Simple day, thankful for a wonderful family:)

Well, instead of having to take potentially an hour out of the day to ride a bus back and forth to the other side of the FOB, I heard from a couple Soldiers about another free MWR internet cafe that was only a 5 minute walk away! Of course, if I didn't get good directions and have a knack for navigation I never would have found it. This place was hidden inside a compound with no sign or indication that it was indeed an internet cafe. The building is in the middle of a group of other buildings that look just like it too! But, there are something like 20 computers here and no wait to use them, so yay!

Today I decided to give myself a haircut for the first time in a while. I think I did a pretty decent job, if I do say so myself! Other people seem to think it's alright too (I asked to make sure):) I was going to just shave it off, but decided to try and make it look presentable first. It's not so easy doing it with a delapidated mirror made out of a shiny medal that they put up in the shower tent. I asked one of the guys to make sure I didn't miss any spots in the back like I usually do. He said there was only one spot, so I fixed that and I will post a picture when possible.

I was getting a little nervous about laundry since I haven't had a chance to clean any of my clothes since we got here, but then I found another bag I had packed with more underwear and t-shirts in it, so I'll be good for a while. It's always key to know how many more days you can go without needing to do laundry! The turn around time on laundry is 3 days here, and since I haven't known how long we'll be here, I can't feel comfortable turning in laundry. Hopefully the next place will have do it yourself washer and dryers!

If you are reading this and your Soldier has not been through BAF yet, tell them NOT to waste money on the pay WIFI. It works okay from what I've heard, but has a bunch of connection issues and you have to let them configure settings on your laptop (which I'm wicked skeptical of). Plus, this place is here and free, and with a little effort, there are other places on the main part of the FOB too.

I tell you what has been incredibly comforting so far this deployment has been how great Porter seems to be handling it and how Robyn is helping him with it. Robyn told me about their night last night. She went out to eat with her friend and their little girls Sidney and Amelia. She said that when Amelia saw Porter they had the best conversation:
Amelia: "Porter, where's your daddy?"
Porter: "hmmph, he's at work..."
Amelia: "Aww, my daddy is at work too."
Robyn: "Porter do you know where he is at work?"
Porter: "hmmm...aww, I forgot."
Robyn: "He's in Afghanistan right?"
Porter to Amelia: "Oh yeah, my daddy is at work in Af...gan..istan"
Amelia: "oh, yeah. My daddy is at work in the woods."


Those two kids are so darn cute together. I can't even tell you.


I thought I would add in some pictures of the two of them that I was able to find on Facebook. I know there are some better ones out there of the two of them that Robyn has taken, but I don't have access to them. Just know that they're wicked cute.

Robyn tells me that Porter is doing very well understanding that I have to be here to stop the bad guys and that he doesn't really question why. She said that when he starts to get sad about it, he colors me pictures, or she'll play my voice from some recordings I did on her phone before I left, and that cheers him up:) I have been blessed to have a truly remarkable wife like Robyn who has supported me through so much in my life.

Okay, I think that's enough random spewing from my stream of consciousness for today. Hopefully if you're reading, you're not bored yet. In any matter, it keeps me busy enough not to worry about too much and kills some time.

Beauty surrounding the chaos

I'm sure many people have commented on how beautiful parts of Afghanistan can be. That is one of the positive things my buddy Stoney told me I would appreciate when I came here, and he was right. The mountains that surround this base are gorgeous. Having been in Colorado Springs with a contstant view of Pike's Peak, this place can definitely compete. Now, I have to say that a good deal of my view is ruined by the constant chaos of vehicle and Soldier traffic going on around the base. The generators and heaters and trucks and planes and jets going all over the place make for an unhealthy cloud of smog and noise on a constant basis.

I suppose that's one thing I am looking forward to getting to my FOB for...I want to get away from the huge base and somewhere a little more peaceful. Now, that may seem a little contradictory since the place I'll be going will likely be more violent in the scheme of the war...but in between those generally short periods of violence that interupt things, the place should be more peaceful than here.

Today I got to go to the range and zero my weapon again. It's a good thing I did, because apparently the company had taken my optic off the weapon for the deployment ceremony and when I tried to shoot with it, the bullets were hitting off the target! So, after a few adjustments and 12 or so rounds later, I'm hitting back at center mass with a nice shot group:)

I'm hoping that when we get to our FOB, I'll be able to upgrade my M68 red dot sight for an ACOG though. They're supposed to have some extra and there's nothing better in my opinion than having an ACOG to shoot with. No batteries needed, no fiddling, and a magnification to help you hit those hard to reach places:) Anyways, I doubt I will ever need to use the thing in my job, but, I would prefer to have the best shot at hitting what I shoot at in case I do need to use it.

Yesterday we had rollover training and IED training too. The rollover training was kind of fun in a scary way. They have vehicle hulls mounted on big wheels that they can rollover...it's just like the real up-armored vehicles we'll be riding in around the battlefield, so you get the real experience of rolling over and trying to get out when the vehicle is on it's side or upside down! I had to hold onto the gunner to keep him from bouncing off the ceiling...pretty difficult when the dude weighs about 260 pounds with his gear on.

The IED training was pretty good. They showed us a bunch of current things the bad guys do and what to look out for. I found the land mine awareness training the most interesting. I really didn't realize just how many land mines the Russians left here. Millions of them all over the place. I took some pictures of a few mine fields they still have here on base that haven't been cleared yet! Hopefully I'll be able to upload them later when I get to my FOB and get some connectivity for my own laptop. The other thing that was good to hear was how the enemy isn't penetrating our armor and is getting frustrated by it. Makes you feel good to know that the vehicles we're using are working!

But, with that training complete, it's just waiting for the next stop on the trip in getting where I need to go. So, back to limbo until then! I'll try to post pictures of the beauty soon:)

BAF-training and waiting

Well,

A few days into the deployment, I'm still not to where I need to be. I've caught up to other guys who left way before me and are still trying to get to where we need to go! Apparently the Air Force isn't able to keep up and is having a lot of cancelled flights due to numerous reasons. So, we sit, in limbo, waiting to go and execute our mission and relieve the unit that has been here for a year already. I am sure that they are more than ready to go home to their families and get out of here. Hopefully they have better luck with their travels back home than we've had getting in here.

This place isn't too bad. Reminds me a lot of BIAP in Iraq. The main part has a lot of stuff on it and tons of people. Unfortunately, it's a pretty long way from where we're staying on the other side. Where we're staying, you have to pay something like $10 for 10 hours of internet or something like that. From what I've been told, the bandwidth is being shared by so many people that loading a simple webpage takes a few minutes. So, I opted for the 'frugal' route and walked to where someone said there was supposed to be a bus stop. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the bus stop...fortunately, some nice American contractors who were driving by took pity on me walking by myself in the rain and picked me up! They drove me all the way (10 minute drive or so) to this learning center place that I had heard had free internet! They were really nice and told me they work here on some of the uparmored vehicles. Apparently, this is the first rain they've had here since like September! Must be me...:)

Anyways, I don't know how much opportunity I will have to get back over here in the next few days, but I will make an effort to try one more time before I leave here to head to the next stop along the way. The problem with low bandwidth and government computers is that I can't really upload any pictures for everyone. Hopefully at our FOB, I'll have better luck.

If there is anyone other than Robyn that reads this thing, please keep up your support of her. I fully believe that a deployment is harder on the family/spouse than on the Soldier. She won't admit it, but she needs to be checked on once in a while by random friends in our lives. Even if you haven't talked to her in months, a random phone call goes a long way;) (Just don't all call today...space it out!) Seriously though, I have felt extremely blessed by the love and support that I have been shown for this deployment and I hope that I can give back by keeping folks updated through this.

Hopefully after our classes this week that we have to complete before continuing on our trip, we'll be able to get a flight out. One good thing about the rain...it's not cold enough to snow!:)

I think that's all for now. Take care!

Third Time's a charm

It's been a while since I've put anything into a blog. I thought I would try to get this going again while I'm in a place with little to do. Things are simple while traveling. It's like the world is just on pause and we're all waiting for someone to press play so we can get back to what we're supposed to be doing. Most of our time is filled with trying to get some rest, or eat, or to find a way to talk to the ones we miss and love back home.

This deployment it is my goal to pass the time on pause with some sort of productive self-improvement. I will try to read more, and to study more for the GRE to increase my score enough to make me more appealing to some IVY league schools. I will work to prepare myself for command and the huge endeavor that can be. I will also work to make sure that I take the time to spend dedicated to letting the people I care about in my life know that they are missed and are special to me and to keep you all updated on what is going on in my life. Hopefully this blog will help accomplish some of that.

It is bitterly cold here in Kurdistan. It was above zero yesterday, but it feels like it's close to that today. For a small base, this place is rather nice. It should be I guess...it's for the Air Force and they don't settle for low standards of living. We share a huge tent with bunk beds and a few outlets to charge our electronics off of. The DFAC is pretty nice and is open 24 hours for grab and go items. Speaking of...I'm pretty hungry. I have been waiting for my laptop and PSP to charge so I can put them away before going to eat! I don't know, and wouldn't/can't say how long we'll be here.

OPSEC - Operational Security means not disclosing details of troop movements and locations to prevent the information being compromised to the enemy. On public forums like this, facebook, etc. It's too easy for the enemy to hack or use a false account to gain access to information that they could use to harm us. I know people think, why would they read my blog or post? Believe me, I have seen the proof that they do it.

I apologize for the stream of consciousness type blogging...it's what I do. Enjoy it or don't read! I will try to take some pictures to add in here when I have a better connection. Right now we're sharing a connection with who knows how many people and there are fools trying to video chat with their family...killing the bandwidth. I could just lean over and tell them how they're ruining the internet access for everyone...it's just hard to tell someone...hey, don't video chat with your wife so I can check my facebook.

On the OPSEC side...I just had to tell a Soldier not to tell his wife (who he was video chatting with) not to tell her the flight and formation times on the unsecure network! AAHH!

Anyways, I'm headed to go to chow and probably come back and read a little. Hopefully this is a little enlightening as to the grind of the first couple days of deployment.

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Week 2 of Airborne School

This past week in Airborne school seemed to go by pretty quickly. I don't know if it was due to the longer days (usually not done until 1830 or so), or if it was just because we had already gotten used to how they do the training. Either way, we did a little less in the way of new training this week and mostly practiced and refined the skills we were already taught using some different equipment and training methods.
On Monday we learned the technique for conducting what they call a 'mass exit', or more specifically, everyone jumping out one right after another out of the plane.
We practiced this by lining up inside of a wooden framed mock aircraft with cables running down the center and all the dimensions the same as they would be for the C-130 airplanes we'll be likely to jump out of. We line up with 30 or so jumpers on each side of the plane and take commands from the jumpmaster in order. Each command has to be repeated by everyone on board in a certain manner. We stand up and hook up in groups of up to 15 per side in order to all jump out the door with approximately a one-second interval between us. We ran through the practice drill for this all morning long and then in the afternoon, we practiced what to do if we have malfunctions with our parachutes and need to pull the rip cord on our reserve parachute. There are a few different reasons that this would be necessary, and we had to remember and rehearse each one several times. One of them would be if we have broken suspension lines (the strings that connect the parachute to the risers), the other would be if there are blown out sections of the parachute, another would be if there are holes in the canopy larger than your helmet, and then the last would be if there were a total malfunction and the parachute does not open after you exit and count to 4-thousand.
The days are slightly blurred together, but I think the next morning we began practicing all of it together by exiting 4 at a time out of the 34 foot tower (only because they can only hook up 4 people at once). We get into the harness with our fake reserve parachute and practiced a couple exits with just the harness and reserve, which is what is referred to as a 'Hollywood' jump. Then we had to do a couple jumps hooked up with combat equipment, which includes a ruck sack and a weapons case. The ruck sack is attached upside down between your legs by a couple straps and then the weapons case is attached along your left leg. Once you are 200 feet above the ground, you are supposed to pull a quick release tab that releases your equipment from those straps and lowers it along another strap to about 15 feet below you. This makes sure that the equipment lands near you, but that you do not have to execute a parachute landing fall (PLF) with it attached to your legs. So, we had to practice exiting the 34 foot tower, pulling our reserve parachute, and then dropping our combat equipment before we got to the end of the cables and landed. We were able to accomplish all of this and then still have time to train in what is called the suspended harness.
The suspended harness is really just another rig attached to the ceiling that has risers (a.k.a. two inch wide straps that attach your harness to the suspension lines) so that you can practice 'slipping' to different directions. 'Slipping' is just a different way of saying, 'steering' your parachute. It is when you pull down on a set of risers in order to steer in that direction. We had to go over different types of 'slips' and why we use them and when to use them. Slipping in the suspended harness is much more difficult than slipping in the actual parachute during descent because you are actually pulling up all your body weight when you slip in the suspended harness, but when you slip in the parachute, you are really pulling a portion of the chute down to you to change its configuration. Once we were done practicing that, we received a block of instruction on the operation of the 250 foot tower and practiced emergency procedures in case someone were to get caught in the tower on their way down. This was in preparation for our turn on the tower Thursday.
Wednesday, we practiced our PLFs again in what they call the SLT, or swing landing trainer. In the SLT, we are in a harness attached to a cable and pulley system that comes down from the ceiling of a huge pavillion. You start off on a 12 foot platform and swing out over a gravel pit by falling forward off the platform. The instructor (black hat), holds the rope that controls your height off the ground and you have to pull a 'slip' in one direction or another in order to land properly. Once you have swung out and pulled your 'slip', the instructor will randomly drop you without warning by letting go of the rope, and you have to try to execute a proper PLF. The instructor then grades you and satisfactory or not, and you continue doing this several more times until you have gotten satisfactory grades falling at least 3 times to your right, left, left-front, right-front, left-rear, and right-rear. We did this ALL day on Wednesday until around 1800.
Thursday, we jumped from the 250 foot tower. I suppose I should more correctly say, fell from the 250 foot tower because you don't actually get to jump. You are connected to a parachute that is already open and suspended from a ring around the outside of it attached to a cable that descends from one of the tower arms down to the ground. Once you are hooked up to the cable and your parachute is properly spread out and attached, you are raised up from the top like one of those little plastic Army men.

I took this picture of the three 250 foot towers that they have in the training area so you could get an idea of what they look like. Each tower has 4 arms at the top that you can get raised up by depending on which way the wind is blowing (you don't want to get blown into the tower). You can see the building at the base of the tower is inside of the tower legs. This is almost a 3 story building that houses the elevator equipment that raises and lowers the cables on the arms of the tower. I should probably mention that these towers were first built for the 1938 World's Fair in NYC and then moved to Ft. Benning in the 1940's. That is actually the main reason that they are still used. Most of the instructors do not like using them and think they should be removed from the course, but due to the historical nature of the towers and that they've been used since WWII, they remain as part of the instruction. I am definitely not a fan of heights, I don't want you to think that this is something that I do without fear, because I was definitely shaking when they raised me up to the top of the tower. Once you get towards the top, there is an automatic six foot stop where you pause in preparation to be dropped. When I hit that six foot automatic stop, I was at my peak of fear because I was not expecting it and just like in an elevator when you reach your floor at the top of the building and you have that feeling in your stomach of weightlessness, I felt that. Once you are at this point on the tower, you have to reach down and disconnect the safety line that is attached to your harness and run up around the ring outside of your parachute. Once the safety line is disconnected from the one side, you have to reach up and pull it hand-over-hand until it hangs free at your side. Then you have to disconnect the other side and let it fall free to the ground. Up until this, you are able to hold onto the risers up over your head, but you have to let go completely in order to remove the safetly line and it is a very uncomfortable feeling. Once you have done this, the instructor on the loudspeaker tells you to touch a specific set of risers that you will pull in order to 'slip' away from the tower upon release.
As soon as you touch them and tap your feet together twice, you are raised that last six feet and dropped. From that point on, it was one of the most fun things I've gotten to do:) I held the risers into my chest all the way to the ground and kept my feet and knees together until the balls of my feet made contact with the ground. I hit just as softly as if I had taken a little six inch hop and fallen down, so I had a really easy landing. There were several other people who weren't so lucky with the wind and landed like a sack of potatoes, but 71 out of 72 people in my platoon were able to walk away without injury. One guy landed with his feet apart and didn't rotate his body away from the ground properly and ended up hurting his knee...he is out of the course now. We finished the tower by about 1400 on Thursday and then went back to the suspended harness for another class.
In the suspended harness this time, we practiced diagonal 'slips' which make a jumper go much faster than regular slips by pulling further down on only one riser instead of two. We would use these during descent in order to avoid other jumpers in the air and to avoid obstacles on the ground we may be drifting towards. We also learned and practiced what to do in case of a water landing, a tree landing, or drifting into high tension wires. Then we practiced what to do in the case of collision with other jumpers in the air and in case of entanglement with other jumpers in the air.
On Friday we had our last formal block of instruction on malfunctions with the parachute and watched as they dropped a couple dummies from the 250 foot tower with different malfunctions. Then we cleaned up the training area in preparation for the next class to use it. After lunch, we ran about a mile down to the airfield and put our combat equipment together and got introduced to the harness shed where we will prepare and wait to jump on Monday. The harness shed is simply a large building with several rows of large wooden benches to sit on in 'chalks' (the groups of people you jump with). Inside the harness shed you have to sit with your feet together and you can't talk. You have to have your helmet on and you have to run anytime you move inside the shed. Anytime you are told to execute a facing movement or stand-up or sit-down, you have to sound off with 'Airborne!'. If you don't follow those rules, they say they will recycle you to the following class. Once we were done rigging our combat equipment for the upcoming week, we ran back to the company area and were released for the weekend.
Tonight at 1800 we have another recall formation and should get our schedule of jumps so we can tell people if they want to come out to the drop zone to watch. The drop zone is open to civilians to watch if they want to come out and take pictures or whatever, so many families will come out and sit in the bleachers out there to watch students jump in. One of our friends who is stationed here for the career course said she would come out and take pictures for us at the drop zone, so whenever I get those pictures I will post those up here next week. That's all for now!

Long time, no posts..Wanna hear about Airborne School?

Hi everyone...I honestly forgot about this blog for a while...just got busy spending time with the family, you know? I figured since I have some time this weekend, that I might update whoever cares to read this on what's been going on with me.
I'm currently sitting in the Army Lodging room provided to me at Ft. Benning, Georgia. I got the opportunity to come here to attend Airborne school, which is about 3 weeks long. I've always wanted to try it and get the chance to jump out of planes and after the Captain's career course at Ft. Sill was over, my branch manager allowed me to come here:)
The first week of Airborn is over..it is what they call 'ground week'. We learn parts of the parachute harness, how to wear it, how to properly exit the aircraft, and what to do when we exit the aircraft the first and second days. By the second day, we were jumping out of a 34 foot tower rigged up with a harness on and falling until the 'risers' came taught to slide down cables a few hundred feet to a dirt mound. Apparently, psychologists have figured out that 34 feet is exactly the right height to scare the crap out of people. I won't lie...I was a little scared the first jump out, but after that, it was pretty fun:) They give you at least 6 jumps out of the tower and the last 4 jumps have to be done exactly right (with the right body position and proper procedural stuff) in order to get out of the harness for the day. They figure most people don't do the first two right because they're scared and it's new to them.
It's pretty simple...you hook up to the cable overhead...shuffle to the door with one foot in front of the other...hand the line to the 'jumpmaster'...take one step and turn and face the door with your hands on the ends of your reserve parachute, looking out at the horizon...you sound off with your name and roster number...then the 'jumpmaster' says, "GO!" and slaps you on the 4th point of contact (your butt), and you take one step forward kicking your leg up like a punter kicking a football and jump up and out away from the door...simultaneously, as you jump, you tuck your chin to your chest and begin counting, "one-thousand...two-thousand...three-thousand...four-thousand"...all this is supposed to be done with your eyes open! When you've finished counting, you are supposed to look up and grab your 'risers' (the straps connecting you to your simulated parachute) and ensure they're separated while simulating looking for abnormalities in your parachute. When you get to the end of the cables towards the dirt mound, you pull your legs up into an 'L' position and pull up on your risers to go over the mound before sliding back to it and being caught by a couple guys waiting there to unhook you. Once unhooked, you run back to the 'Sergeant Airborne' for a critique on how you did before going to do it all again!

Wow, after typing it out...it doesn't seem so simple, but it really isn't that bad. The next two days we spent learning how to prepare to land, and land (a.k.a. fall) by conducting what's known as a 'Parachute Landing Fall', or PLF. Day one of PLFs, we learned as a group first the basics of what right looks like, and then practiced in a huge gravel covered pavillion as a class doing the PLFs to the right, left, and front-right and front-left. After practicing as a class, we were broken down into 'sticks' (squads...18 Soldiers). We then practiced 'landing' by jumping sideways to the left and right from a two-three foot wall and conducting a proper 'PLF' and receiving a critique from the Sergeant Airborne instructor. Following the wall drills, we began simulating landing while drifting left, right, and front using what they call the Lateral Drift Apparatus...which is really just a cable trolley that you hold onto like a pull-up bar and slide down a cable that makes you hang a few feet off the ground. While sliding down the cable it is supposed to simulate holding onto your risers and drifting in a direction due to the wind during descent. So, we start by climbing up some steps, grab onto the apparatus, the Sergeant Airborne will say, 'clear the platform' and you pick yourself up to slide down, facing wichever way you need to in order to practice falling on your right, left, or front. When the Sergeant Airborne says, "land", you let go of the apparatus and do a proper 'PLF'. We pretty much did that for a day and a half, with the last half-day being PLFs to the rear-left and rear-right...so you're sliding backwards down the cable toward the ground.
The only other thing that we learned this week was half a day on what to do after landing to recover your parachute and get off the drop zone. That consisted of a demonstration and then practical exercise with two different techniques to recover your parachute and pack it into what's called the 'Aviator's kit bag'. The next portion included how to avoid being dragged across the drop zone by your parachute after landing, by activating your 'canopy release assemblies' that attach your harness to the risers on the parachute. We simulated being dragged by the parachute by...being dragged by two other Soldiers pulling on a set of risers attached to your harness and then having to activate the 'canopy release assemblies' while being dragged.
The last day, we just cleaned up the training area in preparation for the next class to use it and had our safety brief for the day...oh, I guess it would be wrong of me not to include the PT that we do in the morning...Monday morning...Army Physical Fitness Test. Tuesday, we did intervals and random exercises in between. Wednesday, we went for a 3.2 mile run around a .8 mile track in formation. Thursday, we did front, back, go's in the gravel pavillion in our ACUs. Friday, we did a 3.2+ mile run in formation as a company.
Then...as you can expect, last night I did laundry and played some Xbox360 (the new Halo3 ODST game that just came out) with my buddy, Shiggy who is stationed here for the manuever captain's career course. This morning... I slept in until almost 11 after going to bed around 2 a.m. and now, you have this rambling blog post about my last week. I'll probably try to post more tomorrow about a little of the whirlwind that has happened to get me to Airborne school, but for now, this is plenty, and I need to eat some lunch (breakfast)!