Progress

Random soldier who stopped me to take his photo. This happens on a regular basis, the soldiers enjoy having their picture taken.

Jason, the new broadcaster on our team, sits about 30 feet up on the crumbly mud roof of an abandoned building that was once part of a Russian base.

Afghan soldiers hurry to the starting point of their training lane while practicing squad tactics.

Sgt. Dan Allinson and Lance Cpl. Matt Tune discuss possible changes to an Afghan Army training event.

An Afghan soldier rushes toward an enemy fighting position during a training exercise designed to teach squad tactics.

Yesterday I was able to link up with two British soldiers responsible for training Afghan National Army instructors while they held a class on squad tactics. Yes, the very same soldiers who also accomplished the 24-hour run. It’s amazing how networking happens sometimes and I was very thankful for the receptiveness to our tagging along. Their training event taught the ANA soldiers how to react to an enemy attack, which included attacking the enemy and then holding the position.

After a brief ride in an over occupied humvee, we arrived at training location where ANA soldiers were about to begin the practical exercise of their training. Jason, the new broadcaster on our advisory team, and I quickly got the lay of the land and were brought on top an abandoned building to watch the first iteration of the exercise. I found out that the mud buildings we were standing on were part of an old Russian forward operating base – wow, very surreal.

I didn’t stay on the rooftop long before heading down for some close-ups of the Afghan soldiers as they used their newfound skills to defeat a simulated enemy. Immediately, I noticed a distinct difference in the noise levels of the blanks fired from their AK-47 rifles and the blanks we used in our M4s at training – theirs are much louder! Later, I also found out that I should watch for instructors with flash bangs because having one go off a few feet behind me was extremely startling; a stunt that I’m sure was intentional.

The Afghan soldiers had been split into two groups, so we had the ability to watch both in two different scenarios. I was very impressed with all of the ANA instructors and their leadership, especially when one of them scolded a soldier and forced him to run down the lane and back with his rifle over his head. Listening to the British mentors talk about the Afghan soldiers’ progress, while interviewing them for a story, was a sign that we are making head way with the Afghan Army. Personally, I feel this country is a long way from some of the lofty goals I hear about, but, after watching the soldiers train, I realized that we were one step closer to helping create a self-sustaining Army.

Another great day in northern Afghanistan, keep checking back for stories from just another day in my life.

Acquaintances

Being deployed provides another perk to military life – meeting new people. I know that the civilian sector isn’t much different in this realm but there are a few unique differences to making friends in the military. To start with, meeting several people and then spending six months or more living, eating, working, etc, is not as common outside the military. Another distinctive aspect in a deployed scenario is that there are no familiar family members or friends to balance our new acquaintances against, which means that like it or lump it, they are all we’ve got.

This deployment hasn’t been without its share of new faces. From going to two separate pre-deployment training courses, where I made several new friends, to travelling companions, and now the people I work with and meet at my current location, I am always pleasantly surprised by those I get to know. I’m not sure if it’s the lack of closeness in a new environment or the needs of being a social creature, whatever the drive, I seem to be much more open to new friendships when deployed.

Over the past few days, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Specialist Lamar. Lamar is a medic who was called back to duty from his Inactive Ready Reserve status to deploy to Afghanistan. IRR is the time owed, after your active service commitment, to your respective branch of service; when you enlist for four years you are also committing to four years of IRR where you can be called back up from your civilian life to serve again. Lamar was a nurse during his time away from the Army and is now leaving Afghanistan to go back to that life.

Because of another IRR soldier working in my office, Lamar hung out with us while waiting for transportation out of the country. Lamar is a big guy, both in the physical sense and in his personality. Not your typical soldier, he immediately stood out because of his commanding stature and presence. Sure, Army guys can be loud and intimidating, but Lamar wasn’t the average Army type. Loud, yes, but not in the drop and give me 20 push-ups kind-of way. Big, yes, but not in the watch me bench-press a tank kind-of way. Lamar was a jovial, fun-loving civilian who happened to be in the Army.

During his last night here, Lamar sat and talked to a group of us gathered in our “only slightly warmer than outside” office. Yes, our heater does not do its job…which could be its own blog post all together. Anyway, Lamar had spent each evening entertaining us with photos, videos, stories, and even an audio recording of an hour-long firefight that his unit was involved in. On this last evening, it was a free-for-all of stories from his life that left us sore from laughter.

Lamar’s gift-for-gab was delivered in a monologue-like fashion equal to that of a comedian. Each story flowed into the next, laced with witty humor and side-splitting endings. Regardless of the topic, too include Afghan police being attacked by starfish and meeting a girl who materialized out of thin air, all of us were laughing out of our seats. No topic was safe and even the occasional story by someone else was quickly attacked and beaten with quick-witted jests. It was one of those “laugh so hard you cry” moments.

For a moment as we all sat there, we weren’t deployed; we weren’t dealing with the struggles of our daily events; we weren’t worrying about anything…we were friends.

Thanks Lamar!

Keep coming back to see what else might occur in just another day in my life.

Qala-i-Jangi

Completed my third mission within the last five days here in Afghanistan. Today’s journey took me to Qala-i-Jangi, a fort on the outskirts of Mazar-e-Sharif. Before I left Colorado, aside from returning home, I wanted only one thing during my time here, to visit Qala-i-Jangi. This fort has an important role in history for both America and Afghanistan.

In 2001, after the terrorist attacks in New York, a team of Special Forces was dropped off in the northern regions of Afghanistan with one mission – overthrow the Taliban. Their goal wasn’t to do the task themselves; instead they were to coordinate the efforts of the Northern Alliance – a rag-tag group of Afghan warlords and soldiers, basically a militia.

With the help of airpower, Special Forces helped the Afghans put the Taliban on the run and they eventually freed the city of Mazar-e-Sharif. Shortly after, and through a series of shady-deals, hundreds of Taliban were captured and taken as prisoners to Qala-i-Jangi. Most of the Taliban had not realized they were being held as prisoners and eventually they started an uprising within the walls of the fort.

On the day of the revolt, Mike Spann was within the southern courtyard of the fort. Spann was a former Marine and was currently serving as a CIA operative with the mission of tracking down Taliban leaders, more specifically – Osama bin Laden. News footage from on-scene reporters would later show Spann questioning prisoners, one of which was John Walker Lindh – an American born, California native. Shortly after the footage was taken, a grenade blast launched the uprising into the hell that would continue for several days. Spann was overtaken and killed, making him the first American casualty of the war on Afghan soil.

Qala-i-Jangi had once been a Russian base and stores of weapons and ammo still remained. Heavy-machine guns, rockets, mortars, grenades and rifles soon found their way into hands of the Taliban fighters. A ferocious battle played out within the confines of the fort over the coming days. Airstrikes and a determined Northern Alliance left the remaining Taliban fighters holed-up in the basement of a building known as the Pink House, named because of its pink exterior. For three days, and after shooting through basement windows, lighting oil on fire that had been poured in, and eventually flooding the basement, a defeated enemy finally emerged - beaten and broken. Of those, Lindh survived and was eventually tried and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

A memorial now stands in front of the Pink House in honor of Spann and his sacrifice that day. Standing in the courtyard, I couldn’t help but think of Spann’s wife and children and the loss they suffered. It has been more than nine years since his journey ended here and I now stand on that same soil facing my own journey - thankfully in a much more secure Afghanistan thanks to Spann and many other brave souls that followed.

Below is a brief glimpse of my trip today with the Afghan Route Clearing Company sent in to clear the fort of unexploded ordinance and other dangers that litter the courtyard.

One of the many weapons that sit rusting in the southern courtyard of the fort.

A metal storage container full of destroyed rifles and heavy-machine guns.

The Pink House with memorial to Mike Spann under the dome in front of the building.

View from one of the rooms inside the Pink House where a weapon of some sort has punctured the roof.

One of the basement windows where Afghan soldiers fired their weapons into and poured oil to ignite and try and force the Taliban fighters out.

Remains of weapons lay at the bottom of the stairway that led to the basement.

In the pitch-black basement of the Pink House, a flashlight illuminates a mortar fuse left behind on the dry, cracked floor that once housed the last surviving Taliban fighters.

Scorched walls reveal the attempts of Northern Alliance soldiers to force the Taliban from their stronghold.

From on top of the Pink House, neighboring buildings show the scarred walls from a fierce battle within the southern courtyard of the fort.

This battle-scarred building stands as a reminder of the Taliban uprising at Qala-i-Jangi.

Mortars excavated from a nearby crater wait for demolition.

A view from inside the ammo supply point that the Northern Alliance tried so desperately to destroy before the Taliban could gather more resources.

Mortar fuses seem to be everywhere you walked in the southern compound but were in abundance in the ammo supply point.

Another view of the mortar fuses in the ammo supply point.

More weapons excavated from a crater next to the ammo supply point.

As I wandered from one empty room to another, I would see many types of explosives, including this mortar, which looked in good condition.

Walking around the courtyard yielded many views of the fragmented mortars that were either fired intentionally or exploded when airstrikes found their mark.

This abandoned rocket looked like it was ready for immediate use.

After viewing the other photos above, the need for clearing teams such as this was self-evident.

The turret from a Russian tank lays on top of an outer wall as a reminder of the fog of war. The tank was being used by the Northern Alliance when a 2,000 lb bomb missed its mark and hit the northern tower of the fort. The turret was blown onto the wall where it still sits. Many Northern Alliance soldiers were killed along with many injured American Special Forces.

Today, several U.S. soldiers made the trip to see this historic place.

A view of the inscription on the memorial built in honor of Mike Spann.

Today was a good day in my life, keep coming back to see what might happen next.