Monday, December 7 - Pearl Harbor Day

I spend most of the day with First Sergeant Henry Ortega of Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), 402^nd Brigade Support Battalion (BSB), 5^th Brigade, 2^nd Infantry Division.

A quiet but strong and very intelligent leader, Ortega outlined for me what the BSB's mission is as it pertains to the shift in forces the military in Afghanistan is currently undertaking.

The realignment of forces - particularly in and around Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban - is part of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's plan of refocusing allied military, political and economic efforts away from sparsely people rural areas.

McChrystal is commander of all American forces in Afghanistan.

The effort involved in this shifting of forces is monumental.  As Ortega neatly summed it up, "We've got a lot of work to do."

It seems to me that in order for this refocusing of American and NATO efforts to be successful, the 402^nd will play a major role.

A small glimpse into that role occurred during a mission dubbed. I sat in on several briefings outlining the scope of the mission.

In a nutshell, the planned 96-hour mission was designed to bring assets back from Forward Operating Bases (or FOBs) Massoud and Mazin to FOB Lagman.

Both Massoud and Mazin are to the north of Kandahar Air Field, or KAF.  Lagman, which sits to the east-northeast, is closer and is a major marshalling point.  From there the assets would be deployed where needed.

FOB Lagman, a small, windblown piece of real estate, is a place that is home to some of the battalion's soldiers who work with Romanian soldiers.  There is also a British and Canadian presence as well.

As to the mission name, it has to do with a nasty section of road between FOB Massoud and FOB Mazin where the dirt road - named Route Chicken - is a magnet for IEDs, or improvised explosive devices.

As the briefing concluded, the soldiers were told to stage their equipment, ensure that they had plenty of food, water and gear, and to get a good night's sleep.

Tuesday, December 8 

I arrived early at the brigade's tactical operations center, or TOC, for a final briefing before the convoy headed out.

Command Sergeant Major Charlie Chavez made it clear that the 55 soldiers involved in the mission that they were the battalion's "heavy hitters," and could get the job done.

All 18 vehicles - Mine Resistant Ambushed Protected vehicles (or MRAPs), fuel trucks, wreckers and Load Handling Systems (or LHSs) in the convoy were loaded to the maximum with food, first aid equipment and ammunition.  Every solider was prepared to spend more than the planned 96 hours outside of the wire.

At 0830, the convoy headed out toward FOB Lagman.  The convoy would travel down Route 1, improved road.

At about noon, Lt. Col. Steve Allen, commander, 402^nd BSB, and I boarded a Blackhawk and headed for Lagman.  Forty minutes later, we landed - about 15 minutes ahead of the convoy.  

The convoy reached FOB Lagman without incident. Capt. Jay Quinn, A Company commander, and 1Lt. Meredith Morris, the company's executive officer, made sure the convoy was staged and readied for the next day's movement.

During the briefing - it was called "Operation Chicken Run II ISAF Synch" meeting - that followed, the size and scope of the mission became clearer.  Not only was the 402^nd  involved, but so too were three other units, to include an Afghan unit.

When the convoy departed in the morning, it would be comprised of 74 vehicles.  The 402^nd would bring up the rear.

ISAF stands for International Security Assistance Force.

Throughout the day, Allen had stood back and observed his soldiers at work.  He had every reason to expect the best.

"I built this team, and they are very good at what they do," he said.

A man with a mind that never seems at rest (to say nothing of a quarter of a century of military experience, Allen and I discussed the mission and the challenges it faced over supper at the FOB's small DFAC (dining facility).

While IEDs and small arms fire are threats to mission success, another challenge began to materialize out of the west.

Its name is Mother Nature.

Wednesday, December 9:

During the night the rain began to fall.

And fall.  And fall some more. 

Dawn came grey, windy and miserably cold. The rain was horizontal to the ground.

Before first light, Allen and I took a walk around the staging area to see how the soldiers were, as most of them had spent the night with their trucks.

The fine dust that covers everything in this part of the country was now a gooey and thick mud.  It stuck to everything.

As Allen talked to the soldiers who had remained with the vehicles throughout the night, I noted that morale was high.

It also amazed me that in the driving rain, several soldiers were zipped up and asleep in their sleeping bags on cots behind their vehicles.

"The sleep system we've got has come along way," commented Allen as we sloughed through the heavy, yellowish brown mud.

But the mud caused a major concern.

A significant part of the convoy's route - particularly the last part - would take it over unimproved road conditions and through a riverbed.

Rolling a giant, armored MRAP over in the middle of nowhere was not an option.  

The rain - along with some snow - had mixed with the fine, talcum powder-like dust that soldiers commonly refer to as "moon dust," had become as slick as ice.

"The mission will be cancelled," commented Allen as we stepped in out of the rain and wind.

It was.

Moreover, all aircraft flights into FOB Lagman were cancelled.

The rest of the day was spent checking on equipment and moving everyone into warm and dry quarters.  Soldiers wasted little time in finding the small MWR (where computer use meant a 90-minute wait) playing pool, reading or sleeping.

Some parts of the FOB flooded, and soldiers hustled to remove gear and personnel into dry quarters.

Tomorrow would decide the direction the mission would take.

Thursday, December 10

As light filled the eastern horizon, the sun soon followed.  With it came the hope that road conditions would improve and the mission would continue.

That hope did not pan out.

As I walked around the FOB, I noted that the mud was four to six inches deep.  The trucks in the convoy could probably negotiate these conditions, but moving along a riverbed would be a different story.

To verify this, a reconnaissance team belonging to 1^st Battalion, 4^th Infantry Regiment left FOB Lagman to check on road conditions.  The news was not good; the conditions through the riverbed area were not passable.

With the mission on hold, Allen and I caught a Chinook out of Lagman and returned to Kandahar Air Field (KAF).  Once on the ground I heard that the mission had been cancelled and that the convoy would return to KAF on the morrow.

"It's tough sometimes," said Ortega as he took me back to my quarters. "But we will get it done."