Centurion Faith!
Prev Next Vol X - November 5, 2009 - FOB SHARANA, AFGHANISTAN
A Mississippi National Guard Soldier dressed up as Extension Orders... Scary!!!
When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying,
"Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully." He said to him, "I
will come and cure him." The centurion said in reply, "Lord, I am not worthy to have
you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am
a man subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he
goes; and to another, 'Come here,' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he
does it." When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, "Amen,
I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.
(Matthew 8:5-10)
I can tell weʼre getting a little stir crazy when we start seeing really funny and strange things back at our home base... like costume parties and gator parades! With halloween coming up some of our guys decided to celebrate by challenging the guys from other units to come up with better costumes for themselves and their gators (little 4 wheel drive carts that we use all over the base). The idea just took off from there... I couldnʼt help but laugh at what some people were able to come up with, pretty resourceful considering Walmart and Home Depot are not exactly right around the corner. I think the best costume was a guy that dressed up as extension orders. Really funny when you consider that his unit is passing through Sharana as they are heading home. The dreaded "E word" is truly terrifying for anyone whoʼs that close to seeing home again. The best gator would have to be the engineerʼs spider. The eyes lit up and the legs actually move! Really cool, but again a sign that they have way too much time on their hands...
The convoy prepping to move out...
There are a few times when I look back and can only stare in awe of the things that Iʼve been able to do and see over here. These last few days have been full of those experiences. Last week I endured a 14 hour convoy to two remote FOBs in the KG Pass (notoriously difficult to traverse and sometimes dangerous). It was a very long day traveling only 45 miles total. You can tell how bad the roads are just by doing the math: 14 hours to cover 45 miles. Ugh! There were a couple of times in the trip where I had to wonder if we were still upright or just rolling down the hill. We all spent most the time day getting tossed around like rag dolls and trying to keep our gear in place. It was a great day, although I was sore and bruised and battered for 3 days as a result. As I have said before, the MRAP is a great truck and it saves countless lives. But riding in one all day is also one of the most uncomfortable and painful experiences life can offer. You may have read about the new MRAP ATVs arriving here this month. They are designed with the terrain of Afghanistan in mind. The MRAPs are big, bulky, and top heavy, not the kind of truck you want to take on mountain roads that are little more than goat paths. The new MRAP ATV is lighter, more maneuverable, and still resistant to IEDs and mines. We havenʼt seen any yet, although we know they are on the way. Iʼm hopeful that they will be a little more bearable on these long trips, and that they didnʼt sacrifice survivability when they cut down on the bulk of the big-boy version.
Locals watch as we roll by
Last Sunday (the 25th) I had the pleasure of celebrating mass with two Polish priests who are transferring in and out of theater. Fr. Miguel is heading home after 12 months in the Ghazni province, and Fr. Stephen is heading to take his place. They both happened to land on Sharana for the weekend, and so exchanged notes and offered to concelebrate mass on Sunday. It was a great celebration, alternating between English and Polish, and a chapel filled with soldiers from both armies. One of the great blessings and strengths of the Catholic Mass is itʼs universality. Although I couldnʼt understand a word of Polish, and many of the soldiers couldnʼt understand a lick of English, we all could celebrate together and understand exactly what was happening and where we were in the celebration. Itʼs an awesome display of the universal church at work. By that I mean how else could you take folks from two cultures separated by 8,000 miles and fashion a temporary home through simple ritual and celebration? Not many other places or traditions allow for this, I think. Although from a theological sense, our temporary home is here, this world, this life. Our true home, our intended home, is heaven... united with God our Father. We catch a glimpse of that home in the liturgy, especially as a diverse church gathers around a common table and shares the same loaf of bread and drinks deeply from the same cup of salvation...
On Tuesday (the 27th) I went on an LCLA (Low Cost Low Altitude) mission to resupply water to a remote FOB. This was definitely one of those "You get paid for this?" experiences. Think of the movie "Air America." Itʼs basically an air drop, we rig parachutes onto 700 lb. pallets of water, open the rear door and kick em out... What could possibly go wrong?!? Thankfully the mission went off without a hitch, a perfect drop for both planes. Actually I was kind of disappointed with the mission, it was over way too quickly. The ramp opened, we positioned ourselves and waited for the green light. When it hit the pilot started to climb, the rigger cut the strap holding everything in place, and suddenly the three pallets of water were gone! What was really impressive was that the pallets landed right on target, maybe 30 yards at most from the smoke canister, not bad considering all the variables that we have to take into consideration.
Chief VanWierden observing the pallets hit on target.
The pallets flying out the back, on their way to resupply our troops
KKC DFAC, and motor pool tool shed...
Anyone who has been in the Army for more than a couple of weeks has learned that flexibility is key to success since so much can change in an instant. This relates to little details and big over-reaching missions. One of the changes that weʼve had to incorporate into our ministry are new locations where we are basing our troops. Weʼve closed two remote bases, and opened up two others: Rushmore and Khyar Kot Castle. Rushmore is a nice place, a great little community with a good amount of guys that attend church. Their First Sergeant (1SG) is a character, funny, gregarious, totally dedicated to his guys, and a devout Catholic who is always at mass. He keeps a statue of St Rita in a corner of the TOC (Tactical Operations Center, the nerve-center of the base). Every-time someone curses they have to put a dollar in her jar, itʼs supposed to help cut down on the vulgarity that is common in the Army. By the way, St. Rita is the patron saint of the impossible! As I said, 1SG is a character...
Humvees all lined up...
Khayr Kot Castle (KKC) is the other location that we are now supporting. The story that we were told is that this was an old death camp that the Russians and then the Taliban used. Apparently itʼs filled with ghosts! We didnʼt hear any chains rattling or spirits moaning, but thereʼs definitely digging and pounding going on as new construction is taking place. Guys are building their rooms and making the place theirs. Itʼs an frustrating time in any location when a bunch of new folks come in and start changing things around, and an exciting time as well as things start to take shape. About the only excitement there was when I got into a late night conversation with the KKC 1SG. It was well after my normal bedtime, I had stopped drinking water so I wouldnʼt have to get up in the middle of the night, and I was standing directly under a heat vent. Not a good combination... I was listening to 1SG making his point, then started thinking "My God why is it so hot all of a sudden?", then wondering "Why is the 1SGʼs room spinning?", and finally asking "Why am I on the floor?" According to 1SG, he was telling me how frustrating it is when little details are overlooked when I turned white, rolled my eyes back and did a perfect face plant right at his feet. He hauled me down to the medic station, they started an IV and once I started feeling better sent me to bed. 1SG was right, details... like drinking water... I was just trying to help illustrate his point.
The Hadjii strip mall at Gardez
Boxes, Boxes, Boxes
If you ainʼt CAV you ainʼt nothing!
Brothers with their Humanitarian Aid gifts,
and a father and daughter made very happy!
A new well at Zormat
Gator on display during the Sharana Halloween Parade.
Another gator on display during the Sharana Halloween Parade.
SGT Neal on R&R visiting Ft. Clatsop, barracks havenʼt changed much since then.
Pat and Kelly taking Jack out on his first Halloween. Yes, Jackʼs a red shirt. Hmmm.....
SGT Neal at OP-1, an Observation Post overlooking the Afghan/Pakistan border.
4 generations of Neals.
A local girl holding some sandals and a beanie baby she received from one of your care packages.
Once again, the final page of this newsletter is dedicated to all those that have sent stuff forward to us to be distributed to the troops. On a recent trip to Kushamond I ran into MAJ Southard (address below), the Civil Affairs guy in the region. Heʼs one of the folks who receives the school supplies and toys for the local children. He shared with me a recent mission at the end of Ramadan where they gave away a kicker box full of supplies, and the many tears shed in gratitude for the generosity. The end of Ramadan is like Christmas, when parents are expected to give their children gifts, and vice versa. The families here are so poor, with so little to give their kids. Thatʼs where we stepped in and played a little Santa Claus. We give what we receive to the Afghan police, who is turn hand it out to the families. Itʼs one of the ways we are trying to build up the trust and reputation of the local law enforcers. The police officers were swarmed by the kids, and you could tell they loved it!
Of course none of these great things would happen without you and your generosity. So thank you thank you thank you for making a difference in our Soldierʼs lives, and in the lives of the locals with whom we work.
Here are some good things for care packages (bold are great things!):
CH Jason Hesseling
HHC 725 BSB
4/25th BCT, FOB SHARANA
APO AE 09311
MAJ JD Southard
Civil Affairs - C Co, 501st PIR
4/25th BCT, FOB Kushamond
APO AE 09311