Afghanistan
Winter Storm '09 photo
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These are questions and comments for Aaron, our friend in Afghanistan
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2009
(36)
- ► 09/27 - 10/04 (1)
- ► 09/13 - 09/20 (1)
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- ► 04/26 - 05/03 (4)
- ► 04/19 - 04/26 (6)
- ▼ 04/12 - 04/19 (1)
We're thinking of you Aaron!
ReplyDeleteReta Renfrow
wow kiddos i am truly impressed. i was just expecting emails from your teacher mrs. bodell. but this is totally awesome! thank you soo much. if you guys got any quiestions about anything by all means fire away. i will try and respond to them when i can. again thanks, this is super sweeet. aaron
ReplyDeleteWe saw on the news today where Afghanistan had an earthquake registering 5.1. Did you feel it?
ReplyDeleteThank you for serving our country.
ReplyDeleteEvan
How is the weather in afghanistan its been cold than warm and diffrent degrees each day.
ReplyDeleteBILLY
Do you know how long you will be there?
ReplyDeleteJade
Is it up there hard?I like the pictures that you sent us.Do you have any time to have fun?What is happening were you are at?Do the people down were you are living at ever get sick?I hope u stay safe were you are living!!
ReplyDeleteBrittanie
what do you usually eat in Afghanistan? hve u had any fun where you are? i hope you stay really safe and will soon return home to your friends and family. and thank you so very much for serving our country. i'm hoping to hear from you soon! and i liked the pictures that you sent us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAllie!!!!
whats up? how is afghanistan? i heard it was nice and warm. hope you stay safe and thanks for serving our beautiful country.
ReplyDeleteChris
wow, lots of comments and questions! saweet! time to get started....the earthquake happened in jalalabad which is north eastern afghanistan. i didnt feel it or even know about it until i saw it on the news because i am down in the south.
ReplyDeletejade - how long will i be over here? it all depends. we are scheduled to start coming home sometime in late august sept time frame. but then again things change in the military instantly and we could be extended. only time will tell.
billy - the weather is......interesting to say the least. you know how back home in ballard it can be nice and sunny one day and then snowing the next day? well thats kinda like it is now over here, except on an hour by hour basis. one day it was nice and sunny then we drove through a rain storm, a sand storm, and got snow that night. wierd. but around may it will start getting HOT! im talking highs in the 100's and the evenings in the 70's and 80's. right now it is the rainy season for parts of the country and some days it is really cloudy and rainy and just plain misserable.
Brittanie - is it hard over here, yeah it is. some days it gets rather dangerous and other days i just miss my family A LOT! what do i like to do for fun? well i have a puppy over here named little girl that i play with. she along with 3 other dogs (rocky, blondie, omlet) live on our FOB and very soon Blondie is gonna have some puppies! she is super fat and about to pop. i cant wait, i like puppies. other things i like to do, i like taking naps. i am a big fan of napping. i enjoy keeping my body in shape by lifting weights and runnin, which i also like to do back home for fun. i play video games on my xbox 360 and watch movies. sometimes when we get tired of the food at our chow hall we send our interpreters into town to buy kabobs. they are super yummy and cheap! the food over here is awesome. espically the kabobs and a flat bread called nan. we have illnesses over here just like back home. we get colds, the flu, upset stomaches, pretty much everything you get back home we get over here. but we have some awesome medics to take care of us and make sure we stay nice and healthy.
thanks for the questions kiddos. this is awesome! i really enjoy doing this. this is awesome that you guys are learning more about this part of the world. you guys keep the questions coming. i am looking forward to hearing from you guys a lot more.
aaron
so i tried to post a comment earlier and i dont think it worked. lets try this again....
ReplyDeletewow lots of comments and questions! this is awesome! time to get started.....
the earthquake happened in jalalabad which is northeastern afghanistan. i didnt even know it happened until a few days later. news travels a little slow down south where i am.
Billy - the weather right now is in the rainy season. we get actually thunderstorms some days and it rains quite a bit. all the rivers and creeks, what few there are, are full of water. since it is the rainy season the weather gets a little wierd. one day it started out nice and sunny then we drove through a rain storm and a sand storm on the way to our destination. then that night it snowed a little. wierd let me tell ya.
Jade - i dont know the exact days i have left but we are scheduled to head home in late august early sept of 2009. now the army could always make me stay longer, but only time will tell.
Brittanie - is it hard over here? some days it is and some days it isnt. some days it gets rather dangerous in some of the places we go, and some days i just miss my family back home. i have a little cousin around your age and miss her and my other cousins like crazy. one of the worst parts about being over here is i cant go fishing. i love fisihng. there is hardly any water over where we are because we are in a mountainous desert area. it pretty much drives me bonkers. do we have any time to have fun over here? ohh yeah we have fun, we make this place fun. i have a puppy named Little Girl (she aint little any more) that i play with when im not busy. i also like taking naps. i love me some naps. i also like to keep my body in shape by lifting weights and running, which is something i do back home as well. i sometimes watch movies, talk to my family on the computer, play video games on my xbox 360, and read my fishing magazines. sometimes we get sick. we get sick with tummy aches, the flu, colds, etc. just like you all do back home. but thankfully we have some great medics on our FOB to keep us healty.
wow kiddos this is too cool. thank you for all of your questions. i am excited that you guys are getting more than book info about the middle east. this place is rich in world history, and a lot of it. some places there are still castles standing that alexander the great built and used as outposts. keep the questions coming and i am looking forward to hearing from you all very soon.
aaorn
so here is the thrid try to post on this silly thing.....
ReplyDeletethe earthquake was in jalalabad which is in northeastern afghanistan. i didnt feel it or even know about it due to the fact that we are down south.
bily - the weather right now is in the rainy season. most days it is cloudy and looks like it could storm at any minute. one day it was nice and sunny and when we went on mission we drove through a rain storm and a sand storm. then that night it snowed. wierd i know
Hey i would like to have that gun of yours to thats sweet l8ter cooper
ReplyDeleteBe sure to tell us when your dog has puppies.Do they have the same dogs they do here
ReplyDeleteBen
hey aaron how many hours would you have to train a day?
ReplyDeleteLogan
what are you naming the puppies? do you have alot of friends?
ReplyDeleteAllie w!!!!!!!
hey aaron, what in the world are those kabobs made of? where do you guys sleep? What kind of exircises do you guys do?
ReplyDeleteMichael
hey guys thanks for the questions. we had a sand storm and right after that we had a big thunderstorm then the temperature dropped like 25 degrees. brrrrrrrr. now on to the questions....
ReplyDeletecooper-yeah my guns are pretty sweet. they are fun to shoot. espically the machine guns.
ben-dont worry i will send you guys plenty of pictures when blondie has her puppies. the majority of dogs they have over here are just plain ole mutts. you know the mixed breed dogs. they have big dogs, little dogs, and dogs of all shapes and sizes.
Logan - each day is different. some days we go out on a mission for only 4 or 5 hrs because the places we go are close to our FOB. some times we will be gone for 2 or 3 days training the afghan police. one mission we had took us 36hrs from the time we left the gate until the time we got home. some days we clean our weapons and trucks and some days we just relax and play video games with each other.
thanks for your questions and comments guys. i am going to be traveling for a day or two so i might not get to your coments as fast as i would like. but keep them coming anyway! have a great day
aaron
waz up arron o? next Saturday is Bandana days. i go to First Babist church. i am in the youth class. the youth has a band, its called youth praise band. i am 12 years old and play the gutiar. i am in the band. we have 8 people in our band. well, peace out hom dog!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeletetj
wow. i just got done answering 3 posts and now two more just showed up, awesome.
ReplyDeleteallie - i have no idea. i am going to name one of the boy puppies duke, cause you always gotta have a dog named duke. other than that i dont know. do you have any suggestions for a name?
michael - the kabobs are made up of grilled meat ( usually goat, sheep, or beef) with grilled vegetables wrapped in a flat bread called nan. they taste delicious and are super cheap. i live on FOB vulcan and have my own little teeny tiny room. its not like my place back home, but over here its as close to home as i get. the exercises i do are mainly weightlifting, runnin, and road marching. i lift weights to keep my body strength up cause all my body armor and equipiment gets rather heavy after a while. i run to keep my cardiovascular system in shape so i wont get tired if we have to run all over the place while on a mission. and road marching is where i put on all my body armor, equipiment, grab my rifle and just walk around our FOB. i do this to keep my legs in shape and keep my body used to carrying all that heavy and hot equipiment.
thanks for the questions folks. enjoy your day.
aaron
what is a fob. what does that mean? do you like your x box 360?
ReplyDeletewhat is your favorite part about what you do? when i was in pre school your mom was my teacher. she is cool. did she retire? i havent seem her in a couple of mounths. do you know jimmy wray or kelly wray? well, they are my parents. when i grow up i am going marine???
ReplyDeletetj
Are you excited about Blondie having her puppies? I like puppies. They are cute and small. Have a good day!
ReplyDelete-Miranda
Can you send us some pictures of your gun. it sounds really cool. do you have xbox live?
ReplyDeleteEthan
I just want to say thank you for serving our country. good luck.
ReplyDeleteBrian
Hey, thanks for serving our country!What is it like there and what is your favorite part?
ReplyDelete-Rebekah
Have you seen any enemies?
ReplyDeleteNaoma
hey aaron is it warm there. do you still give the kid suckers
ReplyDeleteAllie W!!!!!
First of all, THANK YOU FOR SERVING OUR COUNTRY!!!! Do you operate any special type of machinery?
ReplyDeleteCarly D.
Hi:) I hope you stay safe. The Bomber baseball team is doing great.The junior varsity team is undefeated, and the other day varsity beat the 6th team in the state (thought you might like to know.) I hope the Afghanistan police department gets stronger with your help. Say hi and good-luck to everyone! I'll be praying for your safety.
ReplyDeleteJesse McCall Rollins
Thank you for serving our country!!! We really appreciate everything you do! Good luck in all that you do!
ReplyDeleteKaylee S.
Can you send us a picture of that armoed van thing you were talking about?
ReplyDeleteBubba N.
when you are out in the field do you eat trail mix and nuts?
ReplyDeletetj
It is going to be a good week in ballard it going to be in the 70's and the 80's this week.
ReplyDeleteCody N.
how hace you been is there a war right now? If there is a war can you tell if it is scary or is it hard? maybe both
ReplyDeleteits awesome how you want to serve so thanks for that and good luck with them puppies
ReplyDeleteAustin
Did you get back at thoses people who got you all muddy? haha... :)
ReplyDeletehey i might have a good name you could name one of your girl dogs! you could name her daisy i like that name it is so pretty well stay safe byebye !
ReplyDeleteCrystal T.
Thanks so much for serving our country!!
ReplyDeletePayton
Thank you very much for answering my first question! I know it must take a lot of your time to answer all of are questions and/or comments! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! Any way my next question is do you have lots of stores there? I don't know what i would do with out shopping?! Well stay safe and hope you get to come home very soon! :)
ReplyDeleteJade Tilford
Heyy...Thank you for serving our country! Are you still training people to be police there? What is your favorite thing about being in Afghanistan?? Agian THANK YOU and stay safe!!!
ReplyDelete~Elizabeth G~
Hey Aaron! Thanks so much for serving our country! A few questions i have is how is it different there from here? And whats the food like? Lots of love from everyone and stay safe!
ReplyDeletehey my cat is about to have kittens! I'm so exited! how are your dogs? thank you for serving our country!
ReplyDelete-Brittany Horn
what kind of dog do you have, i have seen a pic of it but i cant remember what kind it is. but wow it is so cute i wish i had i puppy i just have i huge dog that does not listen.
ReplyDeleteHey Aaron thank you so much for serving our country! How is the weather different there from here? And whats your favorite food to eat over there? Well again thank you so much! Much love to you and everyone else over there. stay safe!
ReplyDeleteMadisen
what kind of weapons do you use in afganistan?
ReplyDeletekole,w
How is Afghanistan? I wanted to know what is your daily scedule like. What time do you wake up things like that.
ReplyDeleteHi i just want to say thanks for serving our country. Do have a favorite thing to do when you are travleing.I hope get home soon and saftly. Again thak you for serving our coutry.
ReplyDeleteMakenzie
I think that you should name the other dog meme if it is a girl. I have 2 boxers named mia and baby they are twins but act nothing alike. what type of sniper rifles do you use . I like the dragonaff I have had it on conflict desert storm 1 and 2. plese write back
ReplyDeleteDavid
Are the enemy hard to find?
ReplyDeleteDavid
Hey it is a nice day here is it nice there. Saturday it might get up to 80 degrees.I can not what.I am going to ride my bike all day.
ReplyDeletemakenzie
Hey Aaron. What is the weather like over there here it is in the 70s and 80s. You are a very brave man going across seas and risking your life for our country.My grandpa use to be a marine or whatever but he lost his left arm in battle for our country.However he says it is a trophy of courage.I agree with him because you must have courage to go over seas and fight for our country. Any way talk to you later.
ReplyDelete-Miranda W.
hey i was wondering if you have ever had to fight a certain amount of people by urself? have you ever seen a little kid that waz sick or poor that you took it with you, or gave them to some body else? i have wanted to go to afghanistan but i would be scarde. are you scard? anyway i might have to have glasses. do you wear glasses? have you ever got hurt or shot any way i have to go to lunch chat latter by
ReplyDeletecaitlin coppock
Hey Aaron! I wanted 2 kno...what all r u allowed 2 wear? Like, what all colors? Oh, i almost forgot! THANK YOU 4 SERVING OUR COUNTRY!!!!!!!!!!!! Send me 1 of those tasty kabobs! ok...they would probably get eaten on the way here...never mind!!! Have you ever had a pork kabob? What about chicken kabobs? ugh! i'm making myself hungry! :( i'm gunna eat...bye!
ReplyDeleteSyd B.
Hey whats it like in afghanistan? Whats your favorite food in afghanistan? I cant wait till you send us pictures of the puppies. I hurt my ankle the other day. Have you ever broken a bone while being in afghanistan? Well thank you soooooooooooooooooo much for serving our country!!!!!!!!!!!!! Much love to you and all of the people over there!!!!
ReplyDelete~Allie!!S!!~
oh yeah... stay safe....
what up its issac how is it up there is it hot and are you having fun with the puppies. thank you for serving our country your awsome.
ReplyDeleteissac aldridge
Hey,whenever Blondie has her puppies will you send us pictures of her?Do you like spending time over in afghanistan?
ReplyDeleteHaley
Hey today at school a guy from india came and talked to us . bye.
ReplyDeletemakenzie
How did it go were you was at? Did anyone get hurt? Thank you for serving our county!!!
ReplyDeleteBrittanie
is it very hot up there how hot is it.
ReplyDeletebrianna
heyyy....aaron how are doing im doing really good. we all thank you for serving our country as you can tell... THANKYOU SOOOOOOOOO MUCH....ill be thinking about yu and you will be in my preyers..... ill try to get back to as soon as possible.... HAVE FUNNNN.....<3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeletedid you shoot your gun today?
ReplyDeleteclay N.
will you stay were you are now or will you go to a country close by it?
ReplyDeletetj
what is the weather like up there?
ReplyDeletetj
how hot does it up there in the summer?
ReplyDeletetj
Will you send us pictures of Blondie's puppies? Today it was in the high 70's and 80's. How was it there? STAY SAFE.... THANK YOU!!!
ReplyDelete*~Elizabeth G~*
Hey aaron how do you like your new gun? It sounds cool.
ReplyDeleteJay M.
What part are you in?
ReplyDeleteCody N.
Wat's up what's your favorite xbox game i play xbox sometimes I hope your being safe and do you have a pistol and what king is it. Is it a 45 or something else
ReplyDeleteEthan
has your dog had pupies yet
ReplyDeletetj
do you like afghanistan better than ballard?
ReplyDeletetj
what would you say your favorite foods are in afghanistan so far? can you tell us how to make some of them?
ReplyDeleteTyler P.:)
im clay and i have aquestion one day i seen a bobcat do you seen bobcats in afghanistan
ReplyDeleteHey aaron!!!!!!!! i had an MRI done on my ankle yesterday!!!!! i was kinda scared at first but then i clamed down!!!!!!!!!!!!! welll i hope your very safe!!!!!
ReplyDelete~*Allie**!!S*~
hey thanks for surving our country. have the puppys been born yet. if there is a girl puppy that you have not choose a name for i think chloe is a really cute name for a little dog!!!!!!! STAY SAFE!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteELLIE!!!!!
Hey aron, what kind of music do you listen to if you listen to any?
ReplyDeleteDakota
What kind of music do you listen to if any?
ReplyDeleteDakota
Hi Aaron. I know you've heard a lot about how much better the weather is getting. We need it after the icestorm. You mentioned you might be getting relocated if you do, please write about it. I hope you don't have to gaurd the gate anymore and can go back on missions.
ReplyDeleteJesse McCall Rollins
What's up aaron thanks for serving our country and do you know yet when or where you team is moving to thanks for serving our country.
ReplyDeleteETHAN
hey! How are you doing? I hope you come home soon! We are thinking about you all of the time. Everyday in social studies we talk about you. I hope your dog is doing good as well as you. We hope to see you soon! We are in hope that you will be home very soon so we don't have to worry. What missions will you be going on soon?
ReplyDeleteLindsey
Hey Aaron! How's it going? This Saturday is Bandana Days! There are a lot of things going on this week! In fact, my birthday is this Sunday! peace out
ReplyDeleteMichael Waldon
hey arron where are u training at now what is the weather like today and thanks for serving our country
ReplyDeleteshane
Yo Aaron! How's it hanging? I just wanted to let you know that I've known your mom, Mrs. Beverly, for a really long time. She is awesome!!!
ReplyDeleteMichael Waldon
Hey Aaron!!!! Im going to Bandana days tomorrow!!!! Its gonna be FUN!!!!!
ReplyDelete~Allie!s!~
hey i hope you dont have to gaurd the gate anymore that does sound pretty boring to just sit there. :) HOPE YOUR HOME SOON (:
ReplyDeleteELLIE!!!!!!!! :)
hey aaron, can you send us sum pics of your really cool machine gun? my dads friend is in the military. his name is todd. what kind of games do u play on your X-Box 360? your mom kinda works with my mom. your mom is nice. do u listen 2 music there? what kind of music do u like? i like rock and rap. thanx for serving our country. see ya. stay safe.
ReplyDeleteChris G.
howdy! so there are A LOT of comments and questions up here now, i havent been able to check on it in a couple of days. since there are way too many posts to answer individually i am going to break it up into a couple different sections over a few days. Part one will consist of my daily life on FOB vulcan. it will cover what i do on days when i have missions, non mission days, what and where i eat, where i sleep, what i do for fun/free time, and anything else i can think of. Part 2 will be made up mostly of Afghanistan itself. it will cover the people, the languages, the food, religion, climates, terrain, local seasons, wildlife, etc. Part 3 is devoted to the FOB doggies. Blondie, Little Girl, and Omelet get their own section. Sadly Rocky died a few days ago of old age. Everybody wants an update on blondie and her puppies. so i will just write a little something about our FOB dogs. thanks for the pictures. it is nice to see some faces back home. some i recoganize from when they were itty bitty little tikes. lastly i got myself a new camera last week to replace my broke one and i am going to send some pictures to your teachers of things you guys have been asking about. thats about it for now. its time for me to get a hair cut and take a nap. have a great day!
ReplyDeleteaaron
Aaron,
ReplyDeleteHow hot does it get over there in the summer? I would like to know incase I ever came over there. Anyway, there is twenty-nine days of school left! I am sooooooo happy. I am ready to be out of school. School can be fun but it scarcely is over here. Yes we do have a fun day (usualy Friday). We call it fun Friday. When we have Fun Friday we get a soda pop and we go to the gym. We get to play with our friends and have a good time. I love fun friday. Have a good day and thank you for serving our country. You are America's hero!:)
~Miranda P. Wheeler
hey my brother has a soccer game tommorrow they have lost every game maybe he will win
ReplyDeleteallie
i hope you are staying safe
ReplyDeleteELLIE!!!!!!!!
Heyy...Thank you for serving our country! Are you still training people to be police there? What is your favorite thing about being in Afghanistan?? Agian THANK YOU and stay safe!!!
ReplyDelete~Elizabeth G~
Heyy... Aaron how's it goin over there it has been cold and wet over here and i dont like the rain all that much. When you train people to be better policemen do you enjoy it and what is it like when you do do that if youare confused about that i mean how long is the process and stuff like that well thank you again and stay very safe!!!
ReplyDelete~crystal~
I really want to see more pictures of the puppies. Have they grown a lot since we last saw them? Your just in case vest is so heavy. How do you carry that thing all the time when you have an emergency mission that you have to do on foot? When was the last time you had to were that thing in combat?
ReplyDeleteCody K.
here is part one of three answering the question of what i do on any given day. hope this helps out a little.....
ReplyDeleteSo many of you have asked questions about what I do on any given day. I am going to try and answer that question to the best of my ability. I don’t have a set schedule because no two days are rarely the same. Some days we have missions that last all day, some days we have missions that last a few hours, some days we don’t do anything at all. Each day is different. Is what I am going to try and do is just give you a general idea of what I do on any given day that may or may not include going on mission.
So my little home away from home is FOB Vulcan which is located in Ghazni City, Afghanistan. Here we have everything we need to live, work, and play. We have a chow hall (a very tiny one but we got one), a volleyball court, showers, running water, and porcelain toilets that flush! Some places still don’t even have running water so I consider us very blessed. All the water we use for cooking and drinking comes from bottles. We use the regular water, which has been treated I think, for laundry, showering, and is also safe for brushing your teeth, but it’s not safe enough to drink. We even have a place to drop your laundry off where local workers will wash and fold your laundry for you. FOB stands for Forward Operating Base. It is a place where US and coalition soldiers live and operate out of. You can think of it like stores back home. There is one headquarters for a certain store such as Wal-Mart. But at the same time there are Wal-Mart’s all over the country of all shapes and sizes. The same goes with FOBs. Camp Phoenix is our headquarters in Afghanistan and it is located in the countries capitol, Kabul. All over the country there are FOBs of all sizes. There is a FOB is Bagram called Bagram Air Field (BAF) and there are thousands of US and coalition personnel stationed there. Then you have little tiny FOBs like mine that have about 60 US personnel and about 75 Polish soldiers. There are even smaller FOBs out there than ours. Those are mostly along the Pakistan border on the eastern side of the country.
Wake up. Let’s start my daily schedule at the beginning, wake up. I am 26 years old ad still to this day HATE waking up early in the morning. I love hunting and fishing but I still hate waking up early to chase bass or ducks. Depending what day it is I try to wake up between 0630 and 0700, that 630am and 700am. Some times after we have been gone for a long time or we ran a night mission I like to sleep in until 0900 or 1000, sometimes longer. After I force myself out of bed and if I have time I will hop on one of the stationary bikes and ride for about an hour or run a couple of miles on the treadmill. This gets me going first thing in the morning and gets me in great shape. You have to stay in shape over here. This terrain is unforgiving, and if you aren’t in shape then it will show and put yourself and your other teammates in possible danger. After I get up or work out I head to the chow hall for breakfast. Breakfast for me usually consists of fruit (if we have any) or my personnel favorite, cereal. My all time favorite cereal is Cheerios followed by Lucky Charms. Still to this day when I would go home to visit mom and dad there would always be a box of cereal and a gallon of milk waiting on me. If it’s available I also eat other things like bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy, waffles, French toast, and pancakes. But sometimes we don’t have those things because we have a hard time getting food.
Mission days - After I eat breakfast if I got a mission that day I get my uniform on and head to my truck to start getting it ready. I fire it up and while it is warming up I turn on the radios and make sure they are working and we can talk to our TOC (Tactical Operations Center, that’s where all the important people who tell us what to do work), our other trucks, and get my weapon ready. I am the gunner for my truck, LawDog36. I make sure my 240B machine gun is mounted, I have plenty of ammo readily available, my weapon is operational, and I have all the necessary tools to fight back with if we should encounter any bad guys. After I get all of my stuff ready I pull our truck into our staging area where we all bring our vehicles to let our Lieutenant know that we are ready to go. If it is going to be an overnight mission I make sure I bring stuff to be out overnight. That usually consists of an extra pair of underpants (gotta have clean undies), a couple pair of fresh socks, a couple of t-shirts, sleeping bag, and pillow. I pack all these things into my assault pack. My assault pack is just an ‘armyfied’ back pack. We also bring things that are utter importance like a Frisbee, football, and baseball gloves and baseball. Hey it gets boring when you are out in the field sometimes. After I get back from the mission I put everything back where I found it and make sure our truck is locked up so nobody can get in and take any of my stuff. Everything in my truck has its certain place. Ammo goes here, water is located there, my body armor/helmet/weapon sits there, etc. So that way if we have to roll out in the middle of night for some reason or we have to go support another team that is under attack I can put my truck together and know where everything is just by feeling it. So that is what I do on days I have missions.
Non mission days - On days I don’t have missions we usually refit. What that means is we replace anything that we used while we were out on our last mission. If we drank all of our water we get cases of water to replace any water we used. The same goes with ammo, food, etc. We also clean and wash our trucks, check them to see if anything is broke, make sure our radios are working, perform basic maintenance such as adding fluids, and I clean my weapons if they need it. I keep my weapons cleaner than I keep myself. Over here having a weapon that will fire when you pull the trigger can mean the difference between life and death.
My guns - My weapons MUST fire when I pull the trigger, my life literally depends on that. That’s why I keep them clean. After we get back from every mission I quickly wipe them down. On Saturdays is when I really strip them apart and clean every little piece. Speaking of weapons many of you have asked about them. My primary weapon is the standard M4 carbine. It is a smaller more compact version of the M16 that fires the same rounds, has the same guts, just a little compact version. My secondary weapon is an M9 Beretta 9MM pistol. I only use this if I run out of all the other bullets, and I got A LOT of shooting to do before I run out of all those bullets. My primary weapon for my truck is the 240B machine gun. It is a fully automatic belt fed machine gun. It’s a lot of fun to shoot. If we are going to a place with wide open country I will slap on Ma Deuce, the Browning M2 50cal. This is a BIG gun that fires a BIG bullet. It has been around since 1918 when John Browning invented it.
Free time – Depending what season it is there can be a lot of free time or not much at all. When it was the winter time and we had 2 feet of snow on the ground no teams went anywhere for about a month. We have what we refer to as air status over here. The air status is referred to in colors of green, amber, or red. The air status refers to whether the medical helicopters can fly or not. If the medivac birds (the medical helicopters) are flying then we have green air and go out on mission. If the air is amber that means they might or might not be able to get to you. You can proceed with your mission, but at your own risk. If the air is Red then that means they can’t fly and nobody goes anywhere. The medivac birds are the ones that come and pick wounded soldiers up on the battlefield and take them to the nearest place where they can get treated, like a helicopter ambulance. So days when we have red air, we got a lot of free time. Air status is mostly affected by cloud cover. If the pilots can’t see to fly then they can’t go anywhere, and we can’t go anywhere. But now that its getting almost summer time and the rainy season is almost over we hardly ever have delays because of the air. But when I have free time I do a lot of things. During the winter when it would snow a lot, we would have snowball wars. Not snowball fights but snowball wars. All the Americans would challenge our interpreters to a snowball fight but would turn into an all out war. Those guys can throw some snowballs, let me tell ya. On many occasion we got our butts handed to us by our terps. If it is in the middle of the day I try and clean my room if it needs it, and as small as it is I have to clean almost daily to keep it in check. If i'm not cleaning my room I like to take naps. I looooove my naps. I will also try and write a letter home every now and then. Even though emails are so much more convenient, faster, and easier it is still nice to write and old fashioned letter every now and then. In the evening I usually hit the gym for couple of hours and lift weights, again keeping my body in constant fighting shape. Just because we roll around in trucks that doesn't mean at any given moment we have to dismount and fight on foot. If that time ever comes I have to keep my body in shape, to keep myself and my other teammates from being in danger. After I get done with the gym I eat dinner chow then hop on our extremely slow internet to check my email, check on the blog yall made, and keep up with what all is going on in the world. Plus I get to talk to my mom, dad, brother, fiancé, and all my family and friends on the internet. If I have minutes for my cell phone I call home and try to talk to my mommy at least once every other week. Yes they do have cell phones here in Afghanistan. You have to buy minutes and it costs $10 for 22 minutes of talk time back home. That’s why I only call once every other week, it can get quite expensive. After I get done on the internet I might play a little Call of Duty 4 or Madden 09 on my Xbox 360. Sometimes I read on books I am reading (I currently have 4 in progress) on or watch a movie. Or if it’s getting late I hit the sack so I can be all rested up for whatever the next day holds for me
So that’s just a little bit of what my day is like. As I said before it is all subject to change at any given time without notice. One day I was just chilling watching a movie and within 15minutes we were rolling out the gate getting ready to go help support another team that was under fire. So like I said very rarely are two days the same.
Are you enjoying that new gun that you got? I know that I would. Is it heavy or light weight? Does it shoot very fast or kinda shoot int he middle?
ReplyDeleteguess what!!!!!! blondie had her puppies!!! i dont know how many she had or even where she had them. all i knew is that i came to fob vulcan real quick today and this very fat dog was now a skinnier dog. next time i got to vulcan i will find them and take pictures. you guys are the first people i have told. i havent even told my mom yet. have a great week.
ReplyDeleteaaron
Thats cool!! We have had CATS testing since last Monday, our testing is over now though!! The fun thing is we have activities during testing, as the video's on the front page show.Tommorw we are supposed to have activities, such as chalk drawings, relay races, and scavenger hunts.
ReplyDeleteSTAY SAFE And take care of those puppies!!
~Elizabeth G~
hey how are the puppies? you haveing fun
ReplyDeleteallie
Do you know when you might be coming home? How are the puppies? Thanks for fighting the bad guys!
ReplyDeleteHaley
hey i am sorry about the puppys. u have a good day at camp.
ReplyDeletemakenzie
Aww... sorry about the puppies but those things happen. Yes, its summer here and everyone is happy! It rained on Monday night, not rained STORMED! Some peoples power was out.. Well BE SAFE!
ReplyDeleteElizabeth G
kiddos,
ReplyDeletewell howdy there. havent been on here in a while because i have been busy doing what i love to do the most, go fishing. yes thats right i go to go fishing at the good ole ballard country refuge. i was fortunate enough to take my midtour leave a few days ago so i get to come home and hang out with my mom and dad for a few days. as you may or may not have known the TV segment got cancelled. no worries though, we are trying to work something out for the fall when i get home. that way we can schedule the appropriate things and all you guys will be corralled in the school. i have to report back to atlanta on the 27 and then its back to afghanistan for a couple more months. but until then i am going to spend all the time on the water i can. you guys take care and have a great summer.
aaron