What a Day

I lied yesterday, today is the coldest day that I have ever experienced in my life. The day started a little earlier than I would have hoped, one of my Warrant Officers had a NG (negligent discharge) which means he was playing with his weapon and it accidental went off. Fortunately no one was hurt however it will take him out of the fight for a while and make it harder for us to fill seats. He will be back up once his 15-6 investigation is complete. Ultimately his career is over he and the Boss will have to fly to Kandahar and see the Commanding General who will give him a GOMAR which will go on his permanent record and keep him from getting promoted. So basically his career is over he will not get promoted with a GOMAR and once he is a second time non select for promotion the army will put him out.

On a lighter note Mike and I are on shift tonight and the weather will keep us on the ground all shift. I think I am the only one in our shop that has not fallen in the snow it is such a winter wonderland here at Wolverine. And we are not even in the cold season yet. We are being told that Jan/Feb are the coldest months here. Oh boy I can't wait I just love the cold weather.

So like I said in an earlier post I received a journal from Elli and I have been reading just one page a night. Last night I read a page and wrote back to her just like I hope to do every time. I think if I am too tired to write back to her I will save reading a page for the next night. When I opened my mail on Christmas day and received Elli's book and Shirley's movie I truly felt like I was home for just a bit. Thanks Girls...

So the living conditions on FOB Wolverine, other than the snow and the cold weather are not so bad. It is a 10 minute walk from where I work and sleep to the chow hall and the gym and chapel. I live in TOC (tactical operation center) village with most of the primary staff. The Boss wanted me to live in the TOC with him and the SGM (Seargent major) but I told him that with all the sleep problems I have I think it would be in every ones best interest for me to live in TOC village. Not that TOC village is fare its only 20 yards from the TOC but I live in a eight foot by 18 foot trailer with its own heat and air conditioning. I am not to disappointed with the living conditions here my room is much bigger than the one I had on my last trip the only down side is that i am living in a tin trailer and not a hardened bunker like last tour. Although on this tour we have a AGIS (don't know what it stands for) Balloon on a tether that is 1500 feet above our FOB that has amazing optics that allows us to look out 30km. So we are able to react to any threat that should come near or try to attack our FOB. FOB Wolverine has not had indirect fire hit the FOB in over a year now that they have the balloon.

The food on the FOB is pretty good it is so much better than Manas and Kandhar where we stoped on our way in to Afghanistan. No real milk just like last time but they try hard to make it nice. We have steaks and lobster on Fridays just like last time most of the time and on Sunday nights they have wings night and they are really good. All and all I am hoping to loose a few pounds anyway so missing a few meals here and there wont kill me. My shift which is from 1100 to 0100 sometimes only allows me to get one meal a day but like I said I wanted to loose a few pounds. Not to mention all the walking we do here, besides the chow hall the flight line is also a ten minute walk from where I live. We have to cross two revines to get to the flight line and when the snow is deep that takes some time. So far the snow is only three or four inches deep but this place has had snow falls as deep as a couple of feet. Remember we are sittin at 6500 feet above sea level. The highest peaks in the Smokies are only in the high 5000. Well its late and I am going to hit it, night all....

Too cold

Well just a couple of days ago it was not to bad outside, today it feels like its 100 below. The heater in my room is doing the best it can but it is just no cutting the mustard. Oh we'll I guess that means it will be time to go to bed early and get under the covers. I was off shift today and I was in the office from sun up till just an hour ago it's now 1106pm so much for a day off. I will be on for the next three days and the weather is going to be brutal. I woke up to snow this morning and it hasn't quit all day. I hope we have a mild winter here but I don't think we will. After all we are sitting at 6500 feet Above sea level. It is also going to be a brutal Sumer from what I am hearing from the guys we are replacing. Our area of Operation is no where near the size it was on my last trip over here. This place is much smaller but there is plenty to keep us busy. We have many miles of porous border with Pakistan and we know what comes out of that country, plenty of trouble.

I read another page of Elli's journal tonight and I wrote back to her and I hope I can keep it up. She started writing in that thing last April and kept it a secret all this time, she is such a precious little thing and I love her so much. Both of my girls are angels, between Ellis journal and Shirley's home movies I will not miss a beat being away from home this trip.

As for the Vipers, the team is coming together nicely, we are taking over the fight from the Hawaii guys and they are slowly heading back home. I could not as for more, pilots are in the books studying and staying sharp they all know that this place is no joke and you have to respect the flight conditions over here. We are flying at altitudes higher than what they are use to and we are heavier than normal with extra fuel and ammo all of my guys are doing the right thing and doing a great job. I hope that they are able to Carry this momentum through the rest of our nine month tour, if they can do that I will get them all home safe. Well it's getting late and I am on for the next three days straight so I might no write for a couple of days but I hope all of you are doing well and that you all have a happy new year, night all

Christmas

Wow what an amazing day, got two packages that lit up my day to the tenth power. Shirley made me a movie DVD which I watched twice all ready and I received a journal from Elli that she has been writing in for some time now that is chocked full of great letters that I cant wait to reed. and to top it all off I got to face time with my family and watch them open presents this morning. except for being in Afghanistan I can't complain one bit, thanks Marie for all that you do and all that you have done.

As for this Blog though I am trying to figure out how to get the security working right. I am sure I will get it eventually and when I do it will be so much nicer to not have to watch everything I say. I am sure it will come with some growing pains, Well I am going to cut this short and work on the security of this Blog for a bit Merry Christmas everyone.

Went Secure

I think it will be so much easier to do this from a secure site I will be able to talk more openly about what I want to talk about I am sure there will be a few hick ups but I will work through it. I flew four hours tonight and we dealt with a few IED in placers but for the most part it was a pretty quite night and I am exhausted  so I am going to bed. All my love to everyone and I will write more tomorrow because I get an off day. Night all

Going Secure

Hello to all, Blogger has come out with an option to go secure and I think for what I am doing on here that would make a lot of sense for me. I will try to set it up in the next few post I think all it will require is for everyone to log in and use a password. I know it may be a little less convenient however I think in the long run it will allow me to talk about more things in my blog. I will for sure keep you all posted when I go secure and I will send passwords out by e-mail for sure.

I was off shift today so I was able to work on my room a bit but I spent most of the day in my office getting things ready for the RIP to be complete. I think the Hawaii guys are ready to get out of this winter wonder land and get back to the island. tomorrow I will be giving one of our PIC (pilot in command) his AMC (air mission commander) check ride. We are hurting on AMCs right now and we need to grow a few more to make our shifts work out. I am sure he will do fine he was over here with us the last time.

 Christmas is just a few days away and once again I am not at home, I wish I could be but I know Marie will make it nice for the kids. And now that the kids are older I know they will make it nice for Marie as well. I hope that they have a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year as well. I hope this deployment passes quickly and although its only nine months long we get no mid tour so it is going to be a hard stretch. This will be the longest time I have ever spent away from my family and I think it is going to be hard on all of us. Well time to hit the hey happy holidays everybody, night all

Almost Christmas

Well it's a few days from Christmas and I can't help but to wonder how things are at home. I am sure all will be fine it just sucks to have to miss yet another one with the kids. I hope that things continue to be quite here so we can all try to enjoy the holiday a little. This country has not changed one bit since I was here last. The people are still dirt poor with no clear direction for a future and no hope for a better life. It seems that all we do is for not.

I had a long discussion with one of my new pilots who is right out of flight school today, he is kind of young and he told me he has some concerns about his ability in the aircraft when it come to doing his job. I shot gunnery with him this year and he did ok, he was a little slow but he did ok. He told me that he is afraid that if things get rough and if he were to make any mistakes in the process of keeping any of the ground troops safe he feels he would never forgive himself. I had to think about that for a bit before I said anything, I finally told him that the ground forces are doing their job the best that they can and they too will make some mistakes and that he needs to stay in the books and try to do his best as well and that some things are just out of our hands and in the event that something should happen to go horribly wrong he will always know that he did his very best and it is what it is. I am not sure if what I said helped or not but I know that I have thought through that same thing. I know that we will have some tough days ahead of us but as long as we do our best we should have no regrets.

I was given this opportunity for a reason, the opportunity to take a Task Force to combat and see to it that I keep them safe to bring them all home in one peace. I too have concerns and I too worry, I know that if something goes wrong and things get bad I will feel like I should have trained harder. Task Force Viper will be successful I will make it my business to stay on these guys to do their very best and to be the most professional Aviators that they can be. We will leave here in nine months and we are all going home together, so help me God. Night all

First mission flight

Dec 21 2012, first mission flight today. It went well only 3.5 hours, me and the boss followed around a 58D and got a pretty good lay of the land for the most part I was pretty happy with the outcome. Plus it was Friday so we had steak and lobster in the chow hall when we got back not to shabby. The only thing that makes it better is if I can catch the girls on line later. I miss them something fierce, you to Robby. I hope they are having a great Christmas break I wish I could be with them. It's nice to know that Marie will make it a special time for them though. I received my first package from home today too. I ordered a lens from B and H Photo weeks ago and should have gotten it before I left, but it was coming out of New York and with all the storm damage it arrived the day after I left. The girls could have just put it in the mail but they loaded the box with my favorite candy and then sent it on its way, thank you ladies!!

We have a few more weeks with the guys from Hawaii before we take over and the RIP is going well. Morale is high and all my guys are doing a great job, I am lucky to have been able to build such a wonderful team. The terrain in the south is much different than the last place I was over here. It will take some care when it gets hot to watch the power Requirements for all of our A/C we will be challenged by the hot temps we will all have to be carefully.

Well I am a few weeks into my rotation and though I thought I was getting sick I was able to get past it and I feel like a hundred bucks, knock on wood. I am still having trouble sleeping but it is what it is. Last night I laid down at nine fell asleep after 11:30 woke up at two and had to get up at 04:45 for my mission. I am sure the Doc will help me out if it gets too bad. Oh we'll speaking of sleep I am starting to nod off as I type this so I will try to keep up with this blog to the best of my ability but till next post night all.

Getting settled

Trying to get situated and tomorrow is my first flight, can't wait to get things started. Today is the 18th of December and I am ready to go all should be good. The guys from Hawaii that we are ripping with are doing us right and I think we will be in good shape once they leave. I have received all of my things except my refrigerator that I brought from my office in savannah.

Trying to post this again today the 19th of December and still no Internet, I stopped by their office yesterday and they told me it would be back on they said it is because we have so many additional people on the FOB and the system is only designed for a certain amount which I hope is the case and we are over crowded and will be until the RIP is complete once the 25th go back to Hawaii I hope it is back to normal. They have two providers on the FOB Basxnet which is the US contract for 110 a month and they have the Italian net which is 180 a month. I got on with Basxnet to see how it would work and for the most part I was able to FaceTime with Marie and the kids just fine, but I think I may cal it and go with the Italian net just till the rip is complete.

Well time to get up and get ready for my first flight today should be pretty the snow covered mountains all around us look amazing

Day two at KAF

Well I have just a little more training and hopefully I will be out oh here tomorrow, next stop Wolverine. The weather here at KAF is much warmer than Manas but the living conditions here are terrible. I will post when I get to my FOB till then, night all

Robby's Birthday

Well we are in Kandahar and life is not so hot. We are living in a GP medium and I am sure we will all be sick before we get out of here. Not much airflow in a small tent like this stacked from front to rear with bunk beds. The Internet here is horrible and I will try to add these to my blog once I get to Wolverine. Today is Robby's B-Day and I sure wish I could have talked to him. I did however go over to the USO tent and post to his Facebook page,I tried to text Elli but I guess she just left her page up. I miss them so much this trip and I am not even there yet

Getting ready to leave Manas

Well we are all sitting here in the terminal hoping to load a plan for Kandahar soon we have been locked down now for two hours waiting on the Air Force. Hopefully they will get us out of this Siberian outback soon, night all

Getting sick

Well it did not take me to long to get sick, not sure if it was the winter weather or possibly living in a great big fest tent with another 200 guys who are also coughing and sneezing but none the less I have a nice head cold and it will make things so uncomfortable given my currant living conditions. I hope it passes quickly however I am sure that it will not. Today we did roll over training me Mike and Jerry were part of a five man crew and once they flipped our vehicle we were suppose to egress most of the other crews we watched waiting our turn were out in less than a minute. For us it was more like five, the doors weigh a crap load and we think the controller made sure they were all locked, he was suppose to leave on open for us to egress through when we finally got out we received applause from others who were waiting their turn. I think I am in love with this iPad it will sure be nice to have this trip I just hope the Internet is better this trip, till next time, night all

Hello to all from Manas

Day two in Manas

Well I tried to sleep in that got me till 0300, then got up took a shower and went with Mike and Jerry to get some chow not much else to do we have some roll over training to complete today and that is all that is on the schedule it will start at 0730. Tried to FaceTime with the family but couldn't get through so I figured I would try to post a quick message to my blog. I think we are out of here tomorrow but time will tel. It has been snowing all night and it is cold and nasty outside not something I am use to. I hope for my sake our training is inside. Till next time , night all

My home for a few days

Manas

Safe and sound in Manas, so fare so go. We will be here a couple of days and then it's off to Kandahar all and all I can't complain the trip has been pretty smooth. Me Mike and Jerry are like the new three musketeers TF SIP, Master Gunner and Safety keeping it real. I think I will be using my IPad an awful lot over here this trip it is so easy to use and the battery last all day. I will betraying to FaceTime with Marie and the girls in a few hours when they get up for school and I can't wait.

It's about 25 degrees outside and I am not use to it at all. It is a miserable temperature and we have snow all over everything. We are living in big open bay fest tents and it is infection waiting to happen       If I can get out of hear without a full blown cold I will be lucky. I will try to write more as soon as I can, till then, night alll

safe in Germany

Safe and sound in Germany, I will keep you all posted. I just got to FaceTime with Marie and the kids it doesn't get any better I miss them so much all ready, night all

My firs post from my Ipad

Well except for the extremely small keyboard I think this is doable. This will be my go to device when I get to my FOB. I will keep you all posted on my journey from savannah to Afghanistan the best that I can. It's about ten o'clock in the morning on Sunday the the ninth of December and I leave tonight at eight. I hope to be able to have Internet during my journey we depart Savannah to Germany then to Manis Kazerkastain? Not to sure of that spelling on that one then off to Kandahar Afghanistan   For some last minute training then final stop Wolverine. To much to finish today with last minute packing till next post, night all

Friday Night

Two more nights in my bed then its planes trains and automobiles half way across the world to Afghanistan Where I will spend the next nine months flying around trying to keep the good guys safe and the bad guys at bay. I sure hope this trip is as good as the last one, I was there thirteen months and we brought everybody home in one piece I pray we are that lucky this time. Tomorrow Marie and I and the kids are going out to my favorite restaurant, Carabbas, can't wait. Well I know this is short but I am tired so I am going to hit it, a quick shower and off to bed for me, night all

Last day of work....

I wish, last day of work in Savannah I had a lot to do at the office to close everything down. Pack all my stuff turn in my computer, print out 20 copies of our battle book and drop them off at the printers to have them cut and bound. But hey its all done now its time to spend some quality time with the family until Sunday night when they drop me off. Below is my new address for the next 9 months.

CW4 Robert Senefeld
HHC 1-3 ARB
Task Force Viper
FOB Wolverine
APO AE 09383

Please don't feel obligated to send cards filled with money or anything but if you want to I guess it will be OK. Below are a couple of time conversions to help with what time it will be in Afghanistan from the east coast.

Savannah/Ohio                            Afghanistan

Midnight                                      08:30 a.m.
07:00 a.m.                                   3:30 p.m.
Noon                                           8:30 p.m.
4:00 p.m.                                     12:30 a.m.
6:00 p.m.                                     2:30 a.m.

Just some times to help understand what time it is over in Afghanistan. Well again time to get off here and spend some of my last few precious minutes with the kids, night all

Just a few days left

Its 5 December 2012 and I am leaving for Afghanistan once again this Sunday. So on the 10th of December its off to the land of the not quite right, again, I hope the time goes bye quickly. I hope to only be there for nine months I will try to post to this Blog as much as I can. This trip I will be covering down as the Task Force SIP/CWOB and I know I will be busy. But hopefully it will make the time pass quickly. Well I need to get off of here and spend some needed time with my little ones before I leave so stat tuned and I will keep all of you posted, night all

Just got back from Falcon Focus where we trained our new Aviators how to fly in the mountains, what a wonderful month that was. Its Aug 19 and I am slated to go back to Afghanistan this Dec, we have a lot to accomplish between now and when we leave. I am now the BN/Task Force SIP and I have never taken my job so seriously, I feel that I have never been under this kind of pressure in my life I have so many kids right out of flight school and I know that they are a long way from being ready for what is in front of them. The flying in Afghanistan is the most challenging flying most of us will ever see.

I will be trying to get on here more often now that we are so close to deploying, I think we have a pretty good staff and our senior warrants are tops and we just had a change of command and we have a new commander, LTC Brian Schaap, I just did most of his progression out in New Mexico during Falcon Focus although he hasn't flown in over two years he has great control touch and should be a Pilot in Command pretty quick. He is so much different than the last commander, I made a suggestion to him just before lunch and after lunch he executed and that was that. We have needed a decision maker for some time and he is here now and ready to get to work. Well time for me to put Elli to bed, night all..

RWIFE

Once again back at Fort Rucker, this time for the IFE course. Less than one year to enjoy my time at home with Marie and the Kids, its hard to believe that I have been out of Afghanistan for over a year all ready. This next deployment I will be going south, I am not sure which FOB I will be at but we are going to the south east this time. Back to Afghanistan for one more trip, only 9 or 10 months this time but no two week break some where in the middle. Well its 0023 in the morning I fly nights for this course and I need to get my rest. Night All

Staff Course

Having a not so wonderful time back at mother Rucker going through the Staff Course. Lots going on at home, Family, work Robby trying to get into a good collage. I will be out of here " Ft Rucker that is" in a few more weeks and I think I need to take some time off. We have been told that we are on the patch chart for 2012 and that we need to get ready so I am sure I will be busy busy busy as the new 1-3 ARB SIP, Night all

I am Back

Not much to say other than I am going to continue my post about my life in the Army and try to catch up on all that has happened since I have been home from Afghanistan. I will try to catch everyone up on all that has happened. But first a quick update on today, we have two new Senefelds in the house. Marley our new dog and Iggy our new cat, pictures to follow, night all

BAF

Not much to say about BAF, 400 guys living in a big tent all waiting to get sick from the years of dust and filth. But lucky for me I am still healthy after 5 days all ready in this tent so I can't complain. I am being told that we might fly to Manas late tonight and that would be great time will tell and we will see. I have been spending a lot of time with Bob he and I are trying to keep each others spirits up. It is kind of hard to do in this place there are so many things to bring you down, nothing to do and nowhere to go and the worst of it is there is no privacy at all we are stacked in here like sardines its crazy but this time next week and i will be at the house so what am I complaining about right, Right. Well chow tonight was pretty good after all it was veterans day and they try to make holidays as nice as they can. I will try to get a post out at Manas but you never know what will be available so till next time, night all

The Light is brite

Wow I am at a loss for words; I don’t know where to start. I guess it’s because this is the end, tonight at 2200 I drop off my bags and then at 0200 I load the C-130 for BAF. In a few hours I will go to eat my last meal in the chow hall and wait till I load the plane. I will not miss this place, but I will miss all the great people that I have met that aren’t Vipers. Most of them are from the 101^st and they still have some time before they get to leave. I wish them all the best and continued success in the challenging mission that they have in front of them.

My next post should be from BAF we are expected to be there for 4 to 6 days. I can only tell you that I am not looking forward to it, we will all be living in a great big fest tent and if one person is sick well you get the picture. After that I will be in Manas which is in Kirgizstan don’t know about the spelling but that is what it sounds like. We should only be there for a couple of days and then it will be off to Savannah by way of either Germany or Ireland. I am so excited to be going home after all that I went through this year and I can’t wait to spend time with Marie and the kids. I am a lucky man, I have been given so much and life has definitely allowed me so many great opportunities. This year will not go down in my history book as my favorite year by any means, but I know that we have made a difference over here and I am so proud to have been a part of it. Until BAF, night all

Going Home

Going home!! What can I say, I am excited to be going home but I hope for the best for Task Force Tiger Shark’s in what is ahead of them. This country still needs our help and I hope they are able to make some great changes before we withdraw completely. I spent all day today at the post office trying to get my last minute things off to Marie it totaled three more boxes with insurance over 110 bucks go figure. But after all the horror stories from TF Tiger Shark and all of their personal containers being broken into in the wonderful Country of Pakistan what’s another 110 bucks. I also packed up my flight gear into one of our containers for shipment home it was bitter sweet but more sweet. I flew over 750 hours in about 10 and a half months taking away the midtour trip home and a few weeks on the front end and the back end. I wish I would have kept better statistics on what all I did over here as far as missions are concerned but I did not. All I know is as a task force we flew about 900 to 1100 hours a month and that was just the Apache’s. As for munitions we shot over one hundred and fifty thousand pieces of ordinance. The rest will go down in the history books and speaking of history books I was interviewed for my part in the FOB attack on 28 Aug just the other day by a military historian. They told us that it is standard set for anyone who is put in for an Air Medal with a V device, I felt a little silly at first but I think I was able to keep it to the facts. That was by far the craziest day of my tour the interviewer seemed a little stunned when I answered her question as to at what part on that day was I most scarred. I told her that I was more scared running to our TOC with the machine gun fire going all over and running through the concrete barriers towards the TOC and finding myself looking down the barrel of an M-16 being held by a frightened teenager. I told her that once I got to the aircraft I was good and once we were airborne even with all the tracer fire coming up from what seemed like every direction I was great. I was sitting in my office and I had five hours of work to get done that morning, and that is just what we did. Five hours later FOB Salerno and FOB Chapman were safe and it was over. This would turn out to be the second biggest engagement that Task Force Viper would be in this year and once again no US or coalition forces killed.

My last flight in country was with Jennifer Hakeman and we flew 4.7 hours last night and we also flew some flags so I am going to add a picture with this post and I am going to try and get the rest of my packing done tonight so I am going to cut this one off, so till next time, night all

Almost Done

Getting down to the wire, only 5 more days and one more flight before I leave this place. I am trying to do all the last minute packing and shipping so that my trip home is easy on me and quicker through Customs. We are slated to leave Manas on 13 November but this is always subject to change. I do know that it is really cold in Manas and all I have left for cold weather gear is my fleece jacket so I am going to freeze my tail off for sure. We are still having engagements which I was sure would slow down drastically once the weather got a little colder but it is what it is. I am in the middle of my turn over with the new Task Force Master Gunner and once that is done and I fly my last flight I will be finished and just waiting to fly out of here. I will try to post updates as to where I am and when I am flying for my trip home, night all

Task Force Viper

We just took this today and I think it turned out great, I am the guy all the way to the left in front. The HHC Company Commander was not at the right place at the right time so I stood in for him. Night all

Moving

Last few days have been pretty busy; two nights ago we thought our FOB might be getting attacked so I ended up flying around the FOB for like 6 hours. While we were providing FOB security we noticed that on the south eastern side of our runway our ground security force was launching a ton of 40mm illume rounds. Not that it’s a big deal for us they cannot be shot too high but it was more about was something going on in that location that we were not seeing. I mean after all this was where the Taliban tried to assault the FOB on their last failed attempt, and we all know how that attack turned out for them. So we work our sensors all over that area and we see nothing so we write it off as some kind of unplanned training event. So back to our mission to keep the FOB secure and that is just what we did for about another two hours till the Pistols launched and did a BHO “battle handover” with us. We reported to them that we were experiencing a bunch of NSTR “nothing significant to report” and that we would be glad to call it a night. So we land our two Apache’s and we head to the CP “control post” and we start our debriefs and what not and then we see on the TV Fox News anchor Geraldo Rivera reporting live from Afghanistan on FOB Salerno talking about FOB security. What a small world I did not even know he was on our FOB and let alone he was patrolling with our ground security guys, good for him.

So a couple of days later and I am packing up my room getting it ready for the new guys that are here and I have to move to a new room for the last weeks that I am here in Afghanistan. No complaints out of me that means that I am one step closer to going to the house. I am probably looking at about 5 to 6 more flights in this country and then a couple of big jet flights and I will be at the house with Marie and the Kids. It has been a long year and I am ready to go home but I do understand that I have 5 to 6 more flights out there in bad guy country and I need to keep my game face on till I am done and I am heading home. The 10^th Mountain guys are ready to take the fight to the bad guys and I hope that they have as good of a year as we did here with Task Force Viper. I feel that we made a huge difference in our area of operation and that the changes we made will make a difference for many years to come.

I will have IO Global Internet in my new digs so I hope to be able to have time to make a few more post before I get on the big plane to get out of here. It’s a lot slower but I will be able to make it work. I almost got to take an aircraft back to FOB Shank the other day I was trying to switch out with another pilot so I could go and try to catch up with Barry before I get out of here. I hope that his tour goes as quickly as mine did and that he has no serious issues. His area is about the same as mine except for the living conditions are not as nice. And it gets a lot colder over there he is sitting at about 7000 feet MSL and I am at 3800 here. My coldest winter day required me to wear a sweatshirt and his will require some serious cold weather gear, hate it for him. He also started a Blog and I am looking forward to following his adventures I hope that he has a good year.

I turned in a leave form for 6 Dec 2010 till 7 Jan 2011 I am looking forward to some time off. I have not had that much time off in I don’t know how long but I am so looking forward to it one month with nothing to do but spend time with my family. When Marie and the kids get out of school for X-Mas we will have to see what the plans are but I think we are hoping to go home for a visit. Not totally sure what the timeline will be yet but I am sure we will get it worked out soon. I will be the only one not going to school when I get home it will be strange for a bit, Marie is doing most of her classes in the evenings right now and it will be nice to spend quality time with the kids when I get home. I will hopefully get some down days where we can spend some time at home before she goes to school and then meet my girls at the bus stop; I always liked to do that. Well at least for Elli I think Shirley would be a little mortified if I showed up when her buss arrived. Needless to say I can’t wait to be a Dad again and I can’t wait to be a Husband too. Well guys that’s about all that I have on my mind for now I think I will get back to packing my stuff so I can move tomorrow before I go to fly, till next time, night all

18 days left

Help has arrived, we are going through our RIP process and the light is getting bright. I have friends from 10^th Mountain and it is good to see them. I only wish that Barry could have come to my FOB but instead he will be going to FOB Shank. I am on the flight schedule fewer days each week and that doesn’t hurt my feelings one bit. I flew last night and we took fire from a ridgeline near Zerok it was right at dusk and hard to see the bad guys. They are getting pretty good at not moving once we are on station and they only shoot after we pass their position. So we had a position and we set up for race track patterns on their known location and we shot just about everything we had on that ridgeline. The shooting stopped and we went back to the house. This time of the year the fighting comes to a screeching halt it just get to cold up in the mountains for them. Most of them go back to Pakistan and bed down there for the winter. And this will give our replacements the time they need to perfect their flying in the mountains and their procedures for doing business.

I will be getting on a C-130 in just 18 days to go back to my life and for that I am so thankful but this place I will never forget. I will remember the people I met, things I have seen and most importantly things that I have done over here to try to make a difference. I will look back at this tour as an event that truly changed my life for the better. I don’t really expect many to understand what I am talking about but I feel that I have grown so much in this short year and I needed it so much and it truly will affect the rest of my life.

As for life in Savannah, wow what can I say it is going to be awesome I am looking so forward to everything that Marie and I and the Kids are going to experience in the future. Family is so important and we must all remember that whatever happens to us we can always count on our family to pull us through. I am not sure when our Internet will be cut off but I will try to keep everyone posted on me getting out of here somehow. Night all

10th CAB in the House

Wow what a day, reality has finally set in, help has arrived. Tenth CAB is here to replace us and I am sure glad to see them. Today we gave them their academics and tomorrow they start flying. They will not be turned loose to go out and do great and wonderful things for God and Country for week or so but it is nice to have them here on the ground with us. They are not all here yet it is a process that takes a few weeks, it’s a phased event some of our guys leave and some of their guys arrive. I leave on main body 7 which is leaving Afghanistan on the 7^th of November. After I leave their will only be a handful of 3^rd CAB Soldiers in country. It has been a long year and we have done a great deal over here in that year and I am proud to have been a part of it all. I feel that this tour has helped me in so many ways that I may never truly know the full effects of everything that has happened to me over here. I have seen so many things that I will never forget and some of those things have had a significant impact on my life but I know that I am a much better person because of it all. I truly see more and feel more and I definitely want to experience more. And I can’t wait to get home to start a new chapter in my never ending life with Marie and our three kids. I am not sure how much longer I will have Internet but I will try to keep my Blog going even after the Internet is disassembled and packed for shipping back to the states. I put my first three boxes on one of our conexes today and my room is starting to look a little less lived in and I like it. I am on the flight schedule tomorrow and it’s after 2300 so I need to post this so I can try to Catch Marie on Facebook till next time, night all

Long Day

Well the day started out like any other day, but it just kept going and going and going. On a positive note my good friend Barry has arrived safe and sound at FOB Shank and I am sure he will do great and wonderful things over here as well. I hope his tour passes as quickly as mine did for me. Tomorrow will be the first day of academics for the new group of Aviators that we just got and I am glad they are here. I flew six and a half hours today or should I say to night and we did every mission under the sun or should I say moon. from escort to TIC to deliberate hasty infill. Need less to say it was a very busy day and I am glad it is over. I was hoping to catch my true love on the computer tonight before I go to bed but I am sure she is busy school all ready. I will have to catch up with her tomorrow. I am down to 24 days and a wake up before I get on a plane and get the heck out of here, and I can't wait. I am off tomorrow except for teaching a class or two and loading my action packer and a couple of bags in a container so I will try to get on tomorrow and post a bit more but till then, Night all

Back at Salerno

I am back at Sal and things are going pretty good, we have a lot to get done in these last few weeks. The new Unit is starting to show up and there is a lot of training to get done to get these guys ready to take the fight. I was gone for just over a week and in that time I missed out on a lot of packing and loading opportunities. I have a lot to catch up on and a lot to do as far as packing is concerned. I will me mailing a lot of my things home to try to cut down on space in our containers. We have space but it is limited and we have all acquired many things since we have been in Country. I have many things that I am hoping to sell to some of the guys that are coming to replace us I think it will be the easiest way to lighten my load. I figure 50 cents on the dollar and I should be able to get rid of my things pretty quickly. like my refrigerator and one of my TV's some containers and a few other things that made my stay here just a little more comfortable. well I am not sure how much longer we will have Internet so I will try to post as much as I can in these next few days to explain all of the hows and whats of what we are going through. Till then just let me say that I am ready to get home to Marie and the kids and I am still glad that I was a part of OEF TEN Task Force Viper, night all

Linda Norgrove

Well this article was posted on Yahoo News shortly after the attempt that was made to rescue her. I was sent up to Jalalabad as the AMC of two aircraft to help in the search for this woman and sadly to no avail. I and three other pilots were in Jbad for a little over a week we took two of our Longbows and we tried to help another one of our Task Forces locate and rescue this woman for about a week. I was sad that we could not help her. We are fighting people with no hope for a better life and they are desperate in so many ways and have nothing to live for. An Enemy that feels they will be rewarded with 72 virgins for killing an American is a hard enemy to beat. I truly wish we could have done more, I wish that we could have saved this woman and made a difference in this one life, but we couldn’t and makes you think about what war is all about. And I hate it, I hate the fact that no matter what we do it never seems to be enough, and I don’t know if it will ever be.

Yahoo News Article

KABUL: Questions have been raised over the failed attempt by US special forces to free a British aid worker kidnapped in Afghanistan.

Linda Norgrove was killed on Friday night when one of her captors set off a suicide vest as NATO troops arrived by helicopter to rescue her.

The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, and Foreign Secretary, William Hague, defended the operation to rescue Ms Norgrove, saying it was ''her best chance of safe release''.

However, the Telegraph learnt that local Afghan leaders wanted to negotiate with Ms Norgrove's kidnappers to win her freedom but that they were overruled by NATO commanders who feared she was about to be smuggled to Pakistan and handed to al-Qaeda militants.

Ms Norgrove, 36, from Uig on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, had been in Afghanistan since 2005. She was going to a ceremony to open a 24-kilometre irrigation canal at Salar when she was abducted on September 26 with three Afghan colleagues.

The rescue operation began on Friday night after special forces pinpointed her location in mountains close to the Pakistan border. They were within moments of reaching her when she was killed.

Troops who battled through small arms fire to reach the compound where she was being held found her dying on the ground. Medical treatment failed to save her. Six of the kidnap gang are thought to have been killed in the fighting.

In the days after her kidnap in the Kunar province of north-east Afghanistan, a split developed between NATO and local police chiefs over the best strategy to adopt. NATO commanders decided that any attempt to negotiate her release would take too long. They feared she would be taken to Pakistan where al-Qaeda sympathisers would almost certainly kill her.

It is hard to be sure who might have kidnapped her. Most of the fighters in the province are loyal to Hizb-I-Islami, a group of extreme Islamists led by the veteran warlord, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who has changed allegiance repeatedly over the years.

Ms Norgrove, an experienced aid worker for the US agency Development Alternatives Inc, was wearing a burqa when the two-car convoy she was in was attacked. Security guards chased the kidnappers, who escaped with Ms Norgrove and three of her Afghan colleagues.

Locals said the scene of the attack, close to a police checkpoint on the road between Jalalabad to Asadabad, was perfect for an ambush.

A farmer said he saw Ms Norgrove being led into the hills after she was seized by between six and eight armed men.

Her Afghan colleagues were released on October 3. One said they were freed through the help of elders.

A string of kidnaps in the same province earlier this year had ended peacefully through negotiations. The chief of police in Kunar, Khalilullah Zaiyi, was confident of securing Ms Norgrove's release.

On Saturday night, Afghan government sources said Mr Zaiyi was angered by NATO's decision to send in the forces.

An official said: ''NATO didn't even ask their permission.''

General David Petraeus, the senior NATO and US commander in Afghanistan, said his troops and Afghan forces had done ''everything in their power to rescue Linda''.

JAF

First day at JAF otherwise known as Jalabad, I will be working 14 hour days here for as long as I am here. I will be working seven days a week till I get sent back to Salerno. I understand my mission here I am to help with the coverage for the missing British woman. They have many leads so hopefully I will not be here too long. This place is not as nice as Salerno and I can’t wait to get out of here. On a good note though one of my friends from Ft. Rucker is here, Jim Mullenix. He and I will try to make the best of it and I hope that between the two of us we will be able to make the time pass quickly. Wonderful I just sneezed and now I have a bloody nose so as much as I have to talk about it will just have to wait till next time. I am doing all of these in word and I will post all of them when I get back to my room where I have internet. Till then, night all

Day 2 in J-Bad, I was on the flight schedule but we did not launch. No complaint from me I did not sleep too well last night because of the new guys coming in at all hours of the night. Our B-Hut is full now though so I hope that we will get into a routine and everyone will be more considerate to the sleeping man. The b-hut is a building made from plywood and I do mean every wall and floor and ceiling. Our hut has eight rooms about 6 feet by 7.5 foot. All the interior walls are about 6 foot high and made from plywood as well. I am so spoiled coming from Salerno with my nice room in a concrete building with all of my happy gear like my TV and my big computer not to mention my bed with sheets and big pillows. I am sleeping on a cot here under a sleeping bag liner. Thank goodness I am on days because even in October it is hot in these b-huts. Jim told me that during the summer they would never get below 90 degrees and that was with three additional air conditioners that they had to purchase. I remember when I was in Kosovo we would all be up around 0700 or so because we were living in tents and by 0700 it was already 90 plus and you just couldn’t sleep. Oh well speaking of sleep I have a 0445 show tomorrow so I need to cut this one short as well. Still no good Intel on the British woman but we are all still hoping for the best, night all

Cutting off our supplies

Wow what can I say I have been extremely busy with all that has been going on over here? For those of you that have not heard we have had a little misfortune on our Task Force in the news lately. We are in the middle of a great big investigation and there is little that I can say or talk about on here but I will post some news that I got off the web I am safe to do that so here goes.

Yahoo News had this to say

Pakistan on Thursday blocked a key NATO supply line into Afghanistan after accusing US-led forces of mistakenly killing three Pakistani paramilitary border troops in a helicopter raid hours earlier.

The events are testing the already fragile US-Pakistan alliance against Al Qaeda terrorists and Taliban militants holed up in remote, rugged mountain terrain in northwestern Pakistan tribal areas.

They come also as details continue to emerge of an alleged large-scale terror plot against targets in Europe hatched by Pakistani-based militants that was reportedly disrupted in its early stages by Western intelligence and air strikes in Pakistan. Some reports said the US and NATO's stepped-up air attacks were aimed at the plot's planners.

The Associated Press reported that NATO has launched a probe into the alleged killing of the three border guards that Pakistani officials said took place at a checkpoint on the Pakistani side of the border in the Upper Kurram region Thursday (see map). Pakistan has lodged complaints.

"We will have to see whether we are allies or enemies," Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said of the border incident, without mentioning the blockade. ...

Over the weekend, NATO helicopters fired on targets in Pakistan at least two times, killing several suspected insurgents they had pursued over the border from Afghanistan. Pakistan's government protested the attacks, which came in a month during which there have been an unprecedented number of US drone missile strikes in the northwest, inflaming already pervasive anti-American sentiment among Pakistanis.

Two Pakistani government officials said that shortly after the alleged incident, Pakistan moved to block the Torkham border post at the edge of the Khyber tribal region, according to AP. Pakistan reportedly closed the same passage briefly in September 2008 after a US special forces raid into Pakistani tribal areas, according to the Congressional Research Service (pdf). The New York Times calls it "the most important border crossing for trucks supplying NATO-led coalition troops in Afghanistan."

On Thursday, the Pakistani daily Dawn reported a fresh round of attack-helicopter strikes by coalition forces against targets in Upper Kurram. Local officials strongly condemned the new strikes as "an attack on Pakistan's sovereignty," Dawn reported.

The Daily Telegraph reported late Wednesday UK time that 15 to 20 British citizens are currently training inside Al Qaeda-run terror camps in Pakistan, citing "Western intelligence sources."

The disclosure comes after the CIA launched drone strikes on Pakistan training camps in North and South Waziristan in an attempt to disrupt an Al Qaeda-plot to launch an attack targeting Britain, France, and Germany.

The plans would have seen terrorists sent on to the streets, probably of the capital cities, to shoot random passersby before heading in to landmark buildings. Intelligence sources said that the attacks would have been coordinated for maximum impact and may have been aimed at financial institutions. However, the terror cells had not yet travelled to Europe and the targets were still unclear.

Pakistan has been the recipient of lavish US support. From 2001 to 2008 it received some $5.3 billion in US aid, including $3.1 billion in development and humanitarian aid, making it one of the top recipients of US aid funding, according to the 2009 Congressional Research Service report (pdf) on US-Pakistani relations. Pakistan also received in that time some $6.7 billion in military "reimbursements" from the US for its counter-terror efforts, the report said.

But although Pakistan is a nominal ally in the US-led war on Al Qaeda, anti-American sentiment runs strong among the Pakistani population, and "there exist widely held suspicions among foreign governments and independent analysts alike that Islamabad’s civilian government does not fully control the Army, that the Army does not fully control the intelligence agencies, and that the these intelligence agencies have lost their ability to rein in the very militant groups they helped to create," wrote the report's author, K. Alan Kronstadt.

In June 2008, 11 Pakistani Frontier Corps soldiers were killed in a US bombing raid, according to the report.

Task Force Viper in the news again

All I can say is the hit and run tactics that have been working for them in the past are coming to an END !! The days of coming into Afghanistan attacking and then running back to Pakistan are over. This is the news article that I got off the web and I thought I would post it

ISLAMABAD – NATO helicopters based in Afghanistan carried out at least two airstrikes in Pakistan that killed more than 50 militants after the insurgents attacked a small Afghan security outpost near the border, spokesmen said Monday.

NATO justified the strikes based on "the right of self-defense." Pakistan is sensitive about attacks on its territory, but U.S. officials have said they have an agreement that allows aircraft to cross a few miles into Pakistani airspace if they are in hot pursuit of a target.

The first strike took place Saturday after insurgents based in Pakistan attacked an Afghan outpost in Khost province, which is located right across the border from Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal area, said U.S. Capt. Ryan Donald, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

"The ISAF helicopters did cross into Pakistan territory to engage the insurgents," said Donald. "ISAF maintains the right to self-defense, and that's why they crossed the Pakistan border."

The strike killed 49 militants, said U.S. Maj. Michael Johnson, another ISAF spokesman.

The second attack occurred when helicopters returned to the border area and were attacked by insurgents based in Pakistan, said Donald.

"The helicopters returned to the scene and they received direct small arms fire and, once again operating in self-defense, they engaged the insurgents," said Donald.

The strike killed at least four militants, said Johnson.

The tribal area where the strikes took place is largely controlled by militants who regularly carry out attacks against NATO troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. rarely uses manned aircraft to carry out strikes in North Waziristan and instead relies on drone attacks that American officials refuse to acknowledge publicly.

Pakistani intelligence officials said two NATO helicopters carried out a third strike inside Pakistani territory on Monday morning, killing five militants and wounding nine others.

The strike occurred in the village of Mata Sanger in the Kurram tribal area, which is directly across the border from the Afghan provinces of Paktia and Nangarhar, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Donald, the NATO spokesman, said officials were still investigating and could not confirm or deny reports of the attack in Kurram.

The Pakistani military could not be reached to comment on the NATO attacks.

I am down to just over 40 days and I know that we still have so much to do but I find myself thinking about what is going on at home and I am getting pretty excited to be part of it all. Marie and the kids are doing well and I am looking forward to getting home just in time for the major holidays. I think we will be planning a trip to Cincinnati this fall I am not sure when but I know that it will have to be at a time when the kids are out of school.

They are telling us that it may be a while before we get aircraft once we get home and as for taking time off I think it will be pretty easy to get some time to reset. I have over 60 days on the books and we are being told that we will get 10 days or so when we get home after all the mandatory reintegration training. Time will tell and I am sure it will all work out I am just looking forward to being at home with my family. I have to get back to the office so I need to cut this short but I will write soon till then, night all

Some Pictures

My Front Seater Jude came to America when he was 15, and is more American than a lot of people I know

Me standing next to my arch enemy the MI-24

Another Front Seater, Alexa and I were waiting for our wingman to get their aircraft fixed, she was trying to stay cool

What can I say it was a cool sunset, alright I may have tweaked it a little

It's been too long

Well the elections are over and we will soon find out how they went for the Afghan People. I hope that the election results are good and the people here can have a little more faith in their country. As for me and my part in this whole process I would just like to say that Task Force Viper has once again made a significant difference in Afghanistan. We reduced the problems experienced during the last election by over 50 percent and for that I feel pretty good. Any loss of life is unfortunate but hurting people for coming out to try and make a difference in how their country is to progress is so disheartening. The Taliban are so ruthless in what they will do to stop the democratic process is breaks my heart. I was glad that we were here to help and I hope that this Country will continue to grow and someday become a place of peace where one could actually come to visit. But for now that is just not possible and as much as most of these people would love for that to be the case it just isn’t so, some day.

So I am starting to pack up some of my stuff and get ready to ship things home, can you say hell yea!! All I know is we have less than eight week to go and now is the time that we all need to stay focused and keep our wits about us. I will be flying less in the next three to four weeks than I have since I have been here but once our replacements get here I will be extremely busy getting them ready to take over on the fight. We have three IP’s here and we will have to get them all up as quick as we can. This will involve local orientations and environmental flights for every aviator. And once these flights are done we will let some of our PIC’s take them out for their FMQ “Fully Mission Qualified” flights. And then it will be time for me and all my friends to sit back and observe and monitor. I will hopefully not be on the flight schedule the last week or so that I am in Country but you never know. It’s hard to believe that this tour is almost over I spent the last week writing my portion of a paper for a Unit Award that is awarded to one Unit a year and we have a great chance of getting it. Time will tell, I was never much for writing especially capturing what went right and glossing over what went wrong but as a Task Force we have done some amazing things and I am pretty proud to be part of all of it. I will never forget any of these people and I will never forget this place, I just hope that when it goes down in the history books we are seen for doing more good than bad.

So life back in the states let’s see, ice cream whenever I want it, everywhere I walk will be on hard surface with plenty of light, no more turning an ankle on the gravel that covers our entire FOB walking around in the dark. I can wear shorts and a T-shirt and not be covered head to toe in uniform. I will be able to go out and eat what I want or I can make what I want it’s not going to be luck of the draw in the chow hall anymore. I look forward to sitting at my desk in my room and having Shirley or Elli bring me a plate of warm cookies and a cold glass of real milk, and this list is so crazy long that I will just stop right here. Life is tough and we have a lot of things that need a little attention in our own Country but we must remember that our Country is the best Country in the world. I find myself tearing up these days every time I hear our national anthem and I know it’s because I finally think I understand what it’s all about. There is not much that I would not do for my Country, but the cool thing is that I truly think that’s how most people feel about our Country and that is just awesome.

I flew 5 hours the other day the night before the elections and we were pretty busy we had two engagements which are what it is all about for us here and I am ok with that. But the thing that made me sad is what they were trying to do. The Taliban were trying to set explosives in and around polling sites to harm innocent people and for the life of me I just can’t understand how someone could be in the mindset that hurting innocent people is ok. During my entire time here in Afghanistan in every engagement I have been involved in. I always had to tell myself that my actions were just and that it was them or me but to go out and place explosives where innocent people will go who are only trying to better their Country through a vote I feel in my heart is inexcusable. Well like I said earlier in this post we made a huge difference in the election and I hope that Afghanistan is the better for it. I am sorry that I have not posted for some time its just been pretty hectic with all that is going on over here. Till next time I post know that I am doing well and that my head continues to swivel from side to side and I refuse to become complacent, night all

September 11 2010

September 11 2010, I was not on the flight schedule today but the schedule was full. We had many extra flights on the schedule for saturation. It is about 1830 and I just got back from our HHC 1-3 cook out it was nice to have a grill out and to unwind a bit. I am also off tomorrow and I plan on doing nothing at all for the entire day, nothing. This day is almost over and I am glad that we have received no attacks there has been much rumor that something bad will happen today and I am glad that it has not been the case.

I am flying nights now and I am having a pretty good time of it, the mission sets are a little slower and as always it’s hard to shoot at what you can’t see in the night. We try to circulate the battlefield as best we can checking in with as many players as we can on a tank of gas. Sometimes when we check in we are asked to look at POO sites and anything else that is out of the ordinary.

Less than 60 days to go and I feel that the time is passing pretty quickly. We will start to see new faces in about 30 days and once we get them trained for the mission here I will find myself on the schedule less and less. Not that I don’t want to fly it’s just that I am ready to change out with the new unit and get back to the house. I look forward to getting back to my life with Marie and the kids, we have so much to look forward to and I can’t wait to get back to it.

I found out today that some of the videos from our FOB attack have been requested from many parties in the states whose names will go unsaid. I also found out today that everyone who was involved in the actions that morning are going to be recognized and awarded for their actions that morning. It is kind of cool that we will be recognized for what we did that morning but it really doesn’t matter to any of us, we all did what we did because we knew we had to for the safety of our FOB. I just remember looking at myself in my mirror the morning of the attack and for whatever reason thinking of the line from the movie Black Hawk Down “It’s what you do right now that makes a difference” so I put on my helmet and charged my M9 and out the door I went and within thirty minutes I was air borne taking care of business. As I read this it sounds pretty silly even to me but that was what went through my mind that morning and I will never forget any of it. 60 more days, and I will be out of here, night all

Back in the Groove

Well it seems as if the time is really starting to pass quickly now that we are in September. Our FOB is back to normal after the Taliban failed attempt to overrun us. We received an e-mail from General Petreaus congratulating us on our swift reaction to the attack on our FOB. I know that the attack that we had will probably be the last real attack on our FOB for some time. I am so glad that no one was seriously hurt and that life is back to normal or as close to normal as it can get living on a forward Operating base in Afghanistan. Only two more months to go and in less than a month we will start to see our replacements show up so we can get them trained up and mission capable.

Overall our moral here is great and we are all definitely keeping our heads in the game for the final stretch. I know that I personally try to be extra conservative when it comes to last minute mission changes, as an AMC “air mission commander” I way all my decisions based on what I know right should look like. I say it a couple of time a week that we are too close to going home to do something stupid and hasty we must all use tactical patients and make good decisions especially when it comes to shooting.

As much as I want to be home there are some things that I all ready know that I will miss about this place. The free food and laundry service are a couple but mostly it will be the people, and how we interact here in this environment. Living side by side one another and doing what it is that we do here I know will stay with me for many years. I have never trusted anyone with as much responsibility for my well being as I have entrusted the other pilots that I fly with here. And I know they all feel the same way as I do. I will remember this year in Afghanistan for the rest of my life but not because of what I did here but because of the people I had the pleasure of working with and the friendships that I have made. Plus I know that we were able to make a difference and that we changed many lives both Afghani and American. I know that I have grown in so many ways and that I have a new respect for many things in my life that I never had before and for that I am greatfull.

Attack on our FOB

Ok, well first of all I have never posted headlines but today I thought it would be an easy way to explain most of what happened. And then I will try to tell the rest of the story, or as much as I can without going into too much detail.

The Washington Post

Insurgents disguised as American soldiers attacked two U.S. bases in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday morning and managed to breach the perimeter of one of them before being repelled, according to NATO and Afghan officials.

The assault began at about 4 a.m., when dozens of Taliban fighters, some wearing U.S. military uniforms, launched simultaneous attacks on Forward Operating Base Salerno, in Khost province, and nearby Forward Operating Base Chapman, where a suicide bomber killed seven CIA employees in December.

They fired mortars and rockets, along with grenades and guns, and two insurgents entered FOB Salerno by cutting a hole in a fence, NATO officials said. No Afghan or U.S. troops died in the assault, but four NATO troops and an Afghan policeman were wounded, and a 12-year-old Afghan boy was killed, according to Gen. Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai, the police chief in Khost.

The response to the attack was swift and deadly. Afghan security forces, along with U.S. troops, killed about 15 insurgents at FOB Salerno and six more at FOB Chapman, while three others were killed by an airstrike after they were spotted fleeing the scene of the attacks, NATO said.

The attacks appeared to have been orchestrated by the Haqqani network, one of the most lethal Taliban factions, led by Commander Sirajuddin Haqqani. His fighters operate primarily in eastern Afghanistan and have been responsible for violent attacks inside Kabul. NATO said a Haqqani network fighter named Mudasir was one of those killed in the assault on the bases.

Insurgents have laid siege to other heavily fortified U.S. bases this year, such as Kandahar Airfield and Bagram Air Base. But such attacks are rare, and insurgents generally fail to cause significant damage to the installations.

Ishaqzai, the police chief, said 48 insurgents took part in the assault on the two Khost bases, including several armed with suicide vests. NATO said it recovered a car bomb, seven suicide vests, two recoilless rifles and other unexploded munitions.

Fox News

Coalition forces conducted a precision air strike on a truck occupied by three Haqqani Network fighters after they attempted to attack Forward Operating Base Salerno in Khost province today.

Mudasir, a Haqqani Network facilitator for improvised explosive devices and suicide bombers, was killed in the strike along with two additional insurgents. Mudasir, who is also known as Qari Ishaq, had direct ties to Haqqani Network senior leadership based in Pakistan and was a teacher at a madrassa known to facilitate suicide bombers.

Sources tracked the vehicle from the vicinity of FOB Salerno and after verifying insurgent activity and ensuring no civilians were present, an air weapons team engaged the vehicle, which subsequently exploded. A follow-on ground force confirmed the three insurgents were killed in the engagement.

Afghan and coalition forces killed 13 Haqqani Network insurgents, four of which were wearing suicide vests, as they attempted to attack FOB Salerno early this morning. Afghan and coalition forces also detained five insurgents and destroyed a recoilless rifle at the scene. No Afghan or coalition forces were killed in the attack.

“The Haqqani Network and their fellow insurgents have failed to cause significant damage or casualties on any of their attempted attacks on coalition bases over the last several months,” said U.S. Army Col. Rafael Torres, International Security Assistance Force Joint Command Combined Joint Operations Center director. “These insurgents will be held responsible, which was evident in this strike.”

The Rest of the Story

Well for the most part it was a normal 04:00 morning except for the incoming rounds. Not too big of a deal until I heard the machine gun fire which means that we may have a problem. So I jumped out of bed and 35 minutes later I was in an aircraft circling the FOB looking for bad guys. This was probably their best assault on the FOB all year and I am sure it will be their last for a long time now that they are a little short on help. This was the first time since I have been here that I have even come close to thinking that we had a problem. As I was running to my aircraft this morning the amount of gunfire was crazy it seemed to be coming from all directions and I could tell that it was Russian made hardware making the noise. Our soldiers on our FOB did a great job repelling the insurgents and providing us cover to get to the aircrafts so we could launch and do our jobs. It was truly amazing how well rehearsed and deliberate everything played out. Like I said in 35 minutes Bob and I were in the air taking care of business. After about five hours in the air things died down and everything seemed to be under control. Bob and I only had to hit the FARP one time to rearm and refuel and the guys working in the FARP were so pumped up we were in and out in less than five minutes true professionals. So after all of this I am glad to report no friendlies were killed and only a few troops were injured and those were minor scrapes and bruises. And I wish I could go into more detail but I am afraid this is the best I can do. I am thankful to be serving with such true professionals the men and woman on this FOB rock and I am lucky to serve by their sides. I am pretty tired and I think I will crash hard tonight when my head finally hits the pillow, but I feel great, night all

Great Day

Had a great day, no one shooting at me, weather was nice, and most importantly, no one was hurt on my shift. Bob and I had a great flight I let him be lead and I followed him around Afghanistan for just under four hours today. We had a few planned missions and we responded to a few more that just sort of popped up. All and all it was a good day for me in Afghanistan.

Tomorrow I am not on the flight schedule however I have a ton of work in the office to catch up on. I have so many gun tapes to grade for my gunnery but I am really getting tired of using them. I almost wish that I could send everybody to the range with some training ammo and grade all the video of my guys shooting at blown up hulks. But unfortunately we do not have any training ammo on the FOB. So I just need to suck it up and get the job done.

I saw Sue’s post on face book about President Bush out in Texas welcoming the troops home and even though I could not watch the video I know how those Soldiers must have felt. I felt the same way when I was walking through Atlanta, times have changed and I think the Soldiers have the respect of the American people for what it is that we go through. Many might not agree with what is going on overseas but I think except for a few crazy groups that are out there they all have respect for the sacrifices that are being made by our Soldiers.

The weather today was just like home, extremely hot and humid. I was soaked before I was done with my pre flight at 0800. I would say that the temp reached high 90’s by mid day and stayed there till well after 1800. I am sure the Savannah weather is pretty similar and I am sure the kids are making good use of that pool. I look forward to swimming when I get home before we close it for the year. Or who knows maybe we will keep it open this winter and see how that works.

Well six days from tonight is a day that once again I will miss but it is a day that I will spend thinking about someone that means so much to me. I know that she will spend most of the day thinking about me too and I hope that she will always know how truly loved she is and how truly blessed I am to have her as my wife. All I can say is 1988 was a great year for me; I married my best friend and found my soul mate for life. And twenty two years later after all we have been through all the moves and all the separations she is still by my side, and for that I thank her from the bottom of my heart. Marie I thank you for your continued sacrifice to me and my career, for letting me chase my dreams and continue to do what I love. I could never do any of this without you, thanks for keeping the home fires burning.

And you all know how special the 27^th of August is. I look back at this date when Marie and I were planning our wedding and I had no idea that it was also the day that my Mom and Dad got married. As most of you all know I am not too quick with dates when it comes to birthdays and anniversaries even today let alone 23 years ago. I know that I miss a lot of important days in many of your lives and I just want to express to all of you how truly important all of you are to me. On that note I think I will get this posted before it gets too late, I hope all of you are happy and healthy and I will talk to all of you soon, night all