Missions « Afghanistan My Last Tour

A Visit to an All-Girls School

Posted on 03/28/2010 by Rex Temple

Judging by the picture, it appears to be a nondescript worn out tent previously donated by UNICEF several years ago. The tent has holes in its roof and the cloth sides are badly deteriorating held together by dry-rotting rope attached to a metal pipe frame. But upon closer inspection, I witnessed a flurry of activity [...]

Filed under: Missions, School supplies project | Tagged: Afghanistan, charity, Combined Transition Advisory Group, CTAG, Deployment, education, ETT, humanitarian mission, U.S. Air Force, war | 2 Comments »

View From A Gunner’s Turret

Posted on 03/27/2010 by Rex Temple

It has been awhile since I have crawled up in the gunner’s turret and took on the responsibility of a gunner. On today’s mission, this was my position. Admittedly, I don’t favor being a gunner because of my height and size (and age) because it’s very demanding and your team relies on your keen sense [...]

Filed under: Missions | Tagged: Afghan National Army, Afghanistan, ANA, Deployment, ETT, M-240, MRAP, turret, U.S. Air Force, war | 3 Comments »

Licked By A Lamb (for real)

Posted on 03/25/2010 by Rex Temple

Over the past year, I have taken many photographs of sheep in Afghanistan. I never got very close to them. But on today’s mission, not only did I get close, but a baby lamb got quite “intimate” with me. A few weeks ago we received notice that our AF Group Commander, several squadron commanders and [...]

Filed under: Missions | Tagged: .50 cal machine gun, Afghanistan, Air Force, Beanie Babies, Deployment, ETT, gratitude, proud to serve, U.S. Air Force, war | 6 Comments »

Licked By A Lamb

Posted on 03/24/2010 by Rex Temple

From Liisa, SMSgt Temple’s wife: Due to slow Internet connectivity, Rex is unable to send his blog entry for today. But he managed to send one picture and the first two lines of the entry: Over the past year, I have taken many photographs of sheep in Afghanistan. I never got very close to them. [...]

Filed under: Missions, Radio interviews | Tagged: Afghanistan, Deployment, ETT, war, WUSF | 3 Comments »

Nowruz Mission – Part 2

Posted on 03/23/2010 by Rex Temple

It didn’t take us long to figure out that the bazaar, restaurants and Px were relocated. So we turned around and drove to the other side of the flight line where the military terminal was. We parked our MRAPs and went inside trying to ascertain the arrival time of our guests. The clerk informed my [...]

Filed under: Missions | Tagged: Afghanistan, Deployment, ETT, Kabul, Kabul International Airport, Nuwruz | 3 Comments »

Nowruz Mission – Part 1

Posted on 03/23/2010 by Rex Temple

For our ANA counterparts and Afghanistan, Nowruz is the celebration of a new year and for us it would mean a 12-hour mission to new places, new roads, and a new experience. Nowruz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of a new year 1389 even though for us and our Gregorian calendar [...]

Filed under: Missions | Tagged: Afghan National Police, ANA, ANP, Camp Blackhorse, Camp Phoenix, COIN, ISAF, Kabul, MRAP, Nowruz, Personal Security Detachment, PSD | 1 Comment »

S.N.A.B.U. = Situation Normal All BAF-fed Up

Posted on 03/15/2010 by Rex Temple

After 2 hours of driving and being bounced around on the Afghan highways like a ping-pong ball, we arrived at our destination. Originally we were planning to drive on to BAF and then off-load the Humvees. But when we found out about the mountain of paperwork and coordination required to escort our ANA counterparts on [...]

Filed under: Deployment "snafus", Missions | Tagged: BAF, Bagram, snabu | 2 Comments »

A Sunny Day For A Mission

Posted on 03/09/2010 by Rex Temple

My dreaded alarm clock awoke me early this morning. I knew we had a long day planned and we had to load a trailer full of equipment before departing the camp. Now that all the inventories are completed, we are required to turn in or dispose of the items that nobody wants. We planned for [...]

Filed under: Missions | Tagged: Afghanistan, breathing problems, Camp Phoenix, ETT, Max Pro MRAP, U.S. Army, war | 1 Comment »

More Armyisms

Posted on 03/01/2010 by Rex Temple

While at the Post office, several of my teammates were trying to turn in some serviceable communication equipment. It wasn’t long before they got to experience “Armyisms.” The first office they went to (Office A) had them sign a piece of paper detailing the equipment’s specific information. This form was taken to Office B which [...]

Filed under: Deployment "snafus", Missions | Tagged: Afghanistan, Armyisms, BAF, BAFfite, Bagram Air Field, Burger King, Camp Phoenix, convoy, Deployment, ETT, Give me a break, Pizza Hut, Popeyes | 2 Comments »

Rainy Days and Armyisms

Posted on 02/28/2010 by Rex Temple

Lately it has been rather dreary due to the sporadic cold rain showers we are receiving. Today is the third day in a row we have received intermittent rain. The farmers are not complaining as this has been an extremely mild winter and Afghanistan is still experiencing another drought season. For the city dwellers it’s [...]

Filed under: Missions | Tagged: Afghanistan, Armyism, Camp Phoenix, COIN, Deployment, Humvee, Kabul International Airport, KAIA, vehicle maintenance | 1 Comment »

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