So I want to be able to share with family and friends regulary, so I plan on using this blog as much as possible. I will share neat stories and experiences I have, but of course can't discuss missions specific information, or any upcoming missions. It's getting late at night here, and I need to get to sleep, so I'll just give a brief explanation of where I'm at and what it's like on base. The majority of the rest of these posts will be what it's like outside of the wire, where my mission actually takes place.
First of all, I'm station on Bagram Air base and operate around the base in the area called the BSZ. I currently live in a "B-Hut" with 8 other leaders in my platoon. We have individual walls built to give us some privacy. Each of our area's is about 9x9, which is around the size of a prison cell. At least it's my own. I have a projector hooked up to my computer and xbox that I can watch movies on or play games, but don't seem to find much time for that.
We are in the Parwan province of Afghanistan, which is north of Kabul. The biggest town close to us is Charikar.
The dust from all the trucks and planes and stuff moving around is always in the air. It makes running suck. When all the dust settles, the sight is something to fall in love with. We are surrounded on all sides by mountains. The peaks of the highest ones have snow year round, but the snow is working its way down the side of the mountain. There is a lot of senior ranked people here, so it is a lot like being in garrison, not so much a war zone. There are lots of allies here as well. Our compound is next to the Republic of Korea (ROK) Engineers who help build roads and schools.
Well, that's a brief summary of where I'm at. Next post I'll talk about the area around us and begin sharing stories and experiences.
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Friday, December 3, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
November Newsletter
2nd PLT, 832nd ENGR CO
“Reaper Crew”
Already another month has passed, and this one has brought many, many changes. First, we have left Camp Shelby, and arrived at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan. Our flight here took us through five airports in four countries before arriving at our final destination. Once we arrived, we received theater specific training on our mission, area security. Our living arrangements were by far the worst we’ve had yet, but we were only there for about 10 days. We are now living in 8 man buildings with individual rooms. Each room is roughly 9’x9’, which isn’t a huge amount of space, but we can make it our own. The first week in our new home, most of us spent our spare time building shelves, lofting our beds, and getting settled in. Now that we’re all settled in, we’re very happy with our living arrangements.
Our transfer of authority (TOA) with the unit we replaced went great. The platoon we replaced belonged to the Vermont National Guard, but had soldiers from all over the country. Their leadership did an outstanding job preparing our NCO’s and me to lead combat missions. Their soldiers trained our enlisted men on specific jobs and equipment, even while they were still running missions. Our platoon senior leadership started running missions with the “Detonators” and gradually rotated more of their soldiers out and more “Gladiators” in. We are now running without any previous unit leadership or direct guidance on our mission. I want to give a giant “Thank You” out to the Detonator Blue Platoon, led by 1LT Spears and SFC Wojo, for setting us up for success through selflessly devoting most of their spare time to preparing us for the TOA. We are ready for this mission and will continue in the path that was laid down before us.
Our mission gives us opportunities that the majority of soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen on Bagram Air Base will never experience. By patrolling security around the base, we are out with the people almost daily. We meet with local village leaders, Maliks, who are much like our mayors. We attend Shuras, which are similar to city council meetings. We patrol through market places, often buying local food and trinkets. We have worked with Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, and a multitude of Non-Governmental Agencies (NGOs) that are combat multipliers, making us better at our job. Personally, one of the highlights so far has been sitting, drinking dark Chai with a former Mujahedeen commander who helped lead a group of Afghan soldiers against the Taliban with Americans early in Operation Enduring Freedom. The engagement was an amazing experience that I hope to repeat again, and will never forget.
Our soldiers are learning what it is like in the rest of the world. Villagers around us are proud and humble, but poor. The kids are very curious and sometimes overbearing in asking for “Baksheesh”, which means “free gift.” People live in houses made of brick and mud, but invite us in and share chai and candies with us graciously. Not all Afghans are poor though, as we have met people that have multiple cars, and a couple that have pools made out of marble in their compound.
Lastly, we’d all like to thank everyone for thoughts, prayers and care packages that we keep receiving. We weren’t able to spend Thanksgiving at home, but we were able to come in from a mission early and have Turkey and pumpkin pie at the Chow hall. More important, we were all safe.
ESSAYONS,
1LT Ben Davis
Sunday, October 31, 2010
October Newsletter
It’s hard to believe it’s been over a month since I last sat down to write. So much has happened, but the time has flown by. The majority of the last month was spent at National Training Center (NTC), Ft. Irwin, California. NTC is one of the most cutting edge training centers the United States military has to offer. The support, training, and experiences we received will undoubtedly increase our preparedness for the current deployment, as well as shape many of our military careers.
We moved from Camp Shelby to NTC by bus and airline. The trip was smooth, with the typical waiting that we’ve all became accustomed to in the process of moving 3,000+ soldiers and equipment. Our first week, we stayed at Life Sustainment Area (LSA) Warrior. Time was spent drawing vehicles and all the equipment to put on them. We received training on new equipment to include TALON robots used for clearing explosives safely, Phase-a-lators that help translate English phrases into other languages, and a directional speaker that can be heard miles away. We also prepped all of our individual equipment for the rough two weeks to follow.
Week two started with a move to Forward Operating Base (FOB) Denver, and then Combat Out-Post (COP) Rome, where we spent the majority of our time. COP Rome was in the center of a model Afghan village, Shar-e Tiefort. We spent all of our time preparing for and conducting Situational Training Exercise (STX) lanes. These lanes put us into very difficult situations that tested leadership and soldiers alike. One of the days, I was told to take 16 soldiers to a special range, and the day ended up being one of the most memorable days to this point in the career. I got to lead a group of my soldiers on a Close Combat Aviation training range. We got to coordinate airstrikes with OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopters. Every soldier got a chance to talk directly to a pilot on our radios, then we would either “mark” targets with tracer rounds from our machine guns, or “sparkle” them with infra-red lasers. The Kiowas would then perform a strafe run engaging our targets with .50 caliber machine guns and 2.75” Hydra rockets. This basically satisfied all of our boyhood urges to point a flashlight at something and watch it explode. If your soldier is one of the soldiers that got to experience this training, I’m sure they can fill you in on some of the other details of the day.
Week three was our Full Spectrum Operations (FSO) week. Our town of Tiefort was full of role-players, many who were from regions of the middle-east that we will be going to. We engaged in meetings with Village Elders, police chiefs, merchants in town and so on. We conducted patrols with Afghan National Police and Afghan National Army soldiers. The incredible part of this phase of the training was that everything we did had an effect. When we did a humanitarian food drive, the villagers responded positively and were helpful. When we did things that weren’t so good, the villagers sided with the insurgents and things didn’t go so well. We determined our own destiny, and by the end of the week, we were really getting a good idea of how to conduct business. This was a huge week for our platoon, the company and higher. It gave us all a “dry-run” to combat. NTC created the most realistic environment to war that you could encounter without actually getting shot at with real bullets. The living conditions were not ideal, 25 soldiers packed in a small tent. Showers and running water, non-existent. Food, some Army chow and an MRE or two a day. Despite the living conditions, I still vote that this was some of the best training I’ve seen in the 8 years I’ve been in the Army.
The last week at NTC was a long one for everyone. The bulk of the time was spent cleaning all the equipment to turn in. When that was completed, time was spent working out, climbing the foothills near our base, and playing cards.
Now that we have returned to Mississippi, the land of real mattresses and good showers, we are all looking forward to our four-day pass. The pass has been earned and well deserved for all our soldiers. We have a lot to prepare for other than pass as well. We will continue training and preparing for our time in Afghanistan. We will train on the lessons learned from NTC and continue with our tough regime of physical and mental training. With everything that we have done, and everything that is coming in the future, I am more proud than ever to be the platoon leader for 2nd Platoon, our as we call ourselves, “The Reaper Crew”.
We moved from Camp Shelby to NTC by bus and airline. The trip was smooth, with the typical waiting that we’ve all became accustomed to in the process of moving 3,000+ soldiers and equipment. Our first week, we stayed at Life Sustainment Area (LSA) Warrior. Time was spent drawing vehicles and all the equipment to put on them. We received training on new equipment to include TALON robots used for clearing explosives safely, Phase-a-lators that help translate English phrases into other languages, and a directional speaker that can be heard miles away. We also prepped all of our individual equipment for the rough two weeks to follow.
Week two started with a move to Forward Operating Base (FOB) Denver, and then Combat Out-Post (COP) Rome, where we spent the majority of our time. COP Rome was in the center of a model Afghan village, Shar-e Tiefort. We spent all of our time preparing for and conducting Situational Training Exercise (STX) lanes. These lanes put us into very difficult situations that tested leadership and soldiers alike. One of the days, I was told to take 16 soldiers to a special range, and the day ended up being one of the most memorable days to this point in the career. I got to lead a group of my soldiers on a Close Combat Aviation training range. We got to coordinate airstrikes with OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopters. Every soldier got a chance to talk directly to a pilot on our radios, then we would either “mark” targets with tracer rounds from our machine guns, or “sparkle” them with infra-red lasers. The Kiowas would then perform a strafe run engaging our targets with .50 caliber machine guns and 2.75” Hydra rockets. This basically satisfied all of our boyhood urges to point a flashlight at something and watch it explode. If your soldier is one of the soldiers that got to experience this training, I’m sure they can fill you in on some of the other details of the day.
Week three was our Full Spectrum Operations (FSO) week. Our town of Tiefort was full of role-players, many who were from regions of the middle-east that we will be going to. We engaged in meetings with Village Elders, police chiefs, merchants in town and so on. We conducted patrols with Afghan National Police and Afghan National Army soldiers. The incredible part of this phase of the training was that everything we did had an effect. When we did a humanitarian food drive, the villagers responded positively and were helpful. When we did things that weren’t so good, the villagers sided with the insurgents and things didn’t go so well. We determined our own destiny, and by the end of the week, we were really getting a good idea of how to conduct business. This was a huge week for our platoon, the company and higher. It gave us all a “dry-run” to combat. NTC created the most realistic environment to war that you could encounter without actually getting shot at with real bullets. The living conditions were not ideal, 25 soldiers packed in a small tent. Showers and running water, non-existent. Food, some Army chow and an MRE or two a day. Despite the living conditions, I still vote that this was some of the best training I’ve seen in the 8 years I’ve been in the Army.
The last week at NTC was a long one for everyone. The bulk of the time was spent cleaning all the equipment to turn in. When that was completed, time was spent working out, climbing the foothills near our base, and playing cards.
Now that we have returned to Mississippi, the land of real mattresses and good showers, we are all looking forward to our four-day pass. The pass has been earned and well deserved for all our soldiers. We have a lot to prepare for other than pass as well. We will continue training and preparing for our time in Afghanistan. We will train on the lessons learned from NTC and continue with our tough regime of physical and mental training. With everything that we have done, and everything that is coming in the future, I am more proud than ever to be the platoon leader for 2nd Platoon, our as we call ourselves, “The Reaper Crew”.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
September Newsletter
2nd PLT, 832nd ENGR CO
“Reapers”
Today is a very special day. Nine years ago, our country was attacked by terrorists. As a result, our country vowed to combat Terrorism across the world and keep our domestic soil safe. Many of the soldiers in our platoon, including me, were not in the military when this happened. The soldiers that were, have willingly reenlisted since the events of that day. I am beyond proud to be the platoon leader for this group of men who continue to willingly place themselves in harm’s way to protect the way of life we all have grown to cherish.
Our platoon has a very different face from when I came to the unit, just over a year ago. I received a new counterpart, SFC Todd Sackman, my Platoon Sergeant. SFC Sackman and I’s relationship has strengthened as we both grow and learn to lead as a team. We have taught each other a lot and have the same mission, “Train our boys and bring them all home.” I couldn’t ask for a better complement as a Platoon Sergeant, except maybe a Cyclone fan! Our junior non-commissioned officers (NCOs) have all grown leaps and bounds in the last year of deployment preparation as well. I am most impressed by how much our juniors enlisted have grown. Our privates and specialists are taking initiative and making decisions in the absence of leadership, making our NCO’s job much easier. We also have two specialists in team leader slots, and they are both mature beyond their current rank.
What we have been doing for the last six weeks has been preparing us for our departure to Afghanistan. Training has included individual, squad, platoon and company level training. Our soldiers have been pushed to their limits during many of the training events. One of our training tenants is “Train as you Fight.” What does that tenant mean? It means that our trainers work to create as much realism in our training to prepare us for the real situations in the not so distant future. Our training utilizes a building-block mentality. We started by training soldiers on Individual weapon qualification which builds into other training to include Short-range marksmanship and reflexive fire. We are getting many opportunities to use live ammunition as well. The purpose behind using live ammo in training is it builds trust in your battle buddy moving beside you, your equipment, and your personal skill. We have conducted a dismounted squad live fire, a live-fire “shoot house” for room clearance and a vehicle-mounted live fire range that we utilized our “big guns” to engage targets as far away as 1500 meters. This training will continue to build with platoon live fire exercises next week and a company live fire exercise at NTC, Ft. Irwin, California.
Our new watch-words for the current mission in Afghanistan are “Trust and Confidence.” We want to build trust and confidence of the Afghan government within the people of Afghanistan. To train for this mission, we have been training with many foreign language speakers flown in from as far as Pakistan and Afghanistan. We train utilizing interpreters to communicate between our forces and “villagers” and “elders” in mock-towns. We have also had classes on Afghanistan culture and customs. All of our soldiers will be prepared to be “Ambassadors of Freedom” and work to solidify the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA).
Off-duty time is a luxury that all our soldiers make the most of. In the evenings you will find our soldiers preparing for upcoming training, exercising, doing laundry, talking with loved ones back home, or bonding with our battle buddies. Some of the more popular bonding activities have become good games of rummy and Euchre, watching movies, or trying to best each other in a “death match” on one of the various video game consoles we have in our living area. Moral is high and we are excited to continue with our training in preparation for our combat mission.
I speak on behalf of everyone in my platoon by saying “Thank you” to everyone for the love, prayers and support we have been receiving from friends, family and the FRG. You are the reason we joined the military and we are proud to be here. For anyone that may have stumbled across this newsletter that doesn’t have a service member in their family or household, please look around and help families that do. Doing something as simple as mowing the yard for a spouse with a deployed soldier will brighten their day and is a huge help.
I will wrap this up thinking about the other important event occurring today. As an Iowa State graduate, I will proudly go against the majority of our company and sound off with a resolute “GO CYCLONES”.
“Reapers”
Today is a very special day. Nine years ago, our country was attacked by terrorists. As a result, our country vowed to combat Terrorism across the world and keep our domestic soil safe. Many of the soldiers in our platoon, including me, were not in the military when this happened. The soldiers that were, have willingly reenlisted since the events of that day. I am beyond proud to be the platoon leader for this group of men who continue to willingly place themselves in harm’s way to protect the way of life we all have grown to cherish.
Our platoon has a very different face from when I came to the unit, just over a year ago. I received a new counterpart, SFC Todd Sackman, my Platoon Sergeant. SFC Sackman and I’s relationship has strengthened as we both grow and learn to lead as a team. We have taught each other a lot and have the same mission, “Train our boys and bring them all home.” I couldn’t ask for a better complement as a Platoon Sergeant, except maybe a Cyclone fan! Our junior non-commissioned officers (NCOs) have all grown leaps and bounds in the last year of deployment preparation as well. I am most impressed by how much our juniors enlisted have grown. Our privates and specialists are taking initiative and making decisions in the absence of leadership, making our NCO’s job much easier. We also have two specialists in team leader slots, and they are both mature beyond their current rank.
What we have been doing for the last six weeks has been preparing us for our departure to Afghanistan. Training has included individual, squad, platoon and company level training. Our soldiers have been pushed to their limits during many of the training events. One of our training tenants is “Train as you Fight.” What does that tenant mean? It means that our trainers work to create as much realism in our training to prepare us for the real situations in the not so distant future. Our training utilizes a building-block mentality. We started by training soldiers on Individual weapon qualification which builds into other training to include Short-range marksmanship and reflexive fire. We are getting many opportunities to use live ammunition as well. The purpose behind using live ammo in training is it builds trust in your battle buddy moving beside you, your equipment, and your personal skill. We have conducted a dismounted squad live fire, a live-fire “shoot house” for room clearance and a vehicle-mounted live fire range that we utilized our “big guns” to engage targets as far away as 1500 meters. This training will continue to build with platoon live fire exercises next week and a company live fire exercise at NTC, Ft. Irwin, California.
Our new watch-words for the current mission in Afghanistan are “Trust and Confidence.” We want to build trust and confidence of the Afghan government within the people of Afghanistan. To train for this mission, we have been training with many foreign language speakers flown in from as far as Pakistan and Afghanistan. We train utilizing interpreters to communicate between our forces and “villagers” and “elders” in mock-towns. We have also had classes on Afghanistan culture and customs. All of our soldiers will be prepared to be “Ambassadors of Freedom” and work to solidify the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA).
Off-duty time is a luxury that all our soldiers make the most of. In the evenings you will find our soldiers preparing for upcoming training, exercising, doing laundry, talking with loved ones back home, or bonding with our battle buddies. Some of the more popular bonding activities have become good games of rummy and Euchre, watching movies, or trying to best each other in a “death match” on one of the various video game consoles we have in our living area. Moral is high and we are excited to continue with our training in preparation for our combat mission.
I speak on behalf of everyone in my platoon by saying “Thank you” to everyone for the love, prayers and support we have been receiving from friends, family and the FRG. You are the reason we joined the military and we are proud to be here. For anyone that may have stumbled across this newsletter that doesn’t have a service member in their family or household, please look around and help families that do. Doing something as simple as mowing the yard for a spouse with a deployed soldier will brighten their day and is a huge help.
I will wrap this up thinking about the other important event occurring today. As an Iowa State graduate, I will proudly go against the majority of our company and sound off with a resolute “GO CYCLONES”.
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