It’s been about a week since I arrived here in Afghanistan and by the time I post this it may have been two weeks. Getting into the country wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, but not without its perils. I can honestly say that the view of the country from 30,000 can be described in one word, “wasteland.”
The first base I arrived at was on an elevated alert due to some information they had received. Everyone was ordered to wear their body armor and helmets anywhere on the compound. Needless to say, the impression of my new home wasn’t great. It was hot, dusty and shortly after we got off the plane something exploded. It wasn’t an attack and since no one else seemed worried, I wasn’t either. But there I was, on an airfield in the middle of a war zone waiting for more transport to take me further into a hostile country. It was a good feeling.
I traveled in with one of the guys I was in training with. Neither of us knew what plane to get on, where that plane was, where we were going nor who to talk to about getting on a plane. Luckily a guy walked by wearing one of our shirts and, fortunately for us, knew we were coming. He drove us across to the other side where our next form of transportation was waiting… Soon we were back on the move to distant places.
When I finally reached what I like to call the “Oasis”, I was pretty pumped. New people, new experiences and good times awaited me. Again, I was fortunate enough to have a couple guys waiting on me to arrive because, again, I had no idea what to do from there. The two guys were the new site lead and his right hand man, both of which were pretty cool guys that I’ve since gotten to know pretty well.
The first day was pretty easy. More of a watch and learn kind of day than anything. I was a bit eager to get started and really felt like I knew enough to do the job right off the bat. I would come to find out that for the most part I did know nearly everything operationally and it was the unique things that I’d have to learn. The people here were all eager to teach though.
I have really come to enjoy working with these guys. They are from all backgrounds, but all share a military background. I’m probably the only guy out here who hasn’t served in some form or another. The only real reason it draws these types of people is because they know how it is out here and know what to expect. I had plenty of heads up before coming out and felt pretty secure.
This morning we were flying surveillance around a point of interest when there were very large explosions in succession. The container our control station is in shook from the blast. I got out of my seat and ran outside while at the same time a couple of our military counterparts made their way out as well. We determined that it was just controlled blasts that another unit was performing to destroy some undetonated explosives. So we weren’t being mortared like we all thought we were. But that was my first taste of the excitement I was looking for.
Other than a brief scare, everything has been pretty regular. Wake up in the morning, go work out, go eat breakfast, go to work, lunch and dinner are brought to us at the site and then go home. The job is really fun, and the people are all great. Every situation is unique, every launch and recovery has its own characteristics. Today was my first “oh shit” moment when I was bringing a bird in with a large crab angle. I called off the approach, corrected my heading and brought it in safely. But the ground crew noted my reaction when they told me the bird was on the ground… Everyone heard me say “Oh Thank God…”
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