February 15, 2006

• Before I get to the real post, some of you may be experiencing some VD backlash.  Not to worry, this is for you:
   
  It's so true.

  
  

  Like I said in the last post, my Valentine's Day was consumed with a large task (more on that later), so I didn't notice the day.  However I did perform my normal VD task of providing things to my single, female friends who have no one.  It's something that I only do when I am also single.  This year, due to deployments and separations, I only had to provide for one woman.  The rest of you SHOULD have had someone doing something for you, and don't qualify for this offer.  Meanwhile, I got squat, but that's no different from any year that I'm single.

  
  

  I thought that I would be nowhere near an internet connection, but it's not as bad as expected.  Right now, I'm in the middle of nowhere, Afghanistan.  I mean more middle of nowhere than I was before.  The "base" that I'm on is small enough to throw a rock from one end to the other, and I can go from my room to the chow hall, bathroom, or weight room in less than 20 steps. 

  
  

  Today was rather interesting.  In order to resupply food and supplies, they use a C-130 and air drop the stuff, which means they push it out of the aircraft with a parachute.  Today I got to see that, and realize that the Air Force is retarded.  Not only did the plane come in perpendicular to the heading that it was supposed to take (imagine it should go north to south but instead came east to west), but it then dropped everything around 300 meters from where we told it to (marked with a bunch of highly visible methods, in broad daylight).  The SF out here was telling me that the last time, they dropped it over a hill somewhere.

  
  

  So we go to load up the stuff, and I notice there are all of these children around us, and I can't figure out where they came from.  The guy that came up here with me says "there's the town," and I have the sudden realization that I'm outside of the base.  So there I am, in civilian clothing, outside of the wire, getting food.  The kids are waiting around to take the wood and cardboard from the drop so they can burn it and use it.

  
  

  I forgot to mention that.  This is an SF base.  No uniforms.  No shaving.  No women (as in they are forbidden to come up here).  And the area that I'm in is basically the wild west.  The guy that I came up here with has been shot, I think twice.  So, why am I up here?  Well, it's time for an education in Army systems.

  
  

  When a soldier is killed in action, a fast-paced process begins.  First off, there is pretty much a commo shutdown at the places that there are people that knew him, which was my base for the beginning of the week.  This allows the next of kin/family to be notified in the proper way, rather than them hearing it through some rumor mill.  The Army then begins a Summary Court Martial for the soldier, and they appoint some people for specific tasks.  I have been appointed to inventory all of the soldier's personal effects for shipment back to his loved ones.  This task must be completed in 48 hours, and the effects sent back within 12 days.  My job is to go through EVERYTHING, inventory it, ensure that Army stuff goes back to the supply channel, that junk that could damage the stuff in shipment (like pens, lighters, toothpaste containers, etc) or is not of sentimental or monetary value is inventoried and destroyed, take any documents pertaining to military operations and inventory it before turning it over to the soldier's supervisor, and destroy anything that may cause the family added grief or embarrassment (porn, letters to a girlfriend when the soldier has a wife, etc).  Then I ensure that it gets to the Mortuary Affairs office for transport home.

  
  

  Aside from patrols, this is, in my opinion, the only important job that I have performed in Afghanistan.  Yes, I said it.  Everything else was BS.  Oh, and here is the stuff that you missed because of the commo blackout.  It's mostly designed to help the men have Valentine's next year.
  

  
  

  
  I love my lamp.

  
  

  Black 6, out.

  • 4:54 pm
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