Thin the Line, the Mission's a Go

Imagine going to your favorite restaurant. One of the main reasons you love this restaurant so much is the endless baskets of delicious rolls being delivered to the table every so often. The taste combination of butter and roll melts in your mouth, and you are so happy that nothing can spoil the moment. When you grab for another roll, you realize you only have half a butter pat left for the entire thing. The waitress tells you they are out of butter for the time being, so you take that half pat and spread as far as it can go, right to the limits..right to every edge, even though it is very, very thin. Then you take a bite and realize...there's not enough butter...This isn't going to work.

We are the butter.

Not only is our group (of around 30 people) split 3 ways in this country, but here at Salerno we are tasked out so heavily that there isn't room to breathe. Most of the time three or four people are handling the workload of an entire armament platoon, which is that 30 I mentioned earlier. Not only do we maintain 10 aircraft, but we do guard duty, DART missions, run FARPs, do PHASE maintenance, and send people out to two other forward operating bases for a month at a time. Some soldiers have started going on leave, which thins our numbers even more. Nerves and stress are taking their toll on everyone; there is constant tension in the air. Aircraft have to fly, because others depend on them. We are only four months in, but I think some peoples' heads are about to pop off, and it will be expected.

I guess this is how it is..Like I said in a previous post, from the time we leave Ft. Campbell it's hardcore, hard and heavy, death and destruction, all day every day, no shit ARMY all the way, grit your teeth, pull your hair, in your face, slap your sister, livin' the dream in the SUCK.

The past three days we have had IEDs just outside of the FOB. Convoys have been getting ambushed, and the Apaches have been killing. The full moon was supposed to bring heavy attacks on the base, but no ordnance fell within the fences. Our aircraft were involved in a fight where a terrorist ended up losing his head; he also had an RPG in his hands that exploded and left him as nothing more than dust in the wind.

Today I was in, of all places, the latrine, when I heard a MEDEVAC crew during a bathroom chat session speaking about a man they had brought back that survived a barrage of 30mm from our aircraft. How he survived, I do not know. If he makes it through the night he'll be in for several days of interrogation and blindfolded fun, maybe. I find it funny that we shoot the enemy, and then our MEDEVAC helicopters pick them up if they survive and bring them back to our facilities for treatment. The Taliban would never do such things, but I guess the Geneva Conventions is the ultimate ruling in such a case.

In closing, I would like to say that the Soldier is the most adaptatious of all creatures. No matter the situation, a soldier will overcome. I wish people knew half the story.

Cheers.

-J