28Mar – Monday – yesterday I took three tuff boxes to the base Post Office to ship from Bagram Air Force Base to Camp Phoenix about 27miles on the other side of the mountain. It is a 45-minute drive by motor vehicle and a 10-minute flight by Helicopter. Camp Phoenix is just on the outskirts of Kabul, the Afghanistan capital city.
We cannot drive or ride in motor vehicles to Kabul. The road between Bagram and Kabul is dangerous; especially for Americans. Other contractors make the drive from time to time but ITT does not allow it.
There are three of us traveling. The office where I work has been transferred to Camp Phoenix. The rest of the team is already there. We are the last three to go. We have reservations for a STOL flight. STOL stands for Short Take Off and Landing. The reservation time to show up is 11:10 AM on Monday. However, the flight times are changed daily so no flight patterns are established. We are in a War Zone. At 2:00 am we can find out what time to show up. One of the three of us, called the Passenger Terminal at 2:00 and found out that there was a flight show time at 300am so he elected to standby by for this flight which did not leave until 800am. There was another flight with a 830 am Showtime and one with 1110 am Showtime.
I elected to standby for the 830 flight; however, I could not get on. But I had a back-up reservation for 1110 or so I thought. The 830 flight was canceled so all the passengers were moved to my flight and I was bumped off. The next show time was 1545.
The work in Afghanistan is fun, challenging, and satisfying. We are rebuilding an organization that was about 50% down in staff and kind of down in the dumps when I arrived in October. Since late October, 5 people quit. We have 8 new people coming in; new people with new enthusiasm; a very good team.
I have been back from vacation since March 14 and I am ready to go again. I have applied for a job in Kuwait with my company. In Kuwait I can have a more normal life. The company provides a modern apartment and a car. I would have a 45 minute commute twice a day from where I live to the base where I would work. When living on the bases, I have a 5 minute walk to work. However, in Kuwait I cannot live on the base but would live about a block from the beach. The compensation living in Kuwait is much less than living in a war zone because there is not hazard or danger pay in Kuwait. I would be paid more in Kuwait than the US with no living costs and no automobile costs.
At this time, I am waiting in the Passenger Terminal. I have two heavy bags, one about 25 pounds and one about 45 pounds plus the body amour and Kevlar helmet. I watch our bags as my traveling companion goes for lunch then she will do the same for me. I would walk over to the helicopter terminal to see if they have a fight but my travel buddy has too much stuff for rotary and she will not fly in a helicopter. A few years ago, she saw two helicopters crash in a wind storm just after takeoff killing 17 people so she will not fly in helicopter. Helicopter crashes are very rare. I have flown several times in Iraq and once in Afghanistan.
I am eager to go to Camp Phoenix. I have been restless on Bagram knowing my team is on Phoenix. Two new people showed up while I was on vacation and two more showed up this week while I was unable to leave Bagram. Without a team to work with, I have been less than productive. There are many new procedures to implement and the new people to train. We are “rebuilding the powerhouse’’ of what we had before. The office that I am in charge of is the Network Operations and Security Center for Afghanistan. We are building small team of 25 well qualified, highly skilled IT professions that help support 900 ITT personnel in Afghanistan who provide IT services to the thousands of soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and civilians that use the computer & communications systems and networks that we operate and maintain. The Army engineers, installs, operates, and maintains 3 communications and computer networks that are vital to their mission and activities.
As I look out the plane window flying over Afghanistan, I am not at the end of the world but I think I can see it from here.
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