AF Day 315

FOB Smart at 0845 - Saturday

I recently shared certain of the reality of being deployed as a US Army Corps of Engineers civilian in Qalat, Zabul Province, Afghanistan, to a friend. It is relevant to repost herein.

I am a deployed Department of the Army civilian. Most other civilians – whether government or contracted, outside of the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), wear civilian clothing. I wear bullet-resistant individual body armor (IBA) with a Kevlar helmet, fire retardant uniforms, military boots, etc. The obvious difference is the name tape I wear identifying me as civilian and not soldier. Also evident to everyone is the lack of weapon. I am forward-deployed as a USACE construction manager embedded with a military provincial reconstruction team (PRT). I.e., I work among and alongside military members. The other few civilians on my forward operating base, or FOB, (a location literally within the middle of the war zone), wear civilian clothing and mostly do not complete outside the wire combat missions. My PRT experiences are essentially unique to other USACE PRT personnel in Afghanistan. Unless they are special operators or security personnel of some nature, the extreme majority of any and all civilians in Afghanistan is confined to larger air bases and rarely goes outside the wire.

Because I work under the operational control of the military PRT, I enjoy the same missions they do only in a non-combatant capacity to manage construction. As such, I always have military, and sometimes armed security guards (local national civilians), protecting me wherever I go. During the winter months, I have more time available on the FOB, but the other nine months of the year I enjoy mostly time off the FOB and “out in the mix” of it all. PRT Zabul is back into the nine-month construction season and construction-related missions outside the wire, their frequency, their necessity, and their importance have resumed in earnest. My time is mainly geared toward managing construction, some toward mentoring contractors, and always assisting in any way I can - literally.

Last night I posted to Facebook, which my father was able to enjoy, and shared it this morning via email with my mother.

When I walk, I walk with pride and confidence. I am confident because my parents made me so, told me I could do anything in life, and instilled a love for myself within me from Day One. I am not too confident or prideful, but I am nevertheless and I feel great about myself. I am passing this on to my son - I know he will turn out the same. Having confidence does not mean we will not have our own share of trials and tribulations. It does mean that we can chart our own course in life and be free from doubt or concern where an unconfident attitude would lead. Thank you, parents – you made me who I am today – and I like myself.

I am looking forward to coming home, seeing my son, my family, my friends, and resuming my life in America - the true land of opportunity.

143, Kaesen.

Good night and good day.