D-Day minus One.
It all started when the order came down. We were to be leaving our normal area of operations (A.O.) and heading out towards Jalaalabad. The details were somewhat vaugue, which told me one thing; it was important and so important they couldnt risk even the most minor detail being leaked. All we knew was that we were going out and the general consensus was to expect to be out for possibly a month. Something else told me this was going to be big, but i really had no idea what was in store for us.
The convoy out to Jalaalabad went smoothly, amazingly enough. I get nervous whenever we travel outside of our A.O. because in this country it can be like visiting a different planet; you just never know what to expect.
It was however the first time in Afghanistan that i traveled on a paved road, albeit a short distance.
A few months before we left hawaii, out platoon got split up and distributed evenly amongst the companies in the battalion, which was needless to say, a bummer. I was excited about one thing though, once we got to JAF, we would meet up with some of the old platoon, train hard for a day, rest the next and head out the following day. Together. Its always good for morale whenever you see an old friend out here in this country. In some ways they are closer than family....They have been been with you since boot camp, and you have literally done everything together. Experienced the highs and lows of marine corps life together. no matter what you are going through, they are right there with you going through the exact same thing you are. And they can always make you laugh no matter the situation. Almost as if saying "yeah man, this sucks, but 10 years from now when were sitting down over a beer, we are going to remember this and just die laughing." Its therapuetic in a way.
You cant find friends like that in college. And little did i know that in the upcoming days, we would grow even closer through some extremely trying times that were awaiting us when the mission began. And this is where we left off. Duke Ellington on the iPod. Trying to relax the night before the big mission. I had no idea what was in store. None of us did.
......to be continued.
It all started when the order came down. We were to be leaving our normal area of operations (A.O.) and heading out towards Jalaalabad. The details were somewhat vaugue, which told me one thing; it was important and so important they couldnt risk even the most minor detail being leaked. All we knew was that we were going out and the general consensus was to expect to be out for possibly a month. Something else told me this was going to be big, but i really had no idea what was in store for us.
The convoy out to Jalaalabad went smoothly, amazingly enough. I get nervous whenever we travel outside of our A.O. because in this country it can be like visiting a different planet; you just never know what to expect.
It was however the first time in Afghanistan that i traveled on a paved road, albeit a short distance.
A few months before we left hawaii, out platoon got split up and distributed evenly amongst the companies in the battalion, which was needless to say, a bummer. I was excited about one thing though, once we got to JAF, we would meet up with some of the old platoon, train hard for a day, rest the next and head out the following day. Together. Its always good for morale whenever you see an old friend out here in this country. In some ways they are closer than family....They have been been with you since boot camp, and you have literally done everything together. Experienced the highs and lows of marine corps life together. no matter what you are going through, they are right there with you going through the exact same thing you are. And they can always make you laugh no matter the situation. Almost as if saying "yeah man, this sucks, but 10 years from now when were sitting down over a beer, we are going to remember this and just die laughing." Its therapuetic in a way.
You cant find friends like that in college. And little did i know that in the upcoming days, we would grow even closer through some extremely trying times that were awaiting us when the mission began. And this is where we left off. Duke Ellington on the iPod. Trying to relax the night before the big mission. I had no idea what was in store. None of us did.
......to be continued.
Anyway.
I'm glad you're back.