Looking for something different to do, I volunteered to go out with 1^st Platoon Bear Troop on an overnight mission.

Our mission agenda was pretty straightforward.  We would stop by an Afghan Police Highway Checkpoint, conduct surveillance from an observation post, and conduct a short traffic control point, or TCP, inspection.

"We'll be out all night," quipped Capt. Rick Montcalm, Bear Troop's commander.

The weather didn't look like it would cooperate; pushed along by a growing wind, dark clouds were headed our way.

The highway checkpoint was crowded with police who, well, seemed to be standing around.  While Montcalm and his team met with the commander of the detachment, other soldiers marked off the boundaries of the compound.

"The plan is for us to come here and remodel this place," said Staff Sgt. David Beyl. 

"Permanent structures like showers and offices are the intent."

They would be a marked improvement as the police live in dilapidated brick and bamboo buildings.  Trash lies everywhere.

As to the showers, yes, that would be good.  Not one of the Afghan cops looked - or smelled - as though they had showered in weeks.

About an hour after leaving, we mounted up and headed for where we would set up an observation post, or OP.

As luck would have it, the rain - complete with wind and thunder - showed up.

Five soldiers and yours truly put on rain gear and night optical devices (NODs) in preparation for heading out and climbing a small mountain called Phase Line Athol.

Stepping of the ramp of the Stryker was like entering a different plane of reality.

Outside of the lime green vision in my left eye, everything else was pitch black.

Every so often the lightening would light up the area.

As we began our march to Athol, the deep mud and water pulled at my boots.

Once we got to the base of the mountain, we began our climb.  We climbed and stumbled up and over boulders the size of cars, squeezed through narrow cuts in the rock, splashed through small rivers caused by the rain and fought to keep our balance.

Think of climbing with one eye closed. With the other eye you see noting but a lime green environment that has little depth perception.

Now you know what using the NODs is like.

In about 30 minutes we found a saddle between two peaks and halted.  As Staff Sgt. Ben Marshall, Cpl. Ryan Brooks, Pvt. Jordan Knutson and Pfc. Charles Snyder set up the surveillance equipment and radios, Capt. Rick Montcalm and I kept an eye on our surroundings.

Warmed up by the climb up the small mountain, we soon began to chill as the wind and rain as it ripped around us.

A little over an hour later, we had gathered what information we needed.

"Time to head down," said Montcalm.

From that point on, it got interesting real fast.

Snyder, Knutson and Brook's NODs quit on them.  That meant they would come off the mountain without being able to see where they were walking.

Marshall, Montcalm and I used voice and touch to bring the other three soldiers down with us.

After sliding down one part and landing at Montcalm's feet, he turned and said to me, "Merry Christmas."

Then again, Montcalm is an altogether different kind of guy.

By the time we got to the bottom, we were covered in mud.

We sloughed back across the field, climbed back into our Strykers and tried to get some sleep.

One really doesn't sleep as much as one dozes on and off.  After all, six guys are not going to stretch out and catch a good night's sleep.  There is not enough room.

Despite the on and off sleep, Sunday's dawn - clear, cold and bright - came soon enough.

"Five days until Christmas," announced Spc. Jay Berry.

The rest of us elves were feeling none to cheery at that moment. 

We started the morning by pulling a couple of Afghan Border Patrol trucks out of the mud.

We then headed toward a well-known traffic control point administered by the Afghan authorities.

"We let them do the checks, we stand by and observe," said 1st Lt Patrick Kohler. 

Of interest were any motorcycles with saddlebags and vehicles that were riding low to the ground in the back.

The Afghan authorities conducted a couple of half-hearted searches on a couple of cars and seemed to think they had done a day's work.

We kept our eyes open for possible suicide bombers.

"We don't like to stay long at these places; we're a target for those guys," said Kohler.

Finished with our work at the TCP, we mounted up and headed back to FOB Blackhawk.

It was time to eat, clean up and catch up on sleep.