Manas

I do not know how to pronounce where I am at right now, and I think that is something I am going to have to get used to over the next few months. 


I am sitting at the main transfer point for everyone flying in and out of Afghanistan, a very busy little Air Force base in Kyrgyzstan.  (kerr Ges tan) - I think
Right now I am patiently waiting to board a flight to Kandahar.  This leg of the trip will also have a different packing list than I am used to.  Now I am flying on a USAF(United States Air Force) plane into Kandahar and this requires a Kevlar helmet to be worn along with either an IOTV(Improved Outer Tactical Vest) or Armored Plate Carrier (Fancy titles for bullet proof vest).  Not your standard JetBlue DCA to BOS luggage.(That was for you Michael S.Jones and all of my Boston Dunstan family)

This place is pretty interesting with men and women from four branches of the armed forces including soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines.  There are also soldiers from Poland, Georgia, and Canada.  This means lots of different languages and lots of different uniforms.  In fact, the US Army is even wearing two different patterns depending on when the soldier arrived in Afghanistan.  The unit I am with, the 1-25 SBCT is outfitted in the new, OCP (Operation Enduring Freedom Camoflage Pattern) but the standard ACU(Army Combat Uniform) distinguishes those soldiers who have completed their time in Afghanistan and are packing there old uniforms and going home.(Napolean Dynamite voice - "Luckyyyyy")

Here are the different patterns:



OCP - The Going to Afghanistan Pattern



ACU - The Coming home from Afghanistan Pattern

I think Mr. McConaughey might take some of these ideas for his j.k. livn clothing line - from what I hear in central Asia, camo is the new 'black'

Pay attention to the poll at the bottom, you've probably already missed some good stuff.

Pete

also notice that it says I posted this Friday evening - not so, its actually 6 am on Saturday where I am at - I am typing to you from the future.

World Air

So flying en route to a war zone is different.

It's definitely not the G5 McConaughey's character Rick Peck enjoys in the movie 'Tropic Thunder'

For one, there is no security to speak of, unless you count the off limits holding area with razor wire surrounding it where we waited for 3 1/2 hours prior to loading on to buses so we could drive to Eielson AFB only to wait another hour at the Air Field for our chartered flight. 

Next, the big difference is what's allowed for your carry-on items.  Mine included a M9 9mm pistol and an M4 carbine rifle.  This is what my storage under the seat in front of me looked like:

Kind of crazy right?


There were three movies, and I was awake for at least the first few minutes of the A-Team.  No McConaughey to enjoy, but Bradley Cooper will work for me in a pinch.

We leave again in the next hour or so, so this is a quick blog entry.  Next stop: Kyrgyzstan.  That is apparently a real place that you can find on a map and actually fly into.  To me it sounds like the home of an evil villain in a bad spy movie.  Either way, I hear it's beautiful this time of year.  I can hardly contain my excitement.

See you all soon.
Miss you all, but mostly my wife.



Pete

Keep Your Head Down

That is the equivalent of pre-deployment 'Good Luck!!!!!'

I have decided that much like I wouldn't wish Mr. McConaughey "Good luck" before he is about to head out on stage and instead would say "break a leg", people tell me to 'Keep your head down' as their way of wishing me well prior to heading into 'the shit'.  (This deployment euphemism is pretty self-explanatory)

I am not sure what the proper response is to this sentiment, but I must admit I am guilty of firing this line off to my friends and colleagues before they go in to harm's way.

For most people, they tell me to stay safe or be safe or if they know me really well, not do anything stupid.  People in the military usually use the 'watch your six' (meaning keeping an eye on your rear - like six o'clock) particularly if they like to talk about how awesome they are or what kind of cool stuff they have accomplished in the army.  If the person I am talking to has soft spoken about their prior combat experience, then they will always tell me to 'keep my head down' right before we exchange a hug, shake hands or get off the phone.  This goes for junior soldiers I work with now to my grandfather who is a veteran of three separate wars with combat experience ranging from France in 1944 all the way through the Vietnam war. 

There are other movies that don't star Matthew McConaughey that people sometimes quote.(Hard to believe, I know) and I always get a kick out of the 'Office Space' prison reference of 'watch out for your cornhole' - noted, wait for it, shout out warning - thanks Gus Tyler. 

No matter what the sentiment, know that for this soldier, it is appreciated and I will do my best to do all of these things:

Stay safe - this one is somewhat beyond my control given the neighborhood I will call my new home
Don't do anything stupid -  this is always a challenge for me
Good luck - I will take whatever luck, karma, dharma, omens etc. that I can get
Watch your six - shut up douchebag
Watch our for your cornhole - things like that don't happen to people like me
Keep your head down - Roger, Wilco

See you all soon,

Pete

Thank You For Your Service

I have seen an outpouring of this sentiment over the past few weeks.  I was embarrassed over the weekend by my friends and colleagues when I was recognized as about to deploy to Afghanistan at the local arena league football game, and had to stand up in front of thousands(okay maybe hundreds, it's the Fairbanks Grizzlies after all) and I turned a nice shade of pink after a round of applause from the crowd. 

I have been thanked countless times while wearing my uniform, and people have even paid for coffee or picked up a dinner or lunch tab for me. 

All of these things are nice, but I have to let you all in on a little secret:

It really makes me uncomfortable.  Like, really, really uncomfortable.  I usually mumble a 'you're welcome' and then stammer a 'thank you' back to them.

I am sure there are people who like that sort of attention.  They probably star in films and get their shirtless picture in magazines(sorry Matthew), but for me, a proper sense of how many people are out there that are making bigger sacrifices than me and have done more important work than I have makes me unworthy of that sort of recognition.

A healthy perspective is important, and that is probably what motivates people to thank soldiers, marines, airmen and sailors for their service.  And because of that, I will continue to say you're welcome and thank you awkwardly to anyone who is nice enough to buy my coffee for me.  It's why I now pick up the tab for young soldiers I see who probably feel that same uneasy sense of gratitude that I have awkwardly tried to convey over the past few sentences.

Happy Easter to all and to all a good night.

L-I-V-I-N

So part of the pre-deployment process is sitting through briefing after briefing about where you are going, what you will be doing and how you will get there.  Today was different though because today we were supposed to bring our families so they could get some more information. 

Now the information presented was no different, and the one theme that has not changed is just how much is unknown about this deployment.  But they always show pictures of the map of Afghanistan and today the leaders of the brief spent a bunch of time going over information about what would happen if families need to get in touch with their soldier while he or she is in "the box" (another deployment euphemism that has nothing to do with corrugated cardboard,  temporary storage,  a colloquial term for female anatomy, and/or a terrible movie starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden).

 What was different about this briefing (most civilians refer to these gatherings as meetings) was how open and not secret it was.  Normally when there are no spouses or family, you have to turn in your cell phone prior to taking your seat to ensure that no information leaves the room and you are reminded constantly about operations security or OPSEC.

The last briefing of that variety I attended outlined all the rules that the U.S. forces must follow since we are part of a NATO mission and we fall under the ISAF - the International Security Assistance Force. 

This briefing was two hours long and consisted of all the things we are not allowed to do.  Most of it had to do with the difference between U.S.  culture and the other NATO countries and the Pashto and Muslim culture of Afghanistan.  This list of don'ts was pretty extensive and included zero tolerance for alcohol, pornography, and interacting with Pashto women.  Many other things were covered to include what to do with human remains and how to dispose of sewage waste.  I was reminded of Matthew McConaughey's character David Woooderson: 

"The older you get, the more rules they are going to try and get you to follow. You just gotta keep on livin', man. L-I-V-I-N."
So after two hours of everything and anything that you can't do in Afghanistan, I have to agree, take it one day at a time and just keep on livin.

All for now.

Pete


speaking of just keep on livin', check this out.

http://jklivin.com/index.php

All right, all right, all right.

These words, spoken by Matthew McConaughey's character David Wooderson, are some of the most quoted of the iconic film, Dazed and Confused.  They are also the first line ever spoken on film by the actor, and for that, he credits them as his favorite line from any movie.

The Ted Nugent shirt makes his statutory rape jokes much more believable

I don't imagine my first entry in this blog will have the quotability of any movie lines, nor will it become a lucrative career.  Maybe it's because I don't get my shirtless picture put in magazines, or maybe it's because this is a free website with millions of other people too cheap to shell out the $17 to host your own blog website.  Anyway, I do hope that my first blog motivates me to keep writing, keep updating and hopefully keep anyone who reads it a bit entertained along the way. 

Blog appears to be a hip thing, and as with most things that are hip, I am pretty late to the party.  I don't think that my life is so very interesting that I would need to share it over the information superhighway, but I definitely would like to update all my friends and family while I am in Afghanistan.  So this is an avenue for me to share some thoughts and stories about what I am doing, seeing and learning while I am "down range" (this euphemism has nothing to do with kitchen appliances, mathematics, distances something can travel, or a series of mountains - but all of those things will likely be addressed on this website one way or another over the course of the next year).  It does mean being somewhere that is probably dangerous, separated from family and friends, and has a whole lot less indoor plumbing than back home.  It is Army jargon for spending time deployed.  In my case this deployment has been an on again, off again roller coaster of shifting deployment dates, jobs, and missions that will probably change several more times before I actually settle in to my small role in Operation Enduring Freedom.

As it stands, my departure is one week away from tomorrow.  There has been lots of training and planning and packing and tossing and turning waiting for this day to come.  I am actually putting off my final packing by spending time writing this. 

I hope this hasn't bored you to death, maybe it even makes some sense.  I promise more insight in future posts, but all in all, my first blog didn't treat me too badly.  Hopefully people who read this far feel the same way.