FOB Lagman

Well, I've finally arrived at FOB Lagman. Like most FOBs here in Afghanistan, it's named for a fallen hero, in this case, Army Staff Sergeant Anthony S. Lagman, who was killed March 18, 2004.
To read more about SSG Lagman, and any of our other fallen heroes, check out this link:

http://www.militarycity.com/valor/263009.html

FOB Lagman is not much to look at. It's like a refugee camp with a really big landing zone for helicopters.
I've been to several places in Afghanistan in the past two weeks; Salerno, BAF, KAF, FOB Apache and now FOB Lagman. It's important to note that we have Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines living all over Afghanistan, Iraq, the Horn of Africa and other less known places. These service men and women live in a variety of conditions, from luxurious to primitive and everywhere in between.

For some of us the decision is what dining facility to choose for this meal; European, North American or local national quisine.
For some of us the decision is warm shower, or another meal in the (one) dining facility. You can't have both because hot water runs out quickly, right around chow time, so you can get one or the other.

Amazingly, a Soldier's happiness with the deployment is not dependent upon which of the two extremes he or she has for living conditions. Some are perfectly happy at the austere locations, while others are miserable in a luxurious location. The difference between happiness and misery is much more dependent upon the job, the chain of command and the working conditions. I've seen happiness and misery at both locations, and I've personally been happy at Salerno and now Lagman, because at both locations I've had a job I enjoyed and good people to work with.
DFAC named for PFC Mykel F. Miller
Killed in Action September 6, 2007


Christmas decorations at the DFAC, FOB Lagman, Afghanistan

Fireplace (fake) and hearth in the DFAC

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all!



And a Happy New Year.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.

Luke 2:14

Let us pray for peace on earth...

Christmas in Kandahar

Christmas in Kandahar

Well, it’s not quite the trenches of WWI, or the Battle of the Bulge, but Christmas in Kandahar is special in its own way.

In a previous blog I noted that holidays are not the same when you are deployed, and that is true. Some holidays are even more special, more meaningful, when you are deployed, especially to a war zone. Christmas must be the biggest, and the hardest, holiday to spend deployed. There is nothing like Christmas with family and friends, but as you can see we do have our deployed family and our deployed friends to lean on during this time of year.

Tonight at the Christmas Eve service the chaplain talked about Peace on Earth, and how far away it seems in this place. Yesterday we spent an hour in the bunkers during a rocket attack. Tonight we’ve got three patients in the operating room, injured while the tried to emplace an IED. Sometimes it seems peace has forgotten Afghanistan, and some other places as well. I guess the best we can do, the place we can start, is finding peace in our own hearts.

I will be spending Christmas Day at the flight line and passenger terminal, welcoming a new contingent of Jordanian Army forces, then flying with them out to Camp Eagle, a remote ANA/Jordanian camp in southern Afghanistan. I will miss the traditional Christmas dinner, but I will have a traditional Jordanian/Arab feast to welcome the new Jordanian commander. I don’t think we will have turkey, but I’m sure there will be goat, rice, yogurt and fruit, among other things.

For anyone who is wondering, I was not fired from my other job. I was always scheduled to come down to Kandahar and Qalat after my unit finished it’s mission at FOB Salerno. For a number of reasons I was needed here earlier than expected, so I departed FOB Salerno on short notice and arrived here at KAF on 17 Dec. Now, with the arrival of the new Jordanian forces I will move to FOB Lagman, near Qalat, Afghanistan to assume duties as the liaison officer for the Jordanian Field Hospital.

I will be incommunicado for almost a week, while I am travelling to some places without internet access. Once I’ve settled again I’ll let you know where I am and how the mission went, and how the traditional arab dinner went as well!

Until later.

Phillips, out.

KAF

Well, I've arrived at Kandahar Airflield.

This blog was never meant to be a "this is my life" blog. I originally concieved of it as just a good way to keep my family informed of my adventures in Afghanistan. I never thought anyone outside my immediate family would ever read this blog. But, since it is read by so many now it has become a way for me to share one Soldier's experience in Operation Enduring Freedom. And, in keeping with that objective, my last post and the next few posts will describe how quickly things can change during a deployment and the wide variety of living and working conditions one can experience throughout Afghanistan.

On 12 December I was at FOB Salerno, happy and content with my life and my mission, when I received an order to "get to KAF as soon as possible". Well, as soon as possible is not always very soon in Afghanistan. On 16 Dec I finally got a flight to BAF and after about 36 frustrating hours I got another flight to KAF on 17 Dec.

On the C-17 to KAF.

I'm now at Kandahar Airfield (KAF, in OEF-speak). It's bigger that FOB Salerno, but much smaller than BAF. And it's got character....

The building we use for a passenger terminal is knows as the TLS building, which stands for Taliban Last Stand. Rumor has it that this is the building where, obviously, the Taliban held their last stand before the fall of their regime in the opening months of Operations Enduring Freedom. Kandahar is the spiritual home of the Taliban, and still a very unfriendly place for Coaltion Forces.

Tomorrow (19 Dec) I move out of KAF to FOB Laghman, where I will be working with a Jordanian Army Field Hospital which is in Afghanistan to teach and train and mentor Afghan providers at one of the provincial hospitals. My day-to-day activities will be in and around the capital of Zabul Province.

KAF is a multi-national FOB, with forces from Canada, Romania, the Netherlands, the US and several other nations. It's a great experience and a real adventure.

Land Rover Defenders wherever you look!


Since I'm on the move I'm using computers at the MWR, so I've got limited time to post to my blog. I'll update it as time permits. For now, let me just say that one's experiences in Afghanistan depend a great deal on where and when one serves. KAF today is not what it was in 2002, nor what it will a few years from now. BAF, KAF and SAL are all FOBs, but all very different places.

My time on the MWR computer is up. I'll post more later.



On thing I've noticed, on all the FOBs I visit, there is no shortage of memorials to fallen heroes.

















Phillips, out.

Change of Mission

Be careful what you ask for....

About a week ago I changed my status on my Facebook account to "ready for a change of mission".
Little did I know how close I was to exactly that!

It's been the plan for some time now that after I finished my command at the Salerno Hospital I would move too Qalat, Afghanistan to serve as a liaison to the Jordanian Field Hospital. I was planning to do that on or about 3 January 2008. Well, late on 12 December I got a call from my boss, "I need you in Qalat on 14 Dec!" For anyone who has served here, getting from point A to point B is rarely easy, and never quick.

So, after a whirlwind 3 days getting my personal and professional affairs in order I departed from FOB Salerno on 16 December, heading to Bagram to catch a flight to Kandahar to catch another flight to Qalat. But, Bagram is always backed up with personnel trying to get to places throughout Afghanistan, and at this time of year the mail has priority over most passengers, so everyone can get their Christmas packages on time! So, here I sit in Bagram, waiting for a flight...

I'll keep up the blog from Qalat, and I'll see if there is someone who will keep up the blog for the Salerno Hospital from FOB Salerno.

I'll post more when I get settled, in Kandahar or Qalat, or wherever the next mission takes me.

Phillips, out.

Salerno Hospital in the News

For those who are interested, the Salerno Hospital has been in the news recently.

The Christian Science Monitor did a story about our Chaplain, CPT Kurt Bishop. He's assigned to Task Force Desert Hawk, the Aviation Task Force from the Arizona National Guard. He has also adopted the hospital, voluntarily, I might add.

Also, CNN did a story about the training program we have of Afghan doctors. They interviewed members of my staff, both US and Afghan.

Here are the links to both stories:

http://www.csmonitor.com/specials/chaplains

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2007/12/01/robertson.afghan.saving.lives.cnn?

And don't worry, I'm still working to add pictures to the Holiday post. My internet connection is intermittent, so adding pictures is an exercise in patience; yours and mine!

Phillips, out.

Deployed Holidays

There’s something bitter-sweet about holidays when you are deployed.

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and Christmas is just around the corner. Holiday lights and Christmas trees decorate the hospital and offices and hootches, alongside weapons and body armor, patients, medical equipment and supplies.

Thanksgiving on FOB Salerno was just like any other day, except for the meal. The Dining Facility went all-out, and did a great job. The lines were long for turkey, roast beef, stuffing, candied yams, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, ice cream, coffee, tea, soda or water. But before and after, there was still work to do. The patients still come, holiday or not, and for a hospital the mission never stops.

Now, the decorations are popping up all around the FOB (but no outside lights on FOB Salerno!) and Christmas music is heard wherever you go. Naturally, everyone begins to think of home and family and all they are missing while they are away. As we prepare to celebrate Christmas with our deployed family, we think about our families back home.

For the Soldiers of the 396^th Combat Support Hospital, our time in Afghanistan is drawing to a close. Since most of the 396^th CSH Soldiers will be home soon after Christmas, many are planning a late Christmas celebration. At home the trees will stay up and many of the presents will remain unopened until their Soldier returns home, and then the celebration will make up for all the holidays missed over the last year!

When I was deployed to Iraq in 2003 my family and I celebrated Christmas together over Thanksgiving weekend while I was home on R&R leave, then again separately in December. Since I’m not coming home from Afghanistan until April, and my R&R leave was in October, this Christmas will be subdued for me and for my family back home as we celebrate anther holiday apart.

I think a little austerity at Christmas is good; it makes me thankful for all I have. While the Christmas carols play in the emergency room, singing of peace on earth, we treat patients with gunshot wounds and blast injuries from IED and RPGs. While we shop and send home gifts for our children, we think of the many Afghan children we treat; the amputees, the orphans, the sick, the malnourished, the scared and lonely and hopeless. While we line up for Christmas dinner, we think of those children who go to bed hungry every night, and the parents who worry about them and their future. Yes, a little austerity is good.

And we end the holidays with New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Traditionally, these days for looking back to reflect upon all we have accomplished in the last year, and looking forward to all we can expect in the year to come. For us, we will look back and reflect on all we have accomplished; the patients treated, the friendships made, fears overcome and the loneliness endured. And we will look forward to the year to come, and pray for peace on earth so our sons and daughters and friends and relatives do not have to leave home and family to fight in foreign lands. The realists among us will say this is just a dream, but it’s a dream that we dare not let die, for if we stop dreaming of peace we must resign ourselves to continual war. Afghanistan is truly a place were you can see firsthand the consequences of war, continual and violent and unpredictable. It is impossible for anything to flourish in the poisoned soil of war and violence and death.

Progress requires peace and safety and security.

Well, that’s probably enough philosophy for one blog entry. I don’t write often enough, but I write whenever I feel I have something to say.

Thank you for reading, thank you for caring and thank you for praying of me and my Soldiers and Airmen and patients.

And don't worry, pictures will be added shortly.

Phillips, out.

(pictures now added!)