Getting to 50%

Matza, for my non-Jewish friends who may not know, is a cracker-like substance that we eat during Passover. It’s unleavened bread, meant to remind us of our hasty escape from Egypt when we didn’t have enough time to stop and let the dough rise. It has certainly always reminded me of our dash through the Sinai, what with being as dry as the desert and tasting like baked sand.

Passover ended a few weeks ago now, but I've still got some left over Matza that I'm nibbling on at the moment.  I have to admit that this year the taste, unpleasant though it is compared to, well, food (Matza is technically a building material) was actually somewhat welcome. It’s such a unique flavor that it instantly transported me to the large, rowdy Seders that we held in our home when I was growing up. Last year I managed to miss both Seders on Camp Leatherneck, and this year if I’m not the only Jew for 30 miles then the others are keeping a low profile. So a little Matza, some Kedem grape juice and of course some Osem coconut cake for dessert were a nice break from the routine. Special shout out to the Jewish War Veterans and Project MOT for their unexpected but much appreciated K-for-P care packages.

In other news, the MST is at it again, having pulled the plug on the unfettered if, uh, unhurried Internet access we briefly had in the tents. We’ve filed our appeal (haha), but for now it’s back to the computer cans for a few minutes online, usually around 11:00 AM eastern if you’re wondering. I know, I know. Cans instead of cot. War is hell.

Of course this also means no more Skype. We do have a satellite phone now which I haven’t used as often as I should, so if you get a phone call from some strange-looking number don’t screen it, it’s probably me. I’m told it sometimes comes up as an 808 area code. That’s Hawaii – a place that I am, I’m pretty sure, not in.

In non-me related news, the fighting pre-season is over – those few weeks in early spring when the weather warms but before the (poppy) harvest causes things to quiet down. The lull should last a few more weeks or so, and then comes the regular season, as it were. Still, we’ve had a few busy days here and there. As always I can’t get into specifics – which trust me is as frustrating for me as for you – but I will say that the diversity of crap that is happening is greater than what I remember from last time.

That said, I think a lot of people view the sensationalism and the deadliness of insurgent attacks as a metric of our success (or failure). IMHO, it’s the wrong metric – or at least it’s an incomplete and often misleading one. To offer an imperfect but perhaps illustrative analogy, Hitler’s concentration camps were never so murderously industrious as in the waning months of the war, but the increasing pile of bodies was hardly an indicator of underlying German strength – just the opposite.

Or to fast-forward a generation, one of the lessons I thought we learned in Vietnam was that body count isn’t how you measure success in war (though it can be a pretty direct measure of success in individual battles). It’s true for us, and it’s true for them. In counter-insurgency – or in the “transition and support” phase that we’re currently in – I think you’re winning as long as the number of secure areas, supportive civilians and capable indigenous security forces keeps growing. I guess that’s a form of body-counting too, but it’s the living bodies, not the dead ones, and that is kind of an important distinction.

So, to use a prevalent phrase around here, are the positive atmospherics spreading? Are the good vibrations…vibrating? From what I see they are, albeit not without setbacks, but I’ve got a limited view. Unlike most of the chattering class I was encouraged by the remarkable success of the ANSF during the recent attacks in Kabul and a few other places. As I wrote to my family at the time:

In war, people carry out attacks. In this form of war, the Taliban and their allies target civilians and diplomats, but even outside of war, what happened in Kabul and elsewhere could have happened in Washington, D.C. or New York or Moscow or Jerusalem. I'm no Dwight D (though I am a captain-select) but it seems to me that the end results of those attacks are quite encouraging militarily. If the goal is an indigenous security force capable of containing, combating and defeating such a complex, coordinated attack, the events of two days ago showed that the ANSF are much further along than most people realized. From what I can gather (and this is all public information) there were over three dozen attackers, including over 20 suicide bombers, and nearly every single one was killed or captured before he could cause casualties. ISAF provided almost no assistance because none was requested or needed. Further, out of 11 non-Taliban deaths, 8 were Afghan security forces killed in the line of duty and only three were civilians.

Now is the price we’re paying for this progress worth it? That’s something each voter back home has to decide for him or herself. In country, in uniform, it’s not my place to state my opinion on matters of policy – and you know how hard that can be for me.

But will the successes stick? Will Americans enjoy greater security as a result of our investment here? There are no guarantees, but I believe we have the power to shape those answers over the next few years. I’ll leave it at that.

Well it has been over a month since my last post – what else can I share? As you saw in that e-mail excerpt, I’ve been selected for promotion to Captain. There’s no telling when I’ll actually get promoted – I’m number 600-something on a list just shy of 2000 – but I’m hopeful it’ll happen before my EAS – End of Active Service – date of 1 December.

That’s right, it’s been nearly four years since I took the oath (December 12, 2008 to be exact) and more than four years since I first started this journey, with those painful months of whipping myself into shape for OCS. I always suspected I’d do my four years and move on to the next thing, but I didn’t want to make the decision until I absolutely had to. Technically, that won’t be until August, assuming the “career designation” board offers me the opportunity to stay in. But having spent 15 of the last 25 months in Afghanistan and a good chunk of the other 10 months away from home for training, I’m ready to pursue other things. No doubt I’ll have more to say on that as the date approaches.

I've got some pictures to post...but for whatever reason I'm being blocked from uploading them right now.  I'll try again when the MST is sleeping.

And lastly, in newspaper news, I think I’ve only linked here to my very first Conway Daily Sun article. I’ve had two more published since: Respect and Suspicion and Long Day. They’re meh at best…the second one especially I don’t really like. It reads like a rambling transcript from a therapy session – but hey, at least it gives you a sense of life out here. The one I’ve just written, which will hopefully be published soon, is a little better and at least somewhat coherent from start to finish. It’s called “V-mail and Gmail.”

Well I think that about wraps it up. My tracker thing says I'm almost 50% done with this deployment.  I'll drink (some grape juice) to that. 

I’m pretty terrible at knowing what people back at home might want to hear more about so if there’s anything, just let me know!

Yum

Incident at Lash

You may have seen reports of an incident here at MOB Lashkar Gah today.  Just wanted to let you know that I'm OK. 

Hard to express my feelings in a blog-appropriate way.  Maybe a little later.

Last week: standing a few feet from the main gate.

What (else) to bring on a deployment to Afghanistan

How do you pack for a year?

Standing in the middle of my apartment with crap strewn on every surface of three rooms, this is the question I found myself asking before my last deployment.  Now that I was really thinking about it, it seemed I knew a lot less about my own daily life than I realized.  How long does a stick of deodorant actually last?  How long before boot socks wear out?  And would someone please just give me a straight answer on what I'll be able to buy in country?

This time around there were still some question marks since I knew I'd be on a non-US base and one with far fewer amenities than Camp Cupcake, but overall packing was much easier.  I did however answer a crudzillion questions from other Marines who had never been, and my list from last time is still the most visited page on my blog according to Google.

So since today is a PT rest day and I've got some time to kill, I thought I'd add some more items to that list, with the benefit of a little more experience and "field testing" of some of this gear.

• Drop holster.  I know what I said last time about finding a holster you're comfortable with.  But I am so happy with mine that I have to plug it: the Blackhawk Serpa.  Get the combo kit.  I've heard some grumblings about this holster, and I realize I'm not a grunt or MP or what-have-you, but at LNK I drew and holstered the thing a million times a day at the clearing barrel and it worked smoothly, safely and quickly every time.  Isn't that the purpose of a holster?
     
• External hard drive.  After several crashes, there is only one brand I will ever trust: Transcend's rugged Storejet M series (you can find them cheaper than that link though).  I own two with a third on order and they have withstood some 14 months of deployment now with no problems.  Accessories: extra USB cable (they seem to go bad all the time) and lots of movies, TV shows and music.
   
• Digital camera.  Mentioned this one last time but I had to break two - one in Afg and one in Yuma, AZ, to realize an investment in a rugged camera was worth it.  Got the Panasonic Lumix DMC TS3 - waterproof, dust proof, drop proof, freeze proof, insult proof.  Best specs for the money in the rugged category, at least when I bought it in I think Jan of 2012 or so.  Accessories: large capacity SD card, protective case, extra battery if you can afford one.  Always practice good OpSec.
   
• Multi-tool: I like the one we were issued, the Leatherman Wave, because it's versatile, strong and relatively light.
   
• Belkin laptop fan - keeps my laptop and my cojones cool and operating at maximum efficiency.
    
• Mio water flavor.  This stuff is the best - easy to carry around and sugar free. 
   
• Good headphones.  Mine are Klipsch S4i, and while the control buttons quickly stopped working and the ear buds have recently started zapping me with static electricity just a bit too often, the sound quality is excellent and that's all I really care about.  The built in mic is nice for Skyping too.  Pricey at around $100 though, and admittedly I've never tried Bose headphones.  Accessories: this thing.
   
• Also good ear pro - I think the wax stuff is by far the most effective.
   
• A word about issued gear: don't bring it just because it's on the "required gear" list.  If you brought your e-tool, stop reading right now and go haze yourself for at least 10 minutes.  Use the e-tool.  Some of the more useful gear for POGs like us: the sleeping bag, the drop pouch, the camelbak, the fleece (tan not digi), the poncho and poncho liner.  Some of the less useful gear: the gortex bottoms, the boonie cover, the bivy sack, the goggles, the balaclava (just put on a beanie and stop whining).
   
• Other stuff you may not have thought to bring but will make you money out here: extra rank insignia, bungee cords, surge strip, fly strips/fly swatter, pillow (and blanket if you have room), carabiners, cash. 
    
• Things from my previous list that are so good I want to plug them again: Timex Ironman Triathlon, USStandardIssue Oakleys, MagPul mags, and yes my favorite toy, the Fenix P3D Flashlight.  For those who have been to Yuma: I lit the desert floor with this thing from the top of OP Feets.  It's awesome. 

Well anywho there are a few more things you might want to bring on deployment or for that matter on any extended trip away from civilization.  Hope it helps and let me know if you have any questions!

Seriously.

A Bit About the Brits

If memory serves, it was a year ago today – March 7 as I write this – that I left Afghanistan last time around. Now don’t get me wrong, I wanted this current deployment and I’m glad to be here. But if I try to imagine what it would have felt like to know on that day that I’d be back here on this one, my mind sputters and steams a little, then just gives me the finger and shuts down.

Or maybe it’s two fingers. One of the many things I’ve learned about the British is that our peace sign is their bird. This is a revelation, and one I plan to put to good use when I get back to the states.

Other things I’ve learned about/from the Brits:

• They butcher the English language as badly as we do
• They invented the Internet (but honestly, who didn’t invent the Internet these days) and the Queen sent the first e-mail
• “Cheers” is an appropriate response in absolutely any context, e.g. “Your hair is on fire.” “Cheers!” or “Who invented the Internet?” “Cheers!”
• Mate basically means dude. Bloke means guy.
• Brits, of course, drive on the left. Turns out they walk there, too. I’ve gotten stuck doing the mirror dance with a bloke on basically an eight-lane highway.
• Google-challenge results are inherently suspect: Google is an American stooge
• Calling a bowler a pitcher is sort of like calling a pitcher a thrower
• America is either omnipotent or inept, depending on which is more convenient at the moment
• And of course, we only won the Revolutionary War because the French helped us out, which frankly doesn’t say much for the Brits anyway.

Of course, I’ve also learned a little about how the Brits do airspace and COIN and war in general, and I think they’ve learned from us and our predecessors as well. I mention that because their senior guy in the JOC just stopped me as I was coming out of the chow hall to say that he was grateful for our close cooperation over the last 24 hours. Here’s what he was referring to:

Late yesterday evening, a British Warrior – a heavily armored APC – was blown up. Five members of the 3rd Yorkshire Batallion and one from the 1st Lancaster Batallion were killed, according to news reports. It was one of the most serious incidents in the history of the British participation in Operation Enduring Freedom, with even Members of Parliament speaking out about it today.

A Warrior 

The Marine-led Regional Command Southwest, under which the British Task Force Helmand falls, has been providing continual armed aerial over watch of the incident as the remains and the vehicle are recovered. This process is still ongoing as I write, nearly 24 hours later.

That kind of air support takes a tremendous amount of coordination – even more so given the location of the incident, which I won’t go into in detail. British and American pilots have flown more sorties in support of a single mission than I have ever seen before, by far. Aircraft maintainers, refuelers and others have been working overtime to keep the air frames flying – don’t forget that the rest of the war goes on.

And our little part of it was simply to coordinate who was flying where, and when, to make sure that not for one second were the ground forces providing site security left without a strike-capable platform (or platforms) overhead. As of now there has been no follow-on attack, and I believe this is due in part to the intentionally visible (and audible) presence of those air assets. By the time you read this the mission should be complete, hopefully without further incident.

In more ways than one I never would have imagined a day like today, either a year ago or a week ago. One thing I’ll take away from it is another layer of appreciation for the special U.S.-U.K. relationship. Many Americans tend to think that we beat the Brits in the Revolutionary War and bailed them out in WWII and that’s about the extent of it. We forget that in WWII there would have been nothing left to bail out – British or otherwise – had they not held on for so long first. We definitely forget that the Brits were with us in Korea, in Kosovo, in the Persian Gulf War, and I think we sometimes forget that they have bled alongside us throughout OEF and OIF. The Brits who gave their lives last night deserve to be remembered not only by their countrymen but by ours.

All quiet on the southern front

This is gonna be a quick one cause I only have a minute. 

1. I am ok.  I know you've heard about the demonstrations and the violence in its various forms over the last week or so, and a few of you have contacted me to make sure I'm OK.  Fortunately, all protests in Helmand province have remained peaceful (at least to the best of my knowledge), a frankly astonishing sign of the success the Marines and Brits have had here in the former heartland of the Taliban.  To say that all is quiet in Helmand is of course a bald-face lie, but at least on this issue things have remained remarkably non-violent.
    
2. There's been a slight modification to my mailing address that may expedite the mail-delivery process by a few days.  Use this instead:
   
   1STLT Me
   MASS-3 (ASLT) LASHKAR GAH
   UNIT 42041
   FPO, AP 96427-2041
   
   Stand by for possibly another update that will hopefully speed things up even more.
    
3. Speaking of mail, I've already gotten a few packages so thank you to my dad and AH and also to HHM - you're the best and I want you to know how much I appreciate our friendship.
    
4. EM/RM - your video had me dying laughing in my cot, trying not to wake the neighbors.  WHAT is on your head.  Looking forward to the next one.  AM/CM - I LOVED the video of ALM smiling and I want you to send me a framed pic of him, ok?
    
5. One month down, five to go!

Gotta run, a decent post to follow soon I promise.

A day in the Lash...

Somehow, it’s the middle of February and already 1/12th of this deployment is over. Put that way, 6 months doesn’t seem that long, does it?

I’ve more or less settled into a routine here so I guess I’ll start there. I wake up around 7:30 each morning and don’t get up right away. When I do I hit the gym – currently I’m alternating one day resistance, one day cardio but as I get my strength and endurance back up (I hardly worked out at all for probably six weeks before deploying) I’ll start to work myself harder. I read a study somewhere that workouts before breakfast were found to be more effective than after, at least for fat-burning which is one of my goals. I avoid the subject all together by skipping breakfast. I know that’s supposed to be a big no-no but I find I feel great on two meals a day plus snacks.

After working out I take a shower. The British showers are one of the things I love about this place. They are hot – really hot – and actually have adequate water pressure. There’s a knob you push and you get about 15-20 seconds of water, then you have to push it again. The idea I assume is to conserve water. It works, but not because you have to push the knob. It’s because, unlike at US bases, the actual bathroom is properly heated. On Leatherneck the bathrooms are ice-boxes in the winter, so the incentive is to keep the water – even the lukewarm-at-best water – running rather than suds yourself up in the freezing cold air. Probably no one who hasn’t dealt with this directly gives a crap about it but I just had to share my philosophy on bathroom heating and associated phenomena. Moving on.

Back at my tent I go through my post-shower ritual – dry feet (shower shoes are a must), apply moisturizer to shins (they itch something unbearable from wearing boot socks all day every day, to the point that I’ve started wearing ankle socks in my boots some days to give my shins a break), don uniform, strap pistol, climb into body armor. In full flak and sapi plates I then mosey over to work, where I promptly remove said body armor and forget all about it (it’s there for emergencies).

I work in the JOC – Joint Operations Center. It’s the “nerve center” of the real-time war, at least that part being fought by the British in their AO (Area of Operations). Imagine a small room with lots of flat screen TVs and laptops showing UAV feeds, maps and Cricket games, and that’s my office. Everything being classified and such (including, apparently, the rules of Cricket) I unfortunately can’t take a picture to show you.

My piece of the puzzle is simply monitoring a series of chat windows and phones through which various requests for close air support come in from British units. Working with my British counterpart, I help manage the air over those ground units, getting them the air assets they need and integrating them with other forms of fire support such as artillery, mortars and grandiloquent British put-downs.

The British AO, known as Task Force Helmand, is a very kinetic area, so things can get fairly busy in the JOC though once the weather warms the current pace of operations will seem like a vacation by comparison. Fortunately, most of the recent ops seem to have been offensive in nature, with remarkably few medevacs in TFH in recent days (I hope I’m not jinxing it). We did have one Op Minimize a few days ago, the UK version of River City, so unfortunately we haven’t been entirely casualty free.

I leave work for a quick lunch at the chow hall, and ditto for dinner. The chow hall is for the most part tasty but not healthy. An overwhelming amount of the food is fried, and lots of it, maybe a third or more, also contains pork. Still, I have managed to find something good to eat almost every day while still limiting my fried foods. The actual French fries they serve here (with every meal!) remind me of my mother’s so that can be difficult to resist. Also dessert.

After work – I work an 8-9 hour shift – I trundle home to deposit my flak, then turn around and head to the NAAFI – PX – to see if they have anything good. They never do. I mean there’s junk food, which is useless to me, and there’s a lamp with bulbs that don’t fit it so I still live in the dark in my ten, and there are boxers but being the expert planner that I am I already brought some with me, and there is fabric softener of the kind I once described here, but there is no do-it-yourself laundry so that one remains a mystery to me as well. A few things they don’t have that I think maybe they should consider just maybe:

• Moisturizer, for Jesus Christ’s sake and mine. Are we living in the same Afghanistan?
• Q-tips
• Chapstick that doesn’t taste like sheep doodoo
• UK-to-US power adapters
• Hanging hooks of any kind (they do have hangars but who has a closet??)
• Drink mix
• Baby wipes

Here are a few more things they do carry, thankfully:

• Connect Four
• Large pillows
• Small pillow-cases
• Chocolate eggs
• Chapstick that does taste like sheep doodoo
• Car polish rags
• Greeting cards – not a few, but a whole display of them
• And of course: non-alcoholic beer. Not. Going. To Happen.

After a little NAAFI window shopping, I go across the dirt to the computer cans, where I check e-mail, respond to fan mail, and think up new things to ask my dad to send me.

Then it’s off to bed, or rather off to cot. I live in an eight-man tent that houses – you guessed it – six men, not that I’m complaining. I managed to snag one of the extra spots when we moved a few days ago, so now in addition to a bedroom I’ve got a living room, dining room and reflection pool.

…and, ironically, a sort of closet…

Once home I usually turn on a movie on my laptop, read a book, or as is the case tonight, do some writing. I’m tapping this out with a towel over my hands so I don’t annoy my neighbors with my typing, but I’ll (hopefully) post it tomorrow along with a few pictures. Till then…g’night!

The walls in this place are as thin as a sheet.

ps Next day: rainy, so I'll take more pictures on a nicer day.  Meantime, my first Conway Daily Sun column was published!

Only 30 minutes a day on line, so apologies for the series of brief posts (I've used up 25 already today on e-mail so this is going to be messy and disjointed). 

ANYway, just wanted to let you know a little about what's going on.  Been at Lash for a day or two now - I really have a hard time keeping track of the days on deployment for some reason.  It's a small base - helo landing zone, chow hall, living tents, a small NAAFI (PX), some computer and phone terminals, and of course a bunch of work spaces including mine.  The Brits are fun, relaxed, and very hard on Americans.  Now accepting witty comeback contributions.

I live in a tent with maybe a dozen other guys, each separated from each other by some hanging sheets.  I sleep on a cot, so far in my sleeping bag but I'll probably get some kind of bedding here soon.  Unfortunately, we're scheduled to move a few times as they upgrade some tents, so I'm trying not to get too settled in yet.

Well just like that my 30 minutes are up.  More on life in Lash, and hopefully some pics, soon!