Paradise, keep telling yourself that........

Hey everyone, I felt that I would get on and share a super fun story that I have for ya. It comes from one of my latet missions. Well it wasn't really a mission, just a trip to go and get some equipment. So here it is, hope you enjoy.

The other day my team leader came up to me and told me that we (my team) had been volun-told that we were going out on a mission to pick up a HMMWV (hummer) and that I had to pick one of the guys off of my fire team to go and do it. I decided that it's not really anything that any of us want to do, so I volunteered myself to be the one to do it. I was a little bummed about it though because it's not really my job to be a battle field repo man, but what can I do besides suck it up and drive on. Than he told me where the HMMWV was. I compare it to a uniformed officer going into the middle of Compton and and picking up a car. Yeah he's a cop but really I don't think they care, he's not well liked there. Well the same with where I had to go, the "Compton" of Afghanistan (AF). Just as a little side note, my superiors feel that they can call on us more than any of the other companies bcause they don't really trust the others to go out side of the wire. Kind of makes you think twice about being good at what you do. So the day comes and we go out. I got to at least ride in one of the new vehicles, it's called an MRAP (mine resistant, ambush protection). They're pretty nice. Well at least when it comes to keeping you alive. It's basically 18 tons of armor rolling down the road. Yeah, NICE!! Comfort wise is a different stroy though. The seats feel like they're made of armor too and you have a four point seat belt that basically pulls you into the seat. My butt fell asleep in 10 minutes easily and I still had plenty of ride left. The ride is about two one way. We finally got to the base and got the HMMWV ready to go. Now keep in mind the HMMWV belongs to one of the other companies so it's their responsibility to keep it in good shape and running. After things were ready to go they decided to make me the driver. I'm fine with that, if something happens I know that I have control. I jump in and get the truck going and I put in reverse. Nothing happens.... the truck just sits there. I gas it and the engine didn't even rev. "Great, I get to drive a broken truck." I put it in park and than back into reverse, it goes this time. We get loaded up and start to move out so I reach up and turn on what A/C it has and nothng but hot air blows out. I already hate this day. I now have to be a repo man that gets to drive a broken truck with no A/C. The HMMWV is about 6 tons of pure armor. You can't open the windows while driving or it doesn't do anything to protect you from exposions. Let me tell you that the armor sure heats up fast. Ten minutes after leaving I have a steady stream of sweat running down my face. It was tollerable until it starting running into my eyes. It got so hot in there that I had to wear my gloves to touch anything. I tried to grab my pistol with my bear hands and it burnt me. The guy that was sitting next to me kept burning his leg on the metal door. I'd guess about 150 to 160 degrees in the truck with no wind to cool you off. Fine I can still handle it. It sounds bad but I'm alive, nothing has happened to us in "Compton" yet and plain and simple I'm a soldier that is expected to just keep going when it goes bad. Than life just had to throw something else in there. My truck started to over heat and we hadn't even got to the hills yet. So I turned on the heater in the truck to try and pull some of the heat off of the engine. it started to work, just a little bit though. I seriously felt like I was going to pass out from heat exhaustion. IT WAS HOT! About 30 minutes later though we got to another small little base and we pulled in to give the trucks a break after climbing up some hills. We instanly jumped out of out the truck and went running to find a mechaninc to help with or truck. They came over and changed out a contol valve for the A/C and we put in some antifreeze because out truck was almost empty. It all took about an hour and a half to fix our truck. It as kind of fun though because I helped them the whole time just to get it done and out of there. So we take off again and start working our way home. Most of the ride is on narrow switch backs through the mountains. We got to one point where we were right by a river. As we came around a corner we ran into yet another problem. A big delivery truck with huge containers about the size of a train car was teatering on the edge of the road, blocking our path and also getting ready to fall off of the edge. I wished that we could have helped but it was part of the plan. We couldn't stop a whole convoy to help the truck. So we drove down the hill next to the river and went four wheeling through the Afghan country side. We had to go through the river a couple of times and one of those times my truck just happened to get stuck. Perfect timing for the transmission to quit again. I put it into reverse, nothing. I put it into drive, nothing. I tried four wheel high and low, but nothing. We weren't going anywhere. Finally as I'm getting pissed at the situation I put it into reverse again as I yelled a couple of words and it started to go. I'm not to fond of just sitting there and making a target of myself especially when my truck isn't even working. We finally got around the falling truck, the river and all of the mud. We worked out way back to the road and kept going. An hour later we finally go back. It was perfect timing too. I was hungry, tired, and ready to get rid of that HMMWV. I got back and called it quits for the day. I was done. it was a fun little mission, about 10 to 12 hours for the day. Now it's hard to complain though. I got to see how I would react in a crappy situation and other than not having any air in my truck for the last little bit it turned out just fine. I've still got all of my body parts and I'm alive. Not every day is like that though. That was just an every now and than event. It wasn't the first and I'm sure that it won't be the last but the main thing is that I continue to keep my cool and be happy that at least I get to have the opportunity to experience another crappy day. There's other bothers in arms here that don't get to because they paid the ultimate price. I love you all and I hope that you all are safe and well. No reason to worry about me, I make sure that I take every step to keep myself safe. I miss you all and can't wait to see you in a couple of months.

Yes, my face is now as hairy as my butt

Okay, so I've decided to add a new segment to my blog. Why? well I'll tell you why. There are some of you out there that don't think I can grow a beard. You think, "oh, I'm not even sure if he'll be able to grow as much as his younger brother going through puberty." whom, if I may, is quite freakishly hairy for a freshman. Yeah, I said it. I think that when it comes to testosterone flowing through my body, it decided to take a detour and focus it's efforts on my manly good looks. Disagree if you may, but the proof is in the pages. (writers comment: I'm pretty sure that's a real saying, "the proof is in the pages". If it's not I need to figure out how to make it one.) So for those select doubting few, or rather all please feel free to check back to my blog weekly and see the status of what I have dubbed as "My super sweet beard of 2008". Yeah I had to give it a year because I'm not sure as to the next time I'll actually be allowed to grow one. And to those of you who feel that you can do a better job at a beard, I extend to you an open invitation to try and out grow me. So as for this inauguration week, I would like to thank you for stopping by and supporting my new segment. Please enjoy what the pictures and also what the future has in stored.

Diamond in the Rough

Hey all, I know that by now I'm sure that I've lost alot of my readers. For that I apologize. I have been a very bad blogger. I know that it's been about a month but I now have internet in my room. So please just hang in there a little bit longer as the future of aronisagonegone2 is about to change. I promise that I'll be better at keeping you updated. Believe me there's so much that I want to share with all of you. So stay in touch and you won't regret it. While I'm on today I just want to share a little bit about what I've been doing. I'm not going to give details but I'll tell you what I can, so enjoy.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to actually go out and talk to some of the locals. Oh man was it the coolest experience ever. You come to a country with certain expectations, but when your expectations are exceeded it makes you sit back and re-think the situation. I'm still kind of in awe of how my trip went yesterday. Okay so, on with the story. We, my team and I, went to a local city to go out and meet with the people and see how they are doing and to see what we can do to help them. The other team that we roled out with is called the Police Mentor Team, PMT. So when we first arrived to the city we stopped by the local Afghan National Police, ANP, compound to see how they were doing and to just talk to them about the area. These policemen were some of the most dedicated personnel I've seen. They believed in what we are trying to accomplish all the way down to the core. These men stood ready to throw their lives in the middle of the fight just to get that extra step and foot hold in this war on terror. The Afghans in general are smaller people so these policemen's stature wasn't too overwhelming, but what really grabbed and demanded your attention was the heart these guys have. Their demeanor was bold and powerful and you knew that you were surrounded by some of the best men Afghanistan had to offer. They invited us to go out and do patrols with them. Of course we said yes. You think that we would pass up an opportunity to go out with men of this devotion. No way, or at least I wouldn't and didn't.

We were off. I jumped in the back of one of their Ford Rangers and held on. If you've seen the way the Afghans drive you'd understand why I held on. These ANP tore out of their compound with their engines roaring, lights flashing, and sirens screaming. They flew down the streets swearving through traffic, commanding respect of the road and making their pressence known. I couldn't help but to have a smile on my face the whole time. This was raw and powerful. The ANP lead us through the city on a high-speed tour/patrol. We had our interpreter tell the ANP sergeant in charge that we wanted to go to some of the neighborhoods and see the people. He was more than happy to oblige, he just told us in the back to hold on. The ride was going to get a little rough.

The shiney dark green ANP Ford Rangers turned off of the main road on to some dirt roads and picked up speed. The rear tires lost traction and just spit dirt with how much power these ANP's were feeding the engines. Bump after bump I held on to the roll bar in the back of the truck, making sure I didn't lose balance. After a turn here and and a turn there the ANP decided that the location was as good as any. They parked and blocked off the roads, or at least the dirt paths they had as roads. Everyone jumped out of the back of the truck and started getting together to talk about what the plan was. Everyone but me that is. I jumped out and caught my foot on a stupid tow hook on the back of the truck and almost fell on my face. The ANP were quick to laugh about it but they than came over and gave me a pat on the back and walked me over to the group.

It turns out that everone decided that I was in charge of this whole expedition and the decision was up to me. Well, let's not waste time than. We came to see the people so let's go and see 'um. On the corner there was a little stand that was surrounded by kids of all ages and a couple of men. I walked over to see what they had for sale. Once I got to the stand I was amazed at how the children and even the adults were quick to welcome us. Some of the children even did so in english. Wow, how amazing. Some had better english than the others but the fact that they tried was warming. I saw that they had a stack of fresh green cucumbers sitting in a pile for sale. So I asked how much they were and found out that they were two for a dollar. I talked them down to three for a dollar and bought six. I than broke them in half and handed a half to each of the smaller children. They were probably some of the juciest cucumbers that I had seen. They just dripped when I broke them in half. I than saw that they had cold sodas and candy for sale. So I bought six cans and gave them to the ANP that we went out with and bought three bags of candy and handed the candy out to the children. The kids went crazy, they surrounded me and just said "mister, mister" and put their hands out. Some just grabbed but most just stood there and asked. They're smart little buggers too, they play the sympathy card. They'll come over holding their baby siblings and give you a sad face. I dare you to say no to that. It's baiscally impossible. So we talked to the locals for a while. It was great to actually get out and see what we could do for the people, that is why we're there after all. So after saying good bye and thanking them for their time we were back in the trucks flying across the dirt roads. Working our way through the neighborhoods and finally back to the main roads. Once again we held on as they tore through the traffic back to their compound.

Once back we unloaded the trucks and I was quickly volun-told that I was going out on foot patrols with the ANP to go and get the best kabobs in the country. We loaded up our gear and headed out. We worked our way throught the streets. Stoping and saying hello to the shop owners and people on the streets. We walked a little ways through the business district of the city and found the kabob shop. It was awesome to watch these guys cook the kabobs. They threw the skeweres down over hot wooden coals and just sat there and fanned them until the meat was cooked. Once they were done they sasoned them and wrapped them up in some flat bread, called nan, and wrapped them up in newspaper for us. As we waited for the kabobs the ANP sergeant in charge bought a couple of bowls of fresh made icecream for us to share. The first bite was hesitant but quickly changed to a pleasing surprise. It wasn't what we're used to but had the same concept. It was just a little plane and sweeter than what we have. After the icecream we were off back to the ANP compound.

Back at the ANP compund our Humvees were fired up and ready to go. We got back and thanked the ANP for their hospitality and we took off. Rolling out for another long convoy back to base. It was hard not to think about the experiences that I just had but my attention was needed else where. For this convoy I was the truck commander, TC, and was responsible for the people in my truck. Making sure they're doing what they need to and keeping in commuication with all the other trucks. You have to be focused. The experience will never leave me though. It was definaely one for the books.

I hope you found yourself being able to actully feel what it's like to be here. It's a rough gig. There's not a day that I don't miss my wife and want nothing more than to just see her and kiss her, but I can't. Still life goes on and I continue to try and do what I came to this country for, to help them find their feedoms and give them a better life.