Additional Photos from the Week...

Greetings! Thought I would upload a few more pictures from the fire last Sunday.

Unfortunately, we lost a fire truck in the event.

The black smoke from the burning tires was very intense and thick.

End of Week 18 Update!

Hey All!

Welcome back to another edition of Todd's Deployment Adventures. I actually sat down with a calendar this evening to figure out just how many weeks I've been in country. Hard to believe, but I just wrapped up my 18th week in this glorious country of Afghanistan! I give thanks to the Lord Almighty for how quickly the time has passed and for his continued provision of safety over all of my fellow servicemen and women with whom I work here at Camp Leatherneck. I refuse to count how many days/weeks I have left in country as the work remaining to complete before I leave is great and the impact the work will have on the Marines here is high. I have realized that there really isn't a sunset on the construction activities. As long as there are servicemen and women aboard Camp Leatherneck, there will be requirements for construction. Though it will be hard to walk away from "unfinished" business, I know that whoever comes in to take my place on that glorious day in July will pick up the reigns and take the program to the next level of success.

The past couple of weeks have seen some really fun times and some really hard times. First, we were treated to an outdoor concert by Toby Keith on May 5th. He played a 45 minute acoustic set of all his famous military/war - esque songs. Toby definitely knows how to "play to his crowd." The next day, Toby spent some time on the camp meeting folks and posing for pictures. I was walking into the office and happened upon one of the photo shoot locations, so I jumped in line for a quick pic with Toby. He is a huge supporter of the military and was extremely gracious in his comments. Whether you like his music or not, he has a heart for the military, and we appreciated his time.

Unfortunately, last Sunday 17 May brought one of the harder times to Camp Leatherneck. We experienced a devastating fire within one of the main supply yards that destroyed well over 15 acres of parts, supplies and equipment. As I posted on my Facebook page, we were very fortunate to come thru this dramatic event with only minor injuries. The event started in the late afternoon and lasted well into Monday morning. All of the responders to this event worked throughout the night to safe guard the rest of the camp from what could have been utter disaster should the fames had spread to the life support areas that are right across the street. The exact cause of the fire is still under investigation. Below are some pictures of the event.

In the middle of the fire, a massive dust storm blew thru the camp dropping visibility to almost zero. Below is an amazing picture that one of the combat camera staff got of the dust storm just before it overwhelmed the site of the fire. This is one of the most amazing shots I have ever seen.

One of the ironies of this fire event is the previous week, new fire trucks were set to depart Kandahar Air Field for Camp Leatherneck. Unfortunately, there were some challenges with the selected means of transport. As you can see the "jingle truck" selected for this critical mission was not quite up to the task.

One of the successes we experienced over the past week is the opening of the gravel transfer yard. You are probably asking yourself, "What in the world is a gravel transfer yard?" Well, this just happens to be one of the first efforts I undertook when I got to Leatherneck in concert with my Marine Corps Construction Chief counterpart. He and I developed the concept of getting gravel onto the base via a transfer yard vice truckload after truckload thru the main entry point. After working thru the security details with the both the US and UK force protection officers, we received authorization to construct a 30 acre complex for contractors to drop and pull gravel. We officially opened the transfer yard for business last Sunday 16 May. The picture below is of me in front of one of the security gates as the first trucks enter the yard to drop off gravel into transfer cells.

The new operation significantly increased the level of security of the material entering the base and significantly reduced the number of trucks our security personnel have to screen on a daily basis as the trucks hauling the gravel out of the transfer yard into the base never actually leave the confines of the base security perimeter. This is probably one of my most rewarding projects as it had an immediate impact on the security personnel's workload and drastically improved construction timelines across the board.

Before I close for the week, I need to send some "shout outs" to all of the folks who sent care packages over the past couple of weeks!

Thanks to Jennifer and the girls; Mom & Dad; the Booz Allen Team at Andrews AFB; Matt, Mike and the team at Smith Barney; and the Hirneisen Family! The treats and goodies are being enjoyed by all of the staff here in the office...not to mention Marines across the Helmand Province as we repackage items to send out to the field with staff when they travel for site visits.

This experience continues to be one that will forever shape my view of my fellow servicemen and women who put themselves in harm's way on a day-to-day basis to defend the freedoms that we all enjoy in the States. I in no way can compare what I am doing here at Camp Leatherneck with what the Marines are doing out in the villages across Afghanistan. My goal is that when these Marines are able to get back to home base after hunting those who wish to put an end to the freedoms we enjoy that they come back to a safe, secure installation with a comfortable place to rest, clean-up, get a good meal and mentally prepare for their next mission. My prayer is that as you have followed along with me on this adventure, you too will come to appreciate even if only on the surface the sacrifices the young men and women of our Armed Services voluntarily make for you and me!

Until we chat again,

Todd

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will Abide in the shadow of the Almighty." Psalm 91:1

End of Week "I Have No Clue"...

Greetings Family, Friends and Other Random People Who are reading this blog..

Well, it has been quite some time since I have actually updated the blog tracking my experiences here in Afghanistan. For some reason, the time since my last update has flown by, which I guess is good thing. Since March, I crossed the half-way point of my 6-month deployment, passed the 100th Day (which I understand is a big deal in schools these days), had a birthday, said good-bye to some incredible Air Force Civil Engineers, and received the dreaded email that one of the girls had to visit the Emergency Room.

Before I get into the nitty-gritty of the Camp Leatherneck happenings, I first want to send out many thank yous for the great care packages that have arrived over the past 6 weeks...Mom & Dad, Susan & Wade Cox, Jeff & Heather Brown, the Smiths, the Thetis, Julie & Josh, MPC MOPs Leadership, the Janetskys, Anne Lanz, Jerry & Lisa Lanz, the Hamilton 4th Floor Crew at Booz Allen, the Andrews AFB Booz Allen team, Carlton & Kristen Hendrix, the Flemings, the O'Quinns, and Park Presbyterian Church. All of the goodies have been spread far and wide, and some of the treats we re-packaged here at the office to send out to the Marines at the smaller forward operating bases and combat outposts.

At the end of March, the original 777th Expeditionary Prime BEEF Squadron - Leatherneck crew bid us farewell. Lt A.J. Harris and MSgt Will St. Peter (pictured below) were here for the stand-up of the new Prime BEEF Squadron and were a tremendous support for me as I got up to speed on the chaos otherwise known as the Camp Leatherneck construction program. A.J. went back to Alaska to prepare for a wedding, and Will went back to Dover AFB via the beaches of Florida. I would never have survived my first 2 1/2 months here without their knowledge and expertise. They are both fine Air Force Civil Engineers and did our career field proud here at Camp Leatherneck.


MSgt Will St. Peter, Maj Todd Graham, Lt A.J. Harris - in route to the Passenger Terminal!

In early April, the 2D Marine Expeditionary Brigade transitioned authority for the control of the Helmand Province Battle Space to the I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward). This probably means absolutely nothing to most of you reading this blog. It really didn't mean anything to me until the Marine Lieutenant Colonel I support explained that I MEF (FWD) would be arriving with about 4 times the number of folks as 2D MEB. I quickly learned that a "MEF" is a larger military unit than a "MEB". I would have known this already had I completed this section of my Air Command and Staff College course. The picture below is of the 2D MEB welcome sign into Camp Leatherneck. We ran out to the sign in early April to get this picture before it was swapped out for the I MEF (FWD) sign...which I have not taken my picture with yet.



You are probably thinking, "What's the big deal...MEF, MEB...they are just acronyms?" Well, when you are in charge of all contracted construction activities on the camp about to receive all of these service men and women, it means a heck of a lot of construction in a very short period of time. We have been building facilities at a "cyclic" rate, as the Marine Colonel likes to state. Currently, we have over 100+ active construction projects valued at something like $64 million. Needless to say, this amount of construction has resulted in some very long days, late nights and early mornings for the entire team here with me. Fortunately, I've been blessed with an incredibly talented team to make all of this construction a reality.

With the arrival of the I MEF (FWD) Engineers in early April, I got to serve as the continuity for the office. Essentially the entire G-7 (Engineers) staff turned over in a matter of weeks. One of the new Marine engineers with whom I work happens to be another South Carolinian from Darlington. Maj Gary Humphries (pictured below with me standing atop one of the new 10 meter communication towers we built) walked into my office when he first got here, saw my Clemson Flag hanging behind my desk and stated that we were going to get along just fine!

Gary ordered a South Carolina State flag when he first got here and it finally arrived last week. We flew it over the I MEF (FWD) compound in which we work. Below are some pictures documenting the glorious event for the State of South Carolina! Since Gary's arrival, we have tracked down another 3 fellow South Carolinians...all thanks to the Tiger Paw behind my desk.



Early April also brought a bit of drama in the Graham household back in Virginia. Poor Campbell had 2 separate visits to the emergency room/urgent care. The first was for what was reported as a "huge splinter daddy"! Campbell was out playing on our swing set, took her shoes off and walked around on the mulch barefoot. Needless to day, the result was not all that pleasant. Jennifer did everything she could at home to remedy the situation, but to no avail. The next stop was the ER at Walter Reed. Below is a picture of the good patient after the doctor removed the splinter. I hated not being home to hold my sweet little Campbell's hand during the "procedure".

The second visit was a result of a spill down the stairs and a hard smack on the head. Fortunately, she only ended up knot on the head and another entry into her medical record. If there could be a silver lining in all of the incidents it would be that Jennifer now has the whole Tricare thing down pat.

Merritt also had some excitement - losing 3 teeth. She now could pass for a citizen of West Virginia, but I told her they would not keep her since she will have teeth grow into the empty spots. Supposedly the Tooth Fairy has been very generous during my deployment...I'm going to have to chat with her when I get home to make sure she understands that the going rate for teeth is far exceeding the rate of inflation!

Well, I could go on and on...especially since I'm trying to capture something like 6 weeks of activities, but I won't. I'll promise to blog more frequently as I head into the home stretch! I have not started counting the days/weeks or loaded up the infamous "Donut of Misery" onto my desktop yet. As I tell Jennifer, there is too much to accomplish before I leave to be counting the days already. Being away from my girls has been hard, especially with all of the happenings home. But I have been blessed to be a part of a great group of engineers with a mission that most of us will never see again in our careers. The Good Lord continues to watch over us, and it is only thru His strength that I can endure the time away. Thanks for all of the thoughts, prayers and notes of encouragement. The Lord is hearing your prayers!

Until next time,
Todd

P.S. I leave you with a quote from the Chapel Service last week: "Joy is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of Christ."