Advance Party to Kandahar - here at last!

Kandahar, Afghanistan

As the chief petty officer I was traveling with in our 3-man group said, "this isn't so 'advance' and it sure ain't a party."  Well said chief, but we are here, and I am not complaining.

About two days ago I was informed that I was selected to be part of a team to go to Kandahar ahead of our group of what is now about 130 people: our counterparts from Ft Dix, NJ had recently arrived at Camp Virginia, Kuwait and were doing their MRAP rollover training and admin check-in.  The three of us we sent ahead to get answers to some nagging questions such as who might have their orders changed to stay in Kandahar versus continuing on to a Forward Operating Base in western Afghanistan.  We've gotten many rumors about what might happen once we are in theater -- the Navy runs on diesel fuel, paper, and rumors the old saying goes.  We were sent to get these answers and also to serve as liaisons to the folks who are soon to arrive.

We departed for the Kuwait airport at 3am two days ago.  We were lucky to get on a C-17, which is like a smaller version of a 747, but for cargo.  The alternative was a prop-plane C-130 which is noisy and far more uncomfortable.  We flew with a couple of MRAPs and a HUMVEE to Qatar -- wrong direction by the way, but it's a middle eastern military hub.

Although to the best of my knowledge Qatar is a "friendly," we performed a tactical landing as we descended.  My understanding of a tactical landing is that the pilot performs a corkscrew type of maneuver as he or she lands, making the plane a more difficult target to acquire for AAA guns or missiles.  All I know is that we pulled several G-forces and the chains holding the 37000 lb MRAPs looked pretty stressed out as the MRAP "leaned" into the rolls.  No one "gruggled" as my daughters like to say (i.e. puked).

When we arrived we learned that we had to haul our 17 total (heavy!) bags through customs after leaving our weapons in an armory, then wait 18 hours for the next plane to Kandahar.

We spent the day wandering around the hot and dusty Qatar base, killing time.  As always, "it could be worse" - we weren't getting shot at, and it was steak night at the DFAC.  However, going with the regular non-advance party was looking like a better deal at this point.

We finally got aboard our next C-17, with another MRAP and some cargo.  It's loud and not especially comfortable in the C-17.  We were told that once we took off we could lie down on the floor and sleep, which we did.  We were all pretty tired by this point.

We arrived in Kandahar yesterday morning - got to see the craggy mountain ranges circling the base.  I am very happy to finally be in this town, a NATO wild, wild west from the looks of it yesterday.  Home at last (at least for now)!