Chapter 1: In Which the Air Force Prevents Dan from Following Orders

Early morning 15 Jan 05: The NCO from Ft. Hood got some sleep earlier in the day, so he picked me up from Austin and drove himself. During the drive, he filled me in on some details of the mission. I got it wrong earlier; the mission is to train the Afghan army, not the Iraqi army. There will be multiple ~12 man teams that will go to various parts of Afghanistan to train the Afghan National Army. I am assigned to the Combat Service Support (CSS) team (CSS includes transportation, supply, maintenance, ammunition, medical services, and personnel services), so I should be in a more central location to train Afghan logisticians. I arrive in Ft. Hood at about 2:30 am. The building they're housing the mobilized reservists is an old (built about 1970) barracks that was scheduled for demolition in March (until the garrison at Ft. Hood realized they'd need it for mobilizing soldiers). I'm put in (temporarily) the room for soldiers who unexpectedly return for demobilization. There is one soldier there who has recently returned from Iraq. Since this is a long weekend, I won't be able to inprocess until Tuesday afternoon. I'll have to hook up with the CSS team to join with their training until then. I'm given the name of the Brigade S-4 (logistics officer) whom I should see in the morning for a permanent room assignment.

15 Jan 05: I get my hair cut in the morning. (I had an appointment with a Cleveland barber for 14 Jan, but I obviously couldn't make that.) Later, I meet the team leader and team XO. Today is a down day in their training schedule. The next major thing is drivers' training tomorrow (16 Jan) afternoon, which I should attend so I can get my military drivers qualification. I will also need to be qualified as a combat lifesaver and qualify with my weapons before I can deploy.

I get my room assignment from the S-4. I have to share with two other majors. (Just about everyone's three to a room.) There are no hangers in the wall lockers. Had I known this fact before I left, I would have brought some from home. I have an excess of them in my house. (Please don't send me any now-I'll be able to procure a few on my own.) Still, it's probably better than my living conditions in Afghanistan will be. And at least it's not an open-bay barracks or a tent like the mobilization stations at some other posts.

In the evening, I manage to see the Steelers' playoff game. I've developed this theory about the Steelers this season: They don't want any of their fans to leave the stadium early. The Steelers won 20-17 in overtime. (Of course, in this game, the Steelers seemed to be trying to give the game to the Jets, who were polite guests and declined to win.)

16 Jan 05: I did the safety briefing portion of drivers' training today.
I'll have to do the road test later; my team leader wants me to start the combat life saver course tomorrow. If I don't get all the required training done in time, I may not deploy with the main body. (The other "late comers"
are in this boat.) In that case, I'd stay at Ft. Hood for an extra couple of weeks.

Major Dan Schultz

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Chapter 3: In Which Another Officer Sticks Dan With a Needle and Dan Sticks in Return

My Bed

I'm sorry this took a couple of days, but they've been keeping me busy. My next installment might be even further delayed because we've got to go to the field for ten days. I also forgot to include a picture of my area in the last installment. I'll include it in this one. 17 Jan 05: The combat lifesavers (CLS) course started today. They're going to compress the normally four-day course into three days and compress the normally 5-day inprocessing into two days. The embedded training teams are supposed to go to the field for ten days starting Friday afternoon. I don't know if I'll be going with them or not.

I was assigned my weapons today. My M4 carbine is brand new.

I found someone here whom I know-MAJ Fred Straka, who went through ROTC with me at Penn State (and graduated with me in 1988). He was with the Delaware National Guard before he was mobilized. Now he'll get to run around the hinterlands of Afghanistan teaching Afghan soldiers how to fight.

18 Jan 05: 05:00: CSS Team #1 does physical training. We warm up, do a few pushups, then run for a while. We're done by 05:35. CLS continues. 17:30: I go running with a couple of officers from the CS (combat support) team who are also "latecomers" and taking the CLS course; they missed the afternoon PT for the CS team and their team leader wanted them to run three miles on their own. I join them on a run to the Military Clothing Sales Store (about
1.5 miles from our barracks). I had wanted to get some extra nametags for desert BDUs, but those are made at the t-shirt store that closed just as we got there. After we make our purchases, the manager scolds us for going into the store dressed in our Army PT uniform. Apparently the post command sergeant major prohibited entry into the facility while dressed in that uniform. Then we jog back to our barracks.

19 Jan 05: Today in CLS, we learn how to start an IV. Then we take turns starting IVs on each other. In the afternoon, I get to the Central Issue Facility (CIF) and draw additional equipment, including two pair of desert boots, one pair of cold weather boots, and four sets of desert camouflage uniforms (DCUs). On the way back to the barracks, somehow one of my bags gets switched with one of the other soldiers. I'll have to figure out who tomorrow.

20 Jan 05: This morning I got a smallpox vaccination. Because I had one as a child, I got poked with the vaccination needle 15 times, rather than 3 for first-time immunizations. Then I went to the range to qualify with my 9 mm pistol. I did much more poorly than I usually do with the pistol; it took me two times to qualify. Probably due to me not used to wearing body armor while I'm firing. Apparently the people at the firing range lost my scorecard, because several different people have asked me if I walked off the range with my card. I may have to requalify if they can't find it. In the afternoon, I took (and passed) the written portion of the CLS class, so now I'm certified as a combat lifesaver. (Certification lasts one year.) Then I went to try to inprocess the post. I first went to the soldier readiness processing station (SRP), but they said I had to go to the military unit inprocessing center (MUIC) first to get a mobilization file started. The guy at the MUIC told me and the LTC I was with that we could go to the SRP tomorrow at 7:30. When we told them we were scheduled for a range, we were told we weren't allowed to go to any ranges until we went through SRP to insure that our documentation was correct in case we were injured at the range. I'll let the COLs here decided if I'm going to the range tomorrow or SRPing.

Major Dan Schultz

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Chapter 4: In Which Dan Gets Muddy Boots

21 Jan 05: I don't have to requalify with the pistol; we can submit a reconstructed scorecard. It was decided that I'd go zero and qualify and then SRP. It took me a while to zero because the first fighting position I was at as too deep for me. After shooting 18 rounds from that position, the range controllers moved me to a shallower position where I could comfortably assume a standing, supported position and got a good zero in 15 rounds. I had an awful time qualifying; it was the first time in years I'd shot on a pop-up range, and somewhere between the zero range and the qualifying range my sight picture changed. I qualified on my fifth attempt after a LTC pointed out that my shots were all high and left. I also had a problem getting comfortable in the fighting positions on the qualifying range. It was only on my third attempt that I realized that I could get an additional platform to stand on. By the time I got back from the range, the SRP center was closing down and told me to return Monday. The night range went much better. There was a nearly full moon out, making seeing the sights easier. I asked for an additional platform and hit the target 23 of 30 times (with 7 needed to qualify.) I volunteered to shoot a second time to expend some spare rounds, but didn't ask for a platform the second time and only hit the target 11 of 30 times.

22 Jan 05: I went to the close quarter combat (CQC) training today.
The rest of CSS Team #1 did it yesterday, so I went through with the CS team (which has two "latecomers," one of them is one of my roommates in the barracks.) CQC consists of short range (<25 m) marksmanship (take little time to aim to get first shot off) and room clearing techniques. An infantry or MP unit going to Iraq would probably spend about a week on CQC. I did much better on the short range marksmanship than I did at qualification, getting 16 of 20 shots in the target. The training on room clearing was in the Army "crawl, walk, run" mode. First we went through an engineer tape "room" to get the movements down, then we went through a "building" with three "rooms" with cloth walls that came up to about waist height, and then finished off with a live fire exercise in a "building" with three rooms with regular-size walls.

After everyone was done, we went to the field sight. There are several big sleeping tents at the site; our task-force occupies two of the tents. We'll be getting hot breakfast and dinner while we're out here and have MREs (meals ready to eat) to eat for lunch. Unfortunately, the heaters for the tents aren't working properly and the temperature outside will drop into the 20's. The fine folks from Kellogg, Brown, and Root (KBR) have set up a couple of shower trailers with six shower stalls apiece in them. They're also maintaining the port-a-johns being used as latrines.

23 Jan 05: Today the training was patrolling. I haven't done this type of thing since I was in ROTC. And when I was in ROTC I didn't have to wear 39 lbs. of body armor when I did it. (Hint for reservists who might mobilize: Make sure you keep your upper body, especially your shoulders and back, in shape to carry this extra weight.) My boots were also not properly broken in, so the tops of my feet are quite sore. (Hint for reservists who might mobilize: Make sure you get mobilized in time to show up to the central issue facility (CIF) with the unit you're going with so you can break in the new boots before you go to field training.) The scenario for the day patrol was to follow up on intelligence indicating that about a dozen insurgents were operating in the area and had set up a weapons cache. It included interacting with local friendly villagers, reacting to indirect fire (mortar attack), reacting to sniper attack, and reacting to an ambush. The scenario for the night patrol was that the base had been attacked by mortar fire and the local villagers had told us that there was a mortar position set up in the field outside the village. The training would have been much better if the trainers had taken some effort to maintain unit integrity in the patrol elements rather than saying "those sitting in the front [of the classroom portion of the training] will be squad 1 and those sitting in the back will be squad 2." We also had about twice as many soldiers going through this portion as was ideal for the lane.

Tomorrow I'll SRP rather than doing the convoy training.

And, yes, I know that the Steelers lost. :(

24 Jan 05: I SRP'd today. It went pretty well; I got everything done but the Legal station and a few signatures. Finance and Legal did not send teams to my SRP station. I took the shuttle bus to one of the clinics on post to have my hearing checked (a 5 dB loss in my right ear since 1994; normal variations from test to test are +/- 10 dB) and have my eyes checked. My current eyeglass prescription still corrects to 20/20, so they just ordered some more glasses and inserts for chemical protective masks for me. Then I walked over to Building 18000, which houses the ID card section and the Finance section. I now have an ID card that does not say "Reserves" on it. I got done with my ID card at 11:35. Finance closes for lunch at 11:30. So I got lunch at a nearby PX food court and bought a few items at Military Clothing Sales. I went back to Building 18000. Finance got back from lunch 10 mins. early, and I was the first in line. Since I didn't know when the shuttle bus would return, I walked the 1.5 miles to the dental clinic. They accepted the wing-bite x-rays I brought with me from my last civilian dental exam (on 6 Jan), but needed to give me a panorex x- ray. The dentist declared me a "category I" (highest dental readiness). Then I returned to the field site in time for the night portion of convoy ops. During the after action review (AAR), one of the NCOs participating in the training said it would have been better had machine-gun simulators been used. The NCO in charge of the training replied that they were the first thing he requested, but all machine-gun simulators on Ft. Hood are being used by the 4th Infantry Division who are preparing for their next rotation to Iraq-next year.

I got a letter today from Major General Charles E. McCartney, commander of the 108th Division. It was postmarked 13 January. (The letter essentially acknowledges my mobilization and offered to help my family through the Family Readiness Group and to ask if there was anything MG McCartney or his wife could do.)

25 Jan 05: Our training today was forward operating base (FOB) operations. For the afternoon portion of the training, I was a gate guard (along with another major in our team). For most of the evening portion of the training, I was a guard at the tactical operations center (TOC). I was pulled into the TOC to help man the radio about a half-hour before the exercise ended (ENDEX). Speaking of radios, we've been using Motorola walklie-talkies because there are no Army tactical radios available for us to use during this training.

Today I got a letter from one of the people from the New Years Cruise that was sent 19 Jan. I guess the mail is getting faster.

26 Jan 05: Today our training was how to man a checkpoint, including how to search people and vehicles. After the classroom portion of the training, we set up and ran a hasty checkpoint for about three hours.
I was a member of the "quick reaction force" (QRF). This is the last day of this portion of the field exercise, so there are no evening exercises.

27 Jan 05: This morning we got classes on Army Values and Fraternization. In the late afternoon, we received equipment under the Rapid Fielding Initiative (RFI). Yesterday we were told that we'd board the busses to get the equipment at noon. They changed that to 14:30 this afternoon. We still had to wait a half-hour at the distribution site for them to be ready. We got back at 19:00, and then it was our team's turn to serve chow.

Oh, and it rained, turning most of the training area into mud. Texas mud. Muddy mud. They've set up stations outside the tents to scrape and wash mud off boots, but they're not entirely effective.

28 Jan 05: Today's training was live-fire convoy. It actually took place on a range usually used for M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle and M1 Abrams Tank gunnery/qualification. The course was driving down the road and targets popped up on one side of the vehicles for soldiers on that side to shoot at, then the vehicles looped around so the soldiers on the other side could shoot at the targets. Finally, we did a reaction to a mortar attack on the convoy. We first did a "dry run" down the range without firing and then did a "wet run" while actually shooting. I shot about 90 rounds in about two minuets. Steam was coming off my barrel at the end. I can see why the Army eliminated the fully automatic setting and replaced with a three-round burst. It actually only took us an hour to go through the course, but there were four sets of soldiers that had to go through, and then some had to police up the brass on the range. So we were out there for about nine hours. But the additional time wasn't completely wasted; I got the road portion of my military license to drive a HMMWV out of the way.
HMMWVs drive much like a very big car that can be switched into four- wheel drive,

It didn't rain today, but everything is still muddy. The stations outside the tent have become full of mud, so they're useless. I've taken some cardboard from an MRE box to use as a mud-scraper for my boots.

29 Jan 05: Today we had classroom training on reaction to IEDs, route clearing, and minefields.

Our task forces command sergeant-major, CSM Schulte, has been giving little bits of wisdom every day at formation. Today's was particularly
quaint:

"The green things with lids are trash cans; they're for putting your trash in. The brown boxes with doors are latrines; they're for taking a [expletive deleted] in. Yesterday, I saw a chocolate milk box floating in one of them. I'd hate to think how painful passing that was."

30 Jan 05: Today we went through a route-clearing scenario. We got up, ate breakfast, broke down our cots, cleaned up the tent, and waited until 14:00 for our turn to go through the lane. After we were done doing our lane, we had dinner at the FOB and then left to the barracks. CSM Schulte did instruct us all to wash our boots at the hoses on the loading dock before entering the barracks.

31 Jan 05: Most of the task force had the day off today (or were cleaning weapons or vehicles during the morning). I had to finish catching up. The plan was that myself and two other "latecomer"
officers (LTC Jochim and CPT Eickenberger (and no, the Wermacht is not taking over Ft. Hood)) were to go down to the MUIC to see 8 hours of briefings on video that we're supposed to see before SRPing. (They had given us permission to SRP before seeing the videos on condition we see them when we got out of the field.) When we got down to the MUIC building, we discovered that they were closed today and tomorrow because they were moving to another building. Luckily, they allowed us to sign the videos out. We then went down to the transportation motor pool (TMP) to get the eye portion of the military license done and a DA Form 348 (military drivers' license record) issued to me and CPT E. There were no VCRs in the barracks, so I had to got the Army Learning Center (ALC) across the street to watch them. (The ALC is also where I can get internet access.) Since the ALC doesn't open until 11:00, I decided to finish up my SRP.

When I got to the med station to have them sign off on my SRP checklist, the nurse noted that the medical database said that the lab said my G6PD level was "deficient." The G6PD test is to determine the level of the enzyme in the blood that breaks down chloro-quinine (the malaria prophylactic) into chemicals that will kill the malaria bacteria. Having a low G6PD level would mean that I wouldn't take the chloro-quinine (or the other quinine based malaria prophylactic) and would be given a different medication entirely, possibly as a prophylactic, possibly only when I returned to the States. (Obviously, the low G6PD level would not stop me from being deployed.) I would also need red dog tags, noting a medical risk. After going to the staff judge advocate to do the legal portion of the SRP (since I already have a will and have given someone a power of attorney, it went rather quickly once I got to where they were) I went to the final station to complete the SRP. The last thing they did was print out my pre-deployment health assessment. I flipped through it to see what it said. The third page of the printout under "Allergies" said "G6PD deficient," but under "Test & Diagnostics" said that the G6PD was "Normal" and "Within Range." Finding this contradiction to be very strange, I went back to the nurse at the medical station to get more information. She logged onto the Ft. Hood hospital lab database and discovered that the initial G6PD results were abnormal, but after further testing, the lab amended the results to "normal" because I had so much G6PD in my blood that it was above the maximum range of the test. So the malaria prophylactics will work on me, and I don't need a red dog tag. Note for deploying soldiers: read your medical records carefully; the lab might forget to properly update your lab results.

Then I went through and watched the boring briefings at the ALC. The only one that I found really useful was the last one on the culture and customs of Afghanistan (the left hand is considered a "dirty"
hand); the last briefing also included some information of the enemy threat in the country as well.

I'd like to thank all of you who have sent me e-mails, even if I haven't had the time to answer you. Thanks for the support.

Major Dan Schultz

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Chapter 5: In Which Dan Faces Death by PowerPoint!

01 Feb 05: Another "off" day. In the morning, I borrowed one of the task force vans to go and return the briefing tapes to the MUIC and pick up my prescription. Getting to the location of the new MUIC wasn't so hard, but it took me a while to find a parking space at the hospital. The pharmacy at the Ft. Hood hospital is really slow. First, I had to stand in line for about 10 mins to get a number to get served. Then I waited about 40 mins for a pharmacist to serve me (asked for my ID and checked the prescription on the computer.) Then I waited 10 more mins for her to fill it. The line for numbers was about twice as long when I left as when I entered, even though they had two (rather than one) windows open for dispensing numbers. In the afternoon I went to CIF to turn in a few excess things and exchange my DCU bottoms (medium regular for medium short), my wet weather bottoms (damaged during the field exercise), and sweater (extra large for medium).

I received a letter today that was mailed from Cleveland on 18 Jan. It was missent to the 303rd MI company on 24 Jan and then redirected me.
(If you put "ANA-ETT" before the "CSS Team 1" in the address from Chapter 2, the probability of having mail misdirected will be lessened. The nominal time for mail to get to soldiers in Afghanistan is two weeks, if they're at one of the bigger camps.)

02 Feb 05: Today our task force commander officially changed the duty uniform to DCU. We had observer-controller/trainer (OC/T) training.
First the bus took us to the wrong building. After we got to the right building (the Officers' Club), we had four briefings: How to conduct an AAR (I've been through enough to know how to do this), how to set up a live fire exercise, how to manage training (the same class I had in ROTC, Officers' Basic Course, and Officer's Advanced Course), and how to set up lanes training. (There were busses back to the dining facility for lunch, and the bus did take us back to the O-club). In the evening, we got a brief on risk management. Then we had two "practical exercises" on setting up lanes which were more like walk-throughs. (We were briefed via PowerPoint rather than working through setting up lane training ourselves.) The endless PowerPoint presentations might have been tolerable if the trainers had provided us any written materials to take away with us. As it stands, I'll probably forget 95% of the little I learned by tomorrow.

The Task Force also received more information about our mission in Afghanistan. The teams we have been training under at Ft. Hood will be broken up and used as fillers for the teams currently in country. At least it looks like the CSS soldiers will be training Afghan CSS soldiers, and not infantry. The leadership is sitting down soon to determine who will go where. It looks like our departure date will be
15 Feb.

03 Feb 05: We had some classes on Afghan culture today. The training was contracted out; the contractor team consisted of a retired US Army Officer who was a foreign area officer, an ex-pat Afghan professor, and an ex-pat Afghan woman who had been working on women's rights for Afghan women. Somewhat interesting, except the briefing didn't look very well rehearsed. And the professor had a habit of answering the question he wanted to answer, not the one asked. And he was soft- spoken and didn't know how to use a microphone.

I received my new Army glasses today: 1 pair civilian-type, 1 pair Army BC (birth control: They're so ugly that, well, never mind), 1 pair Army BC sunglasses, and1 pair inserts for protective mask (now all I need is a pro mask to go with them.)

Other mission related news: The departure date has been pushed back to
16 Feb (many of you have been asking about this date). It looks like we'll have to move out of the barracks on 9 Feb and move to North Fort Hood because they've contracted out to renovate (or destroy and
rebuild) the barracks we're in now starting 10 Feb.

04 Feb 05: We continue with Afghan cultural training, including an introduction to Afghan languages and negotiation techniques.

Update on the barracks situation: We've been told that we won't have to move out of the barracks, but might have to move into different rooms in the barracks. After dinner, I encountered two women in the barracks who are apparently the advanced party from the family support group of a unit that is going to be returning from Iraq. Apparently, the unit is to move into these barracks on 15 Feb. This may be the real reason they wanted us out of the barracks; they might move our departure date to 14 Feb. Or, the post might have changed where the unit will spend their demobilizing time at without telling the family support group.

05 Feb 05: Today we familiarized ourselves with Soviet small arms (as there are a lot of them floating around Afghanistan). We got to fire five different weapons, including an AK-47 and a sniper rifle. The sniper rifle has quite a kick to it; I managed to bruise the bridge of my nose when I fired it.

This evening, we were told where in country we'll be going. (Or, rather, what the LTCs and COL are telling the commander in Afghanistan where we should go.) I'm slotted to be the garrison support unit S-4 (logistics officer) at Mazar-E Sharif (near the Uzbekistan boarder.)

06 Feb 05: Today we had an hour and a half block of instruction on call for fire (getting artillery rounds shot where we might need
them.) The PowerPoint presentation (done at 80 mph) was followed by a simulator for calling in fire.

After the training, my team leader told me that my position was changed to be the task force G-3 (operations officer). Apparently the COL didn't trust the CPT originally slotted for the position to talk to the public. I'm still supposed to go to Mazar-E Sharif.

Major Dan Schultz

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Chapter 6: In Which Dan Finishes with Fort Hood

One clarification from Chapter 5: I'm going to be the mentor for the Afghan Northern Corps G-3 (the corps based in Mazar-E Sharif), not the
G-3 of the task force. Note: The Afghan National Army (ANA) Corps is equivalent to the US Army Division. The Afghan government just wanted to call them Corps.

Chapter 6: In Which Dan Finishes with Fort Hood

07 Feb 05: Since I'm not going to a combat support or combat service support position, I get to be trained with the combat arms guys for the next few days. Today we had briefings on the Battlefield Environment of Afghanistan (by someone who actually just got back from being an embedded trainer); Principles of the Offense; Cordon and Search; Fire Support and Call for Fire (without the simulator); Mounted and Dismounted Patrolling; Conduct a Guard Mission; Principles of the Defense; and Mobility, Counter-Mobility, and Survivability (combat engineers). In the evening, we got an informal briefing by the officer who wrote the tables of organization and equipment (TO&Es) for the ANA and who is intimately familiar with our mission. After that, I finally got my mask issued to me.

08 Feb 05: Today's classes were Conduct Stability Operations, Conduct Civil-Military Operations, Secure Civilians During Operations, Conduct Negotiations, Establish Liaison, Conduct Security Operations, and Employ Operations Security (OPSEC) Measures. The training schedule had us going to 1700, but we were done at 1430. CSM Schulte also published the packing list for deployment to Afghanistan.

09 Feb 05: Today was the Military Decision Making Process (MDMP). For me, it was a review from previous Army classes. I had to go to North Fort Hood (a half-hour bus ride) for the training. At least it won't take the whole two days originally scheduled; we got to about where the original schedule said we should be at lunch tomorrow.

10 Feb 05: We completed MDMP this morning. My parents flew into Killeen this afternoon. We went to dinner.

11 Feb 05: This morning, the "tough boxes" (black, plastic foot lockers procured from the Home Depot) for my team finally came in. Now I can finish packing. Then we had our departure ceremony. During the ceremony, one of the National Guard generals made a comment that all of us were volunteers. Not true of the Reservists. Other than that, a nice ceremony for the families. We're off until noon on Sunday 13 Feb.
I had lunch & dinner with my parents.

12 Feb 05: A day off. I got a chance to go to the Military Clothing Sales store on post and Best Buy off post. I had dinner with four other of the soldiers in the task force at TGIF's.

13 Feb 05: Our pass expired at noon today. Everyone is packing; we have three duffle bags and a tough box to take all our stuff to Afghanistan with. (Plus a small backpack for a carry-on.) I have just enough room to fit my stuff in. We also bore-sighted our red-dot optics (an aiming aide for our M4 carbines, red dot is only visible through the optics). One of our duffle bags and our tough boxes will go on a separate flight; that flight might be in tomorrow morning or tomorrow night. So I won't be wearing civilian clothes for several months.

I don't know what my Afghanistan address will be; I'll send it out when I know it.

Major Dan Schultz

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Chapter 7: In Which Dan's Pay Becomes Tax-Free

14 Feb 05: It's Valentine's Day. Too bad I don't have an SO to send flowers to. We (well, some of us) zeroed our red-dot optics today. My team was scheduled to pick up a bus to the range at 12:30, along with several other teams. Only one showed up so we didn't get a bus until 13:05. The range we went to is really intended for personal weapons. The civilians who operate the range aren't authorized overtime and have to shut the range down at 15:00. So only 15 of us from the last bus got to shoot, and only got to shoot 18 rounds. Our flight has been delayed until 06:45 on Wednesday (the 16th), so we may go back to the range tomorrow morning.

15 Feb 05: A busy day. I shot another 18 rounds this morning to finish zeroing the red dot optics. Then I came back to finish packing and clean up the barracks a little. Here's the plan:

1500: Final draw of weapons from the arms room. (Since I still don't have a 9mm pistol, I don't need to do this; I got my M4 this morning to go to the range.)
2240: Pick-up of A&B bags (that go on the airplane with us).
0045 (16 Feb): Pre-manifest (check ID cards & dog tags.)
0245: Busses pick us up to take us to the 13th COSCOM gym for manifest and flight briefing.
0445: Busses take us to airfield to board airplane.
0645: Wheels up.

As you can see, there's not much time for sleep in this itinerary. I'm planning on not even trying; I'll doze a little on the plane. This will help me overcome any jet-lag on the other end.

16-17 Feb: At the 13th COSCOM, the officers' club served a free breakfast; the USO was handing out some stuff, and the Salvation Army was offering to mail letters for us. Our flight on the 767 is pretty crowded. And of many legs. The flight made stops in New York (JFK), Ireland, and Turkey to refuel and change crews. In Ireland, the airport bar was open (at 00:30 no less) and our commander authorized us to have up to two beers. I had one black-and-tan (I can check off "have a black-and-tan in Ireland" from my list of things to do before I die). I'm enclosing a picture of me with the black-and-tan.
Most bars in the US will pour the Guinness over the Harp to make a two- layer drink; the bartender here didn't do that, he just let them mix together. I think this was due to lack of time. Some Marines also landed shortly after we did and headed to the bar, but they didn't have enough time for an Army-Marine brawl. ;-) We landed at Manas AFB in Kyrgyzstan at around 23:30 local. We are now officially in theater.
Except that we're not allowed to walk around with our weapons (in Afghanistan, we won't be allowed to walk off our base without our weapons, and I think we're supposed to wear our pistols on base.) Note that enlisted soldiers' pay in a war zone is tax-free. Officers' pay in a war zone is tax-free up the amount the highest-ranking enlisted soldier (the sergeant-major of the Army) makes, which is between what a major makes and a lieutenant colonel makes.

This place is much nicer than the FOB at Ft. Hood. The only problem is that it's cold (it was 0 F when we landed) and much of the snow had been packed down to ice. We had our first casualty of the task-force; one of the lieutenants slipped and fell and broke his ankle. He's being evacuated back to Germany to recover. I slipped and fell twice last night (but didn't break anything). The first time I was trying to put on my gloves while I was walking. The second time I was walking from the shower tent when someone asked "where's the shower tent" and I moved my arm to point it out. I'm not sure I can walk and chew gum outside at the same time.

18 Feb: Many of us are wondering why we joined the Army instead of the Air Force. The set-up here is much nicer than any Army field set-up.
The dining facility here is better than the one we used at Ft. Hood, even though it's in a tent. Our group will be flying into Kabul in three waves; I'm on the last wave that leaves tomorrow.

19 Feb: We received word that 12 of the 36 of us left will fly out tomorrow at 08:00 and must have their A & B bags out by 04:00; the rest of us will fly out at some other time. Oh well. The LTC in charge of us told us to be ready to go at any time; he'll try to get us all on the flight. We must consolidate our sleeping quarters into three tents.

20 Feb: At 04:00 I was informed that there was room on the C-130 for all 36 of us. At 05:45, the Air Force people told us that the bus (to get to the airplane) would be loaded at 07:00. Then they loaded the busses at 06:15, got to the airplane at 06:30, and we sat on the bus until 07:20. Other than that, the flight was uneventful. The Task Force Phoenix people had some 5-ton trucks come to the airport (with gun-truck escort) to take us to the TF Phoenix base in Kabul. We left the airport about half an hour after loading up on the 5-tons, and took a 15-minute ride through Kabul. My first impression is that Kabul is much worse off than Port-au-Prince was in 1995. There is a lost of rubble and burnt out buildings around. The people seemed happy to see US soldiers; many children gave the thumbs-up sign as we drove by or waved at us. We arrived at the base at about lunchtime. I don't think the staff at the base was expecting all 36 of us. They did manage to find some tents for us to sleep in (at about 20 or so to a tent) for the time we'll be here (about a week). They have nothing for us to do today, and might not have anything for us to do tomorrow either. So we can explore the base. There is a small bazaar inside the gate if I get a hankering to hone my negotiating skills. The showers on this base are even nicer than at Manus; much more roomy.

Note: You can find out more about my mission at http://www.tfphoenixiii.org/.

Major Dan Schultz

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Chapter 8: In Which Dan's Mission Changes Yet Again

21 Feb: A nominally down day. At 09:00, we broke down the C & D bags into piles for the places we will be going. I also met up with some current embedded trainers; a captain who will be moving to Mazar-E Shariff after his mid-tour leave (which will start very soon) and a lieutenant colonel who just got back from his mid-tour leave and is also serving in Mazar-E Shariff-as the advisor to the Corps G-3 (you know, the slot I though I was going into.) Change number 53-I guess I'll be doing something else. I'll try finding out tomorrow (the TF Phoenix J-3 was redoing the slotting today; he should have it done) or Wednesday (when we start training.)

22 Feb: I didn't have to go to the J-3 to find out my new slot; the Mazar-E Shariff people had a meeting this morning, and I found out that I will be the garrison S-3 advisor. (The garrison is the organization that runs the base, including logistics and security.)

23 Feb: We started training today. One of our briefings was from the postal detachment, and I found out that the address I sent out yesterday (under "The Adventures of Major Dan: Supplemental") was wrong. The correct address is:

Daniel Schultz

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Chapter 9: In Which Dan Trains Some More

24 Feb: Today our training was focused on financial matters. Not personal finance, but the government financial things we may need to
do: Field Ordering Officer (FOO), ANA Pay Officer, and Commander's Emergency Response Program Project Purchasing Officer (CERP PPO). All three programs require US officers to carry around large amounts of cash. A FOO is authorized to make purchases for requirements less than $2500 (larger requirements require permission of a contracting
officer.) An ANA Pay Officer, well, pays the soldiers in the Afghan National Army. (The Afghan Ministry of Defense will eventually start paying ANA soldiers out of Afghan Government funds. They're just not ready yet.) The CERP program uses State Department funds to do urgent humanitarian projects (digging wells, resupplying schools, etc.) Then we were issued our basic load of ammunition of 5.56 mm rounds (ball and trace for our M4s) and 9 mm rounds (for pistols). Now all I need is a 9 mm pistol. We also had a briefing from the communications officer (J-6) about communication and computer assets in country. They also gave out a URL (www.tfphoenixiii.org) for people to find information about TF Phoenix.

25 Feb 05: Today's training was the up-armored (UA) HMMWV. The morning was classroom instruction, but in the afternoon we got to drive them around. Experienced soldiers (who have been in country about six
months) drove the nine vehicles through town to the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC; at the former site of the Taliban Headquarters) and then each of us had an opportunity to drive them through the countryside on dirt roads. We drove up to the top of a ridge where we had an excellent view of the mountains, then drove down to a cave where a very large cache of weapons had been found, and then drove back to KMTC where the experienced drivers took over and drove us back to Camp Phoenix. Very fun. One UA HMMWV lost its power steering and another one broke a windshield. Luckily, the "experienced" soldiers were from the 76th's maintenance company. Then we had another class on convoy operations and procedures.

26 Feb 05: Today we had classes on KMTC operations, the Afghan National Army, theater rules of engagement (ROE), communication through an interpreter, introduction to Dari, and TF Phoenix Operations. The ROE class was given by a JAG officer whose civilian job is being an ADA. He commented on the scene from _Black Hawk Down_ where the Rangers were under fire and debating the ROE. He said he shouted "Shoot! Shoot!" in the theater. If we come under fire, we are supposed to return with aimed fire.

27 Feb 05: This morning we had a class on ANA non-judicial punishment given by the same JAG officer who gave the ROE class. The schedule had two hours for the class, but since the ANA has just gotten a draft Manual of Courts-Martial out, there wasn't much to talk about on that subject. So we had a more general discussion on how things really work in TF Phoenix. We still had an hour left until our class on familiarization of US crew-served weapons and soviet weapons. Then we went out to one of the ranges by the KMTC to zero our red-dot optics.
There were no fighting positions at the range, so we had to shoot from the prone supported position. I had to use my left hand to hold up my helmet in order to see the target. My shot groups were tighter than they normally are. It only took me nine rounds to re-zero the optics.

In the evening, MAJ S, the garrison commander mentor at Mazar-E- Shariff, and LTC H, the Corps G-3 advisor, met with me and the two captains who are going to the garrison for an hour and a half to discuss our duties.

28 Feb 05: Today we learned about two long-range radios, the "Blue Force Tracking System," and non-tactical vehicles (NTVs). The Blue Force Tracking System is rather neat; all our UA HMMWVs will be equipped with them. The system comes with a GPS and transmits the position of the vehicle via satellite to a server; everyone equipped with the system can see where everyone else with the system is.
Intelligence sections (S-2s) can mark the positions of enemy units for everyone to see; users can send e-mails back and forth.

01 Mar 05: This morning we had a laydown of some of our equipment. We are now officially done with ETT training. We're now in the mode of planning for our convoy to MES.

02 Mar 05: We picked up food and water for our convoy. I also arranged for some of us to drive down to the ANA depot to pick up a couple of 4.5-ton trucks (called "Tatas" being donated by India) to bring along on our convoy to MES (to stay at MES). The co-ordination included finding out whom from the support battalion was going to drive the Tatas (we don't have any drivers qualified to drive them) and getting a convoy pass to drive from Camp Phoenix to the depot and back.

I also began taking Larium (anti-malaria drug) today. When I took it in Haiti, it was a purple pill. But here, the pill is white. I guess the Army changed contractors for it.

03 Mar 05: It started to rain last night, and a third of our tent was flooded. The water was coming in from around the edges of the tent and not the top, so our sleeping bags are dry. It must be snowing in the mountains; hopefully the storm won't delay our trip.

The trip to and from the ANA depot went off without a hitch; the whole operation took two hours less than I thought it would. The Tatas are nice trucks. The back gate is somewhat bigger than the US Army 5-ton trucks and has two steps (rather than just one). Short people like me will have a much easier time getting on a Tata than a US Army 5-ton.
These two Tatas were brand new with less than 10 kms on them. Thanks, India!

Major Dan Schultz

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Chapter 10: In Which Dan Gets a Tour of the Roof of the World or The Convoy From Hell

04 Mar 05: The water in our tent receded. This morning, our convoy commander for the trip to MES, MAJ W, wanted to give a briefing on the plan. Unfortunately, our two drivers for the Tatas were told that the convoy had been cancelled. The message to the support battalion was that the flight yesterday to MES was cancelled. They missed the briefing; after determining that our convoy had not been cancelled, I told them that I'd see them at the rehearsal (of battle drills for the trip, such as react to a sniper or ambush) at 13:00. I saw the support operations officer in the dining facility at lunch, and he asked me where they were supposed to meet us at 13:00. They ended up being late because their company executive officer (XO) told them the rehearsal was tomorrow at 13:30. Several others who wanted to bum a ride off of us also got the same message; since they weren't at the rehearsal, they won't go with us.

The rehearsal went well. My driver, CPL S, tried, and failed, to get our HMMWV stuck in a ditch. The right wheels were in the ditch and the left wheels were still on the road, leaving the vehicle at about a 30- degree angle (with water up to the right-side door.) It's really hard to get a HMMWV stuck in the mud. The drivers of the Tatas reported that they were bounced around a lot during the rehearsal as well.

05 Mar 05: The morning was pretty slow, but in the early afternoon MAJ W and I went over to KMTC to pick up five interpreters that we're going to take up to MeS. The interpreters had to draw some Army-issue equipment. That process took longer than expected. When MAJ W and I got back to Camp Phoenix, we got the team members we could find to load up one of the Tatas with our C-bags and tough boxes. We put the interpreters' bags and also loaded our B-bags on the other Tata,

06 Mar 05: I got up at 04:30. MAJ W wanted us to leave at 06:30. We actually departed Camp Phoenix at 07:00. I was in the middle vehicle of the convoy with MAJ R and H (one of the interpreters). The conditions on the pass weren't all that bad for the most part. The problem was that the Afghan Police decided to have traffic going south, rather than north, through the pass. I'm not sure if it was scheduled to be south and the J-3 didn't call them up to find out or if the police decided they could get more money from the southbound traffic than the northbound traffic. While we were taking a rest break near the pass, a policeman drove up and told us we were going the wrong way. MAJ W told him we're going through anyways. He drove away. About five minutes after we started out again we came across a patch where there was a mini-avalanche. Our lead HMMWV got stuck in the snow and had to be winched out. Just after we broke out our shovels to dig a path, the policeman showed back up (coming from the north) with a bulldozer to clear the snow out of the way. He told MAJ W that they stopped traffic going south and that we shouldn't stop until we've passed the traffic jam. After we got moving again, the four-wheel drive on one of the Tatas gave out, and it had difficulty getting up the snow and ice covered road and needed an assist to get up. Once we got over the top (about 10,500 ft. elevation) and started through the tunnels, we got to the point where the southbound traffic was stopped and there was just barely enough room for us to get through. A couple of local teamsters had also taken the opportunity to go north in front of us, so we had to inch our way down the mountain. It took us about six hours to go 20 miles. It was dark by the time we got to the bottom of the mountain.
MAJ R (who lives in Los Angeles) said that was the worst traffic jam he's ever seen. He also likes to drive, and drove until about 23:00 when he said his legs needed a break. I drove until about 02:00 when I started to have hallucinations due to sleep deprivation and he started to drive again. We didn't get into Camp Tillman (our little home in MeS; named after Pat Tillman, the football player who volunteered to be a Ranger) until about 04:00.

07 Mar 05: I got up about 9:30. My bladder was full, and my body decided that it wasn't going to go back to sleep. So I took a shower as well. One note about the showers and latrines here at Camp Tillman: The contractor didn't put in an S-trap in the drain. I think I'll try getting at least one installed. We unloaded the Tata with our C bags and tough boxes (we unloaded the other one when we arrived). In the evening, we met with COL T, the senior ETT at Camp Tillman (and the advisor to the corps commander) and LTC M, the 1st Brigade senior ETT.

08 Mar 05: We settled in and started inprcossing. LTC M gave us a briefing on the mission of the 1st Brigade. We also did preventative maintenance, checks, and services (PMCS) on the vehicles we brought up.
The Tata that lost it's four-wheel drive on the way had a coolant hose and a fuel hose come loose and had the parking break freeze up. The other Tata had nothing wrong with it.

09 Mar 05: I had chai with the ANA Garrison S-3 and S-4 today. They seem to have a good sense of humor. CPT G and I decided (at the suggestion of LTC H) to switch jobs, so I'm the garrison S-4 (logistics
officer) mentor now. (LTC H noticed that CPT G had experience as an assistant operations officer and I have a logistics background.)

Major Dan Schultz

The opinions expressed in this message are entirely those of the author, and not those of the US Army Reserve, the Department of the Army, or the Department of Defense. Anyone who says otherwise is ichin' for a fight.

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Chapter 11: In Which Dan Tests His Cast-Iron Stomach.

11 Mar 05: It's Friday, so it's a down day for the ANA. LTC McM, the Corps G-4 mentor, myself, and several security forces soldiers went on a trip into the mountains to a village where the ANA will be securing a weapons cache. We took three Ford Rangers up the goat trails. Pretty, but took three hours each way to go about 40 km. We went through the pass where the Northern Alliance made its stand before the US started bombing the Taliban. There were three dead T-62s by the pass (see enclosed picture.)

12 Mar 05: Busy day. I started out by observing the new cooks for the ANA do some on the job training. Then I observed SGT G run the central issue facility (CIF) for the ANA. Saturday is the day Corps HQ soldiers who need to exchange items are supposed to go to CIF. SGT G kept having to send 1st Brigade soldiers away. In the afternoon, I linked up with LTC McM and CPT G to visit the corps chief of staff and G-4. When I was introduced as the mentor for the Garrison G-4, LTC K, the ANA officers chuckled. (LTC K seems to be quite a character.) They wanted to show us a location where they wanted to put in a bakery. After showing it to us, LTC McM got into a two-hour conversation about the transfer of food operations from US to ANA, the arrival of the new battalion, and the Afghan New Years security mission.

13 Mar 05: I've picked up a second job as brigade S-4 mentor, at least until CPT H gets back from his mid-tour leave.

14 Mar 05: The brigade had it's first staff meeting to discuss the upcoming security mission for the upcoming New Years celebration. It went pretty well; the idea is to get the staff officers to exchange information, and they managed to.

15 Mar 05: I received my first piece of mail since I arrived in country. It was postmarked 24 Feb.

16 Mar 05: A small crisis due to weather. A new battalion, fresh out of basic training, is due to arrive in MeS tomorrow. The huts for them to live in won't be completed on time. The original plan was to temporarily house them in some of the partially completed ones and have the contractor build around them. But the ground outside them has turned to mud (not quite as bad as the Texas mud), so the Corps commander moved their temporary housing site to the old 95th Division barracks just outside camp. These buildings are pretty neglected, but there's grass in front of them. LTC McM, CPT G, and I went out to the site and met up with COL T and MG T. M. (the corps commander) at the site. At one point, MG T. M. asked to look at my M4; he was quite impressed with the red-dot optics. He said with it, he could hit two of the sheep grazing nearby with one bullet.

17 Mar 05: The first group of the new battalion arrived today. The ETTs that accompanied them reported that their trip from Kabul only took 20 hours. The brigade staff and one of the ANA battalions rehearsed the New Year's security operation.

18 Mar 05: The rest of the new battalion arrived today. They only took
18 hours to get here from Kabul. Even though it was Friday, I still had to work. We have the New Year's security mission, the new battalion arrival, and switching of the feeding program from US control to Ministry of Defense control to work on.

20 Mar 05: I ran around today trying to see if the new vendor for the feeding of the ANA that starts tomorrow. As of 4:30 pm this afternoon, the new contractor hadn't delivered all the food he needs for tomorrow.
Tomorrow all the shops in MeS will be closed for the Afghan New Year celebrations. I just hope the ANA don't get hungry and decide to mutiny.

21 Mar 05: Today was the Afghan New Year. No trouble reported in MeS.
It was also the day the food contract was switched over to the new vendor. I ate lunch in the ANA officer's mess. I haven't gotten sick yet. This evening, CPT W (one of the ETTs with the 3rd (new) Battalion) came by with some meat that had been served to an ANA soldier. What was served was mostly bone with little meat. We showed it to LTC McM who will show it to the corps G-4 tomorrow morning.

Major Dan Schultz

The opinions expressed in this message are entirely those of the author, and not those of the US Army Reserve, the Department of the Army, or the Department of Defense. Anyone who says otherwise is ichin' for a fight.

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Chapter 12: In Which Dan Meets a Minor VIP

22 Mar 05: The ANA food was only marginally, if that, improved. M, the senior
cook, showed me some of the meat that was delivered and referred to it as
"camel meat." Lost in the translation was that he was being metaphorical; it
really wasn't camel meat but only very poor quality meat. CPT G got a call at
06:45 that he had to proctor an exam for applicants for prospective ANA officers
at 08:00; he was promised two days notice for this mission. Apparently there
were two women who took the test; this may explain a question from an ANA
officer that I was drinking chi with about women US soldiers in Afghanistan .

Today was a good mail day; I received a package from my parents with
magazines and mail they received for me. That package was mailed on 23 Feb.
I also received letters/postcards mailed 01 Mar, 03 Mar, and 04 Mar. Thanks for
your support, even if it takes a month to get here.

I was also issued a cell phone today. (Or as I like to refer to it, a tether.)

23 Mar 05: This morning, M, the senior cook came to me complaining that he
had no supplies to clean dishes. In the afternoon I took him, an interpreter, SGT
R (who has control of operational funds to buy things), and two security forces
soldiers into MeS to buy supplies. We purchased enough cleaning materials.
We also tried to buy napkins, but M could only find one merchant who had
napkins in cartons. We negotiated for two cartons for 3600 Afghanis (about
$75). The cartons we got were half-empty. The merchant refused to give us full
cartons, so we called the deal off. It was enough for M to say that Afghans "were
bad people." I got back to Camp Tillman just in time for our 1800 battlefield
update brief.

24 Mar 05: I was told that there were about 25 ANA soldiers (and several of our
interpreters) at sick call today complaining of diarrhea. I don't know if it was from
the food or unclean dishes.

25 Mar 05: Friday. An off day. For real this time. Because it's Good Friday.

26 Mar 05: MAJ S (the garrison commander mentor) returned from leave. The
ANA passed out some jumpsuits to the cooks; they complained that it's hard to
get out of them to use the latrine. It was also pay day for the ANA. The brigade
and garrison pay went smoothly (about an hour for each), but the corps
personnel couldn't get their act together, so MAJ S (he's also the pay officer)
stopped the pay of the corps until tomorrow.

Bad news: Four soldiers from Camp Phoenix were killed when their HMMWV
ran over a land mine.

27 Mar 05: We finished paying the soldiers. Now the cooks want to be paid.
Kabul said it might take another two weeks to get them paid.

28 Mar 05: In the morning I went out with SFC PK to inspect a latrine conex and
a shower conex for the ANA soldiers at the temporary billeting site. They
needed a drain in the floor and to have the electrical and plumbing "ANA-
proofed." I spent the rest of the day shepherding 8 20' and 3 40' conexes into
place on the compound. I got the back of my neck sunburned enough that at the
battlefield update brief, COL T used me as an example of why we should start
using sunscreen.

29 Mar 05: I remembered my sunscreen and started wearing my "boonie" cap.
Got the ANA to move material from a b-hut to two of the new conexes so the b-
hut can be used to house interpreters.

30 Mar 05: Opened the latrine and shower conexes for the ANA even though
they hadn't been "ANA-proofed." COL T admonished me at the BUB not to
accept things from the Engineers that aren't complete.

31 Mar 05: This morning, I went to the forward logistics element (FLE) where we
pick up food and mail. There were a few letters to pick up. The PFC running the
food warehouse was pretty helpful, but the warehouse has limited fresh
vegetables (potatoes and onions only.) He's supposed to be resupplied tonight
or tomorrow.

01 Apr 05: An off day. Sort of. At 08:00, I helped MAJ B observe the fuel point.
(The ANA hasn't been keeping very good track of the fuel; we suspect some
may be going to non-military uses.) At 10:45, we had a VIP visit. The Deputy
Undersecretary of Defense. (I didn't catch his name.) Then I could laze around
for the rest of the day. I'm including a picture of my area of the b-hut.

Major Dan Schultz

The opinions expressed in this message are entirely those of the author, and
not those of the US Army Reserve, the Department of the Army, or the
Department of Defense. Anyone who says otherwise is ichin' for a fight.

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