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rebel_gunman

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I finally decided to make one of these. Why not tell you guys how my day was? Unless it violates OPSEC. In which case I will go into "Black Out" in which I will not write anything about it until completely passed.

Sat. 11, 2012 hr. 1130

Today it's sort of a chill day, finally! After coming back from an escort mission late at night. There was a rocket attack early this morning, but did not hear the explosion, so it probably overshot the installation... so we just kept sleeping. How many more chill days are we gonna get with the Squadron leaving to the states soon and us being the last ones to leave, meaning we are going to pick up everyone else's slack till we are finally replaced. Meaning little to no downtime. I only woke up just to check some downloads... which had stopped as soon as I had put down the computer last night so I still have 12 hours of file download to go. But, as everyday for the past 10 months... we are always on stand by. Just waiting for the call to prep the Strykers, 240s, .50 cals and carbines, mount up and leave the wire...

Just hope ECP 5 is not closed.

EDIT: Forgot to mention one more thing... IT'S FREAKIN' RAINING IN THIS DAMNED PLACE AGAIN!!!

Picture_2_c.jpg

-End of entry.

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Glad to have some insight into your routine, Rebel. Here's hoping things eventually do get better and wind down over there! And rain is always a pain whenever you're stuck in it. >__<

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Sun. 12, 1012 hr. 1603

Another day, Another penny. It's funny how every time we are ready to leave the sun is out and it's nice and warm out. But as soon as we start rolling out, it gets cloudy, winds pick up, gets chilly and dust storms and rain are ready to hit us! But this time it was a recon mission we were doing, not a convoy security escort. It went down well. Nothing bad, but I think we hit a couple civilian vehicles on one of the narrow roads... maybe not. The RWS started having problems with the firing mechanism, so I had to fix it on the go. Successful. Just a bad conection between the celinoid and the cervos. A little spit and some twists did the job... as well as restarting the whole system. A Stryker with a .50 but no working RWS is pretty much just a big scary surveilance camera. I still preffer a manual manned open turret though. Yeah sure, you may get shot in the head, but at least malfuctions on the weapon system can be fixed immediately! Got back before chow though! Usually we are out for a whole day! All in all, today was a pretty good and easy day. Wish it was like that every single day... but with squadron the way they are... that is too much to ask. We are not doing a good job unless we are out all day being miserable. At least we beat the rain on the way back! The only small dark cloud in all the clear open skies, and it was following us! That's crazy. Good sights though. Great Afghan ingenuity! Playing chicken with our trucks, small trucks loaded to the skies with sacks, wood and metal, jingle trucks loaded with big boxes and 2 other trucks on top of those boxes (How in the hell they did that?! I don't have the slightest idea!) Motorcycles loaded with 7 passengers! Small tractors with cattle TIED in the back! And not to mention the kids whose national sport seems to be throwing rocks at passing convoys! Fun times.... fun times indeed.

-End of entry.

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Sounds like one helluva time over there, and not in the good way. I still find it insane that the country is incredibly destabalized yet none of your average citizens seem to care, 'cept for throwing rocks at convoys as you said. It could just be an assumption on my part though. :lol:

Glad you're still kickin' out there! ^_^

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Always Kicking! :-) And That pic is exactly what we encounter on the road almost every day! We are like "wow... really?" :/

Tue. 14, 2012 hr. 2112

Valentine's Day. Another early morning for another security escort mission. Wasn't too bad... except that simple little stuff is made hard every time we reach our destination. That's command at work: the top wants you to do things without the receiving end knowing anything about it, and we are to deal with the headache of the "how to..." And when they ask us "what the hell are you guys doing?!" I just say "I just work here." We got the job done, though. Sad day for me though. Been almost 3 years. As I put my helmet ready to take a short nap on the gunner's seat, a little woven sack fell off one of the pads in my helmet. I had completely forgoten that was there. Inside were the half of a medalion with half a heart (to which the other half was given to that special someone.) and a very weathered note nearly torn in half. You may have guessed what this was. There was music inside our stryker playing. I opened the note and read it.

"... ... ... ... I'll always love you."

It was a letter from my ex. She had "Dear John"ed me last deployment. I really tried to hold the tears back, but all in vain. The memories were too painful. And it didn't help that the song that was playing in the internal loud speaker was this one!

I still love her. But if she no longer was happy with me, I had to let go. I'm happier with her being happy than the pain I still feel. I don't know if that made any sense... but it does to me. I hope she's having a great life with her now husband.

Meanwhile, here in Afghanistan, it's starting to get warmer. But the nights remain bitter cold. We continue to carry on with the missions we are given, no matter how hard and dangerous (and retarded) they are. We got back about an hour ago. New record! Usually we get back latter. Tomorrow shouldn't be too bad of a day. It's general maintenance for the vehicle, equipment, weaponry and all essential systems. Hopefully we get to have the rest of the day off, but we should never hope for something so "heart-warming". Then again, I learned that lesson long ago. A lesson I had almost forgoten... and was reminded of today with the contents of the woven sack.

Happy Valentine's Day...

-End of Entry.

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Don't worry; I'm sure things will eventually die down enough over there to guarantee a return home for the troops. 'Till that day comes, however, here's hoping you stay safe out there and make the best of idiotic directions from Command!

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Don't worry; I'm sure things will eventually die down enough over there to guarantee a return home for the troops. 'Till that day comes, however, here's hoping you stay safe out there and make the best of idiotic directions from Command!

Almost there... and Idiotic is an understatement! :lol:

(Good thing they don't know about this place and what I write... I hope they don't... :nervous: )

Fri. 17th, Feb. 2012, 2220 hrs.

Awesome... Woke up this morning to see not the shyning sun, but instead the dark clouds pouring down on us. The whole day we were out it's been raining! And not just a light rain, but a heavy rain complete with cold weather... oh, and did I mentioned the hail? It felt as if someone was poking at my face with a toothpick the whole day! Took jingle trucks out to other FOBs out there. The roads were so slick, we lost one of the jingle trucks. No cargo though, otherwise we would be out there still waiting to get the cargo back to base. Remember me talking about stupid things the squadron wants us to do? Well, after 10 months of doing this, they still don't seem to understand that Jingle Trucks WILL NOT be granted access through the military ECP! No matter how much they whine about it. So, we were stuck out there in the rain waiting for someone to replace us in escorting the trucks into the base. The thermo camera on the RWS was useless due to the cold weather. Thermos = heat detector. It totally defeats the purpose when it's cold out there and the lens and the camera itself is cold. So all I saw through the screen was all white or all black. Good thing the insurgents don't like the cold nor the rain. It's still raining even as I'm typing this! I love the rain... when I'm indoors and warm. It could have been worse. We definitely had worse days than this one! I definitely think I may have a bit of PTSD. As we were entering the gate, the air guards in the back began to close some of the hatches to keep warm inside. When the hatches close they make a base loud noise, that to me it sounded like the explosion of the IEDs used in the area. I got so jumpy that I could literaly feel my heart beat on my throat and feel my pulse going crazy. So bad, my finger tips began to hurt a bit. Almost done with this place though. But it's the last months, days and weeks that are the bussiest! I just can't wait to be on that plane going back home. Damn this rain is getting louder!

-End of entry.

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How many mice/snakes/camel spiders have you gotten so far? I remember waking up to plenty of those critters.

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Plenty of close encouters with camel spiders (bastards creep me out!), Mice and snakes only through the thermos. I've held plenty of bunnies! :lol:

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Plenty of close encouters with camel spiders (bastards creep me out!), Mice and snakes only through the thermos. I've held plenty of bunnies! :lol:

I remember I was in a compound I would wake up to mice standing on me, snakes and such were always finding their way into my quarters, and camel spiders were doing all of the above. You would see 'em on the ceiling waiting to drop down on you or you would be watching a movie on your laptop or something only to find one climbing up your leg.

But at the end of the tour, they are just your friends really.

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One of the guys back when I was on a FOB showed up to the Aid Station with a swollen bleeding cheek. A camel spider was chewing on his face while the guy was asleep. Funny he didn't feel it! His roommate found him snoring while the thing was chewing away on his cheek!

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O_o Never smelled one.

Well let me tell you a little story.

I was in the compound it was dark out and I was watching a movie on my friends laptop, I was wearing new pants so that was enjoyable, and this one camel spider starts crawling up my leg. I didn't feel the sucker at first but then I saw this big ass spider on me so I did what any logical man would do: I smashed it with my hands. Made a bit of a mess it did, and I could smell the guts of this thing. It was pretty disgusting.

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I rather not see one that close and personal!

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Yeesh, and I scream like a thirteen-year-old girl when I find spiders a few centimeters across crawling around. :lol: And when you get back stateside you should get that potential PTSD checked out; that's certainly something that I'd pay some mind to. In theory, things are just like Ivan Pavlov's experiment with the dogs and bell; bell rings and the dogs salivate expecting food. In your case, that particular sound is associated with something that is all but enjoyable, and anything similar may be associated automatically.

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I'd never make it, then. Not with those kind of spiders doing the kinds of things you guys say they're doing. :-P

J/k I'm sure you get used to it..... *is not so sure*

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I'd never make it, then. Not with those kind of spiders doing the kinds of things you guys say they're doing. :-P

J/k I'm sure you get used to it..... *is not so sure*

You don't necessarily get used to it, but you do learn to tolerate it after several months.
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It's been 3 days and it's still raining!

At least the insurgency don't like to fight us in the rain.

memes_osama_bin_fuuuuu_memebase_28-s500x

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^ That's probably their expresion when their bombs fail.

Tues. 21st, Feb. 2012, 2000 hrs.

It was an OK day. Cold, but sunny. Same ol' day with the same ol' missions... except that we had to escort another element to recover a platoon that's been stuck in the mud for over 2 days. It's funny how the top completely disregards the advice of those in the field. "Don't send wreckers! It's too mudy and they will get stuck! Lets just wait until the area dries up a bit." The Top: "Send 4 wreckers and 2 M88 heavy recovery vehicles!" :hehe: Were have I heard that one before... Oh yeah!! 8 months ago! When a stryker got hit by an IED on a route so kindly named "KILLER!" It took 8 vehicles to recover that one! 2 got blown up when they got close to the wreck, 4 got stuck, 1 got it out... but as it was pulling it, it cought fire, and the last one recovered that one. Total time taken to recover... about 2 weeks. I was part of the initial, middle and final recovery. In that very same route, we lost the EOD vehicle we were escorting to a possible IED, only to find a real IED on the way there. Thank God we are no longer incharge of that area! Recovery of the stuck platoon was successful, but we were not there for that. Our mission was different. The freakin rock throwers were still the same. Same area, same direction, and probably same little kids! At least we took care of one of the areas though... by accident. In one particular area, kids like to run along the trailers we escort and steal what they can from them. On one of those ocasions, a kid tripped and fell under the trailer as it was in full motion. Kid was ok. Just got his foot split open. Our dock patched him up good and the kid refused to stick around till the elders showed up, so he left walking home. Ever since, no kids have been spoted in that area near the road! Lesson learned! I will miss some of the moments I've lived here and some others I hope to forget... but at least we are almost there.

Almost there...

-End of Entry.

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Are the upper-level commanders complete idiots? How in the hell do you send incredibly heavy vehicles just after a large amount of rainfall to recover another heavy vehicle? You'd think this stuff would be common sense, but what do I know about the military and its operations? :lol:

In any case, glad to see you're still surviving the danger [and mediocrity] out there, Rebel! ^_^

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No idea what influences their decisions, but it boggles the mind. It's not them that are in the field doing stuff... it's us. Then again, they get the heat from above if something goes wrong... or they just blame us.

I'll continue to hang on. Just a couple more busy weeks :D

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Wed. 22nd Feb, 2012, 1733 hrs.

Maintenance. Crewserves were easy. Vehicle... not so much. Had to drain the plugs in the bottom of the Stryker. Messy business. Draining the plugs is also known as the Stryker's period day. On one of the plugs, hydrolic fluid just shot out of the hole. I got covered in red hydrolic fluid. Good thing I had my wet weather gear. Got the heater replaced. Turns out the heater was burned out. That explained why it was so cold last mission! Tried to replace the comm. box on one of the air guard stations. It seems they gave us a bad comm box as well as a bad headset and cable... your tax money at work. Our platoon leadership had to deal with the usual "you got this" issues. Appearenlty paperwork shows that we have in our possesion several pieces of equipment that we don't have! "You got this radios, mounts, commo equipment, etc." We don't even know what half of the stuff in the receit was! But we had to empty out our conex (storage container) and verify... for the 87th time... yeah, we keep track of how many times we've been screwed over like this... At least I do. It seems that every time a piece of equipment appears on records, the first platoon they ask "do you know where this is?" they go, "We don't have that. They probably do." And they put that on our records. I don't know from where this stuff keeps appearing! But we always have to empty everything out of our conex and prove to some lieutenant that we do NOT have such item(s) in our possetion! ... but they always come back within 2 weeks, one month if we are lucky, with a different, or sometimes the same, piece(s) of equipment. They don't show you that on CoD! Almost home though!

Next coming game: CoD: P.O.G and FOBit Ops! :lol:

-End of Entry.

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