on the right. We have about five sets of these, which are cleaned daily, along with porta-potties that are serviced irregularly.

Building the Rooms

2009-06-13T04:24:00.000-07:00

Click on any of the photos to see a larger version.

A photo of what our tents look like. These five all belong to our company as well as the first two that were built just past the far left tent. On the far right are the CPs, our offices, and the A Company CP is on the left side of the ones that are visible.

A photo of the view that we have coming out of the tent. That metal structure on the other side of the barrier is the frame of one of the tents going up.

As I stated before, quite a few people worked on building the individual rooms inside the Alaskan tents, but by and far most of the work was done by the crew chiefs and door gunners. 1SG Horn spearheaded this with his personal crew of SPC Bret Powell and SPC Andrew Bryer. I took a few photos of these guys in action.

SPC Spencer putting door handles on the pocket doors.

SPC Slaton and SPC Johnston taking a break.

SPC Powell with some assistance from SPC Karl Crotts cutting wood for something or other.

SPC Bryer and 1SG putting up the room framing.

Click on this photo to see a panoramic of what the rooms look like with just the framing up.

Photo Update

2009-06-07T02:00:00.001-07:00

Due to the difficulty of gaining internet access whilaveling, I was unable to post all of the photos of our journey from Kandahar to Shank, so I am going to take the opportunity now. When we left Kandahar we went to Bagram, which is 30 minute flight North of Shank, first because the living conditions were not adequate. When we first arrived in Bagram, we were in a large transient tent with about 100 cots in it. Everyday soldiers from various nations would come and go in these tents, while we just waited for the word to leave for Shank. Unfortunately, these tents were a 30 minute drive from the helicopters, so after a few days we were moved to other accomodations. The building we were in was a B-hut that is usually sectioned-off into rooms for 8 people per building. We, however shoved 20 people into the building pictured on the right, with cots almost on top of each other. Luckily we were only there for a couple more days before we got the call to leave for Shank.

We then moved into the green GP Mediums pictured on the right. We slept 10 to a tent, each person had their own bunkbed, but there were no walls/rooms, and the electricity had to be shared by a 50 foot extension cord that ran to one of the generators. Unfortunately, these tents become very hot during the day with the sun beating down on them, even with the a/c up full blast. They eventually decided to cover one with spray on foam insulation to keep it cool. As I soon after went onto the night shift, I was lucky enough to move into this tent. The insulation works very well, and we were able to sleep comfortably during the day. The foam tent was an off-white color and the sides of the tent became stiff. Almost like battering and then deep-frying something. There I am posing in front of the foam-insulated tent.

All this while we were waiting for the Alaskan tents to be set up so that we could fit 6 per tent and build rooms into them. The crew chiefs soon began to build under the direction of 1SG Horn.

Moving Day, For Real!!!!

2009-06-04T22:31:00.000-07:00

Well, it didn't take a month, and we now have GFCI breakers in the Alaskan tents and we have moved in. We each have a separate room, measuring about 8' X 9' 8", and each person has a bunkbed in their room. It has been interesting to see how the rooms turn out as each person customizes their room. I plan on taking some photos to post and show everyone how they have turned out. 1SG Horn and his crew, (SPC Bryer, SPC Powell, SPC Carroll), and many others, mostly the crew chiefs, spent long hours for over a week to finish the rooms in each tent and they did a great job! There are six rooms in each tent and our whole company fits into seven tents. It is starting to feel like a little community.

Pictures soon to follow.

Moving Day!!.....Er, no!

2009-05-29T19:52:00.000-07:00

Well, the current exciting news here at FOB Shank is that we will be moving into the new Alaskan tents with individual rooms, but not yet. That is right, we have almost moved into those tents like 3 times now, but they always find a way to stop us. Currently the reason is that the outlets in the tents are not safe to use if you are going to be taking a shower and or cooking near them. Fortunately, no one will be showering or cooking near them. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop the "need" for GFCI outlets (think the outlets in bathrooms near sinks). Of course this rule appears to be grandfather claused, or in this case grandmother claused, as the females, who are already living in these tents, will be allowed to remain in them despite the lack of GFCI breakers.

The worst thing about this is that apparently, no one seemed to realize that these GFCI breakers/outlets would be needed until just now, after the tents have all been setup and after the week delay on the generators. I can only hope that whoever is in charge of this has already ordered the needed parts and that there are no other missing pieces. The wait for semi-private space continues...

Getting Ready

2009-05-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

When we finally arrived at FOB Shank, after a week long detour to Bagram, which required us to move twice, we all pulled together to get our office ready. This included the 3-person PI team to mount our Comanchero sign (I was taking the photo, that still counts as helping). Our resident carpenter, Joe, immediately set to work building two offices, desks, and cabinets.

As you can see everyone stayed busy helping out; either that or this is one of the times I said, "Hey, everyone look busy so I can take a picture!"

Despite seeing less foilage per square mile than almost anywhere else I've been on earth, we had plenty of wood to finish up the office.

One of our PCs (pilots in command), Gene is teaching one of our young PIs, Doug about carpentry. Actually I think they were teaching each other because I have never seen any two people be so proud of a printer stand that they built.

Though we quickly accomplished quite a bit during the first few days here, the CP (our little office building) is still a work in progress. We have since added a pantry for all of the food we smuggle out of the mess hall, which is next to the refrigerator which we fill with all the sodas and juices we can smuggle out of the mess hall. There is even talk of constructing a small building adjacent to this one for use as a rec room for X-Box, TV, and maybe even a ping pong table.

S'mores

2009-05-19T14:12:00.000-07:00

That is right, while on Medevac chase at Shank (which only lasted a couple of days), one of the crew chiefs received a package full of s'mores ingredients. I must admit that I would not have thought that I would be eating s'mores in Afghanistan, and in front of a real fire as well. It almost made me feel like I was camping...almost.

New Home

2009-05-19T13:51:00.000-07:00

Here is a panoramic of the overflow parking of my new home, FOB Shank, and from on top of a Blackhawk nonetheless! Although there is some rock down in some parts, there is still quite a bit uncovered and the ground is covered in a fine silt which loves to pickup when there is any small amount of wind. As you can see, a little wind can turn this place into a wasteland. It is still very much a work in progress. Construction goes on day after day as they finish putting up tents and completing the airfield. I think Shank will be quite the place once everything is finished. Finishing however, could take quite a bit of time so now we just have to deal with the growing pains.

FOB Shank

2009-05-17T01:12:00.001-07:00

When we arrived in country, we knew that we would eventually be moving from Kandahar to a newly expanded Forward Operating Base, (FOB), Shank. We were supposed to be here by the end of April, but constant delays in preparing this place for an aviation task force have pushed the date around. We left Kandahar near the end of April, but to go to Bagram instead of Shank because of a lack of water, bathing facilities, food, etc... We spent about a week in Bagram before getting a last minute (11 PM the night prior) notification that we would be leaving.

FOB Shank is pretty big, and there is a lot of construction going on. As they finish getting the runway and parking pads ready, we look forward to getting electricity and insulation in our tents, warm showers, and eventually food that hasn't been trucked in from elsewhere. We should be getting the satellite internet systems in any day now, (the ones I spent so much time studying up on to choose), and hopefully the internet information I have looked into will allow me to set the three systems up without the help of a contractor, (approximately $400 install per system), and get internet to everyone in our company.

Now that we are more or less (less is more accurate) settled in, I will try to start up regular posts again, with photos to follow soon.

Paul

Photo Op

2009-04-03T22:35:00.000-07:00

So, I get to the bazaar and pull out my camera to take photos. A local vendor immediately asks me to take a picture of him, so I say, "sure, no problem." I didn't realize he wanted a photo shoot. Here is the first photo I took:

So he wants to look at the photo and says, "No, no take it again." He then proceeds to turn his hat around and changes his expression a little. And here is the much improved and approved result.

It was kind of funny how insistent he was that I take his picture. The vendors all speak English well as well as Romanian (there are quite a few Romanians stationed here as well). They are very pushy and as soon as you get near they will swarm you and insist that you look at their products. I tend to prefer to talk to the less pushy ones. The people are nice though if you can get past their desire to sell you something.

The Bazaar

2009-04-03T22:02:00.000-07:00

Thursday in Qalat means one thing...that's right the Bazaar! It's the only show in town (literally), and it's the place to be if you have money to spend (because there is nowhere else to spend it). Every Thursday, weather permitting, and if there have been no attacks on the FOB, several local merchants are able to enter the FOB to sell their wares. There is a small area where they are able to set up shop on a few tables under shade. The items up for sale vary widely, from discarded pistol holsters to bootlegged copies of movies.

They have quite a few things made out of stone, such as cups, bowls, and chess pieces.

They also have quite a selection of woodworking as well. Seeing as how there are almost no trees anywhere that I have been in Afghanistan, we asked where the wood is from. Apparently up North near Jalalabad they have trees. I'll have to take their word on it.

And here are the DVDs. It looks like they are imported from China. You can get an entire TV series for about $1.50 a DVD. For example, we negotiated six seasons of 24 on 48 DVDs down to $70 from $96. We looked at the DVDs and they look professionally done, right down to the image printed on each DVD. They also have poor copies of movies that have just come out in the theater. Those cost about $2 a DVD.

Nighttime Calls

2009-03-18T11:36:00.000-07:00

As I may have mentioned earlier, I am once again in Qalat on a Medevac mission where my aircraft follows a Medevac Blackhawk to provide gun support while they go into a pickup zone to extract the wounded. On this rotation I have had the opportunity to fly a couple of missions at night using night vision goggles.
The first was just after I arrived to Qalat this time. We were delayed in Kandahar because of aircraft maintenance issues and took off late. The sun went down on the way here and we had to transition to using NVGs midflight. Luckily, if you have already mounted your goggles, all it takes to turn them on is to flip them down over your eyes. We landed at 6:55, and rushed to shut down the aircraft so we could get to chow which closed at 7:00PM since we had already missed lunch. We just made it, quickly ate, and were just getting back to our tent when we got a call to launch. We rushed out to the aircraft, started up and took off for a 30 minute flight to one of the forward operating bases to our North. The entire area to our North is mountainous and it was challenging to fly in the mountains, especially using NVGs which condense our usual 210 degree field of view (with peripheral vision) into approximately 40 degrees. Also everything is a shade of green. However, this just made it more interesting, and we successfully picked up the wounded soldier and brought him to the field hospital.
Our second goggle flight happened about a week later, at 2:00AM. We received the call to launch and quickly got dressed and while simultaneously waking up. After launching to the same area as the previous flight, we quickly arrived at the pickup zone and the medevac aircraft landed and picked up the soldier next to the accident site. He had accidentally fallen into a river while on night patrol, and he required medical care. We were able to get him back to the field hospital quickly and safely. I was so pumped on adrenaline after the early morning wake up that it took a couple of hours to get to sleep after we got back. It took a couple of days to get back onto a semi-normal schedule, but it was a very interesting and memorable experience and its good to know that we were able to help wounded soldiers to get the medical care that they need.

Decorating the "Bird"

2009-03-18T09:58:00.000-07:00

We wanted to paint the engine cowling of the aircraft to carry on a long tradition in A Company 4-101 Aviation Regiment. We are the Comancheros and the picture to the right is our company symbol painted on an older aircraft.

We started by printing off a template to trace onto the cowling. Then we put tape on the cowling to trace onto.

Then trace the image onto the tape...

And using a knife, cut out and peel off the tape where the image is.

And keep peeling...

Then spray paint, let dry and clean up.

Here are our two crew chiefs, SPC Spencer, SPC Alvis, and below is CW2 Justin Mix, our Pilot in Command.

And this is how it turned out! 041 is the first UH60M to have its engine cowlings painted!

I Know It's Been Awhile

2009-03-09T08:15:00.000-07:00

I haven't taken the time to write recently, and I would like to say that it is because I have been crazy busy, but that just isn't the case. I have been in Kandahar for the last month, and so I haven't had as much free time, but I am now back in Qalat on Medevac standby, so I am again faced with quite a bit of time on my hands. My goal is to get some updates done to highlight the best of the best of the last month....at least it shouldn't take too long. Updates coming soon!

Learning to Use the M240

2009-02-12T05:30:00.000-08:00

This is not the preferred method of firing the 240 because of its weight and because I am holding it by the bipod so I don't burn my hand on the barrel. Lots of fun though!

Don't Try This at Home

2009-02-08T12:52:00.000-08:00

This is a little video at the small arms range. We had some targets but it was fun to shoot at the plastic bottles as well! Fun!

A Day at the Range

2009-02-05T05:58:00.000-08:00

We were able to go to the firing range a couple of days ago and it was a blast! Luckily, we have a steady supply of ammo and plenty of time. We also have an AK-47 in our tent and plenty of ammo for it. We started off at the small arms range and I zeroed my M-4, and got used to using a red dot sight. The red dot is the way to go, way better than lining up the iron sights. I also fired my M9 and then took a turn using the AK. It was fun, but there is no accuracy when you go full auto and you're standing up! We had some paper targets, but also setup some empty ammo cans, water bottles, .50 cal shells and other misc things as targets.

After the small arms range, we went to the range where we could fire the M240 (Fully automatic, 7.62mm). It was the first time I had fired a 240, it was alot like the 249 (Fully automatic, 5.56mm), just a bit bigger and heavier. Overall it was a great time!

Birthday Party!!!

2009-02-04T04:12:00.000-08:00

Well, Feb. 1st was my birthday and also the Super Bowl. I decided to stay up with the crew chiefs to watch it, which we theorized would start at around 1 AM (Feb 2nd). However, we later found out it wouldn't start until 3:30 AM and that the kick off wasn't going to be until about 25 minutes after that. I would have given up right there and then, but the crew chiefs (who are still quite young by the way), kept taunting me, so I decided to stay up. I made it through the first half, but didn't want to wait through the halftime show to see the rest. I figured I could get an hour or two of sleep and then wake up for the last half/quarter. I woke up about 5 minutes after it ended. Oh well, at least I got to see all the good plays in the highlight reels, and then later they showed the whole game again. Probably the worst part is that we aren't able to see any of the commercials, which is most of the draw for me anyway. I rooted for the Cardinals, and they put up a good fight and almost took it, great game!

The photo is of the Baskin Robbins ice cream I had for dinner on my birthday. I ate almost no food so that I would feel better about filling about 1/3 of my cup with hot fudge...yummmmm! Oh, and that is indeed Fanta Orange in the background, it says fanta orange phonetically in arabic/pashtun.

Finally a Photo without a "Chandler" Smile

2009-01-29T04:56:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed that I don't really have any photos posted of myself. The reason is that all the photos I have taken while deployed have featured my "I'm trying too hard" fake smile. It is very similar to Chandler's smile from Friends.
I finally have a photo that while not great, doesn't look downright goofy.

2009-01-28T09:40:00.000-08:00

The first photo is an example of some of the homes in the region. I have not set foot in one, since I only leave the various bases by air. However, this seems fairly typical, homes made out of mud with mud walls surrounding it. Some of the home have a domed roof that looks pretty cool. I haven't had my camera out while we have passed over one yet.

This photo may be a little hard to see, but if you click on it it should enlarge a bit. As you can see, southern Afghanistan is a land of black and white, no in between. What I mean is that there is a desert surrounded by mountains covered in snow. Very little is able to grow, and only where it is cultivated by farmers, and still even then there is little that is green.

Qualat Living

2009-01-21T06:14:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of photos of where we are staying. The first is my living space, it is tiny but adequate. There are three other similar areas in this half of the tent. The second is of the living room. You can see all except for the refrigerator/microwave area which has its own cubby on the far right.

We have launched a couple of times so far, once for a cut finger and another time for a Jordanian soldier who was having chest pain. Nothing too serious, thank goodness!

I have begun a daily schedule to keep myself busy. Being a veteran of the medevac chase mission(I am the only person who has done this twice....so far) I know that not keeping busy can be boring and depressing. So, here it is:

8:00 Wake Up, Shave, etc and get dressed

8:30 Study for my annual flight test
9:30 Go out to do a daily check of the aircraft and do a run-up

11:00 Study, misc
12:00 Lunch
12:30 Study some more

2:00 Workout at the gym, weights and cardio

3:15 Shower and turn in laundry
4:00 Socialize

6:00 Dinner

6:30 Socialize/Study

9:00 Bed/Reading

Exciting isn't it!

Medevac Chase Part II

2009-01-18T06:48:00.000-08:00

I am back on another medevac chase mission for the next two weeks. This time I'm in Qalat, about a 45 minute flight to the North East of Kandahar. The living conditions are slightly better here, at least we have more space. I will post pictures soon. Unfortunately we have to go to a separate building to use the toilet/shower, and it is really cold here since it is winter and we are at a higher elevation, near the mountains.

We live in a tent that has been built up inside with wooden walls and ceiling. About half the tent is devoted to our "rooms" which are small, and made out of wall lockers and a sheet, but adequate. The other half is a living room with a couch, chair, home made couch, refrigerator, microwave, TV and DVD player. It is nice and certainly a step up from Farah.

That's it for now, but I will be adding pictures/stories soon!

Holding Back the Dam

2009-01-12T07:21:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about being a pilot is some of the scenery I get to see. Today we were flying a ring route, which is basically just picking up cargo and/or passengers and dropping them off in another location, all day long. We went to our first stop to drop off a General and his entourage, then we had another stop near by. We were flying behind a Chinook and had to fly over a ridgeline. As you can see from the photos, there was a lot of cloud cover on the other side. We were able to eventually break through further away from the mountains, but it was a sight to see.

I flew for almost 8 hours, and it was fun! I am finally starting to feel like a real pilot, rather than just someone who plays dress up to play pilot. I am supposed to fly tomorrow and maybe the day after as well. We will have to see how the weather holds out. On our way home today we were barely able to beat the bad weather into Kandahar. We ran into a rain storm about two miles away from the airfield and we were entering the traffic pattern to land when one of our door gunners saw lightning about two miles off our right side. We got down as fast as we could, and put the aircraft away before all of the worst of the rain came in. It was a full day.

The Red Desert

2009-01-10T12:20:00.000-08:00

I flew around for 7 hours today! Ouch! My tooshie! The hardest part is no potty breaks for hours on end. Anyway, I was able to take some good photos of the red desert. It is bordered by the yellow desert. It is strange because it just starts all of a sudden with no mixing of different colored sand. Take a look at the photos to see what I mean.

My First "Real" Mission

2009-01-10T11:58:00.000-08:00

The other day I finally went on my first real mission! I can't really say much about it, but it involved taking some troops out to secure an area, it was pretty cool. The worst part was finding out at 11:30PM that we had to show up at 4:00AM. Other than that it was fun and got my adrenaline flowing. I've included a couple of photos.

Panoramic

2009-01-10T11:44:00.000-08:00

I made this panoramic out of 28 photos that I put together using autostitch software. I think it turned out pretty well.

15 Days, 5.0 Flight Hours later, back where I started

2009-01-07T07:26:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally got back to my room in Kandahar. It is nice to be back and to start to setup up my things. We didn't go on any medevac missions, which is good because that means no one got hurt, but that also means we didn't get to fly for two weeks. The only flying we did was to fly there and to fly back. It is a pretty boring flight, it is just a desert the whole way with a few mud houses every now and then. We did see a castle that was built by Alexander the Great I was told, one of our crew chiefs took a picture of it, as soon as I get it I will post it. The other cool thing is where the Yellow Desert meets the Red Desert, I don't have any pictures of it yet but when I can I will take some. Where they meet it is like a line where one side is yellow sand and on the other is red sand, pretty cool!

I am going to be on standby tomorrow, so maybe I will be able to fly! Until next time, I'll keep you updated.

Paul

Christmas in Farah

2009-01-01T21:49:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Christmas here in Farah while on our medevac chase mission. The dining facility is small but they sometimes have some pretty good food. For Christmas they decorated it and we had roast turkey, lobster tail, and shrimp cocktail. Very good!

They also had a video game tournament and a few other activities. One of the sergeants was playing Christmas music outside of the dining facility. They did a good job of making it feel like a special day.

Medevac Chase

2009-01-01T07:52:00.000-08:00

Shortly after arriving in Kandahar I was put on my first mission; medevac chase. Medevac Blackhawks need another aircraft to go with them on their missions. My crew and I were flying the escort or chase aircraft. We have our crew chief/gunners manning their M-240s as a deterrant to anyone wanting to shoot at the medevac aircraft. We are on a 12 day rotation in a small Forward Operating Base (FOB) a couple of hours flight time from Kandahar. We are on standby 24/7 during a ten day period.

All four of us in our crew (two pilots, two crew chiefs) live in one small room. Luckily, previous crews built a pretty nice bunk bed system as you can see above. We don't have any official duties besides being ready to fly and keeping our aircraft ready to fly, so we have a lot of down time. I have been spending my time on the internet, studying, watching movies, playing video games, and exercising. The exercise has been great and I have gotten into a good daily routine. We have a few more days here, but it will be good to get back to all of my stuff and my room in Kandahar, that I haven't been able to setup completely yet.

Traveling Steerage Class

2008-12-31T22:09:00.000-08:00

My journey from Fort Campbell, KY to Afghanistan gave me new insight into how many people you can shove into a commercial aircraft. After almost getting to sit in the front with few others (because of weight issues, most of the weight had to be in the back of the aircraft), I was ultimately kicked to the middle section last minute. This of course meant that I had last choice on seats; that's right middle aisle with a person on each side of me and the people in front of and behind had already put things under the seat in front of me as well as the one I was sitting on. My carry on had to go at my feet along with all of the airline pillows that were on my seat when I got there.

The trip to Ireland was 7 hours long, and my legs were wedged in the whole time. I tried to give my rear end relief by shifting, but near the end of that flight I was changing position every two-three minutes. In Ireland we were allowed to go to the terminal for the three hours it took to refuel the plane. We were able to stretch our legs a bit before cramping back into the plane.

From Ireland we flew 4 hours to Romania. We all sat in the same seats, but at least I was able to stash some of the pillows in other places. When we arrived in Romania we were all ready to get out and stretch some more. We waited 20 minutes for the airport officials to let us know the rules before entering the terminal, however we were then told that the only way we could get down would be with a visa, which of course none of us had. We stayed in the plane just shy of three hours waiting for refuel before we took off again for another 4 hour trip to Manas Air Base in Kyrgyztan. The whole trip was about 23 hours long, all but about two hours of it was in the cramped airplane.

We spent a few days there before a three hour "roomy" flight in a military aircraft to our final destination of Kandahar, Afhganistan. No wonder the airlines are struggling.