Tag: A Soldier’s perspective

I would like to start with thanking you all for the support and encouraging comments, it means a lot to us. It is truly my honor to serve in the US Army. My experience over here has only reinforced in my mind how amazing the United States is, not perfect of course but we are so fortunate compared to most people around the world. Our pets have a higher standard of living than the average Afghan child.

We have been here for about 2 months now. We have settled into our living environment and our work routine as best we can. The altitude still seems to have a negative effect on our energy levels. Many of us have stopped taking our malaria pills because we are just tired of feeling ill every day. The small exchange on Camp has a lot more items on the shelves now that the border of Pakistan is opened again. The Green Bean Coffee shop is still not open, I’m not sure why, so I have learned to like the Mess Hall coffee. In our spare time we have been building a running track around the camp, the tread mill gets old after a while.

We also are putting together a volunteer fire fighting team since the camp has no real fire department.

 I will say again that the Internet is our lifeline to home and family! I spend a lot of my free time on Skype with my Family or Facebook keeping up with friends at home.

Chuck Yeager and his wife came to visit us about a month ago. Things were kind of HOT over here when he came to visit so he was literally risking his life to raise our morale. Thanks Chuck!

During my interaction with the Afghan Army I have gained a great deal of respect for them, they are smart, tough, eager to learn, and devoted to the future of Afghanistan. The majority of the Afghan Army respects and appreciates what we are trying to do for them. There seems to be a small minority in the Afghan Army that resent us and would prefer we leave. The tension level has been rising a bit between us and them with the increased incidents of Afghan Army and Police attacks on coalition forces. I work for a Canadian Commander and most of the forces on this camp are Canadian, however there are forces from all over the world here training the Afghan Army; U.S. forces are a minority at this location.

Our mission doesn’t allow us much interaction with the Afghan civilian population; our contact is predominantly with the Afghan Army. We do spend a lot of time with the interpreters and they give us some insight into the Afghan civilian life. Most of our interpreters want to move to America, which in itself says volumes to me.

 The People in Afghanistan clearly live a much lower standard of living compared to what we are accustomed to. Most of their houses are constructed of mud and rock. Food is sold along the roadside in small stands and shops;  fresh cut meat hangs in the markets unrefrigerated. Small children are running around on the main streets unattended. Traffic seems to have no rules or enforcement. When we drive thru the streets it’s hard to tell how the adults feel about us, they pretty much just look.  The children on the other hand have various reactions to our presence. Some children wave and give us the thumbs up while other flip us the middle finger and sometimes throw rocks; I’m not sure what to think about all that but it’s hard to know what their contact with US force has been like over the past 11 years.   Afghanistan is clearly a complicated and conflicted nation after literally thousands of years of occupation and wars.

I would describe our state of mind as very alert but not afraid. It is hard to explain but you are so focused on the tasks in front of you and attempting to stay aware of your surroundings that you don’t really have time to be in fear. You are constantly watching people, vehicles and the terrain around you for something that might not look right.

We deal with so much just to move around you really don’t have a minute to think about what could happen, or maybe we choose not to? We do tend to joke around some which seems to defuse stress or fear. If you heard some of our discussion prior to going into dangerous situations it would probably seem odd or inappropriate given the environment but it is just a form of pressure release if that makes any sense. A typical convoy outside the wire (outside of our camp) requires putting on about 75+ lbs. of combat gear, carrying a rifle and a pistol, pre-movement planning and briefs, communications check, vehicle checks, reading the latest Intel reports and climbing into 10 ton armored vehicles. Just climbing in and strapping into our trucks is a workout wearing all of our gear.

I think it is important to let you all know that when it comes to your tax dollars I have seen daily how much better our equipment has become and it is saving our lives every day, for that I thank you!

Thanks again for all your support, I will send my cousin Karen another update in month or two, keep sending her any question you have and I will do my best to answer them.  – Dennis

A Note from Karen:  I can’t thank my wonderful readers enough for all the encouragement and support you have given my cousin in his first post, and I hope you will continue in this second installment. I am amazed at what these men and women are doing over there under difficult circumstances, and how much of their regular lives they give up to do so, always in danger.  Yet none have a negative attitude, all I’ve come to know are proud to serve their country.  I don’t think I could walk in their shoes…  Dennis’s oldest daughter will graduate HS in just a few days – it’s not possible for him to jet home to see it.   This is just one example of the thousands of sacrifices that are made.

 If you have questions for the soldiers, send them to me at karenthisoldhouse@hotmail.com or leave them in the comments section below this post and they’ll be answered by Dennis in the next installment.   Thank you for your time – and if you’re so inclined, spread the word of this post, lets show these guys we appreciate them.

My Name is Dennis P. , I grew up in Connecticut, and I am a Major in the United States Army currently serving at a Camp  near Kabul, Afghanistan. I have almost 28 years of service in the U.S. Army, 12 of those years are active duty the rest I served as a member of the Army National Guard. My cousin Karen asked if I would write a little something about being a Soldier over here so what follows is my experience so far.

I arrived just over two weeks ago. I spent a about a month and a half training in preparation for this mission which will last 6-9 months. This is my first trip to Afghanistan. I am part of an 18 Soldier team that will work as trainers and mentors for the leadership of Afghan Army K*****ks (equivalent to US Army Battalion, approximately 800 soldiers) as they prepare to deploy to their areas of responsibility. This is in preparation for turning all security responsibilities over to the Government of Afghanistan.

The trip to Camp ***** started from Fort Dix NJ and took 6 days with several stops along the way. One of our stops was at an Air Base in Kyrgyzstan.  My brother Andy is a contractor there so I was able to visit with him for a couple days. Camp *******  is 8.5 hours ahead of Eastern Time and the elevation is almost 6,000’ above sea level. With the jet lag, climate change and daily malaria pills we all felt like a soup sandwich for at least the first week making our RIP (Relief In Place) challenging. During the RIP the team that was on mission turns responsibility over to our team. Within 2 days of arrival at Camp *****  we were actively mentoring our Afghan Army counter parts. For me that meant joining up with the Afghan Battalion XO (Executive Officer), an Afghan Army Major, and mentoring him utilizing an interpreter. Adding to the challenges I already mentioned was the culture shock. Fortunately our training prepared us well for the cultural differences. Getting thru the first week was mentally and physically very challenging.

Afghanistan is a completely different world. The climate is very dry, lots of dust and smoke in the air. They burn everything, no EPA here so breathing includes lots of coughing even for the non-smokers. The streets are very congested with cars, motorcycles, bicycles, mules, school kids etc… Many of the children come out to the street when we are around to ask for water and treats occasionally the kids throw rocks at us. Over all it seems that the population supports what we are here for. The Afghan populations living conditions are very different than ours, most of them living very primitive lives compared to what we are accustom to.

Life over here so far is like a different planet. I don’t go anywhere without at least one loaded weapon at my side. Everyone carries a gun over here, including civilians. As you can imagine you don’t have much privacy. The food is OK. We have a small gym on the camp and a Morale and Welfare (MWR) building with TVs, pool tables, books, movies etc… The internet is very slow, 256-512K, but it is our lifeline to family and friends back home. The post office is open about once a week for a few hours if there is someone available to man it and the roads are open for travel. We have a Post Exchange (PX) trailer to get little items like toothpaste, soap, snacks etc… The PX has had pretty low inventory as a result of certain boarder closures. The camp is setting up a Green Bean, the Army version of Starbucks, soon which is a good thing because the Mess Hall coffee is a bit rough. Well I hope I have painted a good picture of my first few weeks in Afghanistan, I’m sure my cousin Karen will include some pictures.

From Karen:  I hate war, but I fully support the troops who are giving up big chunks of their family time, their “civilian” careers, their normal life, and for some, their actual life… for our country, for our people, for our safety.  Through my cousin’s generosity in sharing with us, I’m hoping to provide an outlet to honor what they are doing and to show them our gratitude.  I’m hoping Dennis will keep us posted now and again.  Please feel free to use this comments section to send a message to Dennis and our troops. I know he’ll forward the sentiment.