FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHARANA, Afghanistan - The members of the combat logistics patrol of the Missouri Army National Guard's 203rd Engineer Battalion were used to this: gathering at their armored vehicles before dawn; checking equipment and radios to ensure functionality; inspecting their tractor-trailer loads to make sure they were secure and stable; packing enough gear for an extended mission.
After all, they have been loading and delivering supplies throughout their area of operation, navigating the rough terrain - and mean routes - of eastern Afghanistan since arriving in country at the end of October.
Combat veterans all, the Guardsmen - who are being augmented by members of Fifth Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery, 17th Fires Brigade from Ft. Lewis, Wash.,- they are also used to the ambivalence associated with their missions. Despite best laid plans, no one was really certain when it would be over, where the journey would take them, what sort of loads they would haul, and - perhaps most importantly - what dangers they would face.
"In this mission, you have to be flexible," noted the CLP (pronounced "clip") platoon leader First Lt. Kyle Atha.
That's not to say CLP missions are poorly planned, just that with so much needed by so many units so quickly at so many different locations, it's a mission that changes frequently, sometimes day-to-day or even hour by hour.
And while tractor-trailer rigs are a common sight along highways and interstates in the United States, they are also common on the bumpy, dusty, pot hole-filled - and IED booby trapped - roads of Afghanistan, because they are the primary means of transporting vital cargo between the forward operating bases dotting the country.
Only here, the going is much more treacherous. During a mission last November, this same patrol was ambushed by a number of insurgents who fired rocket-propelled grenades, automatic weapons and assorted small arms. Fortunately, no one was wounded.
It is a scenario that is never far from the minds of CLP members. But as this mission got underway - like the start of every mission - all minds are focused on getting cargoes to and from their destinations as quickly and as safely as possible.
***
The first day's travel was filled with plodding travel along pock-marked and, in many places, saturated roads. The bumpy ride shook crews and gunners alike, and at times it was difficult just to make forward progress at a snail's pace of just a few miles per hour.
Along the way Afghan adults and children alike watched intently as the noisy convoy moved through their villages and towns. Some of the crews tossed out goodies - candy, energy drinks, and snacks - to the children, who smiled widely and waved wildly as the armored vehicles lumbered on. Local traffic was light, but ever-present Afghan National Police officers still cruised the route in their green Ford pickup trucks and could be seen manning sporadic checkpoints.
The air was crisp but not bone-chilling cold, like it had been just a few weeks earlier, when winter held a much tighter grip on the region. Since January the heavens regularly spilled freezing rain and snow, dispensing the water so valuable to area farmers who will put it to good use growing crops when spring finally arrives. But the ample precipitation was also a curse, making the usually dry, dusty dirt roads mushy and soft, slowing the pace of travel.
As the convoy made its way along the primitive road toward its first destination - a forward operating base several hours away - gray clouds obscured a crystal blue Afghan sky. Occasionally the sun would peek through small openings in the cloud cover for a precious few moments, offering a taste of warmth and brightness.
The mundane travel led crews to think of other, more pleasant things - like home.
"I would love to just be able to go drive to the convenience store," said Spc. Ryan Rominger, an MRAP driver.
"Well, I don't know about a convenience store, but just being able to drive somewhere would be good," countered Spc. Zachary Jones.
And while most everyone had thoughts about being somewhere else, no one thought much about it - they had a job do to and a mission to focus on. And besides, they knew, wishing for something rarely makes it come true.
***
A few hours into the mission the convoy encountered its first obstacle - a muddy bypass off the main road that snagged the lead mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicle.
As the convoy ground to a halt, the lead vehicle alerted Atha and the rest of the crews.
"Convoy, this is lead element…we're going to try to get out on our own," said Sgt. Justin Leonard, in charge of the vehicle. But it was to no avail; the mud's depth and the vehicle's cumbersome mine rollers up front made it impossible for the vehicle to break free on its own.
Atha ordered other vehicles to move into position to help, a second MRAP moved into position in front of Leonard's vehicle to tow it out. Within a few moments, crews had the vehicles tethered together and, with a roar of the engines, both MRAPs crawled free of the muck.
Follow-on vehicles, including the "916s" or tractor-trailer rigs and the remaining MRAPs, gunned their motors through the elongated muddy passage, causing some of them to buck and swerve wildly. But none of the others bogged down, and before long the convoy was again lumbering along the rough-and-tumble route towards its first destination.
***
The convoy pulled into FOB Lightening in late afternoon, where it was to upload mine rollers and other cargo bound for Bagram Airfield. There was still plenty of light left to stow vehicles and set up cots and sleeping bags for the night. Crews were used to spending the night here, taking up refuge in one of two small, empty buildings set up just to accommodate personnel staying overnight.
The quarters were completely open - no individual rooms to sleep. The CLP set up their cots in rows along both outer walls and in the middle. The quarters were cramped, especially after crews brought in their gear, but at least they would be sleeping in out of the weather and off the ground.
Once they had cots set up and gear secured, some headed out in search of the chow hall; others for the showers; still others for the MWR - Morale, Welfare and Recreation - building, to email or call loved ones.
As the evening wore on crews settled into their bunks to read or watch videos or movies on computer laptops. Others gathered in small groups to talk and joke; some played cards. Some turned in early to sleep.
***
There are lots of variables in Afghanistan, and certainly one of them is the weather, especially during this time of year. Mid-to-late February marks the conclusion of winter and the beginning of the rainy season. And, depending on where you are, you could experience both cool temperatures and snow or just rain.
Or it might be clear skies. You just never know.
The next morning the convoy was set to leave well before 9 a.m. but overnight a storm had blown in across the nearby mountains and grounded all aircraft - including the vital medevac medical helicopters needed in case personnel were injured or wounded while out on the routes.
So the crews would have to wait until the weather improved before they could leave. As large snowflakes fell in increasing abundance throughout the morning, no one could say for sure when the weather would improve.
"Guess we're going to be here for a little while," remarked Sgt. First Class Tyler King, one of the CLP's senior non-commissioned officers.
"Well, that's okay," Sgt. First Class Robert Howard, the CLP's platoon sergeant, replied. "I kinda like it here."
***
It would be more than 30 hours before the weather improved enough for the combat logistics patrol to resume its mission, the next leg of which would take it through the Afghan capital of Kabul.
Overnight the precipitation had moved out of the area but it left a thick cloud cover that mostly obscured the three-quarters moon. Throughout the next day, however, the cloud cover began to dissipate, leaving mostly sunny skies and the CLP a window of opportunity to move out.
It was mid-afternoon before senior NCO's had managed to inform all of their personnel that the convoy would leave that day. But like a well-oiled machine, once the order to move out was given, crews packed their gear and cots, stowed them in their vehicles and ready to go quickly.
In the meantime, Atha had been informed that the haul package had changed somewhat: they would be picking up additional vehicles and, as such, would need additional personnel to meet them BAF so they could drive the vehicles back.
"Sometimes it's hard to know how many you might need, but I'd rather have too many than not enough," he said, noting that loads can - and usually do - change often during missions.
"You have to anticipate a little," he said. "Priorities change constantly."
***
It would take another seven hours to get through Kabul - usually congested during the day but much emptier at night, when the CLP went through - and onto BAF, the center of the universe for personnel and gear entering and leaving Afghanistan. The paved roads between Lightning and BAF were mostly free of ice and snow, so the convoy managed good time, arriving at the huge hub well before midnight.
The crews waited patiently for several minutes to get through the TCP - traffic control point - located near the "transient" sector of the base, where they would be bunking for the next few days while off-loading their existing cargo and picking up new shipments.
Howard had secured sleeping quarters for the CLP at the "tent city" transient area during the trip so accommodations were waiting for them when their arrived, though the process wasn't without its glitches.
Crews had been assigned one tent by their operations center but when they arrived they found it full. So they quickly scouted out space in another tent a few doors down and claimed it before another group of Soldiers staked it out.
"You just have to take what you can get," King said, noting that most of the several hundred bunk beds in the more than one dozen "transient tents" the CLP uses during its overnight stays at BAF are full at any given time with troops that are coming and going. "Find an empty spot and claim it."
For the next few days Atha's crews alternately off-loaded and loaded cargo and performed needed maintenance on their vehicles before getting ready to head back on their fifth day on the road.
***
Sometimes the dangers and obstacles aren't out on the road. Sometimes they are right in front of you.
Spc. William Stremke, IV, an MRAP gunner, nearly had his right ear completely severed when the 700-pound rear door on his vehicle began to close suddenly as he tried to exit while at BAF the evening crews were preparing to leave.
The door, it was later discovered, had a glitch that had been examined at a few times by civilian maintenance personnel.
Stremke thought it had been repaired. "It shut on me as I was trying to get out," he said, his stitched right ear red and swollen from the injury. "I couldn't get back in time. It just caught me off guard."
Overall, he agrees the armor more often protects crews than it harms them. "But that door sure is heavy," he admitted
***
The convoy departed BAF in the evening of the fifth day, making good time on the paved road surfaces. At one point the convoy crawled through a pass that rose some 9,800 feet above sea level, one of the highest points in the region.
The road wound steadily upward, forcing the heavy MRAPs to reduce their speed, both because of the incline and because recent weather conditions had dropped new snow on the mountains, thereby making the roads icy and treacherous.
Radio traffic was minimal. In King's truck, an MP3 player provided country and pop hits from the 70s, 80s and 90s.
Outside, the night air was crisp and the cloudless sky overhead gave way to a bright three-quarters moon, which clearly illuminated the surrounding snow-covered mountains and valleys.
"I can see everything," Jones remarked. "You don't even need night vision tonight."
Most of the trip went without incident, but within a few miles of Lightning, the convoy experienced its next problem. A Buffalo - one of the largest MRAPs in the U.S. inventory - that was towing an RG-31 slid sideways on wet pavement as it attempted to negotiate a "roundabout" in the center of the town of Gardez.
The sudden shifting of the huge Buffalo caused its thick toe ring to snap in two, nearly sending the RG into the concrete wall of the round-about. Fortunately, though, neither vehicle hit anything, but the RG would need to be quickly recovered.
"The Buffalo slid sideways," King announced to the convoy over the radio. "We're getting out to check on it."
Within moments King and three other soldiers from a pair of RG's dismounted to begin recovering the RG and Buffalo. Some members helped King in the recovery while others pulled security in the middle of the darkened town square.
"Keep your eyes open," Spc. Charles Graves warned, pointing down a pair of streets illuminated only by the moon overhead. "I saw some tail lights down one of those streets."
Not a single light was present in the square or down the streets leading to and from it. Instead, darkened buildings cast eerie shadows all about as vehicles within the convoy began to take up security positions around the stricken vehicles.
Suddenly, from behind Graves, a figure inside the roundabout stepped out from a metal storage conex, no doubt awakened by the commotion. He was an Afghan National Police officer.
"Where'd he come from?" Graves asked, stunned.
As the ANP officer looked on, King jumped atop the RG and asked the soldiers on the ground to hoist the mammoth tow bar skyward so he could secure it and the RG could get underway. Two soldiers moved quickly to heave the tow bar upward but it wasn't until King jumped down to help them that the three of them were finally able to lift the slightly bent device, which weighed several hundred pounds.
King secured the bar in an upright position with a heavy canvas belt, and then ordered Graves to get in and drive the RG on to Lightning, just a few miles down the road.
"Buffalo and RG recovered," King said into his radio headset, once he got back in his own vehicle.
The convoy was once again underway.
Ten minutes later, at about four in the morning, crews rolled into Lightening, as tired crews worked diligently to park their vehicles as quickly and safely as possible so they could wind down and get some sleep. As they had done a few days earlier the Guardsmen methodically unloaded their gear, secured a sleeping area and cot in a transient building next door to the one they stayed in on the way to BAF, and quickly faded off to sleep.
It had been a long day - and night. And still, crews had another full day's ride, over some of the worst roads in the country.
***
The next morning, in what would be the final day of the CLP's six-day mission, crews began to stir just after sunrise.
One by one soldiers awakened, some sitting sleepily at the end of their cots, shuffling through backpacks for articles of clothing or personal hygiene kits. The quarters were still dark, but soldiers had cracked open doors at either end, letting in slivers of early morning light.
Others began putting on uniforms and stowing their gear. Some pulled out electric razors to dispose of the night's stubble, while still others headed off to the latrine for their personal hygiene.
The soldiers moved with the sort of methodical regularity indicating they had experienced many mornings out on the road. Thirty minutes later, with gear all stowed in trailers and vehicles, sleeping quarters vacated, troops were busy preparing vehicles for the day's journey. Radio and equipment checks were performed ritualistically, while weapons were loaded and readied.
Spc. Shawn Stillions and his TC (truck commander), Sgt. Brandon Lewis, checked over their 916 tractor trailer "haul asset," as Spc. Jones mounted his M240B machine gun and Mark 19 automatic 40mm grenade launcher in his gunner's turret.
Sgt. First Class Howard checked gear on the side of his MRAP to make sure it was secure, while Spc. Terry Parnell loaded a journey's worth of water and electrolyte drinks in his truck.
Staff Sgt. Noe Amador checked the tautness of chains holding down a piece of equipment on the trailer of a 916, while Spc. Eric Williams cleaned the glass and mirrors on his rig.
Meanwhile, as King loaded his gear into his MRAP, Spc. Rominger was busy attaching a POW/MIA flag to a mast located at the vehicle's rear.
Less than an hour later the convoy headed out of Lightening and back along the rough, bumpy route towards Sharana.
It was the end of a mission that is typical for the soldiers of the 203rd Engineer Battalion's combat logistics platoon. The odd hours, coupled with ever-changing priorities and cargoes, and the unexpected - like Stremke's injury and the ever-present threat of another ambush - makes theirs one of the most difficult of all.
"You just never know what you will have to adapt to," Atha said.
Yet crews never take much time to complain. Instead, they simply move forward.
Because there is always another load of cargo waiting for them to deliver.