Broken mirrors, convoys, helicopters

Intro and Trip to Bagram

So this week finds me at the end of a streak of a somewhat eventful few weeks. Here I sit on my bed with a cup of hot ginseng tea next to me and my speaker beanie, while reflecting on my time here.

I guess the first major event was traveling on my first convoy(mounted comat patrol to be P.C.). Now granted it was only to Bagram Airfield which is not that far but nonetheless, it was a convoy. I had to go get a chipped tooth looked at and repaired. The first couple minutes outside the wire were a bit exciting but after spending so much time in armored vehicles in training, it was nothing new. This time though, I was only a passenger, a window licker, a strap hanger, whatever you want to call it. Despite very tiny windows and uncomfortable sitting positions, I was still greatful to be here and have a view of the country I presently reside but have never really seen outside the base. The trip was uneventful but I was able to take several pictures of the landscape and see how people here make their way of life. To see shabby tents pitched on the rocky terrain and know these were peoples homes. Seeing cattle and donkeys and dogs wandering around and wondering how they survive in such a barren land. Now granted its not the desert, but it is still pretty bleak. I was not blown away, having been in third world countries on multiple occasions on my own personal travels, but no two places are the same. I remember noticing all the caves in the mountains and the steep grades and dirty rivers and scattered rocks and thinking, so this is what all the books and movies are talking about. Brutal, near unpassable mountains in the north and barren desert in the south. These people have been fighting almost nonstop for hundreds of years and not only conquered, but beaten the crap out of everyone who has tried to take this land from them. Now if you;ve never read up on the history of Afghanistan, well(besides recent discoveries or major mineral deposits) theres not really anything here that anyone would want. No major economic assets or natural resources. This land is disputed over simply because of its location being landlocked by so many nations and key tactical terrain to hold in the Central Asian territory.

So anyway, off of my sidetrack(darn ADD), we safely arrived at Bagram without incident and I dismounted and locked my rifle and body armour away. While at BAF, I took care of several things that I cannot do at the FOB such as buying things at the BX and getting information on education opportunities and taking a mathematics placement test. My original dental appt was scheduled for thanksgiving day, but then I showed up and they told me all appts for the day had been cancelled and I would have to reschedule. Bummer. So then I went with some guys of my team for Thanksgiving lunch but the line was so ridiculously long, we ended up all getting tuna pouches and microwave meals from the shoppete. Oh well, another holiday in the military away from loved ones. What else is new? Such has been the story of my life for over 4 years now. One tends to get used to the idea. (We ended up having a great thanksgiving dinner with turkey and everything minus the pumpkin pie cause it was all gone. So that made up for lunch)

I hung out at BAF for a couple weeks waiting on my appt. It finally came about and once I had a new filling and numb face from novacane it was time to go. (I actually discovered by accident that eating something to work the novicane out of your system brings feeling back pretty quick). That night my team members signed me up for Space Available on a helicopter making trips that night. I waited to see if I made the cut and was shocked when they called out the last 4 of my SSN (this is how the military identifies people, last name and last 4). I jumped up and through on my armor vest, slung my rifle over my shoulder, put on my helmet and eyewear, grabbed my bags and made a quick video before heading out to the flightline for liftoff. Now if you’ve never ridden a military helicopter or even a helicopter for that matter, there is nothing like the anticipation the first time you are about to board. Perhaps it’s just me because I freaking love aviation and always wanted to ride a helicopter. This was actually my 2^nd experience on a helicopter(first was the first time we flew to the FOB) but the excitement was still alive and well due to the fact that I had never been on a helicopter this large before. While the crew chiefs were doing their pre-flight checks after all the bags had been loaded and strapped down, one of them strapped on a helmet and facemask. I laughed a little inside because he had drawn a goofy looking face on his mask that was impossible not to smile at. He noticed my glance and chuckled. Then the rotors started up. We waited there for a long while, my butt half on the seat because the bird was so jampacked I was hanging off the end of it, when we finally started taxiing. The feeling of liftoff can pass you by if you are not really paying attention. It’s so crazy just looking at the ground and see yourself hovering there just a few feet off the flightline engines blazing full force and all. I grinned with joy. This was one of those moments that I was really happy to be in the military. Who else gets to do that?

So we took off into the dark, moonless, Afghan night. They told us we were first off, so myself and a couple other guys had to be ready. When we landed, it was so dark, I hardly realized we had landed and didn’t know where we were. That green light came on and the guy next to me(our new cooks I found out later) gave me a shove and I was on my feet snatching up bags and hustling to the ramp. I rushed down the ramp and onto the helipad under the roar of the rotor blades. Once we had exfilled the bird, it took off. I was nearly knocked off my feet and my bags went rolling away from me due to the power of the prop wash. It was intense. I wanted to look at this dark beast that can only be seen because it blocks out the stars in the sky, but it was kicking up too much dust and I had to concentrate on bracing myself. Aircraft are amazing. Giant machines in the sky that just give you a feeling of extreme power.( This is best experienced by being just a few hundred feet away from a fighter jet when it takes off on full afterburner or the same distance away from a 747 at 85 percent throttle.)

Once this was done, I jumped on the tailgate of a gator that was there to pick up the cooks and hitched a ride in full gear part of the way back to my tent. It was pitch black the whole way as everything is here for safety and security reasons. I finally arrived back at the tent and surprised everyone who were not expecting me to be back for a while. Especially not on a helicopter. I downed all my gear and began to wind down before retiring for the night.