Blogs from Khost, East, Afghanistan, Asia

Asia » Afghanistan » East » Khost August 15th 2009

RIP The following are people I served with here in Afghanistan who were killed in action (go to the links for autobiographical info): ... read more

Narisa

Asia » Afghanistan » East » Khost May 25th 2009

hidden village

Will134

-87 days till Afghan national elections/127 days till I get home My last thunder mission was based in Narisa, a fairly new outpost that was under construction when we were there. The scenery was spectacular, but the terrain was unforgiving. We had vehicles get stuck on multiple occassions. We stayed for 2 weeks and headed back to Clark.... read more

Spera

Asia » Afghanistan » East » Khost April 28th 2009

King Kong

Will134

-114 days till Afghan national elections My next assignment was a 3 week mission at Spera Combat Outpost. It sits on top of a small mountain surrounded by a bunch of taller mountains along the Pakistan border. There isnt much available, we have to cook our own meals and the living conditions arent great, but most of the guys that get assigned there seem to like it. Two PBS reporters for Frontline came with us and covered the entire mission. It is scheduled to air in October. I was very busy, as I was seeing both ANA soldiers and locals brought up to our camp in need of treatment. We were attacked a few times and had an incident in which a troubled ANA soldier shot up some of his fellow soldiers. One of the ANA ... read more

Tere Zai

Asia » Afghanistan » East » Khost March 27th 2009

wood hut

Will134

-146 days till Afghan national elections The next thunder mission had us going to Tere Zai. We stayed for 10 days and patrolled different villages. We were attacked a few times both at the camp and while on the convoy, when an IED went off right behind our vehicle. ANA soldiers retaliated by getting out of their vehicles and shooting indiscriminately into a crowd of spectators. Two people were wounded as a result-a kid in his late teens or early twenties that I managed to stabilize, and a 5 year-old boy I couldnt get to in time. His father stood right next to me the entire time as I kept giving him CPR and didn't even realize it. Children can't afford to lose blood like adults can, and require different types and sizes of equipment to ... read more

Humanitarian Aid

Asia » Afghanistan » East » Khost March 10th 2009

Donations

Will134

The best part of my deployment here is our humanitarian aid missions. Each week, we take donations sent to us by U.S. citizens, and give them to locals in the area. We also give each person a physical exam and treatment if needed, and give them medications they ordinarily wouldn't be able to receive. Most of the patients are children, and they get excited about the smallest things that I have always taken for granted. Many of them were camera shy, and probably hadn't seen one before. I'm always left wondering what is going to happen to these people. And you will never see any of this on your local news.... read more

Camp Clark

Asia » Afghanistan » East » Khost February 4th 2009

Will134

-197 days till Afghan national elections I arrived here at Camp Clark on Christmas Eve. Clark is located in East Afghanistan beside Khost city. The Camp is small, but we have everything you really need, including a library, gymnasium, a basketball/volleyball court and a great chow hall. We have our own rooms and internet services. Right next to us is an ANA base, Camp Parsa. ... read more

Sabari

Asia » Afghanistan » East » Khost January 15th 2009

On patrol

Will134

-217 days till Afghan national elections Like many of the other camps in Afghanistan, Camp Clark is a mixture of different branches of service. Most of the people here stay on the camp, but a few of us have to leave to go on missions. I was usually tasked on what is called 'Thunder missions', which has a select few of us (usually 8-10 people) travel with Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers to remote towns looking for Taliban for 1-2 weeks at a time. Each mission, we consult with the local elders and try to get any information we can. It is purely on an informal friendly basis, and the goal is always to leave a positive impact on any of the locals that we meet. Our first thunder mission was to Sabari. Just getting there ... read more

Tot: 0.126s; Tpl: 0.005s; cc: 5; qc: 54; dbt: 0.0618s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb