Less than 1 month left!

Well we are down to less than 1 month remaining here at FOB Shank.  We have already packed 2 containers with our personal gear.  It was nice to actually free up some room in our living area.  Our X-box video game system finally decided to quit on us due to all the dust and dirt.  We have found a new game to play-darts.  We held a tournament and world rankings were established.  I got into the tournament late and had to start at the bottom (19th).  I quickly worked my way up and took on the top seed (CPT Hart) who had successfully defended his title numerous times.  I finished him off with a double bulls-eye to take the #1 spot.  All else is going well.  Here in Afghanistan they had harvest season (which seemed to slow down some of the enemy activity).  Fall is in the air and it is getting a bit cooler.  I believe that the fighting season is starting to dwindle as insurgents are starting to head to Pakistan for the winter.  Hopefully all our timelines will fall into place and we will be back home soon.

Accident Investigation

Last month our sister unit at FOB Salerno had an OH-58 crash that resulted in deaths of both pilots.  I got assigned to conduct the accident investigation for our brigade.  Once assigned, I took a UH-60 Blackhawk ride down to FOB Salerno and spent 2 days gathering up all the information.  I was able to meet up with the Combat Readiness Center's accident investigation team from Fort Rucker as they were already there.  Even though they are two separate investigations we were able to share a lot of the data.  It was nice to get to see FOB Salerno as that was were my buddy Rob from 1-3 in Savannah was stationed.  After 2 days, I was able to return to FOB Shank and spent the next 8 days preparing the report.  It was actually a nice break from the normal routine and it was interesting work.  Once the report was complete, I was back on the flight schedule.  Since I was already now reversed out to a day cycle and we have people on that shift going on leave soon, I am now back on day QRF (quick reaction force).

Enemy Commander!

Sorry that it has taken so long to get back on the blog.  We have all been very busy.  One night earlier in the month my wingman and I were escorting some CH-47's into a landing zone.  As the CH-47's were landing they started to take a lot of enemy fire.  The fire was so intense that they had to abort the landing and leave the area.  Our flight of 2 Apaches were able to find where the fire originated from and made 2 straffing runs on the position.  We both observed a pretty big secondary explosion.  The CH-47's then returned again to infil the ground forces.  Once again, they came under heavy fire even as we provided a close escort and laid down suppressive fire around the landing zone. We found three more people that were out and about when they were not suppose to be ( 2:00 AM) and acting in a tactical manner.  We made a another straffing run with the 30mm cannon and hit the target very well with about 60 rounds.  The ground forces went to the first engagement site and found the three bodies (with RPG's, AK-47's, and cell phones).  We then talked them onto the second engagement site where they found the other three bodies. One of the bodies there was the target of the actual raid and was a high level commander.  It was believed that his presence was why the defense was so intense.  We learned later that his sub-commander fled back to Pakistan the next day due to being so scared!

7 Months down / 5 to go!

We have completed 7 months so far.  Most of our pilots have already taken their R&R.  We still have a few more to go.  This month was the "official" start of the Taliban spring offensive.  Activity did pick up during daylight hours around the area.  We did break up a battle between the Taliban and another faction of extremists "The Hiquini" who were fighting each other.  It was noted that one side (Hiquini) had a anti-aircraft gun.  The air force bombed that and we came in with a flight of 2 Apaches to take out some Taliban to make it even and not look like we have favorites.  Our lead Apache got credit for 2 enemy KIA. Another task force had a OH-58D shot down in a valley to the north.  It turned into a all night/day rescue attempt to retrieve the pilot (1 was killed on impact).  We provided overhead cover for our pathfinders who were on the ground in the area.  Our Apache ended up shooting a Hellfire missile into the wreckage of the OH-58D to destroy it. I now have moved back to a night schedule supporting SEALs and Rangers.  The weather has been very nice. Low 80's during the day and a comfortable 60's at night.

Back from R&R!

Wow!  What a great time I had back at Fort Drum.  I can't believe that the whole process took almost a whole month.  It took 6 days to get home, 15 days at home, and 7 days to get back.  The wife and girls  treated me like a king.  The highlight of the trip home was a weekend at Six Flags Great Escape Indoor Waterpark and hotel.  It was located near Saratoga, NY and was beautiful.  We all loved the warm waterslides and lazy river.  I also enjoyed the great food (both at home and at some of our favorite restuarants).  I purchased a 30-06 rifle for hunting which I look forward to using when we return this fall.  The trip went by way to fast but there were plenty of  great memories made during the 15 days at home.  It is really a great  army program (15 days of free leave and round trip air travel to anywhere in the world that you wanted to go).  Now its back to work and hopefully the next 6 months will go as fast as the first 6 months.



Arrival at Syracuse



Six Flags Great Escape



Sighting in the 30-06

Heading home for some R&R

Well tonight I should find out what time my flight out of Shank leaves.  I can't wait to get home and see the wife and girls.  I am not looking forward to the extreme hassle of the travel though.  I have heard that it should take days to get home.  Oh well, at least I will be on my way home. The weather here has started to heat up pretty quickly.  I no longer need to wear a jacket everywhere which is nice.  I have been able to go on a couple of nice long runs around the perimeter of the base.  The altitude here is almost 7,000 feet MSL.  When we first arrived running for more than about 6 minutes was almost impossible. Now it doesn't seem as bad.  Well next time I post I should be back in the states!

Weather Fronts / R&R around the corner

The weather here at Shank for the last month has been a few days of snow followed by a few days of sun and then the cycle repeats itself.  It has slowed down our flying quite a bit.  Also the ground forces are not patrolling as much in the weather as well.  We have had some more folks head out on their R&R leave this month.  My leave will be mid-March and I am really looking forward to being home for a few weeks.  Looking forward to seeing the family and eating some good food.
 February is always a busy month for me as it is my birthmonth.  That means that I have to do my APART (Annual Proficiency and Readiness Training).  I have to fly with another standardization pilot and be evaluated on all manuevers and tasks that are required to fly the Apache.  In addition to all the studying there is a Flight Physical, Aircrew Cordination Training,  Computer-Based Aircraft Survivabilty Equipment Training, Recognition of Combat Vehicles Test, A test on the Operators Manual for the Apache.  On top of all that we are starting gunnery.  So there is another Threat Vehicle Test,  HGST (Helicopter Gunnery Skills Test), and Gunnery flights that we must do all on top of our 14 hour Quick Reaction Force duty days. So February is always a busy month for me and it is the shortest month.  Oh well, March will be here soon.

Snow

The last 3 days it has been snowing nonstop.  It has actually been a nice break for us.
It is suppose to keep snowing until late Sunday of Monday.  We still go out and pre-flight
the aircraft and run them up to make sure all are working good. Usually there is a snow-ball
fight along the way.  Then we return to the company command post and either watch a movie or play
the Xbox for our 14 hour shift.

crazy 2 weeks

Well the last 2 weeks have been crazy.  First my wife had to be admitted to the hospital for a leg infection.  She ended up having to stay there for almost two whole weeks.  Thanks very much to my parents for quickly making a trip to New York to take care of the kids.  Also thanks to all the support that my wife got from all of her army friends/family.  They did a great job (visiting her in the hospital, taking inital care of the kids, cooking meals, and shoveling snow).  Also thanks for her mom for making the trip up tomorrow to continue to let her get much needed rest.  All of that put my mind to rest knowing that everything was taken care of.
All is still well here at FOB  Shank.  The "Deathstalkers" added 1 more kill to the wall.  It was a high value person who was on the "kill or capture" list.  He was spotted out in the middle of nowhere and since nobody was there to capture him he was killed!  I guess that is one list you dont want to be on.  The weather overall has still been good for flying.  We also gave 2 checkrides that made 2 more Pilot-in-Commands for us.  That will be a big help for scheduling since we have now been sending pilots back on 2 weeks leave.

"Chark Attack"

January 7, 2011

We were doing our preflight this afternoon, when we received a message that we needed to launch in response to a MRAP (armored vehicle) that had hit an IED (improvised explosive device).  We arrived on station in the Chark valley and saw the burning vehicle.  The vehicle had its combat locks on (door locks that can only be opened from the inside) and nobody could get the crew out.  while US forces were trying ro rescue the crew, they started taking fire from a qalat (Afghan house).  This was a complex ambush and the ground forces were in danger.  We established communication with the ground forces radio operator.  While we were getting all the information on where his people where, he got shot in the leg.  We saw the qalat where the enemy was and turned outbound so we could engage the enemy. We selected a N model Missile (Thermobaric Hellfire) and turned inbound.  We launched and destroyed the two story structure.  The thermobaric did a great job.  I saw fire and smoke come out of every window on every floor before the structure collapsed on the left side.  The new radio operator told us they were no longer taking fire. A few minutes later they started taking fire from another qalat down the road.  We turned outbound again and let our wingman select his N model missile (our other missile was a F/A Blast fragmentation).  Our wingman engaged the 2nd qalat and the result was the same.  The battle damage assement for our qalat was 3 enemy killed in action.  2 men were captured from the 2nd building.  One of them being a known IED builder.  To top it all off, we were flying a helicopter that just returned from maintainence and had a shark mouth painted on it!  YATZEE!!



After returning from the "Chark Attack"



Deathstalker "Wall of Death" with 3 new kills!



HAPPY NEW YEAR & "Special Forces" Dan

"2011"

Happy New Year to all!  Its hard to believe that it is already 2011.  Well the new year was marked just like any other day here at FOB Shank.  There wasn't even any type of special meal.  Oh well at least the new year is underway.

"Special Forces" Dan
 Dan is a CW2 in A Co. who was previously Special Forces in his military career.  He is truly amazing.  Fluent in Russian, great with weapons, and etc.  Anyway, Dan decided to build a extra structure next to our Command Post.  From the time he recieved the "go ahead", he had a fork lift move some cargo containers, procured wood and had the 1st picture up within 5 hours all by himself with just a handsaw and a hammer.  he has since had a little help from others, but still only used a handsaw and a hammer.  The 2nd picture is the structure in progress.  next will be the roof.