So, here we are. We're finally in the tents. Every other crew has been in them and they've complained about our good fortune for the last couple of months. I'm happy to oblige whiners as usually they're hypocrisy stands out!!! As usual team Varsity handles it with style. We just got our tent assignments and went and checked our tent out.
It's not the Hilton but compared to what the marines and soldiers suffer through at remote outposts I'll take it. It's got pretty decent ac. I froze my ass off because I initially didn't want to zip up my cold weather Marmot sleeping bag.....Stupid is as stupid does!!!! It's got bright flourescent lights so I took some initiative and built my fort first. All the linens look like I went to a Salvation Army center. Pictures will be forthcoming. I got a heavy blanket and made a little hanging curtain.
It's tough trying to sleep because everyone sleeps in a different way. Some go to bed early, some late, some never. Half the lights are on till well after 1-2 in the morning so not making yourself a little curtain is tantamount to the onset of insomnia. I didn't put any earplugs in as I was tired to begin with after being up 18 hours and for operating an aircraft for 16.5. 12 hours of flying and 4.5 of ground gaggle. So I fell asleep quite readily only to be awoken by a cold draft eminating from the ceiling blowers. The outside air temperature had fallen to 96 F (32 C for you Canadians:) and the movement inside had ceased long enough for the cooldown to begin. That will not happen this evening as I am getting up at 2:45 am to go fly tomorrow.
We were greeted by the Djiboutian Anthem promptly at 8 am followed by the national anthem. OMG is it loud!!! Very military sounding BTW. After that it was off to the showers. Any of my flying buddies will tell you that showers vary from bad to worse. As far as these go they are awesome!!! Water so hot it burns Djibouti film right off of you!!!! They are actual shower heads with a single adjustable handle and the sinks are decent. Last time I was at Djibouti it had smaller tents and solar still showers!!! Now you can shower without worrying about getting water in your mouth for fear of throwing up your chow!!!
It's actually posted by the environmental health technicians that the water is now potable and you will no longer use bottled water. Is that just like the announcement that there are no ill effects of the burn pits at all the lovely places I've stayed at, or transited, in the middle east? As Austin Powers says, "Riiigghht."
After showering, Shawn and I took a lovely stroll in the beautiful sunlight and 105 degree heat. Did I mention that it's a desert so it's really a dry heat? Except that it's adjacent to the Gulf of Aden so we have that pesky little thing called humidity. We found the computer place where you take your laptop to have it configured to work on the mil net. Then it was off to order some morale patches and such at the little souvenier shop.
That's right. The Phillipinos have opened an embroidery shop where the guy does it all by hand. I'm having an arabic nametag made with my wings on it. The things you do to entertain yourself. After that it was off to Brunch at the chow hall. What a great way to spend a Saturday? I had a tasty turkey breast with potato wedges and gravy. Then I snacked on spaghetti sauce with meatballs and put in this awesome garlic bread. Believe it or not the food is excellent unless you are in the fast food line. Then it's buyer beware as I just had a snack of onion rings that were made four hours ago.....Pepto!!!!
Now we're hangin' at 11 degrees north, a morale, welfare, and recreation oasis. They have fast wifi and everyone in here is lounging around bangin' out on their keyboards or catching up with Family Guy. Some are waiting to skype the family back home as dawn approaches. It's 14:29 here so my sweet lady isn't up yet, unless the dog is licking her face right now. Okay this is ridiculous. They are playing some really stupid piano music like, "We've only just begun"!!! Are you f*ing shittin' me? Is that what the troops need to hear? It's just the kind of music i like to play on my Ipod as we approach an assault strip for a tactical landing!!!!!!!!!!!! NOT!!!!! Throw some Halen or Iron Maiden in there and I'm rollin' Let one of those bad dudes throw something our way we'd have the SEALS send them packing. This music would just embolden the enemy to attack us while we're all holding each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, not even halfway through my day and that's where I've been and what I've done. On tap for the rest of the afternoon before I shower and sleep......chow!!!!! I regret not getting French toast this morning. That also will not happen again. 20 days until I see my sweet bee!!!!! Then I take a year off and do it all over again in September. But that will be another blog entirely. Tomorrow it's the assualt strip and buying Tuskar beer!!!
8.28.2010
Last Horn of Africa Rotation
I am sitting in the cockpit at 21000 feet flying over the Red Sea after just exiting the Egyptian FIR (Flight Information Region) boundary. We're headed almost due south. The sky is absolutely clear tonight. About 30 minutes ago I decided to play with my NVG's because I was bored and the stars are spectacular. Tonight you could see the Milky Way so crisply it was absolutely breathtaking!! We were all sitting there silently when we looked to our left and watched the moon begin to creep above the horizon. You get a sense of how fast the moon is moving relative to the earth when you see how long it takes to move above. As I speak it's already a few degrees above the horizon of the earth. The color was a brilliant orange due to the moonlight passing through the atmosphere and the curvature of the earth. It's nights like these that I feel so blessed to be able to fly.
Flying has been the best job I could have ever chosen for myself. It didn't start out that way, but somehow I fell into it. I'd say I can't imagine doing anything else, but I can because I quit for awhile. I can't regret that decision because it led me to the most wonderful human being on the planet: my beautiful wife. However, I can say that there are absolutely no regrets for having jumped back into the game. I am having the best time on this deployment and as everybody's widgets on their computers count down the time until we are reunited with our loved ones I am struck with a sense of sadness. The guys on my crew are the best I've ever flown with. We have gotten the job done time and time again and we've had an absolute blast regardless of the shit we're in. I truly am going to miss flying with them.
It's not that I'll never fly with them again. It's that I probably will never fly with these exact crewmembers in a deployment again. Anyone who has ever spent a lot of time with the same group of people over a long deployment the wrong people equal a very large ass pain. Not once has anyone jumped in anyone else's shit over something. When one of us is angry about something we all just make him laugh and then we give him shit later once he's cooled down. We move as a group and we're flexible as hell. No matter what has occured this deployment we just shrugged our shoulders and made a funny comment and moved on.
Now we are on our last rotation to the Horn of Africa. It's a melancholy feeling coming down here one more time. The squadron we are deployed to is deactivating at the end of our deployment and the active duty squadron at Ramstein is going to take on sole responsibility for Africa missions. This is probably the last time we will see Ramstein either. I grew up in Europe. I have spent much of my career flying in and out of Ramstein and though much has changed over the last 23 years of my career, it's still like home to me. When the lights go out for the last time at the squadron a lot of people are going to have hay fever all of a sudden!!!
Things have gone wrong since the start of this trip. 617th the squadron responsible for flight planning us has fucked it up again. How many colonels can you get in one room without it collapsing due to them sucking the air out? Right now the answer is.....no shit.....about 15 full bird colonels. No wonder nothing gets done. They had us fragged for an earlier departure and we had hazardous cargo. Rockets and lots of em, but some shithead didn't contact Souda Bay in Crete to tell them until later. It was then they learned that there is no haz cargo ramp because of construction taking place. WTF? Don't you call, because it's required, and notify the arrival station that your coming loaded for the Taliban? Apparently not. Way to go team Ramstein. Your country can be proud of the way you impede Operation Enduring Freedom. Who needs the Taliban when you have 617th.
So they pushed us back a day and we have no haz on board. We have nothing on board for the DJ. That feels so strange because usually we have cargo and passengers. Not this evening. Tonight we get there, jump off the aircraft, get to our tents and run to the chow hall for midnight chow. I can almost taste my roast beef and provolone sandwich....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! I was worried for a bit because we have several runs to make while we're down here and I didn't want them to short change us as some of us need a few more missions for aerial achievement medals. Also we get back to back months of tax free. It's the little things that count. Hot chow and tax free.
In addition to 617th doing the haz dick dance, they also showed us flight planned to complete the trip in one day, which we usually do, but that was with us still going around Italy, through France, along the Med to Souda. The shot to DJ was straighter until Cairo redirected us away from Luxor. Weather ahead I'm jumping off so that my laptop doesn't go flying. I should have just picked up my nogs and taken a look. We hit a cloud layer and so we climbed out of it at 23,000 feet and road on top of the cloud deck.
After almost seven hours of pain we approached DJ. The copilot was fllying this approach and he briefed it for runway 09 and commented that it will obviously change to 27 once we contact approach control. Sure enough the DJ controller calls 27 the active, but we were able to get the visual,which cuts out a lot of ass pain. We landed and had a bus waiting. Got to our tent and that's another post.
Flying has been the best job I could have ever chosen for myself. It didn't start out that way, but somehow I fell into it. I'd say I can't imagine doing anything else, but I can because I quit for awhile. I can't regret that decision because it led me to the most wonderful human being on the planet: my beautiful wife. However, I can say that there are absolutely no regrets for having jumped back into the game. I am having the best time on this deployment and as everybody's widgets on their computers count down the time until we are reunited with our loved ones I am struck with a sense of sadness. The guys on my crew are the best I've ever flown with. We have gotten the job done time and time again and we've had an absolute blast regardless of the shit we're in. I truly am going to miss flying with them.
It's not that I'll never fly with them again. It's that I probably will never fly with these exact crewmembers in a deployment again. Anyone who has ever spent a lot of time with the same group of people over a long deployment the wrong people equal a very large ass pain. Not once has anyone jumped in anyone else's shit over something. When one of us is angry about something we all just make him laugh and then we give him shit later once he's cooled down. We move as a group and we're flexible as hell. No matter what has occured this deployment we just shrugged our shoulders and made a funny comment and moved on.
Now we are on our last rotation to the Horn of Africa. It's a melancholy feeling coming down here one more time. The squadron we are deployed to is deactivating at the end of our deployment and the active duty squadron at Ramstein is going to take on sole responsibility for Africa missions. This is probably the last time we will see Ramstein either. I grew up in Europe. I have spent much of my career flying in and out of Ramstein and though much has changed over the last 23 years of my career, it's still like home to me. When the lights go out for the last time at the squadron a lot of people are going to have hay fever all of a sudden!!!
Things have gone wrong since the start of this trip. 617th the squadron responsible for flight planning us has fucked it up again. How many colonels can you get in one room without it collapsing due to them sucking the air out? Right now the answer is.....no shit.....about 15 full bird colonels. No wonder nothing gets done. They had us fragged for an earlier departure and we had hazardous cargo. Rockets and lots of em, but some shithead didn't contact Souda Bay in Crete to tell them until later. It was then they learned that there is no haz cargo ramp because of construction taking place. WTF? Don't you call, because it's required, and notify the arrival station that your coming loaded for the Taliban? Apparently not. Way to go team Ramstein. Your country can be proud of the way you impede Operation Enduring Freedom. Who needs the Taliban when you have 617th.
So they pushed us back a day and we have no haz on board. We have nothing on board for the DJ. That feels so strange because usually we have cargo and passengers. Not this evening. Tonight we get there, jump off the aircraft, get to our tents and run to the chow hall for midnight chow. I can almost taste my roast beef and provolone sandwich....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! I was worried for a bit because we have several runs to make while we're down here and I didn't want them to short change us as some of us need a few more missions for aerial achievement medals. Also we get back to back months of tax free. It's the little things that count. Hot chow and tax free.
In addition to 617th doing the haz dick dance, they also showed us flight planned to complete the trip in one day, which we usually do, but that was with us still going around Italy, through France, along the Med to Souda. The shot to DJ was straighter until Cairo redirected us away from Luxor. Weather ahead I'm jumping off so that my laptop doesn't go flying. I should have just picked up my nogs and taken a look. We hit a cloud layer and so we climbed out of it at 23,000 feet and road on top of the cloud deck.
After almost seven hours of pain we approached DJ. The copilot was fllying this approach and he briefed it for runway 09 and commented that it will obviously change to 27 once we contact approach control. Sure enough the DJ controller calls 27 the active, but we were able to get the visual,which cuts out a lot of ass pain. We landed and had a bus waiting. Got to our tent and that's another post.
8.13.2010
Pat Tillman
****Warning This Post contains Rantings of a Passionate Military Member******
What prompted this post was an article by NBC sports concerning a documentary on the Pat Tillman coverup. I'm not here to argue politics or even to change anyone's mind. I am writing this post to honor the memory of a true Patriot. I cannot call him a hero even though what he did would definitely put him up there because he made it clear to his family that heroes are extraordinary people and he was a man with faults like the rest of us. You've read my post on the word hero, but in my book he's pretty damn close to one!!!!
No background on Tillman. You should know it and if you want to learn more I urge you to find the truth for yourself. If your American and you do not know who he is that is because you have looked the other way while many of your countrymen have engaged in two wars and were making painful sacrifices. If you are not an American then it would make sense that you may not have heard of Pat Tillman. BTW, Tillman absolutely disagreed with the Iraq war and his reasoning was sound. Yet he still did his duty as a soldier. Imagine that: Personal responsibility!
So, I read the article which focused on the fact that Tillman's father had finally had enough when he read the "report" commissioned by congress. The general in charge, who actually signed the report, had promised the family that he would personally look into it. Well he did and if you read any of the official reports, it was clearly a cover up. The investigators have declared it an unfortunate incident and the general by signing off on it agrees with that assessment. Tillman's father declared that the general, along with some members of Tillman's platoon, are not fit to serve or be identified with the Army Rangers. More to the point he told the general to go fuck himself. Literally!
As with all the content on the web today, people are entitled to espouse their opinions with little regard to honesty and decency. Several people belittled Tillman himself for joining saying that he gave up his career to go "play" soldier and that he got what he deserved. If one person makes another person angry and the angered party decides to shoot and kill that person, does the person who is shot really "deserve" to be shot? Really? Hmmmm, check your value system. No decent human being would buy off on that.
Many of those who commented want the family to get over it because accidents happen and the truth is always hard to find in the fog of war. Yes, the truth is hard to find. It may never be found, completely, in this case. But one truth is for certain. Knowing that PFC Tillman was killed by members of his own unit, the highest ranking members of the US Army overseeing the execution of the war in Afghanistan, including that disgrace of a general Stanley McChrystal, said nothing to the family in private and even used his funeral as a photo op. President Bush absolutely was aware and all of them decided it would be one hell of a recruiting story....like...Jessica Lynch (does she ring a bell?). That's absolutely immoral no matter what your ideology is.
Given those facts can you blame a greiving family that they are angry they were lied to even years afterward? If you can then God help you if something like that ever happens to you. I hope that it never does because the pain of losing someone you love so deeply must be absolutely agonizing and it appears to never go away.
Friendly fire will always happen. No matter what. That doesn't mean that we have to act like it didn't happen and then make the victim a false hero. If you read Where Men Win Glory: The Pat Tillman Story, a lot of Pat's thoughts from his journal are in there. He had many misgivings about the Army and the war. The last thing I think he would have wanted is for himself to be made a recruiting poster. They attempted it when he was alive and he refused.
There is so much to say on this story that I wish I had an open dialogue with all of you because I feel it needs to be said and understood clearly.
Pat Tillman was a courageous man. He did something that hasn't been done since Vietnam when Rocky Blier left the Pittsburgh Steelers and got his legs blown off in Vietnam. Pat Tillman gave up a multi-million dollar contract with the Arizona Cardinals to serve his country in her time of need. If you listen to his family and read his own words there was no regret. He felt that all citizens should make sacrifices for their country no matter what the cost. He even had an opportunity to re-enter the NFL but he refused to go back on his word and break his contract with the American people. Notice no other elite, well paid athelete stood up and did the same thing. No actor, politician, talented, rich individuals did what he did. What counts for even more is that he didn't expect anyone to lavish praise and he didn't condemn others for not making the same choice.
Pat Tillman paid the ultimate sacrifice for the idea that democracy is not passive. It requires attention, and at times sacrifice to maintain itself. I believe that he believed that it was everyone's responsibility to nurture it no matter what their station in life.
To that end I say to all, you don't have to wear the uniform to be a solid citizen. You need to engage and be passionate in whatever it is that you believe in. Stand up and try and make a difference. Democracy may not flourish no matter how hard you try, but it will absolutely falter if you stand idlly by and do nothing. Vote, be active in your community, get involved. But remember that your voice can be powerful. Choose your words wisely when you comment on the tragedy of those who attempted to do something for someone else at great cost to themselves and their loved ones. We should never judge those that put their money where their mouth is.
I didn't have an awesome career to give up when I joined the military. I chose to serve as my career. I have no regrets and I don't know if I would have been the kind of man Pat Tillman was if I had a great job and suddenly saw America attacked and plunged into conflict. I'd like to think that I would, but no one knows their courage or inner strength until they are tested.
I love what I do and if tomorrow I paid the ultimate price I would want someone to comfort my wife with kind words. After all I am a citizen just like you. I have hopes and dreams and want to fullfill them just like everyone else. I would think that my wife would deserve some sympathy and respect even if you disagreed with my occupation. Pat made me realize that all the things I complain about are ridiculous and that I am so damn lucky to have what I have. But I'd give all that up to know that my wife, my family, my friends would be safe from harm.
When I find myself complaining about the slowness of the ops tempo, or the pay problems, or even missing my family, I think about what Pat Would say. I admire him. I want so very badly to have his courage and to be the man he was to all those who know me.
So tonight before I go to bed, as I think about all the complaints and problems I had throughout the day, I think, as I do every night, "What would Pat Tillman Do?"
I know the answer, but will my heart have the courage to follow it?
What prompted this post was an article by NBC sports concerning a documentary on the Pat Tillman coverup. I'm not here to argue politics or even to change anyone's mind. I am writing this post to honor the memory of a true Patriot. I cannot call him a hero even though what he did would definitely put him up there because he made it clear to his family that heroes are extraordinary people and he was a man with faults like the rest of us. You've read my post on the word hero, but in my book he's pretty damn close to one!!!!
No background on Tillman. You should know it and if you want to learn more I urge you to find the truth for yourself. If your American and you do not know who he is that is because you have looked the other way while many of your countrymen have engaged in two wars and were making painful sacrifices. If you are not an American then it would make sense that you may not have heard of Pat Tillman. BTW, Tillman absolutely disagreed with the Iraq war and his reasoning was sound. Yet he still did his duty as a soldier. Imagine that: Personal responsibility!
So, I read the article which focused on the fact that Tillman's father had finally had enough when he read the "report" commissioned by congress. The general in charge, who actually signed the report, had promised the family that he would personally look into it. Well he did and if you read any of the official reports, it was clearly a cover up. The investigators have declared it an unfortunate incident and the general by signing off on it agrees with that assessment. Tillman's father declared that the general, along with some members of Tillman's platoon, are not fit to serve or be identified with the Army Rangers. More to the point he told the general to go fuck himself. Literally!
As with all the content on the web today, people are entitled to espouse their opinions with little regard to honesty and decency. Several people belittled Tillman himself for joining saying that he gave up his career to go "play" soldier and that he got what he deserved. If one person makes another person angry and the angered party decides to shoot and kill that person, does the person who is shot really "deserve" to be shot? Really? Hmmmm, check your value system. No decent human being would buy off on that.
Many of those who commented want the family to get over it because accidents happen and the truth is always hard to find in the fog of war. Yes, the truth is hard to find. It may never be found, completely, in this case. But one truth is for certain. Knowing that PFC Tillman was killed by members of his own unit, the highest ranking members of the US Army overseeing the execution of the war in Afghanistan, including that disgrace of a general Stanley McChrystal, said nothing to the family in private and even used his funeral as a photo op. President Bush absolutely was aware and all of them decided it would be one hell of a recruiting story....like...Jessica Lynch (does she ring a bell?). That's absolutely immoral no matter what your ideology is.
Given those facts can you blame a greiving family that they are angry they were lied to even years afterward? If you can then God help you if something like that ever happens to you. I hope that it never does because the pain of losing someone you love so deeply must be absolutely agonizing and it appears to never go away.
Friendly fire will always happen. No matter what. That doesn't mean that we have to act like it didn't happen and then make the victim a false hero. If you read Where Men Win Glory: The Pat Tillman Story, a lot of Pat's thoughts from his journal are in there. He had many misgivings about the Army and the war. The last thing I think he would have wanted is for himself to be made a recruiting poster. They attempted it when he was alive and he refused.
There is so much to say on this story that I wish I had an open dialogue with all of you because I feel it needs to be said and understood clearly.
Pat Tillman was a courageous man. He did something that hasn't been done since Vietnam when Rocky Blier left the Pittsburgh Steelers and got his legs blown off in Vietnam. Pat Tillman gave up a multi-million dollar contract with the Arizona Cardinals to serve his country in her time of need. If you listen to his family and read his own words there was no regret. He felt that all citizens should make sacrifices for their country no matter what the cost. He even had an opportunity to re-enter the NFL but he refused to go back on his word and break his contract with the American people. Notice no other elite, well paid athelete stood up and did the same thing. No actor, politician, talented, rich individuals did what he did. What counts for even more is that he didn't expect anyone to lavish praise and he didn't condemn others for not making the same choice.
Pat Tillman paid the ultimate sacrifice for the idea that democracy is not passive. It requires attention, and at times sacrifice to maintain itself. I believe that he believed that it was everyone's responsibility to nurture it no matter what their station in life.
To that end I say to all, you don't have to wear the uniform to be a solid citizen. You need to engage and be passionate in whatever it is that you believe in. Stand up and try and make a difference. Democracy may not flourish no matter how hard you try, but it will absolutely falter if you stand idlly by and do nothing. Vote, be active in your community, get involved. But remember that your voice can be powerful. Choose your words wisely when you comment on the tragedy of those who attempted to do something for someone else at great cost to themselves and their loved ones. We should never judge those that put their money where their mouth is.
I didn't have an awesome career to give up when I joined the military. I chose to serve as my career. I have no regrets and I don't know if I would have been the kind of man Pat Tillman was if I had a great job and suddenly saw America attacked and plunged into conflict. I'd like to think that I would, but no one knows their courage or inner strength until they are tested.
I love what I do and if tomorrow I paid the ultimate price I would want someone to comfort my wife with kind words. After all I am a citizen just like you. I have hopes and dreams and want to fullfill them just like everyone else. I would think that my wife would deserve some sympathy and respect even if you disagreed with my occupation. Pat made me realize that all the things I complain about are ridiculous and that I am so damn lucky to have what I have. But I'd give all that up to know that my wife, my family, my friends would be safe from harm.
When I find myself complaining about the slowness of the ops tempo, or the pay problems, or even missing my family, I think about what Pat Would say. I admire him. I want so very badly to have his courage and to be the man he was to all those who know me.
So tonight before I go to bed, as I think about all the complaints and problems I had throughout the day, I think, as I do every night, "What would Pat Tillman Do?"
I know the answer, but will my heart have the courage to follow it?
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