Notes from Afghanistan – June 30, 2007

June 30, 2007

This past week sucked!  I could stop here and that one phrase would be more than enough to describe the events of the last 7 days.  Selfishly, though, I feel a need to drag each of you through my ordeal.

First of all, Mother Nature needs a stern talking to.  She sent us scorching sun, tornado like winds, and mud coloured down pours!  For a laugh, she’d sometimes throw it all at us at once.

To make matters worse, Tim and I spent most of the week at a forward operating base in Ma’sum Ghar (MSG).  A FOB is a stepping off point for battle group soldiers so they’re closer to the action.  For reporters, during apocalyptic type weather, it’s just hell.

The media tent, at MSG, is the only place not equipped with air conditioning.  That, of course, means it’s hot all day.  At night, just as the winds begin to blow through the tent to give us a bit of a break from the heat, we have to close all the flaps for security.  After dark, there is a complete white light ban so the Taliban can’t target us.  I fully support the safety concerns but, as a result, our hermetically sealed tent heated up like a sauna.

The only break from the stifling heat was when our tent leaked during the 3 days of torrential rain.  Murphy’s Law dictates that the military grade tent would have 1 pin head sized hole just above my head.  The hole was too small to warrant repair but big enough to drench me, thoroughly, by the time I woke up each morning. 

Outside, our once dry and dusty camp became a landscape of muddy rivers and swimming hole sized puddles.  Soldiers scrambled to stay dry since most had left their rain gear back at main base.  No one thought it was supposed to rain, at all, during the summer season.  In a strange twist of luck, I actually remembered my rain coat.  Any other time, my fellow camp mates would ridicule me for over packing.  This time, though, people applauded my preparedness.  I think they were just being nice, though, because they all wanted to borrow my jacket

As you can imagine, the weather did not just play havoc with life at the FOB.  It also affected the various operations the soldiers, and journalists, were waiting to head out on.  The weather, though, didn’t stop the Taliban from continuing its operations against us.  On Thursday night, as my fellow journalists were mocking me after finding out my lovely wife bought a 4 month old Shitzu named Willow Lily Caramel, we were jolted back to serious reality when a rocket exploded outside.

I’ve now been through many rocket attacks, but this is the first one where I felt a little uneasy.  First, I knew this rocket landed a lot closer than previous attacks.  Secondly, Canadian soldiers returned fire immediately.  This is surprising because the Taliban is usually long gone by the time the rockets are launched.  They normally use various rudimentary remote detonation devices, which is why the attacks are fairly inaccurate.

This night, though, 5 enemy rebels were spotted just outside the wire.  We put on our flack gear and waited inside a nearby bunker for about an hour as soldiers fired back and several quick reaction force convoys were dispatched.  We were told our guys believed they shot one Taliban fighter but were never able to catch up to detain anyone.

By Friday, the weather had cleared enough for us to finally head out on a short patrol.  We hooked up with India Company and went for a quick ride, just north of MSG.  The heavy rains caused the Arghandab River to swell and wash away a key link for the coalition.  India Company provided security while Engineers repaired the access road.  We were supposed to be relieved after 2 hours but, like everything else this week, things didn’t work out that way.

Just as our 2 hour tour of duty was supposed to end, the engineers called for our commanding officer.  When we got out we watched as the engineers pointed across the river to a small black object.  It turns out the rain, which washed the road away, also washed away the rocks hiding an anti tank mine that was recently placed there by insurgents.  We weren’t going anywhere.

We sat there for another 1 waiting for the explosives team.  When they arrived they slowly drove their vehicle across the raging river and carefully parked in front of the road.  They gently lowered the back hatch of their LAV so they didn’t set off any further mines or IED’s (improvised explosive device).  One engineer crouched close to the mine to determine what to do.  They decided to blow it up in place. 

The boys in the back of the LAV were excited to stick around and see the explosion.  They would be disappointed, though.  Our replacements were on the way so we had to pack up and head back to the FOB.  The engineers detonated the mine just as we arrived back at base.  The explosion was so big I could feel the concussion from across the distance.  I can only imagine what it would have felt like if we were still right beside it.

We left that night to head back to KAF.  Our convoy was scheduled to arrive at 9:30pm.  Go figure, we didn’t leave until 4am.  After another 2 hour ride on the most uncomfortable seat imaginable, we arrived at main base around 6am. 

I’ll try and sum up the rest, since this note has gotten exceptionally long.  Our tent smelled of mildew, my laundry had been lost and we were told the new food supplier for the base wasn’t going to be ready in time so we’d likely have to be eating military rations for a week.  ?#&@$%! Excellent!!

The good news is the week is over.  Things could have definitely been worse and they can definitely get better.  This week is already looking up.  Today is Canada Day… a day to celebrate the Country these fine soldiers are here representing and, almost as important, a day where every Canadian on base gets two ice cold beers to help celebrate with.

Francis – HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!