I am officially at my new place of duty, COP Honaker Miracle, in the infamous Pech Valley, where I’ll be taking over as the Fires Support Officer for Alpha Company “Abu” (a-boo), 1st Battalion, 327 Infantry Regiment “Above the Rest.” It’s amazing how the Lord continually weaves his mysterious way in my life. I reasonable did everything in my power to prevent switching to this job, and then when it finally happens, it turns out to be the best thing that could have happened to me. This COP is larger, has less people, is more well equipped and stocked, and farther from enemy fighting positions (so it gets attacked less, so perhaps a little safer). I have my own room, in an actual building made of concrete. I now work with multiple lieutenants who have similar personalities, and everyone gets along famously.

I’ve spent the last two days jumping between teacher and student. The LT I’m switching with, who was in my BOLC III class, has been giving me tips on the FSO job and getting me up to speed on the projects he handles. I’ve been briefing him on the platoon and battery life, as well as reteaching him gunnery skills. He is definitely getting the shorter end of the stick, but he can’t say he didn’t ask for it. I was the one willing to stay in place until after the deployment. I also feel I’m much more equipped to handle switching to an FSO than he is to switching to a PL role. Now I see the best thing for an artillery lieutenant is to start off at the battery before becoming an FSO.

There are a few downfalls that I’ll have to get used to. I am no longer the head honcho of the food chain. Especially in the infantry world, the platoon leader carries a lot of weight. At Fortress, I was the leader of our detached unit, so that carried even more weight. Now I’m part of the commander’s staff, with nothing more than a small section. Also, my cell phone doesn’t get reception up here (and I was planning on stocking up on minutes before coming here, didn’t get a chance and thought I’d be out of luck, and turns out the Lord guided my hand once again!). The only other thing is now I’ll also not have my own office, or computer access.

Monday was my first day going “outside the wire,” or leaving the confines of the combat outpost. Realistically it was nothing to write home about – the small patrol walked out the front gate, down the street less than a city block, and arrived at the district center. The squad consisted of myself and my counter part, the commander, and one team from one of the platoons as a security detail. None the less, I got to put on my battle rattle, walk out the gate.

Just walking out the gate was like taking my first steps out of prison into the free world. A literal translation would probably consider the outpost the free world and the war zone I walked into as the “jail,” but it didn’t feel that way to me. Finally I wasn’t looking at the local people over walls and through barbed wire. I was walking next to a field that was being harvested, with kids swinging on a blue and white swing set hiding in a shady grove. I was in an actual Afghan government building, not a mock site with method actors. After five months I was finally experiencing Afghanistan.

The intent of this venture was to meet with the Afghan official who runs the majority of the projects I will be overseeing.

Yesterday was my first real patrol. I tagged along with one of the platoons climbing up to one of our observation points. They had some business to conduct with the Afghan National Army (ANA) who man the post. I was going to get a nice lay of the land and start conditioning my legs for the rugged landscape (the Afghan adage is that when God was finished creating the world, he took all the extra rocks and put them in Afghanistan. Boy is that the case.)

There may be plenty of rocks, but the views are breathtaking. I think when you’re from a flat state, you develop an infatuation with mountains. Here is part of the valley we are challenged with protecting.

Soldiers of Alpha Company “ABU” maintaining security. The story goes that the company used to be “I” company with the mascot of Ibu. After it was reorganized to an Alpha company, they ported it to “Abu” and developed the mythical Abu monster: the head of a lion, body of a gorilla, tail of an alligator, with antlers and holding a pistol and a knife.

Yours truly, getting some fresh air. Also, this marks post #100! Three cheers for the next 100!

Popularity: 1% [?]