Mission to Gelan

If there's one thing that Afghan children are good at, it is mooching stuff off of American troops. On a recent mission to the district of Gelan I encountered this minature horde. They fleeced me for 10 packs of gum and a bag of pens. They then demanded chocolate and juice, of which I had none to give. Apparently this answer was not acceptable to them, so they countered with a demand of my earplugs and personal pen, both of which are easily visible on my body armor. I told them "no" and they brought their business elsewhere, specifically to my buddy LT James Bowen. They suggested a trade of the gum and pens I had given them for his rifle. After careful consideration, he told them "no deal" and we settled for this picture to conclude our negotiations.

Mission to Joghatu

Ahhh! I FINALLY got back to the base after a 22 hour mission to the village of Joghatu. (The mission should have only taken half as long). The mission itself went just fine, but on the return trip all hell broke loose. 5 km outside of the village one of our vehicles hit an IED, which nearly blew the entire front end off. We then had to call the base for assistance, as we had no way of towing the truck home with the vehicles we had left. 5 hours later the quick response force showed up. Normally it should have taken no longer than 1.5 hours to get to us. The delay was due to the fact that the Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit that accompanied our reinforcements found 5 other IEDs en route! It took all of that extra time to dispose of them. By the time they arrived on the scene it was already dark (and we were in a particularly bad area). After hooking up the damaged truck to the tow truck and setting off toward the base we were ambushed by the Taliban. A gunfight ensued, and another one of our trucks was disabled by an RPG. We called in for a little air support while we hooked up the 2nd truck to a tow truck, and a F-15 fighter jet escorted us the remainder of the way back home.

Cougs in Afghanistan

Even in Afghanistan Cougar nation is represented! Our Executive Officer, LT Col Ken Primus, is a WSU alum in addition to myself. How many UW fans are currently stationed at FOB Ghazni you ask (base population around 3000)? The answer: zero. These pictures were taken in hopes of having it shown on the Jumbotron at Qwest Field during the WSU-Hawaii game in September. If anyone's going, let me know if we were successful.