Just a short note to share a few stories. Last night we found the BBQ dining facility on base. It is literally a giant tent with long tables inside (much like at summer camp) and the DFAC serves all the foods you'd find at a BBQ, hot dogs, hamburgers, BBQ chicken, pasta salad, corn of the cobb. It was a fun change from regular chow. My team leader and I also located where the combat stress dog lives and we intend to visit there really soon! We have also been advised that we are officially moving offices and housing. Our section of the base, Camp Cherry Beasley, is all moving so we are going to get a much more central office location and housing, but unfortunately will not have as much space as we do now. This move will take place very soon. This is somewhat disappointing as we'd had hopes to expand the office if we moved, not shrink it. But we are trying to think positively and rationalize that our new location may get a whole lot more visits...they just won't have as much space to lounge :-(

We want to plan a going away BBQ as a farewell both to the units leaving and to our office. It can be very difficult to order raw meat over here so we are hoping to get a head start on that before we have to move! On a different note, we are all going to take "flightline" training to get a flightline badge which will allow us to attend the Fallen Comrade Ceremonies that take place on the flightline for those who have been recently killed.

The Medivac mission that I participated in tonight was, without exception, one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Whereas my first mission was transferring wounded soldiers from Afghanistan to Germany for further recovery, tonight I was with a group of volunteers that met the C-130 on the flightline to transfer soldiers who had literally just been wounded. Their injuries had just been inflicted and they were being transported from the frontlines to the Bagram base hospital to be stabilized. Fortunately, I am not faint of heart when it comes to blood or injuries, but it is truly difficult to even describe the experience of carrying a litter with a 250 lb man wrapped in bandages and blankets who has lost his hand, or who's face has been brutalized or who has a metal device holding his arm in place. You want to cry for them and hold their hand and tell them everything will be alright or you realize that you can't think of anything to say at all because things are so bad that you can't bring yourself to lie or to speak the truth. I always tried to smile at them, since my smile is sort of my default expression but somehow even smiling seems cruel. Does your smile reassure them? Or does it mock the tragedy of the situation? I really don't know... to be honest, I'm still trying to make sense of what I've just seen and to sort through the onslaught of different emotions I feel...

Man, I am having the wildest day, I am getting the sense that I am going to be saying that a lot! First off...I did my first errand run by myself using a manual car!!!!!!!!! GO ME! Before arriving here, I had driven a manual twice in my entire life and our retro truck over here is a stick so I have been practicing at 1:30 in the morning when people can't wince as I stall over and over again. But today, after only three days of practice I drove first to the post office where I picked up at least a dozen care packages and then I drove to the hospital to do a visit in the ICU. Today was unbelievable. They had a lot of guys in there but in particular they had a vehical that had been hit by an IED and the guys inside of it were all in ICU. The driver was in the worst way and I asked the nurse if he could hear me (he was intabated and semi-concious and couldn't speak). She said yes so I took his hand and started talking to him and when I started talking he actually opened his eyes and was squeezing my hand in response to the monologue I was saying. It was just incredible. Then I went and talked to the 2 other guys, and one was trying so hard not to cry. Broke my heart.

I also learned there is another Medivac mission after my shift ends so I am going to head back over to the hospital to assist...

So I just got back from another eventful trip with my team leader. We went to pick-up mail at the post office (and sadly there was none :-( but the weather is so bizarre here right now that afterwards we actually went driving around the base for a bit taking pictures. We are in the middle of crazy windstorms that sound like freight trains ripping through the BHUTs, but they are also causing the craziest cloud formations over the mountains.

Also, I found out today there are landmines in the middle of the base! We drove right by the section all marked off with warning signs and we're told that no matter what you should stay only on the pavement of that road. Then we also discovered that there are little Afghan villages no more than 200 meters away from the rickety chain link fences that protect our base. In one place, we could see a guy sitting against the wall of his house not more than 50 meters away from us. I heard stories about the Afghan children coming up to the fence to receive chocolate from the soldiers, but they no longer do this as it's too much of a security risk for everyone involved.

Now it's back to the office where, knock on wood, there haven't been too many emergency communication messages and there is a crowd of guys in the canteen watching The Fifth Element.

Indescribable

Today ended up being such a remarkable day...

Ingrid, the team leader and I went to run some errands on the base. Our first stop was the PX (grocery/convience store) where we bought dozens of sandals for the ward hospital patients because that is what they indicated they needed the day before. As we were leaving the PX we ran into Timmy, the yellow lab Combat Stress dog (who's only job is literally to make people happy) and his handler. We got their contact information to hopefully coordinate some events together. From thePX we drove to the hospital ICU to do visits and distribute the sandals AND THEN we discovered that there was a Medivac mission (airlifting wounded soldiers to Germany) leaving in two hours and they were in need of volunteer help so Ingrid and I agreed to do it. We ran to the post office where we had to pick up almost a dozens boxes in comfort care kits, hurried back to the office to store them and then went back to the hospital to get trained in loading and unloading hospital litters with wounded soldiers onto the back of a school bus for transport to the flight line! After the training we had about a half an hour before we started loading the wounded soldiers onto the bus. There were 26 total and one of them was a C-Kat meaning he was so injured he was in a drug induced coma for the flight and he traveled with all his medical equipment, ventihlater etc, loaded onto his litter. It was one of the most incredible things I have ever done in my life. Then we bussed with them to the flight line where we unloaded the patients from the bus and onto a C-17. I tell you, with the mountains and the storms clouds and the fighter jets taking off in the background, loading these wounded soliders onto the plane was just... indescribable.

Welcome to the Mountains

Greeting from the Hindu Kush Mountains! I'm just going to jump right in with this crazy adventure!

So this past Friday March 11, we went into lockdown at Ft Benning early morning and after lots of formations and roll calls we were bussed to the Airfield where we were kept in an airport hanger until the flight, which they kept secret until we actually boarded the plane. From there it was an 8 hour flight to Leipzig, Germany, a two hour layover and then a 4 and a half hour flight to Kuwait City. The flights were largely uneventful apart from the Silverback gorilla in the seat to me who protruded into my seat at least 3 inches. And sitting on my left was, no joke, a Major Restrepo! I asked him if people always asked if he was the soldier from the documentary and he said I was the third person today to ask! And added though that he could always tell who had seen the movie because they asked "Are you the same guy from the movie?!" Gotta love the black humor ;-) (Restrepo was a documentary about the US in Afghanistan and the little outpost was named Restrepo in memorium for one of their soldiers).

Once in Kuwait City took a blackout convoy to Ali Al Salem camp, a.k.a Tent City. Ali Al Salem is a transient camp for those coming in and out of the deployed zones- Iraq and Afghanistan. We checked into the camp around 7pm and then proceeded to haul the 600 duffel bags that had been loaded into flatbed trucks from our flight off the vehicles. You'll be amused to know that I'd had maybe 5 hours of sleep since Friday morning (it's now Saturday night) but I was on my 600th wind at this point so I was literally throwing these duffel bags at the 6-2, 220 contractor standing behind me in line causing him to have to take a step back each time I heaved one at him. He found this hilarious and starting yelling at everyone that he had muscles standing in front of him, hehe ;-) We spent that night in delightful dusty open bay tent with 10 other women and a mandatory 24 hour lights on rule.

We were manifested on a flight to Afghanistan for Sunday at 1:45pm but we unfortunately got bumped off for soldiers returning from R & R which meant, wahoo...another day at Ali Al Salem :-/ The next morning, Monday the 14th, we managed to get on a flight that left around 10am. We palletized our duffel bags (the military equivalent of "checking bags") loaded up in body armor and were bussed to the airfield where we boarded a C-17. We buckled up our seat belts and after sitting on the tarmac for an hour... were informed that the flight was going anywhere and we needed to de-board and bus back to Ali Al Salem. Sooo back to the PAX terminal to try and get on the next flight (they were having problems with the radar). We did fly out later that day, a 3.5 hour flight to Bagram. The most exciting part (apart from flying in the belly of a military aircraft where you can see the organs of the plane) was the evasive maneuvers the pilot took to land in Afghanistan. All of a sudden this transport aircraft has turned into Top Gun swerving sharply to the left, then dropping down like a rollercoaster making your stomach scream, then veering left, then dropping again. Easily the best part of the flight :-)

After arriving in Bagram at 10pm Afghan time, we met the current team leader in the terminal, and shlepped out duffel bags to the Red Cross truck. After a few errands, we went to the office where we got the keys to our rooms and made calls home. At 12:30am I headed to my BHUT which is the most rugged, cobbled together housing I have ever experienced on deployment. The BHUT is basically an outer skeletal structure with one room inside that has been divided into four "sections" using plywood or whatever the military could find. The walls don't go to the ceiling so there is 3 to 4 feet of exposed room before the ceiling making the room totally communal. I have a bed and a wardrobe and about 5 feet of walking space in the "room." I am also sharing with three other women. It's definitely an experience - it's like living in a construction site... with cobras, rats, and scorpions for neighbors.

Yesterday, our first day, the whole team had to be up by 8am to get a tour of the base and do lots of administrative things. The highlight of which, let me tell you, was the military postal class I had to take at 9:30am to get certified in picking up mail! You had to sit through a class and then take a test. I was so tired I can't really believe I passed, but when we were grading each other's papers at the end I had mis-graded the guy's next to me because I was so tired! :-( My shift is normally supposed to be 3pm to 12am, but since we'd had no sleep and a early start, my team leader let me go back and sleep so I started half way through my shift. It was a good night and I'm getting settled. I will leave it at that if you've even made it this far!

Thank you for all your replies and kind words. Hope to speak to you soon and I promise pictures to come! If you are interested in learning more about the base here is the wiki link! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagram_Airfield

Across the miles :-)
Michelle

Let the Games Begin

Hello friends and family :-)

This will be my only email message from the States before I travel to the Middle East! I have spent the last two weeks in training, first at the National Headquarters of the Red Cross in D.C. where we met our team members for the first time and discussed the specifics of our work. I am on a team with three other women and as it stands now, will be working the swing shift in Afghanistan, 3pm to 1am. After D.C., it was on to Ft Benning, GA (aka summer camp) where I have been for the last week, living in the communal barracks, completing a beaurcrat's dream worth of paperwork, every medical test known to man, plus several theater specific training courses like what to do if you are taken hostage, first aid and identifying weapons and explosives (family member disregard that part! ;-)

I will send out another message once I am in country, no doubt regaling you with the joys of traveling with 3x70 lbs duffel bags plus 30 pounds worth of body armor and many layovers in different countries. If you are interested in mailing something, just contact me and I would be happy to send you our mailing address. Letters and packages take about a week to arrive and I have found the mail to be pretty reliable. I also wanted to thank you all for following my stories and wishing me well. I think of you all often when I am so far away and I never feel alone when I hear from you. Your kind and thoughtful words make all the difference at the end of the day.
See you on the flip side :-)