The Last Journey
Article #9 “Rainy Day Monday”
02 August 2010 Forward Operating Base Salerno, Afghanistan
It’s late in the
afternoon around 1730 (5:30 PM)
local time. I’ve been taking care
of some writings and reconfirming with my POC’s (points of contact) about
my flight out of here tomorrow. The
flight itself is all of about 25-minutes via helicopter, however, it has been
known around here to take over a week to get there when the rains come. The rains have come. Apparently just in time for my arrival to Salerno. Once again
stuck, but in a good place. We’ll
see what tomorrow brings, but for today, I’m enjoying the first rain
I’ve experienced in Afghanistan. To be sure
however, I’m not out in the boonies yet, so, I may have a different
perspective once it rains when I’m out there. For now though, I’ll take the little
pleasures life has to throw my direction and make the best out of it. It is good writing weather.
Today I met one of the public
affairs officers in this area and he informed me of some interesting potential
developments concerning my embed. Seems
as though the folks I’m headed to embed with have just entertained for
the past 60-days two “reporters” from the Ft. Worth, Texas
area. Turns out there have been two
reporters in the exact location I’m trying to get to. Some aren’t so excited all of a sudden
to have another “media” type person hanging around in that
particular location. I explained that I
had just come half way around the world to see a specific soldier and the main
reason I’m here is to embed with his unit, company, platoon even his
squad. I’ve come to see this
soldier and follow up on his deployment here after having seen him in Mosul,
Iraq in 2007. The
officer acknowledged my circumstance and informed me he just wasn’t sure
how long I’d be able to stay with the unit I had planned to be with at my
desired location which apparently has also been on the receiving end of some
IDF in the area as of late. The plan now
is to get me out there and just roll with whatever comes my direction. I of course agreed to remain flexible. I know of no other way to be these days. Nothing is in my control other than my reaction
to things. That is what my wife has been
trying to tell me for years. Of course,
living among all the soldiers and seeing all their toys, I tend to listen to
what they have to say. It’s all in
a days work.
But….I know a few
things that tend to make life difficult for me.
It’s always the same thing no matter whether I’m at home, on
the road or attempting to embed in the war zone with a particular unit. The people who go before me tend to screw
things up for the next guy (which is always me) who comes to follow. I’ve been travelling all my life, since
the day I was born. I was born in New Jersey, but was immediately taken home to Pennsylvania. And
it’s never stopped since.
I’m always on the road.
That is why I like Willie Nelson so much. He sings one of the best songs ever. On
The Road Again. I know how to
adapt to on the road situations.
Now, rumor has it that the
two media folks ahead of me who just finished their embed with the Rakkasans,
were, for lack of a better word, a bit on the demanding side. I will use my words now, and, let me be very
clear, these are my words only.
Basically they probably are a couple of (particular body orifice) who
are typical media types that end up making life really difficult for people
like me when it’s my turn to embed.
This is exactly the reason I have a disdain for some media types
especially in the war zone. It is why I
am an historian who happens to have
to mingle among the media types from time to time. I will admit it straight up front from the
get go. I do not like the media types and I know I will never like them. But it is days like this that I just have to
let off a little steam while the rain is coming down and things are just
beautiful outside in the middle of the most dangerous region the world has to
offer.
It will all work out in due
time. It is the story of my life. I tried pulling this journey off for the past
nine years. Another day or two
isn’t going bother me. Let it
rain.
**Late in the evening of 02 August 2010, FOB Salerno**
I’ve been informed this
evening that due to the rain cancelling flights today, everything got pushed
back a day. That means, I will be here
in Salerno at least one more day, maybe longer. I’ll find something to keep me
busy. There’s a story around
everywhere I look. I learned today that
a fair bit of the passenger transport helicopter flights are not done by the
military, rather, they are contracted out to private companies. In conversation it was told to me that more
CH47’s are needed here, but they’ve all been tasked quite a bit in
the recent past years keeping busy in Iraq and handling as much of the load as they can here in Afghanistan. Looks like my son Jimmy and his birds are needed
more than ever now. More evidence to me
of just how much this place (Afghanistan) had been second in concern in the recent past
years.
I hear today that Secretary
of Defense Robert Gates mentioned on the Sunday news talk shows that nation
building never was the focus here in Afghanistan, rather, elimination of the terrorists was always the
goal. I’m not so sure what to
think about that statement yet. There is
a hint of strategy shift in that statement.
Time will tell exactly what he means.
I have come in contact with
some of the locals here on Salerno. I have found so far that these people are
very intriguing. They are not the people
in Iraq. This is Afghanistan. There is so
much to learn. I had broken a pair of my
dollar store reading glasses last night.
I went to the little bazzar that is set up here on Salerno. They have
lots of little shops set up like a flea market back home. I went around to all the shops thinking I
could easily find another pair of cheap reading glasses. That was not the case. Actually, these folks sell some nice gem
stones as well as nice rugs. They also
sell some other things, but not reading glasses. However, one man told me he fixed a pair of
perscription glasses for a man that never came to pick them up. He offered them to me. I tried them on and they were completely
blurry. But, I had an idea. I went back to my quarters, got my broken
pair of glasses and took them back to the man.
He readily fixed them, and fixed them quite well. He’s a jewelry maker by trade so fixing
glasses he told me was not too complicated.
We spoke at length for a while about things related to his country. He was quite a facinating person to me. Last night I had some “chi” with
some other locals who work on camp Salerno. I was really
intrigued with them as well. One thing I
noticed right away about these people.
The men look much older than their years. All of the ones I’ve spoken with were
born during the early years of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. All of them
are under 30-years old. However, they
all look much older than that. That is
the first thing I’ve noticed.
I’m sure there will be
other things to learn. That will come in
the days ahead. For now, it’s
still looking like bad weather on the horizon.
Perhaps I will get to know this base a little more than I had
expected.
Jim Spiri
mailto:jimspiri@yahoo.com?subject=The
Last Journey
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