AfghaniDan

A young man's strange, erotic journey from Milan to Minsk...and apparently, back again.

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Location: Denver, Colorado, United States

The details of my life are quite inconsequential, really. Summers in Rangoon...luge lessons...

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Kicking off the Op...

Reaching back now to tell the tale of one's experiences through a big ol' operation will take some time, so here's one installment, dating back to the first half of April, before leaving the JAF.

Your journey begins at the airfields of eastern Afghanistan's forward bases, where helicopters fuel up and go through exhaustive maintenance...

And lucky Marines, soldiers and Afghans get to practice such things as lining up for imaginary helicopters, over and over again...

Op prep may entail leaders answering questions on camera for future TV use, if someone is willing to work the often-painful logistics of bringing coverage to a place like this. That's Pierre the cameraman and Greg the reporter, interviewing the boss...

Pierre Z-ski, the only Franco-Polish gypsy from Dublin I've ever met, leaves the lads of Alpha Company an Irish blessing after on their flag after interviewing a few during gear inspections.

Finally, on the helo and on the way...to another staging area, at least. Still I was excited to get an aerial view of another new region for me, especially when the alternative is many hours in a humvee...

Lush river valleys provided the backdrop on this transit, as the air got a little cooler and the mountains greener toward another "bad" (A-bad, as in Asadabad).

Some quick time with the Marines for the news crew before the night air assault would go. Unfortunately, the camera wasn't handy when I volunteered to be stuck with an IV in some final first aid prep, because the laughs of "We got a bleeder!" went up when my active blood flow put on a show. It made me proud to start off an op with blood already all over my cammies, at least...

6 Comments:

Blogger kbug said...

Hahaha....we've got a bleeder, eh? That happened the last time I gave blood.... :) I love the pictures you post and the stories you tell. Sadly, Afghanistan seems to be the forgotten war these days and takes a back seat to activities in Iraq, especially in the news. I really look forward to reading your post...and that from the mother of a soldier in Iraq. Thanks for keeping us informed....

May 3, 2006 at 6:53 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, the Guinness content in that blood is WAY BELOW normal Captain Dan levels. We will rectify that situation early and often upon your return ...

May 3, 2006 at 3:55 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hehe...maybe Polish beer would help?
Does Pierre understands bit of Polish?
Thank you for your update.

May 3, 2006 at 10:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Meet the Mets, Meet the Mets, step right up and greet the Mets...

Hell of a spring so far....

May 4, 2006 at 1:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just wanted to say that I check your website often for new stories, and really enjoy what you post. My brother is a Marine, and although he's not deployed right now it's really cool to see some of the places other Marines go. Thanks for posting, your site is really entertaining!

May 5, 2006 at 2:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Enjoying your posts. Thank-you for for taking us on this journey with you, figuratively speaking, to such an unimaginably distant and formidable destination. We do not hear much from Afghanistan in the regualr news. Will be watching for your next post with more great pictures! Stay safe.

May 6, 2006 at 10:45 AM  

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