I Went to War and a Garrison Broke Out
It's a quiet night so far, and I'm on a reverse cycle now (sleep during the day, work at night), so bear with me, I'm seeking to cure some of my boredom.

Here is the original article that I referred to in the previous post. This was written while I was in Afghanistan in 2003, and I had the opportunity to witness this phenomenon first-hand. This article is so true it's almost enough to make you cry.

The "firebase" I lived in when this article was written, Camp Blessing, was located in the heart of Indian Country. It came into existence only in October/November of the same year, when it was called Firebase Catamount. For the month or so before it was turned over to a Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA), Catamount was home to a battalion of soldiers from the US Army's 10th Mountain Division. They were subjected to attacks almost daily, ranging from 107mm rockets to IEDs and RPGs and small arms fire. Once they left, it was up to the ODA, plus a reinforced platoon of Marines (66 Marines total) and 120 locally-recruited Afghan Security Forces to secure the area. So we're talking 75-80 Americans and 120 Afghans. Mind you, the Afghans had no formal military training and relatively little experience. The next closest American outpost, Asadabad, was 20-30km away by air. It was about a 4-6 hour drive by HMMWV, over a narrow, treacherous road that was strewn with IEDs. The first time I attempted to hitch a ride with the ODA to A-bad, an IED blew the front end of my Humvee off. That was the last time we attempted that drive during daylight.



Most outposts in Afghanistan and Iraq are ringed by a type of barrier called "Hesco". Hesco barriers are a wire basket with a cloth liner that can be filled with dirt to create a wall. You've probably seen Hescos on the news without knowing what they are. Next time, look for a wall that has wire mesh and a grey cloth lining. That is a Hesco barrier. During my time there, Camp Blessing had Hesco on only two sides, and one side was not high enough to provide adequate protection from enemy fire from that direction. One of the houses occupied by the Marine platoon was dangerously exposed because of this. The Special Forces team leader submitted numerous requests for more Hesco to complete the perimeter around the camp, but could never get enough to adequately protect the camp.


A row of Hesco barriers at Camp Blessing

Now imagine how we felt when we returned to Bagram Airfield and saw that each unit that lived on the airfield had a Hesco perimeter around their little section of the base. Some had even stacked them two high, meaning they had a double row of Hesco on the bottom and a single row on top of that. Some of these mini-camps were not much smaller than Camp Blessing itself.


The only engineering asset we had at Camp Blessing, AFG

After we left Asadabad and Blessing, our company became responsible for securing the Airfield perimeter. The Marines stood watch in guard towers that were positioned around the base. One tower was set back from the perimeter wire by a good distance, and was not able to see the concertina wire fence that ran through their sector. The end result was that the locals stole the concertina wire that was supposed to prevent them from entering the base. The tower was not able to see the gap in the wire, so kids would frequently slip through the gap and throw rocks at the guard tower. We were only allowed to respond with non-lethal weapons, so the Marines usually engaged the kids with 12 gauge beanbag rounds or high-velocity paintballs (you might laugh, but these things were pushing a lot more muzzle velocity than your standard commercial paintball gun, and the paintballs themselves were pretty nasty looking). It was usually pretty harmless, and I'm sure the kids considered it a game, but it wasn't lost on the company leadership that this situation presented the potential for very bad things to happen. We searched for ways to stop the kids from coming through, and were eventually successful, but the one thing we could never get was more concertina wire to plug the gap. So, during the two months we guarded the base, there was always a gap in the wire in this spot, and we had to find other ways to keep people out.


Afghan soldiers standing in formation at Camp Blessing

While all of this was going on, a new unit arrived on Bagram and set up their new camp, including a motor pool in an unoccupied gravel lot. What did they have surrounding their motor pool? A shiny, new triple-strand concertina wire fence. For those who don't know, triple-strand simply means that there are two rolls of concertina wire on the bottom, with another roll of wire on top. We couldn't even get a single strand to cover a gap that was obviously exploitable.

OK, I've been writing enough about this, I think my blood pressure is starting to spike. Mind you, those are two extremely small examples of some of the garrison-mindset stupidity that goes on in Iraq and Afghanistan. People wonder how I can enjoy life so much in a place like Camp Blessing or OK Corral, well now you can get a glimpse of why I hate places like Al Asad and Bagram.

Oh yeah, Bagram is a saluting base, meaning you have to salute superior officers on the base. I guess somebody needed a salute in the morning to feel good about himself.  ¶ Saturday, July 01, 2006