Afghanistan Through My Eyes - cigars

The best time I had in Afghanistan was having a smoke with the Outlaws. Here I am sitting with 1stSgt. Darrell Carver. Gunnery Sgt. James Schadle, Gunny, had his back to us. I was wearing his hat. 

My cigar was good and we were sitting in front of a roaring fire. Others joined us, SSgt. Sergio Fernandez, Capt. Chris Richardella the CO and SSrg. Oliver Brugoto. This was my last night in Camp Spenghar and it was an honor to be included.

These Outlaws are all remarkable men and their families should be busting with pride. Their deployment is up in June and they will be headed back to Oahu, Hawaii, their home base.

Afghanistan Through My Eyes - Nawa District

This photo was taken outside the school in the Village of Gyrowa outside Camp Jaker. This is the bazaar that is comprised of shacks attached to each other with corrugated metal sides and canvas roofing. They are very primitive but this is where the villagers shop. They come from miles around to get spices, their motor cycle fixed, or a new pot etc. 

In the distance you will notice the electronic dish and in the foreground the new concrete bridge. These are courtesy of the Military.

Across the way is the new improved bazaar, made out of concrete with metal door closures, painted a clean white with red trim.

They held the grand opening after a Shura I attended. Here is the Military brass with the Afghanistan Elders of the village talking about the wonderful new improvements.

Afghanistan Through My Eyes - chow

Mmmmmm, breakfast. These heated UGR's were our breakfast every morning at Camp Geronimo. There were no cooking facilities or running water so the cook was limited. I can't seem to find the definition of the acronym but let me tell you about them. 

Here we have sweet rolls, sausage and gravy, once fried potato patties and scrambled eggs. A UGR's shelf life is 9 months and it's considered an A ration. If it's good, then it probably isn't a 'real' UGR. They are heated. The key here would be to eat right when they were served as the DFAC (dining facility) didn't have heat and it was about 20 degrees every morning.

I ate dried cereal. I didn't use the milk because I was told by every camp I went to, not to. It was a rich milk from Dubai. If there wasn't soy milk then I just ate my cereal dry. We could also make instant coffee, if you grabbed some hot water before the men started to fill bottles to wash and shave.

For lunch or anytime you were hungry there were MRES, which were heated with a pull tab and 1st Strikes which were pouches of a days amount of food. I didn't eat lunch. Around 3:30 I usually broke into my stash of skittles.

At 3:00 cook started the two big wood fires to make dinner outside. Dinner had to be cooked within his two huge pots or on a grill. The first night I was there, in my honor, we had twice fried chicken and rice. Cook was a master at rice.  This was the first cooked meal the guys had since they deployed to this little base. The next night we had steak and one night we had 'Castaway Rice' which was a conglomeration of rice, spices chicken etc.

The chow was good, then again, I was starving.

Afghanistan Through My Eyes

Lying in my cot in the morning I used to wait until the Sun had just illuminated the sky a pale blue. It was always a rush to use the multitude of porto potties. Of course they called them porto Johns in the Marines, which made me smile because my Mom always called the facilities  a John.

It was hard enough using them in the dark with your headlamp. But at least you could tell which ones were occupied, the ceiling inside glowing like a mushroom. There was no chance of opening the door on someone.

It was cold out. The cold slapped you on your face; so there was no chance of you getting back into your snuggly sleeping bag to catch a little more sleep.

As I lay there in the quiet of my hootch I would hear the Afghan's morning call to prayer. There was a mosque in the village about 1 mile south, by way of the sun. The call was the first reminder that I was in a foreign country.

It takes awhile to adjust to where you are just as it takes awhile to adjust to being home.

Afghanistan Through My Eyes

One of the most amazing things about Afghanistan at night where I was deep in the desert, were the stars. I haven't seen stars like that since I was a kid and we'd go out in the desert in New Mexico away from all the lights and lay on the hood of our car and watch for shooting stars. Sometimes I would just catch myself starring up at the heavens in awe and wonder why we as humans keep getting ourselves into these wars with one another. I just don't get why we can't all live together on this planet and I'm afraid it's going to take aliens from another solar system to unite us.

Then I would suddenly remember where I was, in a combat zone and know that inside the camp I was being monitored and they were probably wondering what I was doing. It was funny how self conscious I felt in the dark, knowing people inside were watching me on the infrared monitor and outside at the guard posts. It was weird with such amazing natural beauty above us I was in this US military camp with concertina wire, guard posts, mortars aimed and ready to fire and LATV's and MRAP's parked to block other vehicles from coming in.

I never felt afraid. Which is only because I am an American of a certain generation and still have that luxury. I wonder how many more generations will be able to experience my purity?