End of Week 3...

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Children of All Ages...welcome to the greatest show on earth..." If you are familiar with this opening line, then you know you are about to witness a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey three ring circus. Well, let's just say that life at Camp Leatherneck can be best described as a 300 ring circus...with each ring representing a different organization anxiously awaiting for a project to be completed so that they can either move-in, relocate or expand operations. It is also a great description for the office I share with my partner in crime here at Leatherneck, 2Lt A.J. Harris. At one point this week, 2Lt Harris and I were host to 10 different people in our 12ft x 12ft office, each carrying on a independent conversation with one or both of us...sometimes at the same time. Some jobs are described as being many hours of boredom while you await 30 seconds of exhilaration (like fire fighting)...our job here is more like many hours of sheer chaos with 30 seconds of the peaceful silence of no visitors. It is almost as if this office as assumed the title of "Place to go if you just want to go shoot the bull and, oh by the way, ask about a project completion date". We take it all in stride...and have used this unofficial hang-out location to work many "back office" deals with those folks who can help us out.

Enough about that...this week I had the pleasure of traveling out to one of the outlying forward operating bases (FOB) to meet 3 of the members of my team who are providing facility engineering support to the marines at that location. I, along with 2 other members of the engineering office here at Leatherneck, flew out on Wednesday morning on a USMC C-130. It was a short 30 minute flight with nothing exciting to report. We accompanied a pallet full of merchandise destined for the Post Exchange at the FOB, which included about 100 cases of Red Bull and other energy drinks. Turns out that these drinks are an absolute necessity here in Afghanistan. The marines on the flight with us were trying to figure out if they could remove a case or 2 from the pallet without anyone noticing...fortunately the plane landed before they could devise a plan. The FOB we visited is on the front edge of our push into the next focus of our war effort here in Afghanistan. As we drove around the FOB, the reality of what we are doing here was very evident. There were several convoys of military vehicles preparing to head out into harms way to "kick in doors and kill bad guys". Regardless what you may think about this war, seeing the faces of the men and women who are fighting this war makes it all very real. I'm just glad the US Marine Corps is on my side!

I didn't get a chance to take many pictures this week...probably because I left my camera sitting in my office all week. However, some of the folks who are involved in engineering work on Leatherneck did pose for a picture with a banner that a 5th grade class sent over around the holidays. The man dressed in civilian clothes on the right works for one of the construction companies that is doing a lot of work on Leatherneck. His son is in the class, and his dad promised that he would take a picture with "soldiers" in Afghanistan. What is really neat about this picture is that 3 out of the 4 military services are represented...Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, which is a great representation of how this war is being fought: completely joint with all services working along side one another.

I'll do a better job of getting some pictures of projects and sites this week...

The best news of the week is that the latrine facilities right outside of my tent were "turned on"! So far, word has not spread that there are functioning showers with hot water on the Seabees' compound. The 10 of us that actually live on the Seabee compound are hoping to keep it this way. One of my tent-mates and I were scheming up some signage for the doors to discourage visitors. We'll see how long we can keep the secret under wraps.

The second best news of the week is that my close friend and "blogger extraordanaire" Todd Hirneisen welcomed into the world his baby girl, Abigail Hope on Friday the 29th (sorry Todd - latrines less than 50 ft from my tent is just too exciting). The prayers of 100s of folks were answered that Todd was able to get home from his 6-months here in Afghanistan to witness the birth of his third child! I did remind Todd that he will be eligible for his AARP card when Abigail is in 9th grade...

As always, your thoughts, prayers, kind words and care packages are most greatly appreciated! I have been sharing the bounty of my care packages with my fellow engineers...though I readily admit that I scavenge thru them first to pull out my favorites.

Until I blog again...

End of Week 2...

Greetings sport fans...and welcome to another edition of Todd's Deployment Adventures! I have survived another week with the United States Marine Corps without being fired or thrown out of the office! I see this as a significant accomplishment and a benchmark to which I can continue to measure my success here at Camp Leatherneck. I figure if I set my expectations low enough, I bound to end up making someone happy here.

In all seriousness, I'm continuing to get up to speed on all the moving parts that make this installation tick. As a Civil Engineer, I am sitting in a dream job...being a part of the construction of a major installation supporting our war fighters. Sure, our days are full of "fire drills" and "drive-bys" (as we call them) that consume far more time than they should. But, my predecessor reminded me that you have to keep in perspective the mission of this installation and the men and women we are supporting. Every day, there are Marines putting their lives on the line and coming back here looking for a hot meal, a hot shower and a place to sleep comfortably at night. My job is to make sure these facilities are in place and operational so that the Marines don't even have to think about creature comforts.

Speaking of creature comforts, Merritt and Campbell have been very curious about the "tent" that daddy is living in. So, here is a picture of my home away from home.


This structure was originally called an "Alaskan Shelter System" but was recently changed to "Small Shelter System". If you are familiar with how the military likes to convert names into acronyms, you will quickly figure out why the name was changed. We have heat and air conditioning (I'm banking on the fact that the A/C will actually work effectively come April/May/June). The interior of the SSS was subdivided into 4 separate living areas with plywood walls, floor and separate entrances. My 3 tent mates are Navy Seabees - all Lieutenant Commanders (same rank as me - O-4). I'm not really sure the history of my position living with the Seabee staff, but it is nice to be around kindred spirits (Seabees are the equivalent of Air Force Civil Engineers - though they would probably say that they are far more capable).


The conditions are a bit spartan right now...my predecessor wasn't really into interior decorating. So, if any of you "closet" interior decorators have any ideas, please pass them along. I am looking for some sort of floor covering to make the space a bit more homey. Not sure what this will be...I did find a nice Afghan carpet at the bazaar this week, but $400 is probably a bit much for this application. I thought about hanging my Clemson and Vandy flags on the walls, but decided to hang them in my office (since I actually spend about 16 hours a day there) and have my office mate salute them every morning. He must not have gotten the memo I left him on the topic as his track record so far is pretty poor in this area.

About 50 feet outside of the entrance to my tent are 2 trailer type structures that were converted into Latrine/Shower/Shave (LSS) units. I believe the contract for these units stated "western construction standards". Unfortunately, this must mean "western Afghani" construction standards as we are having to complete rebuild the plumbing and electrical systems. Needless to say, it is going to be a while before I get the benefit of these. In the meantime, I drive every morning to the closet Life Support Area (LSA) to shower.

I am fortunate enough to have a vehicle to use during my stay here in Afghanistan. I'm sure at some point in its history, it was a fine piece of Japanese craftmanship - aka Toyota. Unfortunately, though, maintenance the Afghani way has not been kind to this truck. I've had a few minor issues with it...headlights randomly stop working (at night), windshield wiper washer actually activates the horn, and the gas gauge is off by about 1/2 a tank (yes, it ran out of gas). We turned it in for a routine 10-day maintenance check on Tuesday with a long laundry list of issues and haven't seen it since. I'm not sure whether to take this as a good sign that things are being fixed or a bad sign that the contractor has no clue how to repair it...we shall see.

I think I have found someone to donate a Wii to the team here...many thanks! I'm now on the quest for games, extra controllers and other accessories.

As always, thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers! Until next time....

End of Week 1...

I wasn't sure whether to title this the "End of Week 1" or the start of my first full week...I've been told that the days are long here but the weeks are short, so I've decided to follow in the footsteps of my colleague Lt Col Todd Hirneisen who just got home after his 6-months in Afghanistan and use the end of the week as my benchmark!

So, my week consisted of stops at Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan; Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan; and ultimately Forward Operating Base (FOB) Leatherneck, Afghanistan - my new home for the next 6-months. After a whirl-wind turnover with my predecessor, Maj Pete Keegan, I took the reins of Air Force Facility Engineer Team (FET) officially on Saturday. Pete is an outstanding officer and leader and left fairly large size 11 boots for me to fill...Offically, I am assigned to the 777 Expeditionary Prime BEEF Squadron, which is an Air Force Civil Engineer unit, based out of Kandahar. However, this squadron has been tasked to support numerous outlying FOBs, with Leatherneck being one of them. I'll be leading a team of 7 Air Force civil engineers in the execution of construction projects for FOB Leatherneck and all of the outlying FOBs that fall under Leatherneck's responsibility. FOB Leatherneck is in southern Afghanistan and is the home of the US Marine Corps presence in country. If you Google Leatherneck, you will probably learn lots of useful and not so useful information about our mission here.

Below is a picture of me at Manas...and yes that is snow on the ground.

Below is a picture of the Hindu Kush mountain range, which is visible on a clear day from Leatherneck. This mountain range has a long history and has been the site of several historical battles in our current War on Terrorism.

I have been taking some pictures of my living conditions and the general environment on Leatherneck that I will post some time this week in an "off-cycle" update. Merritt and Campbell are very interested to see what my "tent" looks like. I am fortunate to have my own space within a tent called a "Smalled Shelter System". Unfortunately, the moon dust that is the ground surface here gets into and on everything inside the tent b/c it isn't really a sealed environment. I've been told that after a month or so, you just give up the battle of trying to keep things clean and learn to become one with the dust! The weather has been pretty good here so far. Highs in the 60s, lows in the 30s. Supposedly we are due for some rain pretty soon, which makes travel here very difficult b/c there is no where for the rain water to go and the "moon dust" turns into a very sticky mud.

I appreciate everyone's continued prayers as I settle in and as the girls adjust to me being gone. Right now, I don't have any specific needs here...although we are setting up a new work office and the team is looking for a gaming system that we can play in the evenings or during our Saturday movie nights. So if anyone has a gently used Wii (or similar system) that they would like to donate to a most worthy cause, let me know. There are lots of airmen and marines w/ whom I work that would get a lot of enjoyment out of it.

For those who have been asking, here is my mailing address:

MAJ TODD M. GRAHAM
777 EPBS-LNK
FPO, AE 09372

Until next time...

The fun has begun!

First - Welcome to the first installment of what I hope will be a regularly updated account of my deployment to Central Asia...

Well, after many months of anticipation, my deployment to Central Asia has officially begun! On Thursday, the girls and I enjoyed lunch at Texas Ribs outside of Andrews AFB before I loaded the van with the rest of my Air National Guard team to drive to Norfolk Naval Air Station. Below are some pictures of us enjoying a fun meal together.

Me w/ Merritt and Campbell...

Me, Jennifer and the girls waiting for lunch at Texas Ribs...

After lunch, there were lots of hugs and kisses good-bye. I'm so proud of my girls and how well they did. There were tears, but also lots of smiles which warmed my heart!

My team and I loaded up for a quick (in relative terms to the overall trip) drive to Norfolk Naval Air Station. We were originally scheduled to fly out sometime on Friday, but the contract flight was delayed so we suffered an extra day in Norfolk and ended up leaving early on Saturday morning. The flight made a short stop in Bucharest for fuel and a crew change and then it was on to Manas AB in Kyrgyzstan. 20+ hours later after leaving Norfolk, we arrived in Kyrgyzstan to cold weather, much like what the DC area has right now. Manas AB is one of the main Transit Centers for troops going into and out of the Central and Southwest Asian theaters (Google it if you would like more information). This place is busy 24-7. Fortunately, there is pretty decent food and hot water for showers!

I should be settled in my final location in the next day or so and finally able to get rolling on the job. I hoping for at least a day or two of overlap with the officer I'm replacing...we'll see!

Needless to say, the hardest part of this deployment so far was saying good-bye to Jennifer and the girls on Thursday. After all of the discussion about leaving, the reality of being gone for 6-months set in. Before leaving, Jennifer and I took the girls to Build-a-Bear for them to pick out new stuffed animals for them to have while I'm gone (Thanks Aunt Liz for the gift cards!). Both girls picked out bunnies. I was able to record a short message for them on a device that is inside the bunny's arm. The girls can push a button and hear the message. Pretty neat!

Here is a picture after the girls finished dressing their bunnies...

We are so fortunate to have a huge support network of family and friends, who I know are going to help make this 6-months a lot easier for the girls. I'm incredibly grateful for all of the prayers and offers of support! They are much appreciated.