Explanation.

I think I owe an explanation as to why this blog has sucked since February 20th. There actually is a reason, I have not just grown lazy. I must be careful/vague in how I word this, as the explanation involves future operations.

Since mid-February, I have been deeply involved in the planning of an upcoming operation for our Brigade. The planning for this mission has sucked the life out of me, and left me with little to no free time. I have a stack of letters/unanswered emails to attend to, and the blog has suffered as well. I know that I need not apologize for this. I know that everyone would rather see me concentrate on my duties when they call....however, I just felt it necessary to give you the reason.

Now that the operation is close to kicking off, I have been advised that I will be going forward on this one. I will be without phone/email etc. for the next 2 weeks-ish.

One request...please pray for our Brigade over the next 2 weeks. We are headed into the heart of the insurgency. We (TF RED BULLS) know that we will win and meet our objectives. However, we do not know at what cost our success will come.

Thanks again for all the support. See you in a couple of weeks. Lee.

One Year.

Although I think most everyone looks back to late July 2010 as the time when this deployment began for me, it was really March 15th, 2010 when this really all began. As I have explained before, I work full time for the Iowa National Guard as a Federal employee. On March 15th of last year, I left my Federal employee status and began working for the Iowa National Guard as a full time service member in support of this deployment. I relocated offices on Camp Dodge, and along with my current boss (MAJ Edwards), began assisting him with swimming through endless piles of requirements and regulations that had to be addressed before pushing our Brigade out the door last Summer.

As people often do after reaching a milestone like this, I thought about all that I have endured since this began. We started off in a temporary office, squeezed into an old medical clinic on Camp Dodge (we were actually in an old patient screening room) We set-up computers, phones and a white board in that little area. And for those who don't know my boss...he's a big dude. He's 6'4", and I'm not exactly small at 6'0". It was a little cramped to say the least.

We then headed to Camp Ripley, where we spent a solid 2 weeks in a tent writing operation orders. 18-20 hour days were the norm, and after surviving it, I thought I'd never have to go through something as brutal again (I was soon proven wrong). Although we were very busy at Camp Shelby, looking back on it, it was probably one of the more quiet times that we had in our Plans Section (the section I am in) during this deployment. And then, there was the National Training Center....

NTC was one of the worst experiences I have ever had in my 16+ years in the Army. It was absolutely horrible. The conditions were bad, and I don't remember ever having to go without sleep like we did at NTC. It seemed nothing we did was right. I distinctly remember after arriving being assigned the task to write the plan for how to move our Brigade out to the field after arriving at NTC. This was no laughing matter, and I worked hard on it. I ended up briefing the entire Brigade Staff, several other Battalions and the NTC Cadre. After it was finished, I thought that it had gone fairly well....until the Brigade Commander pulled me aside, and told me what he thought. Seriously, I can't repeat what he said on this blog, but he wasn't too thrilled. Oh well, I figured it wouldn't take us long to bounce back...right?

After arriving in the field at NTC, we went straight to work, and work we did. The hours were so incredibly ridiculous, I have no idea looking back on it how we even functioned. At one point, I remember staying up for 36 hours straight, going to bed for 8 hours, then staying up for an additional 38 hours straight. At another point, I remember working until 3:30am on a briefing for the Brigade Commander. The briefing was to be presented to a General the next morning. After we had finished, we all went to bed...only to be woke up a few hours later by our panic stricken Brigade Executive Officer who couldn't make any sense of our presentation. We looked at it, and couldn't quite make sense of it either. The briefing didn't go so well to say the least. So much for bouncing back. Only 8 days after leaving the "box" at NTC, we were sitting in our current offices here at Bagram Airfield.

Although we have somewhat found our rhythm, we are still plenty busy. It seems every time we catch up, there is something else to be done. The light is beginning to appear at the end of tunnel. Only 8-9 weeks until I am home on leave, then only a few weeks to go after that. I can't wait...

AO RED BULLS

I thought it might help to give some perspective as to where everything is over here. The darkened in area of the map below is our Brigade's "Area of Operations." I dropped in tags to some of the places I have referenced over the past few months. Normally, National Guard units do not "own" an operational area. Up until the past year or two, National Guard units have filled in gaps for the Active Duty forces that own all the Battle Space. This is beginning to change for numerous reasons, and our (National Guard) Brigade is one of the first ever to be designated as a "Battle Space Owner."

Also, for reference...Sharan/Paktika Province (where I was at during my last deployment) is approx. 75 miles South of Kabul.

FOB MEHTAR LAM

I traveled to Forward Operating Base Mehtar Lam (Laghman Province) yesterday, stayed overnight and returned today. We visited with the 1-133 Infantry, one of the Battalions from Iowa that is here with our Brigade. We also met with the Afghan police, military and others while we were there.

Mountains in Kapisa Province...the snow is beginning to melt

The arrival...Afghans travel in numbers, and with lots of security.

Meeting with the Afghans. I'm to the right...closest in a U.S. Uniform.

Foot patrol to the meeting. COL Corell, our Brigade Commander is pictured.

FOB Mehtar Lam

FOB Mehtar Lam

FOB Mehtar Lam

This video is for Grant. Apparently, he was disappointed with the last helicopter video I posted...because you couldn't see the "hail-we-cop-it-tor."

T-Barriers

To begin, apologies for taking so long to post again. Our Brigade staff has been involved in some serious planning for operations this upcoming Spring. I also have a stack of mail and emails, and will get to them at some point in the next couple of weeks. I'm sure you all understand..

Now to this post...seems there is a huge increase in T-Barriers going up around Bagram lately. The barriers are intended to protect us from indirect fires (IDF). There have been a few incidents in the past several months of living areas being hit by IDF (rockets), causing some serious injuries. Not sure if that's the case for the increase in barriers, as Bagram has always been susceptible to IDF. I guess the barriers will help some, although they appear to be of much better quality than most of the buildings they protect. Maybe they should just construct the buildings out of concrete?

T-barriers being inserted next to my building.

The completed project. Let's hope there isn't a fire in the building...not sure how'd they put it out.

internet is fixed!

Looks like they finally found a fix for my slow internet....will post again soon!