Afghanistan My Last Tour

My team and I sat outside Kabul International Airport (KAIA) and patiently waited for transportation to convoy us to Camp Phoenix for inprocessing.  We were informed that our ride would be there in the next hour or two.   As we had not eaten since departing Manas, we opted to try out the coalition chow hall.  It was still too early for a hot meal, so we settled for a European style of continental breakfast.  This consisted of fresh Kaiser Rolls, bread, salami, Swiss cheese and some fresh fruit.  Eating these sandwiches reminded me of my last trip to Finland with Liisa.  We had sandwiches for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.  The only thing missing this time was the reindeer meat which I love.
Our convoy finally arrived and we packed our bags into a trailer and boarded the Rhino Bus.  The Rhino is a heavy armored bus for transporting passengers.  As we departed the base with our heavily armed escorts, nothing could have prepared me for the ride I was about to take and the sights I was about to take in.  I’m convinced I could write a book based on what I personally witnessed my first day in country.  My first observation was the road we traveled on.  It was a combination of asphalt, dirt, and rock.  I made a bad decision to sit in the back of the bus and I felt every bump, every pothole, and every rock.  My helmet prevented me from incurring head injuries from being tossed around and smacked into the windows.  We only traveled 2 miles and I swear I lost my spleen!
As we traveled to downtown Kabul (Capital City) I was overwhelmed by the poverty, shabby infrastructures and pollution.  I’m really at a loss of words to describe this environment, because my descriptive adjectives won’t do it justice.  It was like driving through an unfinished construction site with mounds of building supplies and scattered junk.  The mud brick houses were crude in nature and annexed to each other.  The streets were littered with debris and large mud puddles.  Open canals were dirty brown in color and it appeared open sewage flowed into them.  The sides of the roads were filled with donkey carts, wooden shacks and fruit stands.
These urban areas were also filled with hundreds of people going about their daily lives.  The sight of the children has left an impression that is branded permanently on my brain.  I witnessed small children walking around in bare feet or or in just a pair of flip-flops as they cheerfully played in this barren junkyard which they call home.  Some of them waved as we passed by and others produced the V-sign with their fingers.  One student gave me the thumbs up as a display of approval.  Previously this sign was considered vulgar in Afghanistan; however, I think it’s been adopted since the presence of the coalition forces.
As we drove further into the city, several crudely built apartment buildings were present.  Clothes lines were strung from one building to the next and a kaleidoscope of colored clothing were drying freely in the wind.  This was a bit confusing because everything here is covered with a fine layer of dust and is ever present in the air we breathe.  A few modern buildings dotted the streets and scores of concrete barricades and Hesco barriers were implanted to protect the city.  The ANA (Afghan National Army) and ANP (Afghan National Police) are ever present too.  I might also point out that Kabul is the city where everyone wants to live for those who are fortunate enough to afford it.  With the exception of the drug lords, the average yearly income is about $450 year in a nation populated by over 31 million Afghans.  Note:  My intention is not to demean Afghanistan or the people because they are a poor nation.  Our ghettos and city slums would be a palatial paradise in comparison to the structures the average Afghan resides in.
The flow of city traffic is rather noteworthy too.  The roads are highly congested with trucks, taxis, and motorcycles.  This presents a challenge for an armored convoy.  However, the gunner in the lead vehicle reminded me of a symphony conductor.  He calmly used hand signals and gestures to direct traffic and to keep the vehicles away from our convoy.  When vehicles didn’t respond his gestures became more dramatic and purposeful.  The Afghans have grown accustomed to our armored convoys and generally obey because they are well aware of the destruction capabilities our weapons can unleash.  But at the same time you can see the frustration on their faces because we are guests in their country.  To put this experience into proper perspective, imagine a foreign country in the US dominating our highways and manipulating the flow of traffic with their large armored vehicles and weapons of death.

Filed under: Food and living conditions, Uncategorized Tagged: | Afghanistan, Air Force, Army, Camp Phoenix, Deployment, ETT, FOB, media, military combat patrols, multimedia, photography, photos, pictures, poverty, traffic, travel