quick sitrep

Sitting here next to ole Hryniw, pronounced Herandyou, (a.k.a the Jew)..... So I ask him how he got the tag the "Jew". He tells me that at first it started out with his brother on a previous tour as H-Jew then Horrendous Jew, and then when he got to regiment his brother was H1 and he was H2. This morphed into his brother becoming H-Senior and he was H-Jewnior. Being that us army folk would rather not spit out more than 2 syllables when jacking someone up, Jew was the simplest way to shorten the 3 syllable pseudonym. Anyway, we all remain intact during our transition into the last few weeks of an already extended tour. Although we're tired and ready for home we remain focused and diligent in finishing this thing off.

The explosions and random pops in the surrounding area continue. The past 2 days has seen 2 different IED detonations. Yesterday, just after a patrol stepped off we heard and felt a large explosion that rocked our platoon house. Everyone had there kit on in minutes and we ready to respond. The call sign that was out responded that they were all okay so we waited nervously for the other platoons response. It turned out everyone was ok and that the thing had gone off just north of our position. We figured perhaps a local national had triggered an IED just in the town that neighbours our position. We set off on foot through a maze of graperows and began questioning the locals in the surrounding area wher it had gone off. One Afghan pointed out that it had gone off further north than we had expected along a prominant route we use all the time. Whatever had gone off was big considering the sound and shock wave it had emitted. The crater in the middle of the road would measure 4m in diameter and 1.5m deep. No injuries and noone in sight. The command wire had extended into a compound just south of the road. This thing was intended for our vehicles and I'm assuming when the insurgent had gone to hook it up he accidentally high ordered it. Too bad he hadn't high ordered it while emplacing it.

So today we hear another blast just after lunch. The sound of an IED blast is now a familiar one sad to say. It detonates and it sounds like an piston ramming against a sheet metal door. They were targeting a road move and there were only minor injuries. The crew had just gotten into theater. Welcome to Afghanistan.... It seems as though things are beginning to heat up in these last few weeks.

I haven't heard much from my section down the road. I know ole Hawk has bought a new home in the mountains and he's eagerly anticipating getting home. He'll have been here for almost 9months by the end of it all while the rest of us are verging on 7.

Dorner and I just got back from a 2 day operation where we squatted in a compound south of our position. I brought my bug net this time. We scoured grapefield after grapefield searching for weapons caches but found nothing. We were attached to $1W and things were pretty laid back. The first day had us searching for about 5 hours. The sun was baking my brain inside my helmet and we shut it down shortly after noon. The next day we would begin the task at 0600 and work unitl around 1000. It would be around 28 degrees when we finished. Currently the temperature is reaching the mid 30's and it seems as though the winter/spring is hanging on out here. It has been raining intermittently and for very short periods. The prevailing winds are from the west, however when the wind shifts from north to south we know somehting is on the way. Rain isn't so bad. It keeps the dust down and offers a few clues to where an IED may be lying.

Not to much else to report from this end of the world.... Again, we're pushing hard these last few weeks and trying not to count the days... Love you guys... until the next...out

The picture is of an ied in the lower left corner oriented in a way to target dismounts approaching the wadi bridge..... we were lucky on this one.... RCIED (remote control) that for some reason failed to detonate.......this was 2 weeks ago...

J$$$$

Last night I had the oppurtunity to talk with one of the interpreters during a patrol which had us occupying a compound as the night took over the day. I wanted to absolve my curiosity about the whole opium and poppy crops, the processing of the drug, as well as the way people used it. So I flat out asked him about it. Turns out we would discuss more than just opium.
His name is J$$$$ and he comes from a northeastern village that borders Tajikistan. I cannot remember the name of his home town however I did ask him if the Taliban operate in his neck of the woods. He replied no, his village is relatively peaceful, however the 2 provinces out of 4 which surround his are currently occupied by the Taliban. I asked him if he has seen a change in the people around this area and he explained that he has seen a significant change due the the fact their are security forces here. I should explain that I am now currently located with another platoon to once again augment their requirement for engineer support. This should be a very temporary situation, at the most 10-14 days. Ergo, I was not familiar with this particular interpreter. I began asking him about opium and how it is used and processed. My curiosity is sparked of course by the field upon field of poppies that grow in this area. He explained that the opium is obtained by scraping the bulb of the flower prior to it blooming. The plant seeps a brownish sticky substance which is in fact opium. The farmers, every evening are tending to their fields and scraping off the opium and collecting it in a plastic sheet. Apparently the shelf life of opium is many years as long as it remains in the plastic. The farmers then move their opium into Kandahar and sell it off to the many heroin factories inside the city. I asked him how he knew so much about this crop and he explained that his brother was into opium use and had learned everything from him. He told me his brother used to be athletic and into weight lifting, pressing 150kg and now could not lift 20 lbs. The drug "takes the life out of the body" is what he told me, turning it to a mushy state. The drug can only be harvested anywhere from 10-14 days each year and then the flowers bloom and do not continue to yield their drug. A very short time for the farmers to get the most out of their crop.
I was wondering how the drug is used. He explained that you can use it a multiple of ways. One, you can eat the poppy seeds, but once you eat one you become hooked. People who get hooked on the seed must continue to eat the seeds all day long or else they become extremely itchy and irritable. Much like a junkie I reckon jonesin for a fix. The next way to consume is to use a spike and drive it into the bulb. You then put that spike into a fire or briquettes and scorch the opium onto it, turning it into a black sticky substance. You then scrape the opium off the nail and into a pipe. These were the two ways he explained to me... I then questioned him about the factories. He told me they are hastily put together and easily torn down. Afghanistan produces 85% of the worlds heroin and judging by the amount of poppy fields I can see why. 7 kg of opium is used to create 1 kg ofheroin. Because of this ratio is why the drug is so expensive he explained. Karzais brother was arrested ( no time frame was given, I think in the 90's) inside one of these heroin factories. The bust was swept under the rug and in the end the Minister of the Interior at the time was forced to resign. He now teaches in the United States. Keep in mind this is coming from an interpreter and may not be factual in any way. So anyway, these factories are busted on occasion and from the words of the terp the arresting authorities can be bought for a price. The same goes for an execution. Things seem to get swept under the rug for a little Afghan currency. He explained the mafia in Afghanistan is verfy powerful and organized crime is at every level. Government, police, politicians. Big surprise there.
At some point his childhood got raised in the conversation and how his brother was killed when he was 7. His eldest brother had a disagreement with their neighbours but I cannot remember why. I did not ask until later how he was killed but I did ask if there was any retribution. He explained that his mother would not allow it. They wanted the killers blood but the mother talked them all down. In the end, his late brothers friend took out the vengeance on the neighbour. This was when everyone had Ak-47s in this country. His brother was shot with this gun 30 times and the revenge was exacted in the same manner. Pretty heavy shit.
Lastly his pay as an interpreter was brought up. The man makes 600 american dollars out of 1800 dollars that his contractor gets a month. The special forces pay a lot higher and this is where he hopes to go. In the end he would like to obtain Canadian citizenship for the work he has done here. He said its about 60/40 that he will get it. I'm not sure as to how that all works but I wished him the best in his pursuit of our beautiful country.

who's counting

After 5 days outside of our humble dwellings, 2 brushes with extreme danger, 500 sand flea bites, 2 close encounters with scorpions, and multiple days of flourescent urine streams, I am back and not so fresh.

We left 5 days ago on the 15th of the month to conduct "section house" taskings WNW of our current position. Essentially, we squat in a compound in a village for any number of days and conduct patrols out of it. We were driven to a suitable position in the middle of Panjwaii and dropped off with 3 days supply of water and rations. (resupply would come on the 3rd day) My rucksack was unbelievably heavy. I had inadvertantly packed 36 litres of water and rations as well as my kit required for the job. You see, Fink had told me to pack 36 waters when I had already packed 24 litres. What I had failed to understrand was that he meant to pack 18 litres and not 36 litres. When he told me to take more water I asked Are you sure man? thats gonna be heavy", he goes, "ohhh its not that bad" Yeah I guess it wouldn't have been if I had packed 36 bottles instead of 72, (500ml bottles). So we hump our kit into the house after myself and Riley had cleared it and got settled. We were put to work within an hour of our arrival. Someone had found an IED in their field and we were the only friendlys in the area. We stepped off and came to a grape hut with the ANA surrounding it. The 4** crew set up their security and we moved in to take a closer look. Cleared up to the suspect device and took our time ensuring it was safe to do so. Dug into the dirt after locating the bomb and uncovered a 5gl plastic container full of frag and a 105mm shell full of crap as well. We took care of the situation and pushed back to the house. The bugs would begin their assault on yours truly.

Most of us failed to bring our bug nets, thinking the critters wouldn't be too bad. We were wrong, so..... very...... wrong. The first night I fell asleep with only my lower half in the sleeping bag. The heat was so uncomfortable, one would literally perspire lying down at 10 pm. It wasn't until around midnight when the temp became a little more tolerable. Well, I woke up covered in bites from head to toe. I was already messed up but now it looked as though I had the measles. For some reason the sand fleas liked the taste of my skin better than anyone elses. At any rate, I was itchy as hell and very uncomfortable.

The next day the ANA showed up once again. Their commander opted for the blue sweater look and the smoke the hashish all day routine. He was highhhhhhhh! We stepped off and began checking things out in the village. It wasn't long before a civilian approached and let us know that the Taliban had ran off when we arrived and had dropped a bag of goodies for us in a field. We patrolled to the location and discovered a burlap sack full of IED components. The ANA was pretty stoked as well as our section and we returned the the house. Another presence patrol would be conducted simultaneously with ours without engineer support. It was somewhat of a meet and greet with the villagers. It would turn out to be a very lucky patrol.

Day 3
We stepped off early in the morning and were drenched within 10 minutes of departure. We pushed north, Morrison at point, Riley and I 3 men back. The ANA led the patrol through grape rows and difficult terrain. They could move a lot easier because of their lighter loads and freedom of fashion. We proceeded south down a walkable route, progressing into the town center. I stopped after passing back a large gap in the wall and turned around. Months out here has given me somewhat of a spidy sense of my surroundings and I checked out the gap a little closer. I dug into the earth and located a command wire running away from the gap and into a field. Everyone was pushed back, and I began searching further for the charge. Turned out to be a 105mm casing right under the path that about 10 ANA soldiers, 3 Canadians and yours truly had just walked on top. Our EOD buddies were called up and exploited the scene further.
It wasn't long after that when our patrol stepped off to another possible IED location. We approached from the south and moved toward the town mosque. The ANA commander pointed into a field off to our west and began throwing rocks at a suspect IED. Riley began approaching and I looked off to my right at a wadi running north to south. I pulled out my detector and swept the side of the wadi. Immediately the thing began to beep and I knew there was somehting big under the dirt and scrub. I brushed off the top layer and saw 2 large pvc pipes, 12" long and 12 " in diameter, chalked full of explosives oriented in a wayt to blast at our approaching patrol. Riley finished the excavation and found the battery, receiver and the antennae all hooked up and ready to go. I'm not sure why we are alive, but am very relieved that the thing didn't go off. This would have killed everyone in the vicinity. The ANA were running around taking pictures of the thing and didn't fully understand the danger they were facing. We pushed back and waited for EOD to make their way to us.
The day finally came to an end and I tell ya the sun never looked so good coming through the clouds.
Again, night falls and the bugs come out. The heat is unbearable in our light sleeping gear, so I opted for the fully clothed, cap over the face posture until my OP shift. They still got me. At one point my proximity sense went off. I turned to my side in the middle of the night, flicked on my headlight and there was a scorpion, the size of a small chicken egg chomping its claws and scurrying for my face. I was up in a flash trying to catch the damn thing. It crawled under my air mattress and dug in. I finally jammed him into a container and took him over to the critter killing floor. We had quite the collection by the end of it all. The ants would eventually come and carry the critters away.

Day 4
A slower day as we pushed east to a more open area of the towns exterior. We checked out various compounds, our ANA counterparts doing the same. Pretty uneventful for a change and one of the shorter days. We spent most of the time in poppy fields, pushing through different objectives and providing security for the ANA. They would do the same for us. The weather began to somewhat cooperate and the temperature was a lot cooler. We hoped this would keep up for the night ahead. It did and I had one of my better sleeps of the 5 day stint.

Day 5
Time to get out of there. Well, that was the original plan. We were suppose to leave at 0800, back to the PH but stopeed short when word came around another IED was emplaced and ready to go. Shit......A local had informed our call sign the night before that there was something suspicious on one of the routes we had frequented in the last few days. He was asked to provide more information on the device nad he insisted he would meet us in the vicinity the next morning. This set off alarm bells in my head. Well, at 1000 we stepped off, monitoring our local helpers progress toward our position. We met up with him under a tree well outside the towns core and he gave us more information on the device. He told us where to go and what to look for. Riley, Sankowski and myself pushed off toward the direction of the IED. We were looking for a black string running through a field toward a grape hut. The grass was 3 ft high so I told the guys to high step it thorugh the field so as to not set off the device. Something was lost and long gone through the translation. We finished the sweep and found nothing. It was getting hot by the second and I decided to approach the possible location. Riley would look at the walls and I would look at the road. The informant said it was right inbetween the two of us, yet we found nothing. It wasn't until we turned around and began clearing toward our rear elements that Riley found the "black string" coming out of the wall... It turns out it wasn't a black string at all and instead was a battery, a recevier, an antennae, as well as 2 DFCs oriented down each way fo the road I was standing on. DFC ( Directional Fragmentation Charge) This task had scared me to begin and now I was shitting my pants. We got out of there right quick and gave our friends EOD another call. At the time they were tied up with another IED that ole Hawk had found in the vicinty of our PH. We spent all day waiting for the team to get to our location. They would end up never showing up. The American EOD team showed up at the end of the day and took care of our business. It was theri first call in theater, and they were amped up. Guns up, all hurt locker style. They were pretty switched on and by that time we were switched right off.
The device was handled and we would finally return to our platoon.

The guys had a hell of a week while we were gone. Well, the two guys. Red is back in KAF for a rest and Blencowe remains there for more testing on his noggin. So that left ole Hawk and Dorner leading the charge on this end. We had good int. that there were weapons caches in our AO. Well, the int was bang on. The guys ended up unearthing an arsenal of weapons, ordnance, 2 suicide vests, mortars, baseplate, optics, radios, IED components..... you name it..... 6 weapons caches in a field striking a huge blow to the insurgents at the start of their fighting season...... D Coy is getting the job done out here, there is now no doubt about it. Our platoon alone has found and taken care of 76 IEDs since the start of tour out of D Coys 120 plus finds.........

1 month left.........but who's counting

The bird keeps coming back and paying me a visit..... xoxo

1 month misery

If the scowl on my face is indicative of my level of misery it fails to truly give the appropriate level of my duress. I have been in the sun all day, and I have been getting eatin alive by unknown bugs every night for the last 3. They itch and are all over my back. I'm only hoping that the culprits aren't laying eggs under my skin because I am not ready for that type of responsibility. Hard work continues on the development of a new piece of infrastructure. We spent the day doing construction work and hammering together floor boards. Riley decided to take the nail gun and shoot a spike into his hand. He looks over and holds his hand up with a 3" nail sticking out the top of it. We laughed our asses off. He'll be alright after a few days. My deepest sympathy to the Todd family as he was lost to our platoon 2 days ago. It's still a very hard pill to swallow being that it happened so close to us going home. Blencowe, by the grace of God escaped unscathed even though he was right next to the explosion. Drews took a chunk of frag throug his shoulder that left a hole you could see air through. Last word, he got out of surgery and will be alright. Needless to say, once again we find ourselves frustrated and angry. Blencowe has since gone back to KAF to get his hearing checked and for a couple of days to relax. This was his second IED incident in the last week, of which, one of our sister platoons lost another one of their guys to a bi-latteral amputation to both of his legs. Rediger seems to be doing okay as he too was on scene of the latest strike. The boys all performed professionally and profficiently in their drills and got the casualties out of there in good time. The inf. guys speak extremely highly of the responsiveness of our guys.
The mercury level is spiking around the mid 20's in the evening and upwards in the 40's during the day. The terps say its going to get about 20 degrees hotter before we get out of here.
I am doing my best to maintain a positive outlook out here, but often find myself in a miserable state. I'm not sure as to why I'm so pissed but have a pretty good idea, the IED state around these parts.
Maddin and Bergeron are down the road right now, augmenting another platton for 2 weeks, which leaves Dorner, Riley, Red, Hawk, Blencowe( currently in KAF) and yours truly holding down our end. A month left, and a busy one at that. Theres a shopping list of tasks upcoming, none to savory. The replacements will be a sight for sore and weathered eyes.
Anyway, gotta be wuick once again as we gotta get back. Love you all, and Todd buddy, we will remember ya pal...........out

quick update

It's been a while since my last post and I'll try to fill you in real quick like because I don't have much time on the internet. Our wireless in our platoon house suffered an electrical malfunction and we've been without ever since.
Things are happening fairly quick these days. Bases are expanding and preparation has begun for the change over later this spring. Serialized kit checks are an ongoing matter and our kit has begun to thin out. This is not a problem as the winter kit we had is definitely a thing of the past. I'm not sure how hot it gets but I am sweating while I sit here and type these words. I think its around mid 30's early 40's.
The guys are doing fine and still working hard as ever. Early this morning we finished a 800m long type 1 concertina fence and over the past 5 days have laid the equivalent in Hesco Bastian.
the fence was quite the job and ole Hawk opted to work throught he night last night to stay out of the heat. This was an excellent idea, 1 because no one would bother us, and 2 the nights are significantly cooler. We were covered in dirt by the end of it all and exhausted. Blencowe of all people jumped into the shower after it was all said and done. He was covered the most in moon dust and it looked like he had been dragged behind the LAV by his ankles with his face in the sand. Anyway, I apologize, I gotta keep this short and get going. Hopefully we get this internet problem fixed up and I can frequent my blog more often..... I love you guys and we'll see you soon!..........out