The past two years...part 1

Alrighty, it has been quite some time since I have blogged about anything really...so I am long overdue!   I am writing this looking back at my life since I've been back from Afghanistan and seeing the the ups and downs that have been my life. This is going to be blunt and to the point. The only place to really start is late 2009, the months before my life changing deployment.

  Before the deployment, I was just like any other guy. I thought I knew where I was going in life, thought I knew it all, had some friends, had a job, etc. LIfe was decent. When I found out my unit was getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan. I was given a choice. To either stay state side and continue school, or deploy with the others. To me, this was a no-brainer, without thought I gladly said sign me up to go! I mean, this is what I have been training for, the opportunity of a lifetime, to visit a place where the culture and geography is vastly different and to "make a difference." I went home and told my parents the news and there were the expected emotions. Shortly after we packed up and went to Louisiana to train full time to get up to speed about the latest Tactics and procedures, spend a few weeks there, and then went home for christmas to say good bye to our family, friends, and employers.
 
   January 8th 2010, we left Vermont to our Pre Mob site in Indiana where we trained even longer and harder till we were sharp and ready to face whatever dangers and threats we might encounter. We trained till early March when we left Indiana without notice, in the dead of night. By this time, I had a girlfriend. We hit it off pretty well. We talked and texted whenever time allowed, the typical new relationship thing. I remember right before our planed took off texting her "I love you so much! I'll talk to you when I can :-(" I'm not sure if she ever got it...oh well. Our first refuel stop was in Leipzig(sp?) Germany. It was here that I got to call my girlfriend and parents to let them know that I was in Transit to Afghanistan. We weren't there for very long; just long enough to maybe use the phones, (if we were lucky.) and buy snacks or souvenirs or whatever we wanted. From there we flew to Kyrgyzstan, the "Gateway to Afghanistan" It was a beautiful place, the Tien Shan mountains were snow capped and put our mountains to shame, they were HUGE! We were only there for a day or two.  Other than the mountains, all I can remember was the chill in the air and the snow on the ground. It was pretty nippy. The next stop was our final destination...Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan....


TO BE CONTINUED...