Now It's Getting Real

Because I have know for about ten months that I would be doing this job, I have had plenty of time to think about how I was going to go about "forming the tribe" as they call it.  I knew there would be challenges bringing people together from the Navy, Navy Reserve, Air Force, Army, Army Reserve and National Guard.  Throwing together people from six different cultures to live in close quarters, train together and then travel to a far off land to do the nation's bidding provides a significant leadership challenge.  So, for quite some time I have been thinking about how I would go about it, what I would say and what direction I would take to get them ready.  But, I realized I really had no clue until they started arriving for training, and the team started to form throughout the first couple of weeks.

Working with such a diverse group requires an understanding of each person's circumstances and exactly how and why they ended up here...in Indiana...ready to go to Afghanistan.  Some, like me, are active duty and this is just another duty station. Some of those on active duty were yanked from their ship or shore station and were told to be here.  For others, up until a few weeks ago they had real jobs in the real world until it was time to once again put on the uniform and answer the call.  It is not always easy to flip a switch and go right back into the military mode, especially if your civilian job is far removed from anything resembling the military.  It is a good bet that the leadership style used in their civilian occupation is different, not to mention the working and living environment.  For others, they come as an already established unit being folded into the tribe.  Our National Guard brothers have been working together for some time now, training, bonding and getting in shape.  So, for the first week the organization was a bit loose as we all had to attend a variety of training lectures and meetings.  But, as I saw the team start to form and saw the variety of backgrounds and experience it really hit me that I need to get this team ready to go to war.

At first I waffled a little bit in my brain with one side of me saying "They are all going to Afghanistan.  Let them relax a bit, get through this training with the least possible resistance and avoid stressing them out ." Wrong.  If we are going to do the job right and if every single one of us is going to react in the correct way during any sort of crisis or stressful situation, then now is the time to prepare.  Now is the time to stress them and to make mistakes and correct them here during training.  Now is the time to get them in shape, physically, psychologically, emotionally, spiritually. None of them are new to the military so they understand the drill.  They just need to reach back to that time where their minds were open and allow themselves to be molded, once again, into a cohesive team that will look after each other, protect each other, correct each other and support each other.  Building a commitment to the team and the mission is vital to ensuring we excel every moment of every day that we are together.

So, we form up, every morning as a team prior to breakfast and prior to heading off in various directions for different training evolutions.  We put out the word, communicate, and work on integrating the six tribes into one.  Our physical training program will start in earnest this week so that they can build their fitness and endurance.  We are carrying our weapons and training with them even though we do not shoot a single round for at least another week.  We all have to be comfortable with the weapons so the weapons do not intimidate us when they are loaded with live rounds.  We will take them apart and put them back together.  We will clean them so that they work correctly when needed.  We will learn safety procedures so we can do it in our sleep.  For all evolutions, we will work hard now so that everything we do will be second nature when we leave for Afghanistan in June whether it be handling weapons, driving vehicles, interacting with the people of Afghanistan, ordering supplies or taking care of paperwork.  All of it is important and we have to get it right.  The glory of it is that we are going to do all this and have fun doing it.  We are going to have fun because we will be working toward a purpose and everyone will know their role.  It will be fun because we are not going to drive people into the ground.  Challenging the team to take it to the next level is one thing but to be able to do it and to build a team that is proud, motivated and...yes...happy...that is the direction we are going.

I owe it to them to ensure they are ready.  I owe it to them and to their family and friends so that while they are away from home they are fully prepared.  I owe it to them so that we complete our mission and come home better than when we left.  Better, Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen....better citizens.....better people for having served with Team Kunar.

It is the right thing to do.

Sick Again

When I first arrived at Camp Atterbury the first week of February I moved in to an open bay barracks with nine other people.  Within just a few days the crud had spread throughout the barracks so that as we made our way over to Afghanistan for our site survey I was down hard.  Nothing like living in a tent in Central Asia with snow coming down and a good, solid cold making you nice and weak.  I eventually got over it so that by the time I arrived in Kunar, I was healthy again.  On the trip back, however, I spent about eighteen hours in the air with breathing in that stale air surrounded, once again, by sick people.  So by the time I arrived back in the states I was down hard again.  The guy across the aisle from me on the plane actually ended up in the hospital where he ended up contracting pneumonia (he is fine now).  After about a week I was once again healthy and ready for the next challenge.  What I failed to realize was that the next challenge was going to be getting sick again.  For as soon as I arrived back at Camp Atterbury I was back in the open bay barracks.  Within just a few days I could feel it start to come on with a tickle in by throat.  Soon the tickle became a jagged knife.  Then the cough started.  The guy living across the aisle from me in the barracks ended up in the isolation barracks for three days with a bad flu (do you see a trend here)?

So now I am battling through while not letting it affect the rest of the team, both from a health perspective and a morale perspective.  It would be very easy to take everything out on the team but, I am keeping my spirits up and driving forward.  We are receiving ten more members of the team today, four tomorrow and the rest will arrive on Tuesday.  One of the guys that arrived today is a very young third class petty officer with a wife and child.  He has just come back from Bahrain and is on his way to Afghanistan and he is not old enough to walk into a store and buy a six-pack of beer.  This young man and I were both born in Mercy Hospital, Nampa, Idaho (not at the same time).  Although I left Nampa a few months after being born, he stayed and married his high school sweetheart (also a product of Mercy).  The funny thing is they went to Boise for the birth of their daughter...better hospitals there he said.

The leadership challenges abound as most of us are Navy and Air Force learning the Army way.  Already there have been a few where the choice has to be made whether to fight a particular battle (figurative), or live to fight another day.  One of the interesting aspects of building this team is that they do not get the training members of a normal command would be provided.  Someone going to a surface ship as a department head attends six months of department head school followed by specialty training depending on what type of ship they are going to.  Executive Officer attend PXO school and Command Leadership School.  My guys have none of that.  But the great attitudes and the desire to learn and to do well have trumped any schools they were denied.  They will excel I have no doubt.

Meanwhile I am sitting here with my hot chai made by our two linguists that live and train with us.  One more night in a Nyquil stupor and hopefully I will be back on my game.  

Talking Too Much

Normally when you report to a new command in the military you arrive to an already established organization that has been trucking along for years.  You are usually referred to as the new guy while you try to find your way around, see how things operate and wait patiently for someone else to show up so you are no longer the new guy.  Hopefully you receive a good turnover from someone who has been doing the job for a couple of years and before you know it you are part of the team, moving forward to do your part in completing the mission of the command.

This time I am a part of something different and extraordinary.  I arrived back in Indiana a week ago and immediately started to work with an amazing group of Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen to build a team from scratch.  These are the folks that I will go to Afghanistan with and I can say quite easily that I am blessed.  To be able to build the team from the ground up is truly a gift.  With a core group of just less than thirty we have already started to shape it and mold it into the team that we want...into a family that is going forth to Afghanistan to do great things.  The days have been long as I have been in training all day and then I have been meeting with four members of the team every night one on one to get to know all of these people who have come from all over, plopping down in the middle of Indiana to be a part of something greater than themselves. I usually finish up around ten, tired and ready to sleep.  But it is a good tired.  It is a good tired because I end each day energized by the spirit and the commitment that every member of this team shows.  Every one of them have different reasons for being here.  Many volunteered...some were voluntold meaning their parent commands were tasked to submit a name to go to Afghanistan and they were chosen. Some feel an obligation to go because to be in the military during a time of conflict means you have the opportunity to have a positive impact on the end result.  These people do not want to stay on the sidelines but rather, are anxious to take their turn as many of their friends have.  I am impressed by their professionalism and their positive attitudes....not a knucklehead in the bunch...except me of course.

Over the next week about sixty more will arrive and then we will almost be a complete team (a couple will join us later in the training).  The first order of business has been to set the tone for the training.  Camp Atterbury has an unfortunate reputation.  Every person I spoke with while I was in Afghanistan talked about how much Atterbury sucked.  Our team will not have that same experience because we will ensure that every member of the team keeps perspective while we foster an attitude of excellence in all things.  The training will be effective, the team will get in shape and they will maintain balance in their lives by maintaining contact with their families and friends.  Over the next year birthdays, graduations, anniversaries and other special events will fly by and it is important that they continue to be a part of all that whether it is through phone calls, Skype, emails, gifts, etc.  Throughout the training we will always strive to do things just a little bit better which will set us up for the deployment so that we go over there fully prepared and ready to assume the duties.

It may be corny but I have never been so excited about a mission or a job in my thirty plus years in the Navy. There will be frustrations and setbacks but because this is such a great team, we will meet each challenge head on and continue to move forward with a clear path to success.

Unfortunately my enthusiasm and excitement for the challenge ahead is probably wearing down the core of about twelve who have had to suffer through my pontificating.  Each day we spend the morning in class and then we move to our trailer to work through planning exercises.  Once the exercise is complete I have been taking them through many of the necessary steps to build an organization from nothing.  I have spent the last few days going on and on about everything and anything that pops into my head, usually dealing with leadership and taking care of the troops.  I am having such a great time that I often forget myself and keep them their so long they have to hurry to get to the dining facility before it closes for dinner.  It is just too much fun for me, but I have to throttle back a bit and let them breathe and get their feet planted firmly underneath them.  Perhaps in the next couple of days I will have mercy on them....maybe.  For now, the hour is late and I must rise early in the morning.  Good night!

Reflections on a short visit

I have been back in the states for a week now, spending it mostly in bed fighting a bad cold that I brought back with me.  We received an unexpected week off, so I flew back to Washington State to spend time with the family.  Unfortunately, most of the time was spent in a Nyquil stupor.  Living in a tent while we were at Bagram coupled with sixteen hours of flight time back to the states probably went a long way towards making me sick.  I spent the first week in Afghanistan with a similar cold.  Tomorrow I head back for two days of training in DC and then it is back to Indiana for about three months.  As soon as I left Kunar, updating the blog became impractical as I had to wait in line for a computer on base.  They have a free internet cafe with a thirty minute limit.  At least ten minutes of that is waiting for the different web pages to load.  I would go on maybe once a day, check email real quick, send a short reply and my time would be up.  Now that I have a few moments I thought I would throw out some reflections on Kunar and my short time there:

-  It did not take long for reality to set in after I arrived.  The first night there they took me up to the flight line to observe an incoming medevac helicopter that was coming in with casualties.  A vehicle had hit an improvised explosive device on the road and some of the guys were banged up so they were bringing them in.  The stretcher bearers were lined up in two rows waiting for the helo to come in, not sure what to expect but ready for anything.  In their time in Kunar they had been through this dozens of times and they had seen a little bit of everything.  I had the sense immediately that they took this collateral duty very seriously but at the same time they were loose and comfortable in what they had to do.  Their part would only last a few minutes as the  surgical team would take over as soon as they were in the clinic, but their part was critical nonetheless.  The only light was from the moon as the helo came toward the landing pad.  We all faced away as the rotors kicked up dirt and rocks and we had to take one knee to avoid getting blown over from the terrific force the rotors generated in all directions.  One of the guys quickly put my collar up and velcroed it like a choker so I would not be digging the dirt out of my shirt later on.  Once the helo was on the ground the stretcher bearers went toward the helo in their two lines and quickly started making their way through the dark toward the clinic, being careful with their precious cargo.   The opening credits of MASH popped into my brain as the same scene played out right in front of me.  Inside the clinic the doctors and medics went to work, evaluating the four patients, taking x-rays, asking probing questions and determining the course of action.  Again, I was impressed by their professionalism and their amazing skills.  Thankfully none of the injuries were serious, but I knew I was no longer sitting in my corner office in Seattle looking up at the Space Needle...I was at war.

- It was interesting to look into the faces of the people as we walked through the villages or visited the schools.  They looked...tired.  I have tried to put myself in their place, to get a glimpse of how I would feel if another countriy's soldiers (and a few wayward Sailors) were patrolling my street in Lake Stevens, weapons at the ready or rolling through my town with their large armored vehicles.  Of course, I know I would not like it.  Especially if I was seeing the second or third country's soldiers in my lifetime come through and stay awhile.  The Russians rolled in and stayed through much of the eighties.  Once the Afghans drove them back to Russia, Afghanistan was torn apart by civil war until the Taliban took control and we all know how that turned out.   Over the next few months it will be important for me to determine how I will approach the relationships that I will be inheriting when I return to Kunar.  The PRT has been around for about seven years, so I will be the next in a line of Americans in cammies saying "we are here to help."  How I approach it is definitely a work in progress.

-  It was intriguing to see the dynamics at one of the schools we visited.  As I mentioned in a previous post, the school was in session when we arrived.  The front side of the school had six classrooms facing the courtyard, three to the left of the main entrance, and three to the right.  As we approached the entrance, the three windows to the right opened and the space was immediately filled with boys of many ages looking out at us.  The current PRT CO walked along in front of the windows and started to greet the students.  A teacher in a white pukol (hat) and a denim jacket came out from the front entrance carrying a stick.  The stick was not particularly thick but it was sturdy and I immediately caught on that he was heading directly for the boys in the windows.  I noticed a boy in the first window closest to the entrance.  He was probably fifteen or sixteen, tall and thin, and he was leaning forward with his hands on the window sill. He was looking away from the teacher toward the CO.  I could see right away that he was going to be the unfortunate victim of the stick wielding teacher but there was nothing to do but cringe as the stick came down with a loud thwack across the student's wrists.  A scramble of bodies disappeared from the three windows as the students practically fell back into their classrooms as the teacher made his way along the windows.  Fortunately their youthful speed kept them from having their wrists scarred by the teacher's wrath as they were able to get out of range before he could reach anyone else.  Twice more inside though, students ventured out into the hallway to see what we were doing only to have the stick-wielding teacher corral them back into their respective classrooms.  The last boy, another teenager probably seventeen or eighteen and six inches taller than the teacher, received a good whack across his hip and backside before he scrambled back to class.  Our linguist told the teacher it was not necessary but he just replied that if he did not do that the students would be "climbing on our shoulders like monkeys."  A few days ago I read an article about a teacher in the US who shook a table to get the students' attention.  One of his students became frightened and dialed 911.  Sure enough the police took him away and he is now suspended.  Perhaps we can strike some sort of balance on this issue, yeah?  Of course, it also gave me flashbacks to seventh grade history when Mr. Clausnitzer smacked me upside the head a couple of times when I was talking in class.  Another instance, again talking in class, he actually grabbed me by the hair and led me to another desk.  Wow, this is great therapy...so many issues are coming to light!

Enough for now.  I had a thousand other observations while I was there and I cannot wait to build upon them in the coming months.  More later...