Body Parts

I am getting over my cold. Been writing my ass off, even though I am sick. I have an article coming out in both the newspapers in Tucson about three Army Civil Affairs soldiers I meet. We are going outside the wire in about 8 hours. Today there was a suicide bombing. Only the bomber was killed. I interviewed one of the guys that was there. He showed me pictures of body parts. My interview was not about that, though. Things are well. I may end up staying in Afghanistan through Christmas. I am not sure.

I seem to have developed a twitch in my pinky on my right hand.

THis is about the bombing: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4444110.stm

THE GHETTO JOURNALIST

Kandahar Airfield was attacked with rockets while I was out in the field. No one was hurt. But I heard that one of the airconditioners is pushing up daisies.
I traveled around the red desert with the 82nd Airborne looking for Taliban. One of the HMVs in the convoy was destroyed with an IED. No causualties. Just perforated ear drum on the machine gunner.
I spend 5 days and 4 nights in the desert and villages South West of Kandahar. I got to meet a warlord, see lots of camels and travel through the endless maze of dirt roads that connect rural Afghanistan. . .
I felt comfortable being in hostile territory. I am writing a bunch on this, so be patient. I wish I had a better bullet proof vest. Mine is a joke and I will die if I get shot or blown up. But I am the ghetto journalist.

This is the end, my only friend, the end.

We don't get the smell of Napalm here. The smell of shit fills the air, most nights. Up wind, the pools of sewage were strategically placed. Every day shit and piss are dumped into these three little lakes. A week ago, two Hummers were mysteriously driven into these foul smelling oasis's of waste.

I flew a mission over the red desert two days ago. My Black Hawk Mission was canceled, for now. I picked up a three day gun truck mission. We are driving around looking for Taliban returning from Pakistan. I can't give details, but it promises lots of firefights. The Captain of the unit told me my laptop probably will not get shot, but may be blown up by an IED. I wish I had a better bullet proof vest for this one. 3 days on the road hunting insurgents. And we hunt at night. Fields of marijuana were all over in the areas I visited on Saturday. The red desert was a blast. It covers hundreds of miles, and the Afghanis call it the Desert of Death. There is no place like home. I got to fire the M-240H machine gun from the right gunner's position over the red desert. As looked up, I noticed that the Black Hawk escort was right next to us. That was a strange feeling. . .
For the next three days I will be dodging bombs and bullets. . . I think I am going to extend my stay in Afghanistan for 2 more weeks, then go to Iraq. There is so much fun stuff to do here, I just can't get enough. I can't remember if I posted this, but my articles are out now, too. At least the paper in Pahrump is on line.

National Guard in Pakistan
http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2005/11/04/news/guard.html
Jim Cyr at War in Afghanistan
http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2005/11/04/news/cyr.html

For the last week, I have lost feeling in my left hand. I have not had any feeling in my pinky and ring finger on my left hand. I think it is carpel tunnel. Not sure. My back, as usual, is killing me as well. I sleep OK, but at odd hours. . . everything is odd here.


This is the end, of our elaborate plans, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes, again.

Jingle Trucks and Warlords

I still have trouble figuring out what day it is. I am on Zulu time, all the time now. That means I don't know what the fuck time it is in Afghanistan, or the US. But everyone uses Zulu time here. The world is divided into basically 24 time zones. For easy reference in communications, a letter of the alphabet has been assigned to each time zone. The "clock" at Greenwich, England is used as the standard clock for international reference of time in communications, military, aviation, maritime and other activities that cross time zones. The letter designator for this clock is Z. Times written in military time (24 hour format) are four digits, such as, 1830Z (6:30 pm) with the Zulu suffix. Note that the phonetic alphabet is used for the letter Z (Zulu). This time is usually referred to as Zulu Time because of the letter assigned to this time zone. Its official name is Coordinated Universal Time or UTC. This time zone had previously been called Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) but was replaced with UTC in 1972 as the official world time standard changed. While GMT is based on Earth's rotation and celestial measurements, UTC is a based on cesium-beam atomic clocks. The two clocks are rarely more than a second apart as leap seconds are applied to UTC. So the real fucked up thing is that Afghanistan time is something like 4.5 hours different from Zulu. So 1600Z = 2030 Local. Got it? Now, what day is it here? And what day is it in Nevada? I think I am one day ahead of the states. Or some shit like that. Today was an incredibly good day. I have two helicopter missions this weekend, back to back. One to the South of Afghanistan on a CH-47, then another on a Black Hawk into some combat in an undisclosed location. I wish I could say more, but it really is classified. I am also writing about the Jingle Trucks, which are art trucks the Army leases. They are very colorful and have jingly things hanging off of them. While setting this up, I was offered dinner with the local warlord, who owns the Kandahar Airfield, and leases it to the United States. So, dinner with the warlord next week, as well as trip into Kandahar on gun trucks. With all this combat, I wish I had a better bullet proof vest. Oh well. I don't die. Friday marks the first day of publication for the Northern NV News Wire. I have the front page of the newspaper in Pahrump, NV, hometown of Art Bell. Next week, I will be in the Battle Mountain Bugle and Humboldt Sun. I also have some stuff in the East Oregonian and some little paper in Milton-Freewater, Ore. Reno Gazette Journal is pending. Things are going well for me. I am in my element. Still broke, though. It will be weeks until I get a pay check and it gets into my account. Also, the person that was going to send me a care package flaked. Oh well. I guess I will go without Hunter S. Thompson to read, cigarettes and snuff. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead! My missions are getting progressively more dangerous. I am aware of this. But that is why I am here. I'll let you know what it is like to rub elbows with Mr. Death. That's my job. Just hope I don't get the shit blowed out of me. OK, so I have up loaded more photos. http://rawfire.torche.com/~priapus/images/caleb1/
There are 8 pictures of a Jingle Truck. There are a few pictures of the hanger on the base that the CIA built during the cold war to house U2 spy planes. You can see lots of the bullet holes in the hanger from years of love and war. Also, pictures of the Kandahar international airport, which is supposed to open next month. It still has bullet holes, too. There is the Mosque on the base that is going back to the public, soon, and some houses that people live in, Russian barracks that were bombed, just outside the wire.

Halloween

I dreamt of flying last night. Of course, I spent over 6 hours in the air over Afghanistan in a CH-47 with the Nevada National Guard. They decorated the inside with a number of American Flags and one Nevada State flag. It was very touching. I got to ride in the jump seat, which is in the cockpit of the helicopter between the pilot and co-pilot. I had a specatacular view of the flight. I got to see camels, goats and numerous Afghani villages. Afghanistan is about 2/3s mountains and I got to fly over a bunch of them. I can't say much about the places I went to, or what we did. That stuff is classified. I have some pictures I will be posting soon of the unclassified stuff. I can't post pictures of Black Hawks. Those are classified. But I will be riding on one next week. I am setting up another mission. Not sure where I will be going next. MAJ Capps and I had lunch today and he told me to stop by tomorrow at 0300 ZULU to set up another flight. Some how I find it strange that I can just walk into a military operation and ask for ride. But I can. Tomorrow I am setting up some rides on the gun trucks. When I leave Afghanistan, I am riding a convoy from Kandahar to Kabul. I am in my element here. I've been in Afghanistan over a week. I like this place, and I like my job. I am getting along well with the troops. I finished two articles and they should be printed in the next week. Internet is totally fucked the past few days. I haven't been able to get but one or two emails opened, and usually can only respond to one. PLEASE NOTE: If you email me crap, or want to start shit with me, or waste my time about rumors of things I have done in the past, or anything unrelated to me being in the war, now, and my immediate needs, you will not hear from me, and you will piss me off and I will block your future emails.
I got to set in on the briefing before I went on my flight on Halloween. I left early in the morning and did not return until almost sunset. I had on a headset, so I was able to listen to the pilots and the crew. They are a fun bunch of guys, all from Nevada. They treated me very cool. Certain restrictions of my job do make me feel that the balls are more than a little shaved from my writing and the information I am able to pass on to you, my humble and faithful readers. I am working slow, getting a feel for what I can and cannot say. Things regarding the special forces in any capacity are a no-no to talk about. Wink, wink. Numbers of troops, and helicopters shot down are also a faux pas to mention. Well, at least I like the job. I should. I made it, and I am the boss. Today, I took it pretty easy. Slept in. I have 3 more weeks here. As I get closer to the troops and my writing format unfolds, things will go much more faster. Then I am most likely off to Iraq. I tried to watch the movie THREE KINGS last night. They have a little movie theater here in the MWR that seats about 24. I couldn't really get into the movie. And the DVD messed up in the middle, anyway. I did watch THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK this afternoon. That was OK, I guess. Some kind of distraction. Watching a war movie in the war just doesn't cut it for me. I have more stuff to say, but I guess my blog is being put second. I am developing a column called DISPATCHES to sort of blog-like-cover what I am doing here. But I want to get it in a newspaper before I put in my blog.