Ballot Escort

I was asked to assist with Election Ballot escorting. Something I had volunteered for and very much wanted to take part in but had not, until last night, been offered the opportunity to participate in. a Marine friend of mine, CPL Yu, stopped by and asked if I would be the second escort, he being one as well. SURE!!!!! Where to? Jalalabad and Manas. Manas is NOT in Afghanistan so I was a little skeptical about that location. Are you sure its Manas?
“I don’t know, that’s what they said”
“uh hu, ok I’m in!!”


he said we’d rendezvous in the morning and go from there… flight would be soon there after. We would be escorting an Afghan Election worker and the ballots. Neither could leave our sight until properly released.

I opted for my full kit, instead of a lighter ammo-free equipment set… I thought I’m going to more remote, less secure areas… I’ll bring the ammo and equipment! I even got more equipment to be hooah (AKA safer and more responsible, i'm being safe, i promise Julia).

We meet up with our Afghan Election worker and begin our wait. We waited on the flight line…

watching aircraft come in and fly out is better than watching the walls in an A/C’d room.
We waited… then we got word the plane was delayed…
We waited…the plane would be another hour and a half
We waited… talked about how much we loved the Air Force and how reliable they were and how much we owed them for all this waiting

Its Ramazan in Afghanistan (also referred to as Ramadan) a month of fasting…which leaves our poor Afghan Election worker in the smoldering heat, starving all day.
No food or water when the sun is in the sky. Marine and I scarfed down food away from the Election worker as not to be rude. No food for this girl and you will be carrying my withered body around.


Here come the pallets of ballots which have been securely locked away until now. Pallet after Pallet was loaded onto the plane. So many pallets in fact that the crew had to take out the bench seating in the plane to fit everything…

I was invited to the cockpit since I am the camera girl… ahhh the luxuries in life that my camera brings me!!

off we fly to Jalalabad… an easy 20 minute flight.

A hour later we still circling because the flight controller either forgot about us or has no idea how to manage flights coming in… dizziness… we planned on buying some famous J-bad terminal bread! Cinnamon bread from Jalalabad, anyone??
Land in J-bad, FINALLY.
I never really put any thought into standing behind a huge aircraft… luckily I did not need to think, I merely came to the conclusion instantaneously once I stepped out of the aircraft it is one of the hottest places on earth!!! Never been hotter in my life.

Off come the Pallets… J-bad is one of the largest cities/districts in eastern Afghanistan. Like I mentioned before, a lot of pallets!
We were only on the ground maybe 12 minutes to get the pallets off and take off again.

No bread for us.
Stupid air traffic controller and her non-air traffic management killed our timeline. Back to Kabul for us.

More pallets… well not many. We were headed North West next.
Next stop, it was in fact NOT Manas, but Maimanah, a smaller but not insignificant part of North Western Afghanistan. It was a longer flight in which I slept this time. Less pallets, more room. longer flight... time to sleep.

it is a sandy dune area.
beautiful…but sandy with rolling sandy mountain/hills.
Off came the pallets, papers were signed
and we were wings up headed home.

The crew was great they were a hodge podge group from around the states, pilots were on their last mission before they were done with their tour, the crew had been on ground for 6 weeks and has about 6 more months to go.



CPL Yu and I had the opportunity to fly across Afghanistan delivering Election ballots for this
upcoming election. A safer, less corrupt government who will work for the people. This is the goal we are assisting Afghans with. Empowering them to have a better government run but Afghans, for Afghans.

10 minute stow away trip

The Commanding General's Military assistant is great! She stopped by our office one night and I was able to put a bug in her ear that I'd love to stow away on one of the bosses trips.

"I'll see what I can do, I can't make any promises though"

"Roger Ma'am, if it works out that will be awesome, if not I completely understand"

Friday afternoon my boss told me the General's MA wanted to see me, "they have room on the bird". (i.e. I GET TO GO ON A TRIP)

i joyfully made my way to see the wonderful Colonel. She told the Aides to put me on the manifest.

"Byrd worked for Col Creighton for a year and it would be great to let her get out, especially to see COL C" -MA

"BYRD!! What are you doing? Get in here, eat some food!" -LTG Rodriguez offering me some of his huge snack stash.

They put me on the manifest and Saturday morning I was up and ready to go.

Right away there was trouble. comments like

"I have been trying to get ahold of anyone I could" -Pilot

"Air Strike"

"Who have you talked to?" -Aide

The most important piece of equipment a General's Aid has is his contact list. The phone calls began... there were secret conversations, people standing and talking away from the crowd...

all the signs of worry were out. wrinkled eyebrows and low phone calls and walking quickly in and out of doors...

So we sat around and waited for the worst. and laughed at mangled planes from the 40s headed to the runway.

"Only running on 3 engines, that must be reassuring for the passengers"

"you think it flies or just drives up and down the run way?"

Then the Aide ran by...that means trouble, and he was RUNNING!

"ok everybody, here's the deal....wait a minute", aide (walks away) (comes back) Here's whats going on....

the bottom line is everybody is scratched"

relief among the group...ok well...oh well.

better luck for us next time.

Pride.

...I don't really own anything here in Kabul

My schedule=General's Schedule
My work hours= IJC hours
My roommates=assigned
My clothes=issued
My free time= sleep

the only thing I have in Afghanistan is my truck and my weapon. so I take pride in what I have and as far as my truck goes she sparkles. Well, she stays clean. as clean as possible here. I have purchased cleaning supplies (Purchased, as in my money, mind you)
So whenever I have a chance...its cleaning time.
Clean water is a commodity and a luxury I do no have on my post. So I must travel for clean water. Traveling requires that my schedule takes me there... luckily the boss has meetings at clean water locations! So here I am with my "sit and wait" hour. Cleaning my LandCruiser :)

I think its therapeutic. Having something that is mine, my responsibility, something to show off.

She gets a sudsy wash and I by now I have it down.

Ok no i don't. I pretty much make a mess of myself and get the truck clean but the end result is a clean truck.

Afghans don't ride around in filthy vehicles, their vehicle is a huge investment and they keep their vehicles clean and running. So a dirty vehicle sticks out on the streets and that is not what I want when my vehicle is protection for myself and others.  My vehicle is already a foreign object on the streets, a foreign object that is not necessarily welcome by everyone so I must do my best to help it blend in and not become a target.  So here is to sparkling clean and safe trucks!

Cheers

By the end she looks amazing

My Pride in Afghanistan.

Family dinner in Kabul

got back from mission... myself and the MA (General's aide) and some others from my office had planned on going to a US post for dinner. for steak more importantly.

I got back from mission and apparently the sky was falling because the MA was calling everyone and running around pushing people into meetings and whipping powerpoints into action. I had a hunch Steak dinner was out of my schedule now.
My great counterpart, Canadian Sergeant Major, who is also a driver for a General was waiting by his truck.
"SGM, where are you headed?"

"Pheonix, L2 is going to see his sister-in-law for dinner"

(Pheonix=STEAK DINNER)
"NO WAY!!! CAN I COME?"

"Ask the boss, i'm sure he'll let you"

-Text to General L2- 'sir, do you need a photographer to come with you?'
L2 walks up, "Sir, can i come?"

"you want to? sure hop in"

and away we go. discussion about Badr Day, every year on this anniversary Kabul sees some kind of attack...silence... driving... more talk of the everyday drudge and what gossip is going around the office and such...

we pull into the post and the General announces he will be the ground guide (someone has to walk infront of the vehicle to ensure speed control)

"sir, I'll do it"

"Nah, i've got it"

"I'm going to be fast"

"i'm going to be fast too"

"I got it"

"We'll both do it"

the General and his aide fight over the ground guiding job. nobody ever wants to ground guide... it sucks. you have to walk almost the whole length of the base... it sucks. so the General and his Canadian Aid ran it together. I opened my door, stood up hanging out the door and took pictures of them.

We met up with the General's sister-in-law, a beautiful and nice mother of two.she just arrived for her one year deployment.

steak was on the menu... so we dove in. They talked about family and how everyone was, how recent holidays were and they joked about how the Army has kept their immediate families sane... they talked of old commanders and where everyone is now.

pictures were gushed over and laughs went around and around.

if steak wasn't the best part of the meal there is always ice cream!

oooh wonderful US bases that fatten and gorge thier soldiers. oh how I love you. once a week that is. no more.

Yum. I grabbed tons of V8, my meal substitute when i'm hungry on mission and well of course a few pop-tarts. we headed out, back to the truck as the night began to slow and come to a close.

there was laughter and loud voices outside the chow hall. we walk right into a cinema.

Its MOVIE NIGHT! WTF? they have movies playing where the soldiers hangout and watch comedy and movies and have free time. FREE TIME! IJC why do we have no MOVIE NIGHT?! MORALE where have you gone??

The boss grabbed popcorn and ate in awe, laughing and smiling at the 'Joes' sitting around having a good time.

Kabul saw no attack on the anniversary of Battle of Badr.

very cool.

Night mission to nowhere

I was asked to drive to a Afghan restaurant in Kabul. Somewhere I've never been. All eating with Afghans is done after dark since it is Ramadan. Apparently the time of night when you are allowed to eat is "when you can't tell the difference between a white thread and a black thread... so pretty freakin late at night. usually only between 9pm and 3am.So off we go to this restaurant in the middle of nowhere Kabul.... fun thing is we get to wear civilian clothes instead of military, doesn't make much of adifference since we're still wearing our gear,but it makes for fun pictures. the drive is great because little markets and shopping centers pop up out of everwhere... you turn down a new street and all of a sudden you're in the middle of a street market. and of course bad traffic.

we get there..drop off the civilians then head to a near by base to hang out and park the vehicles since the restaurant is not in a secure location.

Dinner is closed .... so the cooks bring out what is left over... corn on the cob.

Corn on the cob and pop tarts, for dinner. oh and cake and all the drinks you want.

off to the MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) for movies and hanging out.

off to the restaurant again to pick up the passengers...

along the way we are met by "street urchins" little kids who roam the streets for money, washing your windows with filthy rags. they hang on for almost a full block standing on the step rails...

luckily we get up to about 10kph (6-7 mph) before we slow again and they jump off.

Its hard to see these kids everyday and know there is not much more in the world for them. the possibilities are few and the obstacles are nothing short of impossible. some make a life for themselves and the stories are amazing of how they not only survive but go on to lead fulfilling and purposeful lives.

back at the restaurant we pose for ridiculous pictures and wait around for the passengers.

another night mission in the bag.

after the mission is Gatorade and NearBeer at the Nordic bar... PSD guy plays guitar someone

sings... we all mingle and call it a night.