Edd in Afghanistan: Day One
Edd in Afghanistan: Day One
by David Benzion · 09/22/2009 7:35 am
LoneStarTimes.com is proud to bring you dispatches from KSEV morning-show host Edd Hendee, broadcasting live from Afghanistan.
This is your daily, one-stop shop for information–links to key resources and articles mentioned on-air, written dispatches from Edd via email, and pod-casts of each broadcast for your listening pleasure and personal download. (Be patient; audio will be posted “later that same day.)
UPDATE ON POD-CASTS
Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties beyond our control, pod-casts of today’s show cannot be provided; we are taking steps to overcome the problem for future shows; thanks for your understanding.
KEY LINKS
Just delivered, barely declassified report from Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal; this is the core strategic recommendation that’s been made to President Obama; read it for yourself–you owe it to our troops
Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan
EDD’S LATEST DISPATCH
Monday – September 21, 2009: The pilot of Kam Air made the announcement: “We will be in Afghanistan Airspace in 15 minutes…” With those words the mood shifted starkly on morning Kam Air flight from Dubai to Kabul. You don’t get on this flight without intending to land in this war torn region – but the official statement that Afghan airspace was minutes in front of us made every passenger look at their watches as if marking the time would prepare them for what was ahead.
This trip had taken months to plan – to embed with the US Marine Corps in the Hellmann Province (south central to southwest Afghanistan) – endless chains of emails, details, proposed itineraries and the constant disclaimer “things can and will change when you get in country”. It’s a privilege to embed as a radio journalist with the military in a war zone – and your schedule in that capacity is NOT a priority – you travel “Space-A” or space available. Journalists are non-essential, and their allocation of resources is necessarily a lower priority than the men and women who fight this war on terror. No one of character would have it any other way.
First leg of this trip was a 15 hour flight from Houston to Dubai on Air Emirates – a giant 777-200 “long range model”. That airplane can fly for 20 hours on one load of fuel – so we literally flew through one day as takeoff was Saturday night after dusk and we landed the next night in Dubai. Aside from a bit of light coming through the closed window shades of the cabin – I never saw the light of day on Sunday September 20. The plane flew east for 15 hours and lost 9 hours of time zones – hence 24 hours of flight effectively.
Dubai is a glistening jewel in the desert. Terminal 3 has just opened and it’s unmatched in elegance and apparent budget. The rich resources of oil have turned vast desert into a wonderland of architecture and unlimited opulence. Short night rest, shower, and change of clothes was all that was in store this night in Dubai as the wakeup call for Kam Air flight to Kabul was at 3:30am. The city was asleep as the cab slid through the deserted streets to the older terminal 2 for Kam Air – a reasonably dependable Afghani airline. The lineup of passengers was predictably native but intermingled were a number of European and American males – chiseled appearances along with short hair and professional demeanor described their jobs: military or private security a.k.a. Blackwater.
Kam Air flight turned sharply on approach to Kabul to reveal the rugged terrain below us – vast deserts and magnificent mountains combined. It reminded me of Big Bend National Park in far West Texas – only much more rugged and foreboding. An occasional tiny farm with irrigated crops seemed lost against the lifeless backdrop of the mountains. The pilot masterfully wove the approach around mountains which were higher in elevation than we were. Touchdown was not the usual relief after a long flight – the view out the window of older decaying Soviet helos and other strange aircraft brought the realization home: Afghanistan is a very different place. For whatever reason – the time zone difference for this country is 9 ½ hours ahead of Central Daylight Time. That’s right – 9 ½. A half hour time zone – another indication that Afghanistan would be unlike any other place I had ever been.
Taxi? Taxi? This was a problem – my contacts hastily set up to meet me at the airport never materialized. As the last passengers departed I made the decision my family had not warmed up to: I got in a taxi for the 15 minute ride to ISAF Headquarters with a local native driver….no other options remained. When you read the State Department warnings about unprotected travel – then get in a cab with an elderly man who speaks no English – well it’s Afghanistan. Minutes later we were moving through a sea of traffic including bikes, carts, trucks, cars, humvees, and pedestrians – all moving and weaving together without lanes or traffic controls. I didn’t even see a stop sign – not that I could have read it. That explains why Hertz wasn’t available at the airport I thought.
I wasn’t prepared to see them – my defensive visual scan froze on the first one I saw. A burka. A woman in a full burka – medium blue Another one. Still another after her. Three or four to a block. So much has never changed in Afghanistan – so much never will. Back to my defensive scan of the streets.
The 12 foot tall concrete blast resistant walls of the ISAF Hdqtrs were a welcome sight. Only a few days before a suicide bomber had rammed a car loaded with explosives into an Italian Army convoy – killing more than a dozen soldiers and even more civilians of all ages. It was the bloodiest suicide vehicle attack of the war on the Italians and a grim reminder of the dangers on the streets of Kabul. The safety of the walled compound was a welcome relief but it also was the beginning of the wait, wait, and wait longer part of this trip. After 3 hours I was credentialed as a journalist and later loaded into a secure transport back to the military side of the airport. Now a 6 hour wait for a C130 transport from Kabul to Bastion to meet my US Marine Corps hosts and get my final itinerary. Disclaimers repeated, space available, details subject to change – all the phrases came into play at the military terminal. My name wasn’t on the list for this flight – but a revised list would come out later. Meanwhile I’m on a waiting list for a different flight sometime tonight. That’s the deal on being an embedded journalist. But the honor of being with our men and women of any branch of service in a war zone is worth all of it. Look at the bright side I remind myself: I’m 9 ½ hours ahead of what I’d be doing in Houston! Time for the chow hall – looks like there’s space available there. Good to go.
Great news after dinner – I had a seat on a C130 headed out tonight to Khandahar and then on to Bastion (airfield adjacent to USMC Camp Leatherneck. The combined 2 leg 2 hour flight took 6 hours door to door. The C130 is a flying 18 wheeler – 4 massive turboprop engines and a HUGE interior space occupied by 32 passengers seated on nylon web seating followed by 3 huge pallets of supplies and baggage. I mean big big pallets. The unloading and reloading at Khandahar took over an hour which wasn’t bad – we watched everything from a 747 to an F16 taxi, take off, or be loaded by an endless army of ramp workers working without stopping. This was not a special night to them – just another night handling the immense cargo and personnel on the supply train to the front lines. At 3am I got a cup of hot tea and met my PAO at Leatherneck. 15 minutes later I quietly entered the “embed tent” of 2nd MEB using my red flashlight sparingly to keep from waking the other journalists. I crawled onto a mattress using a fleece for a pillow and got 4 hours of rest. It would be enough.
Note: Suggested reading: Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton. The extraordinary story of a band of U.S. Soldiers who rode to victory in Afghanistan. Newly released story tells how we got to Afghanistan and the battle that still has to be won. Great read – I’ve got the time now.
Tuesday September 22, 2009
Dawn’s early light over Camp Leatherneck revealed a sprawling tent city built on a foundation of gravel and dust. Heavy on the dust. Leatherneck was for all practical purposes a “virtual boom town” which had sprung up adjacent to an airfield. It was the “mothership” of Marine Operations in Helmand Province feeding bullets, beans, and Marines up to the front lines – the Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) where the war was. Tent structures and cargo containers defined the architecture of this base. We slept in a tent with 20 bunks, showered & brushed our teeth and shaved in another tent, and used the “head” (toilet) in still another. This sprawling complex hummed with generators, passing vehicles, and purposeful footsteps of its citizens on their way to the day’s task.
Plans change out here quickly so it came as no surprise that my helo ride out to a FOB was changed for a later flight tonight. My PAOs haven’t failed me yet so I thanked Staff Sgt. XXXX for the update. He’ll come get me tonight for the ride to the airfield. That means my day will be here at Camp Leatherneck. The tent is 20’ x 45’ approx so 900 sq ft. “cooled” by a 3 ton a/c unit humming away outside. By 11am the temp inside the tent is 90 with the a/c running. Outside? Over 100 and climbing. Yesterday in Kabul was warm but pleasant with a cooling breeze if you stayed in the shade. Kabul is at 9000+ ft altitude whereas Leatherneck is in the lower desert plains. The climate here is extreme in all seasons.
The supply line and military/stabilization mission for Afghanistan are parallel in many ways. Kabul is the trunk of the tree – home of the government and base operations for anything in Afghanistan. My flight last night from Kabul to Khandahar was like moving from the trunk of the tree out one of the main branches. The second flight from Khandahar to Bastion moved out to a strong branch connecting to the tiny branches at the end of the main limb. In this case – the FOBs and the units in touch with the Afghan people. As it is with the tree – the exchange of resources with the tips of the branch determine the health of the tree. So it will be with the war in Afghanistan. We’ll see the tips of the branches tonight – the FOBs and the Marines who are meeting the Afghanis.
http://lonestartimes.com/2009/09/22/...istan-day-one/
Ellie
