Greetings all,!
Well, Summer by any and all definitions has arrived. The Summer Solstice, Vernal Equinox has occurred and both Shore Regional and Maple Place have had their graduation ceremonies. Congratulations to all the graduates, enjoy your summer and best of luck on the adventures that await you in the fall. Summer has been in full affect here in Mazar-E Sharif for some time now. Our mid day temperatures average between 110 and 120 degrees. In the middle of the night it cools down to a reasonable 85-90 degrees. All soldiers are trained to move from covered position to covered position in a gun fight. It is the smart soldier that learns to plan their movements from shaded location to air conditioned location during the days here. You also learn to do whatever work possible indoors in the middle of the day and the outside work either early or late in the day. Around lunch time it looks like the wind swept streets of a desert town without a soul to be found.
June started with another Combat Camping trip. Again we were to provide logistic support to one of our teams involved in the operation along with command and control. We were operating in an area that had not seen GiROA (Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan) or ISAF presence in over a year. We occupied an abandoned Northern Alliance airfield and turned it into the Warped Tour- Afghanistan. I was prepared to dig fighting positions, string up concertina wire and lay out mines to defend us against possible enemy attack. When we arrived, the Germans had already scattered dozens of porta-johns, festival style tents and dumpsters all over the place. They even had some sort of inflatable shower tent, I couldn't believe what lay before me, and to be honest, I was kind of disappointed. For this operation I convinced my team to let me bring the M977 HEMTT I've been raving about the last few months. I loaded my truck down with 2 ATV's, 220 Gallons of fuel, and pallets of other essentials. The operation itself went off without much of a hitch. It was both encouraging and aggravating to watch the ANA and ANP do the operation without any coalition support. Encouraging because they now have the ability to command and control an air assault mission and also a competent and equipped air force to allow them to do it. It was aggravating because we spent a week sitting on the sidelines to see if they needed support. As always, plenty of lessons were learned and as I mentioned the mission was a success.
Now for the good news, in the absence of a final decision from the powers at be, our company is moving forward with our original redeployment time line. There was, and still is, talk of us being extended until October, but until someone makes a final decision we are getting the gears rolling for our departure. As such, I've been selected to leave even earlier to assist with getting things at our home station prepared for the influx of men and materiel. I should be starting my westward travels in the next day or two. Interesting how it comes just a matter of hours after Nick's westward travels began.
I would like to take this time to thank you all for your support over the last 6 months. I can't begin to express how much your care packages and letters have meant to the entire team here. After nearly every care package one of the guys would come up to me and say how this item or that item was their favorite snack/food/gum. They would usually go on to share an anecdote or story about when it became their favorite and the smile on their faces were amazing. Thanks to your care packages you were able to truly brighten a soldiers day. It is also nice to know, with the Nations attention turned to other news items, that people back home still think about those serving overseas. If you wish to continue sending care packages, the address will remain the same, just place 'American Soldier' at the top of the address.
I hope this finds you all well and sun tanned. Enjoy your summer and I look forward to seeing you all in the not too distant future.
- Chris