Morales-Frazier 24 Oct 2010 Part 1

Wow, the mountains here are gorgeous.  This altitude will certainly take some adjusting though as my lungs are burning from my recent workout.  5000 ft actually makes quite a bit of difference.  The difference was painfully apparent immediately after exiting our ride to the base-an HH-60 U.S. Blackhawk helicopter.  Yeah, like the ones in Black Hawk Down the movie.  The air is much cooler as well.  As for the food, its kinda tough to get proper nutrition when for lunch you are fed thawed out corn dogs and pizza.  I resentfully downed a can of V8 vegetable juice this morning along with some vitamin cereal just to maintain a healthy diet.  Soon we are going to the first barbecue where will commune with some of the previous PRT members.  Then who knows whats next.  The entire day has been filled with the sound of helicopters, mortars, and small arms fire but dont worry, it's all friendly.  Those Frenchies on the other side have been doing some display of force and turnover to their new team members.  Apparently artillery fire and helicopter rotor wash is a common thing here.  One tends to get used to it though.  As long as the Afghans security forces and the French team do a proper job fending off the Taliban, we American Provincial Reconstruction Team members remain safe while here on the FOB.  Where am I?  FOB Morales-Frazier in Kapisa Province, Eastern Afghanistan.  We are approx. 15 miles away from Bagram Airfield, a major Coalition Forces hub for Central Afghanistan.  How did I get here?  Well thats a bit of a story.

8 months ago I was fairly new to Kadena AB, Okinawa, Japan as a fairly experienced aircraft maintainer.  I was 4 months into my assignment and already felt like I was in a rut.  Not that there's anything wrong with Okinawa, but it was winter time and I didn't really know anyone.  I had been wanting a deployment for years in the military and frequently bugged my shop chief about putting me up for one.  I wasn't too fond of the normal deployments we get tasked for of watching Third country nationals do work and guarding them but I was willing to settle for this if it was all that was available.  Then one day out of the blue, my shop chief came and met me in the break room as I was eating my lunch and asked me what I thought about a 9 month deployment to Afghanistan with the US Army.  My jaw dropped and I got a big chance.  This was what I had been waiting for but 9 MONTHS?  That was a little more than I bargained for.  He told me that a tasking like this would go quick and the volunteer slots would be filled quickly which I believed.  I told him I would think about it.  I guess I didn't wait long enough to think about it because I was worried that all the slots would be filled.  I went back into his office and several other people kept telling me that if they were young and single, they would absolutely volunteer for it.  I was kind of choked up and nervous about it.  This was the opportunity I had been waiting fo4r but there were other factors to consider.  For one, Kadena is a great place to be stationed and there is tons to do.  I would be missing an entire summer and winter and with training, another summer just for this one deployment.  For another, I had just met a wonderful girl that I was really clicking with the night before this offer.  I really thought we could do well together and wanted to see where it would go but this was the chance that I had waited 3 1/2 years for.  Without much more thought, I took a gamble and said "Screw it, I'll do it".  This was the beginning of a looooong, life altering, lesson learning experience for which I would embark soon or so I thought.

I told everyone about my decision and waited a while to tell my mother as I was waiting to see if my commander and chain of command would approve me to go.  I was put in for it and it turned out that only 1 other person in my squadron had volunteered for it.  So much for the slots going quickly.  Everyone told me I was dumb for volunteering for it and I didn't know what I was getting into.  I often think they were right but I always thought I was a little too hard for the Air Force anyway.  A month went by and I finally got word that I was approved for the deployment.  I was thrilled!  This was my exit from the rut I was in in the shop and a way to keep myself from getting tied down in any kind of relationship.  Everyone encourage me to get my things ready and be ready to go within a month or two and that it was imperative that I take care of any business that I would need in the next year while I had the time.  I began getting everything taken care of in proper excitement and anticipation that I would soon be departing for the greatest adventure of my life.  Then, it happened.  Word came down that I would not be leaving until October or November.  I was almost heartbroken and definately let down.  The military got me so excited then told me I had to wait 6 to 8 months before I could leave.  Now what?  I knew this could not be good for my nomadic life and would be just enough time to get comfortable before I would have to up and leave again which is actually exactly how it would play out.  Well, sort of.