Guard Dog Six

I apologize, as it's been awhile since I've written. Recently I had a chance to step away from my usual job and have a go at guarding the base from intruders and the like for a week. Needless to say, it was an interesting experience.

The perimeter of our little FOB has ten towers and a main gate; it is the duty of the guards to man these towers and operate the gate in twelve hour shifts. There's also a duty that people can volunteer for called speed bump. The idea is to drive a Humvee outside of the wire, park it on a road and monitor everything and everyone heading towards the FOB. Sitting atop the Humvee is a beautiful swivel turret with a large Browning .50 cal machine gun mounted to it. This gun was fired at cement barriers; the titanium tips ripped through the concrete and cut the barrier in half like a hot knife through butter. Impressive. Speed bump was my favorite duty because we were the first line of defense. They started speed bump after the car bomb mentioned in my last entry went off, and that wasn't going to happen again. The .50 would stop anything dead in its tracks long before it got anywhere near our gates.

At first I wasn't too happy about drawing guard duty. I had already been up for 14 hours and did not want to do another 12. I was also pretty sick, so I hopped myself up on Vitamin C, gathered my body armor, helmet, weapon, and night vision goggles and went on my merry way to the towers.

When I reached the tower I was impressed at how high it stood above the countryside. I could see for miles. If the things that were going on here weren't so ugly, Afghanistan might actually be a beautiful land. The tower I was on the most had an M240B machine gun perched on a nice strong turret. The 7.62 rounds are the same shot from the enemy AK-47, only this one can get rid of them a lot quicker. My partner and I sat out on the balcony most of the time, looking like a bunch of hawks watching for prey through binoculars, and reporting anything suspicious on the radio back to base.

Writing about everything that happened out there would take a lot of time, which is a commodity I don't have a lot of right now. I think I'll just highlight some interesting occurrences:

A lot of the locals just go through their typical day of wondering around, herding sheep and goats, or farming rocks and dirt. Many of the children will come to the fence and demand PEPSI or water, or food and candy. When you refuse to give up the goods, they cuss you like the dirtiest sailor and curse the mothers, and even the grandmothers! At some point they even began to throw rocks and use slingshots. A quick draw of the rifle usually breaks up the gaggle and things go back to calm. I still need to get one of those slingshots.

It's normal to see local nationals carrying around AK-47s or other weapons. It's not normal if they point them in your general direction; if they start firing there's going to be a gunfight not unlike the OK Corral. We always win. Usually.

Night is probably the most interesting time, and when the most things happen. Metal is a precious item in Afghanistan, as anything made of metal can be sold for a profit. Some Afghanis are so hard up for cash I guess that they try to steal the barbed wire that accompanies the perimeter fence. Even though darkness is good cover, an efficient guard can catch them in the act with night vision goggles. The only time I fired my rifle during guard duty was when I caught two men stealing the wire from a low visibility area. I just happened to be looking in the right place at the right time. Of course I had to radio back to base for permission to fire, but the approval came quick. My intention was not to harm anyone, so I zipped two warning shots over their heads. I'm pretty sure they received the message loud and clear, as the bullets went closer to them then I initially intended. They stopped dead in their tracks, dropped the wire and ran for the hills like madmen. Mission accomplished.

Aside from all the gunfights happening in Khost and in the distance, the scariest thing about night time is the rockets. My last day/night of guard duty was a full moon, and it also happened to be the Afghani new year. The locals had been acting crazy all day, firing their rifles and standing on the roofs in their mud villages. Everyone figured that the darkness would bring about interesting events. Around 1030 pm towers began calling in flares from the distance, which usually happens at night with nothing to follow. All of the sudden I heard a swoosh, a loud BUZZ, and then BOOM! The explosion rocked the tower like a huge tree in a brisk wind. It hit about 500 meters out, which is far enough I suppose to keep from alerting the entire FOB, but there is no way the explosion went unnoticed by other personnel. After that, everything fell silent. Only one rocket thankfully, and poorly aimed. Happy New Year Afghanistan.

All in all, I learned a lot about the people, their resourcefulness, and that not all of them are evil. Some are just living their lives, raising their families, and probably hoping for the best, much like us here on FOB Salerno, minus the family part. I try not to hold everyone under a stereotypical view, and my recent duty made it a little easier to do so.

I hope everyone is doing well back home; I miss home greatly right now. I might be going on a mission soon, sometime in the coming days. Either myself or a buddy of mine, or both of us are headed off. It's supposedly something big, but I can't say much. Of course you know I'll write about it later if it ever comes to be. If not, old Afghanistan will produce something for me to blabber about. Take care everyone.

As a side note, I believe I've caught myself spelling Al Qaeda incorrectly. If so, I apologize, as incorrect spelling is a pet peeve. Maybe I've spelled peeve wrong. Who knows. Cheers!

-J