Afghanistan Notebook

Some signs that it may be time to retire

As they're edging closer to that last plane ride home, some of the seasoned veterans of the 218th Brigade Combat Team are contemplating the day when they'll hang up their uniform. They have served their country and state honorably, but -- as they say -- even a good thing has to end.

Lt. Col. Mike "Nuke" O'Neill, a Summerville resident and Camp Phoenix's poet laureate, offered his thoughts about how a soldier knows it's time to retire. We'd like to share his thoughts:

1. Your 20-year letter is starting to yellow.

2. You have a new nickname for your friends –- “Sir”.

3. Everything that happens reminds you of a story.

4. You realize that the young lady is smiling at you so sweetly because you remind her of her father.

5. Your kids are older than many of your soldiers.

6. They accidentally seat you in the retired section at a function and you were so busy talking to your friends that you really didn’t notice.

7. People think you are in deep, profound thought when what you are really doing is trying to remember where you put your keys.

8. You keep referring to the “middle weekend” and the “Old Guard”.

9. During PT, the instructor tells everyone to work harder “except for you, sir”.

10. You are no longer surprised when soldiers tell you that they were not born yet when you joined the Guard.  Consider yourself really ready to retire when these soldiers are captains and sergeants first class.

Raindrops keep falling on my hooch

Friday was a rainy day at Camp Phoenix as troops make their way
across Patriot Square.

This has been an unusual day at Camp Phoenix.

That’s because it has rained all day.

In fact, we’ve had a steady drizzle the last 24 hours.

I mention the weather because the area seldom gets so much rain in one dose. Kabul’s annual rainfall total is about 11 inches. In the past 24 hours, we’ve been ”deluged” with .7 of an inch.

Things are bound to get worse as a mix of sleet and snow is predicted for tonight. But by Saturday Kabul will be back to it’s good, ol’ sunny self.

The rain has been so steady today that for the first time since they arrived back in May some S.C. troops put on their rain gear.

They’re even more grateful that they didn’t ship the gear back home with their spare uniforms, boots, and coats.

Although the weather tends to keep one inside, I don’t mind.

I’ve read a little, worked a bit, and even watched a movie.

There’s something comforting to hearing the splattering of raindrops on the steel roof of my hooch.

It reminds of sitting on the back porch at home when a rainstorm passes through greater Dentsville.

In a few weeks, I’ll be back to enjoy those summer storms. And I certainly won’t complain about the rain.

 

Running the roads of Afghanistan

Every once in a while, a S.C. license plate can be spotted on a humvee around these parts. As you might imagine, the humvees are being driven by members of the S.C. National Guard's 218th Brigade Combat Team.
Above, is the humvee of Capt. Jason Cain, commander of SECFOR's Charlie Company. Cain, of Charleston, snapped this shot of his truck parked at Camp Hughey, in Jalabad.
Back in South Carolina, Cain's unit is part of the 1st Battalion, 118th Infantry, and headquartered at Union.
To the left is a shot of one of Bravo Company's truck parked at Kandahar Airfield. The soldiers bolted on the S.C. plates shortly after they arrived in Afghanistan. The plates are definitely attention-getters as the trucks roll through the heart of Taliban-friendly Kandahar Province. Bravo Company, also a unit of the 1-118th, is headquartered at Fountain Inn.

218th troops back medal for Brits

Soldiers of the South Carolina's 218th Brigade Combat Team have lent their support to a London paper's campaign to honor British troops.
As hard as it may seem to be believe, the British military doesn't award a medal to personnel who've been wounded or killed in enemy action.
The Purple Heart, awarded to U.S. personnel, was instituted by the first general of the Army -- George Washington.
The Daily Mirror has taken up the cause to see that British troops receive a similar honor.

Here's the Mirror's story quoting members of the 218th:

"Sgt Brian Craft, Colonel Ed Kornish, Sgt Major Andrew Bolt and Major Bill Connor agree that the American Purple Heart medal awarded to US soldiers killed or wounded in action is seen as vital to troop morale and the families of those who die. Sgt Craft, 30, summed up their feelings by saying: "No American soldier out here can believe you guys don't already have a similar medal." Sgt Major Bolt, 42, added: "I've seen what reaction people have to the Heart in the US. I've also seen how British soldiers work out here and they really are great professionals, who lay their lives on the line."

The paper also reports that 89 British troops have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001; 174 have died in Iraq since 2003.

Check out the following link:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/ourboys/news/2008/02/19/us-troops-in-afghanistan-back-the-mirror-s-medal-campaign-89520-20324181/

Salute to the Cav

Members of 2nd Platoon pose for a picture after a recent ceremony.

Take a close look at the images. They may be last you’ll see of a member of the S.C. Army National Guard wearing a Stetson.

That’s right, the cavalry is going away.

B Troop, 202 Cavalry is being decommissioned as part of the Guard’s transformation and reorganization.

Here at Camp Phoenix, about half of the soldiers in Delta Company, which is under the SecFor Battalion, are members of the Beaufort-based unit.

Serving as an armored scout unit was B Troop’s primary mission.

But as part of the 218th Brigade Combat Team, the soldiers have handled an assortment of missions from convoy operations to intel gathering to presence patrols. Almost every day they venture outside the wire.
In September, B Troop, which traces its lineage to before the Revolutionary War, will be out of business. An MP battalion is being stood up in the Cav’s place.

Wearing a Stetson is just one thing that sets the cavalry apart from the rest of the Army.

True to their heritage, the troops also wear spurs.

But first they must earn them.

To wear silver spurs, a soldier has to march 15 miles with a 35-pound rucksack, pass a 50-question test on the unit’s history, and be familiar the all the weapons the troop uses.

A cavalryman earns his gold spurs by going into combat with the unit.

As this deployment for the 218^th Brigade Combat Team winds down, various units are handing out awards.

These images are of the 2^nd Platoon’s award ceremony, which was held at the RRF (Ready Reaction Force) shack at Camp Phoenix. The troops were awarded the Army Commendation Medal or Army Achievement Medal.

Back in May, I wrote a feature about riding along with the 2^nd Platoon. A video is posted on the S.C. at War page.

 

 

Wild about Harry

Prince Harry with Capt. Dylan Goff of Columbia. Look closely and you'll see
the prince is sporting a beard, something that appear in the photo op images released
to the news media. (Photos courtesy of Dylan Goff)

Before this gets to the Fleet Street press, thought we'd publish via the blog some more pictures of  Prince Harry hanging with the S.C. troops.
The above phone shows the prince posing with Capt. Dylan Goff of Columbia.
Goff said the picture was taken near Musa Qaleh in Helmand Province, a hotbed of Taliban resistance.
"Harry was serving as a joint tactical air controller providing close air support for my team of U.S. mentors and ANP (Afghan National Police) clearing the villages and tunnel complexes in the area," Goff said in an e-mail.  "We met afterward and I was able to speak with him briefly and have the picture taken."
At left, is a picture of the prince and Sgt. 1st Class Lamar Johnson, who's the team sergeant of Goff's police mentor unit. Johnson's a member of the Georgia National Guard and hails from Atlanta.
Goff, a graduate of The Citadel, was in his third year of law school when he was called up for the Afghanistan mission.
Last week, The State ran a story about Harry meeting another Citadel alum, Lt. Col. Bill Connor, of Orangeburg.
The prince spent 10 weeks in Afghanistan and his whereabouts had been embargoed until the Drudge Report broke the story.
After the world knew where Harry was, the British military decided to pull him out of Afghanistan. Commanders feared that the Taliban would target the prince, exposing him and his fellow soldiers to greater danger. In other words, the prince would be a "bullet magnet."

Catching up with the notebook

This may be one of the dirtiest and nastiest places on Earth, but it also can be
one of the most scenic. This is a pic of the snow-covered mountains south of Camp
Phoenix. The camp's outside wall is in the foreground.

Heartfelt thanks

The pundits say Afghanistan is the forgotten war, lurking somewhere in the American subconscious as the country grapples with what to do next in the bloodier and unpopular Iraq war.

And, after being here for almost a year, it’s possible to think that even you have been forgotten.

But that isn’t the case for S.C. National Guard troops. Families, friends, neighbors, churches, and businesses across the state have jumped in to back the troops of the 218^th Brigade Combat Team.

“Tell everyone back home how much we appreciate their support,” Staff Sgt. Clyde Waddell told me the other day as we talked outside the PX.

“It means a lot, it really does,” his voice choking.

Then Waddell, a Vietnam veteran, put his hand on my shoulder and fought back tears.

“I’m sorry,” he said, shaking his head.

There was no need to apologize.

Making a difference

When I was back home for a break, one of the most frequent questions folks I fielded was whether “we” were making a difference.

“We,” I inferred, was the U.S. military and its coalition partners.

It’s a tough question to answer because in Afghanistan nothing ever is what it seems.

For every negative statistic and fact, you can counter with a positive.

But the other day while convoying back to Kabul from Bagram, I thought we had taken a different route. The road seemed different than the one I had traveled about eight months ago.

As we approached Kabul, I noticed that small businesses and villages had sprouted from the ground.

The commanders say the best measure of how well a counterinsurgency is working is whether the people feel secure. If they feel secure, they will open businesses and build houses.

Apparently, in that stretch of the Kabul-Bagram Road, a difference has been made.

War costs going up for Taliban, too

What the Taliban and al Qaida are paying people to fight for them is another way to gauge how the war is going.

Pay for a Taiban fighter is up to $600 a month from just $60 a few years ago, said Command Sgt. Maj. John Harrelson, the brigade’s senior enlisted leader.

The going rate to plant a bomb is $500 to $1,000, and suicide bomber’s family earns $10,000.

The Taliban’s costs have increased because it has to recruit foreign fighters from places like Chechnya Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, added Harrelson, of North Myrtle Beach.

Don’t expect the Taliban to go broke, though. Most of its money comes from the country’s illicit drug trade. And, with Afgahnistan producing about 95 percent of the world’s heroin, the Taliban won’t be running out of money any time soon.

 

Hurry up and wait

While there’s nothing particularly significant of this night-time shot in the pallet yard at Camp LSA, I’m somewhat impressed by it. That’s because I shot it with my new camera using a flash and available light – something I couldn’t do with my old point-and-shoot. In the picture are Sgt. 1^st Class Ritchie Brunson, Hampton, (middle), and Maj. Tim Wood, Columbia.

I think the Army makes traveling as difficult as possible just so troops will want to stay put.

Take my trip back to Afghanistan as an example.

Granted, I had to travel more than 7,000 miles through 9½ time zones, but only about 20 hours of the travel time was spent getting from Atlanta to Camp Phoenix.

The rest was consumed by waiting.

Like waiting eight hours at the Atlanta airport to catch a flight to Kuwait.

Then waiting two days at Camp LSA in Kuwait to catch a C-17 to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan.

And hanging around Bagram for 12 hours waiting to catch a convoy to Camp Phoenix.

Soldiers, though, seem adept at playing the waiting game. They know that certain activities are perfect for filling blocks of time.

Those who bring along weapons, can kill hours just taking their rifles apart, cleaning, and then putting them back together.

Others will watch movies on their laptops or portable DVD players.

Reading is a popular pastime, too. I’m surprised to see so many readers among those in uniform. My guess is that there’s a higher percentage of troops who are readers than the general public.

And, there’s the soldier’s old stand-by for killing time – sleeping.

On this trip, sleeping was a chore.

While I did catch enough sleep on the flight from Atlanta, it was nearly impossible to sleep after reaching Kuwait.

At the camp, where soldiers wait for flights that will either take them home or to war, I was assigned to a tent with accommodations to sleep 16.

There always was commotion in the tent as people came and went throughout the day. Lights were turned on and off. Guys would enter the tent at 3 in the morning, cut on the lights, look for a cot, and then grouse about the Army not providing linen service.

Did they think they were staying at a Holiday Inn?

We left Kuwait late Monday and arrived about 3 the next morning at Bagram. The processing took more than an hour.

The next order of business was finding a ride to Kabul and Camp Phoenix. There was a flight leaving after breakfast so we opted to stay up and try to catch it. A good plan except that there wasn’t enough room on the plane.

The next shot was catching a helicopter flight, but that wasn’t leaving until the next afternoon.

Somewhat weary of bunkbeds and killing time, we looked at catching a convoy to Kabul. We were in luck. A convoy was scheduled to arrive at Bagram and then return to Camp Phoenix.

So we waited for the convoy.

It rolled in later that morning and initial plan was for it to head back in a couple of hours. There were delays, of course, and the convoy wound up leaving two hours than planned.

No problem, we just waited.

 

Gotta wait in Kuwait

Right now, I’m sitting in the MWR tent at Camp LSA, Kuwait and doing what seems to come naturally in covering the military – waiting.

The camp is part of the Ali Al Salem Air Base complex near Kuwait City where troops wait to catch a plane that’ll take them home or to war.

I left this place at the end of October after covering the first six months of the 218^th Brigade Combat Team’s yearlong tour in Afghanistan.

Now, I’m back for the 218^th’s last couple of months in Afghanistan.

I’ll get to a few places in Afghanistan where I haven’t been before, visit more troops, and cover the 218^th’s redeployment to the States. The unit’s 1,600 soldiers are due back in May. Some 200 already are home.

Of course, the story won’t end there. The State plans to stick with the troops as they make the transition from a world that seems locked in biblical times to one of shopping malls, high-speed Internet and indoor bathrooms.

And, we’ll track the soldiers’ ability to return to a “normal” life of not having to wear body armor or duck into a bunker after a mortar attack.

So, the ol’ blog is back in business and we’re ready to keep you updated on the 218^th’s progress.

All I need to do is wait for the next flight to Afghanistan.

Snow on a cold tin roof

First, my apologies for not keeping up the blog.
I returned home Nov. 1 and have spent much of my time working on other projects, visiting family, reading and golfing.
But I'll be heading back to Afghanistan in a few weeks and feel it's time to slip back into the groove.
There'll be more offerings in the future. Right now, time for a little weather report courtesy of Lt. Col. Mike "Nuke" O'Neill, of Goose Creek.
"This picture shows the weather that we have been having lately," O'Neill said in a recent email that included a shot of snow on the corrugated steel roof atop a B-hut at Camp Phoenix in Kabul.
"Snow that has fallen on the roof melts and slides down during the day, and re-freezes at night," O'Neill wrote.  "Just thought it would be a unusual picture."
BTW, daytime highs in Kabul are in the mid 30s, and at night it slides down into the mid teens.