Being in Bagram is like being at home in San Diego and being in Kandahar on my last deployment at the same time.
On the one hand, I wake up, go to the gym, go to work, have lunch, go home, watch TV or surf the web, and go to sleep. It's just like any other day in San Diego. On the other hand, all my clothes are turning the color of moon dust, my home is a bunk bed in a large tent, and my work day is 12-13 hours long.
Bagram is a large base, allegedly the same size or bigger than Kandahar. It is defined by two primary north-south landmarks - Route Disney, named after an Army Specialist that was killed on base in an accident in 2002. The other landmark is the runway. Disney is far busier than any road on KAF - it is a paved two lane road that is constantly buzzing with civilian vehicles, heavy equipment, tactical vehicles, and in the mornings it is shut down for runners. The runway, by contrast, is far less busy than KAF - only a few planes seem to take off, not the constant roar of departing jets and helicopters I grew used to at KAF.
There are multiple bazaars here, open 5 days a week, though they're all much smaller than the one at Kandahar. I am thinking about buying some gems, I met someone here that seems to know what they're doing, and think I may be able to get some at a low price and find a use for them back home or sell them off
So far we have kept our inspections primarily to the north-west side of the base, looking at hangars, hospitals, bathrooms, housing, offices, MWR facilities, and more. Eventually we will inspect the east side of the base, including the infamous Bagram prison - I'm not exactly looking forward to that one. Our inspections have turned up a good number of issues, ranging from simple maintenance and housekeeping to full out life safety concerns.
Part of the issue as I see it is that no one really cares. Think about it - our military gets sent out here for 6-12 months, leaving all that they love behind. Everyone volunteers, but no one really WANTS to be here for that long. So you're not really here, you're just here until you can go home, and so you count the days. The lights may not work right, the smoke detector may need a new battery - are you going to fix it, put forth some sort of effort to improve the one thing you're waiting to leave? No... you just deal, cope with the problem, or eliminate it with a swift kick. There is no sense of ownership, no pride in it. So really, even if we could find every problem in every building, wave a magic wand, and make them disappear - it would only be a matter of time until things were back to the way they are now. I suppose it's like a rental car - you drive it harder than you ever would your own car, sometimes you get one just to put the wear and abuse on someone else's vehicle. Maybe if the military folks occupying these buildings had to check them out and check them back in, and paid some type of penalty for destroying them, we'd find the facilities in better condition. But until then, this will just be a temporary hurdle for every man and woman waiting to get back to the life they left behind.
19 July 2012
13 July 2012
So we meet again... again.
Let me clean out the cobwebs and dust off the ol' Blog. Despite my previous breakup with Kandahar and my promise to never return, I now find myself in a far too familiar setting of sand, heat, unlimited beigeness, and general suck. That's right - I'm back in Afghanistan; Bagram this time. But let's not get ahead of ourselves...
For reasons yet unknown, the Department of Defense, Office of the Inspector General decided to perform an inspection of numerous facilities located at Kandahar Air Field, Bagram Air Field, and within Kabul. The intent was to identify electrical issues and fire/life safety issues, and to put those identified issues into some sort of a report that, in all likelihood, won't be used for much - US forces are leaving Afghanistan in 2014, right? (Please note - the previous sentance is rife with sarcasm and should be read as such.) Anywho, DoD IG doesn't actually have the resources to execute the inspection, only the money and authority to have someone else execute it. Through the meddling of numerous government agencies and countless emails, I was selected as one of the engineers to support this mission, and assigned to the Bagram portion.
The biggest difference in this whole thing is that I am here as a Civil Servant, and not as a Naval Officer. That comes with its pluses and its minuses. On the plus side, I can wear whatever I want, don't have a military chain of command to report to, and can grow out my facial hair - my beard has gotten pretty epic by the way. On the down side, I feel like a dumb civilian wandering around a combat zone, I have no weapon (despite my numerous efforts to get one), and I don't have the opportunity to earn the various perks that come from being military.
I flew from the US via United, much nicer than the chartered DC-10 we had last time. From Dulles to Dubai to Doha, all on United Economy Plus, which was worth every penny. Once in Doha I was able to meet up with the rest of my team, most of whom were on the same flight, little known to us. A short drive later and we made it to Al Udeid Air Base and started the check in process. It was after 0100 by the time we finished, but having heard that they had a bar on base I was compelled to check it out. They have it easy out there at Al Udeid - don't let anyone tell you otherwise. We were up by 0400 (I was regretting the decision to go have a drink at the bar instead of sleeping) and off to the terminal to wait for our flight, get our gear issue, and fly off into the wild blue yonder.
My team consists of 11 civilians, and I am the only one that is currently in the military, one of three that has ever been in the military, and one of four that had ever been to Afghanistan - the other three were on the inspection of Kandahar. As such, I have been trying to help everyone figure out the less obvious parts of life - how to set up your helmet, how to wear your flak vest, what various TLAs and terms mean, etc. I didn't appreciate how difficult this would be for someone doing it outside of the military until now.
So we got our gear and much to my chagrin boarded another C-130 for another long, bumpy, and thermally extreme journey to Afghanistan. Joy.
Bagram is in some ways very much like Kandahar, and in others totally different. It's still hot, though not quite as hot. It's still austere, though definitely a little more improved. It's windier and as such dustier, not something I missed. There are trees here, and animals - bugs aplenty and enough birds to actually hear them singing in those aforementioned trees. The food is better here, but there are far fewer planes taking off and flying about which makes for a significantly more boring skyline. My living arrangements pale in comparison, but at the same time there's no Poo Pond so that's a definite plus. Totally different and still the same.
We have started the process of inspecting buildings here, and in general they are pure crap. The array of fire, life safety, and overt electrical violations are mind boggling. It's not surprising that people have been getting injured or killed, and not surprising that we've been called out to address it. Hopefully we can make at least a little difference.
For reasons yet unknown, the Department of Defense, Office of the Inspector General decided to perform an inspection of numerous facilities located at Kandahar Air Field, Bagram Air Field, and within Kabul. The intent was to identify electrical issues and fire/life safety issues, and to put those identified issues into some sort of a report that, in all likelihood, won't be used for much - US forces are leaving Afghanistan in 2014, right? (Please note - the previous sentance is rife with sarcasm and should be read as such.) Anywho, DoD IG doesn't actually have the resources to execute the inspection, only the money and authority to have someone else execute it. Through the meddling of numerous government agencies and countless emails, I was selected as one of the engineers to support this mission, and assigned to the Bagram portion.
The biggest difference in this whole thing is that I am here as a Civil Servant, and not as a Naval Officer. That comes with its pluses and its minuses. On the plus side, I can wear whatever I want, don't have a military chain of command to report to, and can grow out my facial hair - my beard has gotten pretty epic by the way. On the down side, I feel like a dumb civilian wandering around a combat zone, I have no weapon (despite my numerous efforts to get one), and I don't have the opportunity to earn the various perks that come from being military.
I flew from the US via United, much nicer than the chartered DC-10 we had last time. From Dulles to Dubai to Doha, all on United Economy Plus, which was worth every penny. Once in Doha I was able to meet up with the rest of my team, most of whom were on the same flight, little known to us. A short drive later and we made it to Al Udeid Air Base and started the check in process. It was after 0100 by the time we finished, but having heard that they had a bar on base I was compelled to check it out. They have it easy out there at Al Udeid - don't let anyone tell you otherwise. We were up by 0400 (I was regretting the decision to go have a drink at the bar instead of sleeping) and off to the terminal to wait for our flight, get our gear issue, and fly off into the wild blue yonder.
My team consists of 11 civilians, and I am the only one that is currently in the military, one of three that has ever been in the military, and one of four that had ever been to Afghanistan - the other three were on the inspection of Kandahar. As such, I have been trying to help everyone figure out the less obvious parts of life - how to set up your helmet, how to wear your flak vest, what various TLAs and terms mean, etc. I didn't appreciate how difficult this would be for someone doing it outside of the military until now.
So we got our gear and much to my chagrin boarded another C-130 for another long, bumpy, and thermally extreme journey to Afghanistan. Joy.
Bagram is in some ways very much like Kandahar, and in others totally different. It's still hot, though not quite as hot. It's still austere, though definitely a little more improved. It's windier and as such dustier, not something I missed. There are trees here, and animals - bugs aplenty and enough birds to actually hear them singing in those aforementioned trees. The food is better here, but there are far fewer planes taking off and flying about which makes for a significantly more boring skyline. My living arrangements pale in comparison, but at the same time there's no Poo Pond so that's a definite plus. Totally different and still the same.
We have started the process of inspecting buildings here, and in general they are pure crap. The array of fire, life safety, and overt electrical violations are mind boggling. It's not surprising that people have been getting injured or killed, and not surprising that we've been called out to address it. Hopefully we can make at least a little difference.
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