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.
Glad to hear you've made it safe and sound!
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