Gearing Up

Well, I have now been at Ft Bragg, NC for just over two weeks… though it feels much longer. I am training up to be a part of a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Afghanistan. This is a fairly new concept. I believe that I will be the fourth iteration of a PRT and is really what the Afghans thought the international community would do when they kicked out the Soviets in 1989. We are going in and rebuilding the infrastructure of the country. I will be in the Paktia (or Paktya, depending where you look) province based out of the city of Gardez.

Currently I am living in World War II era barracks that they are in the process of knocking down. Here is what some of the surrounding billets look like. At least they sunk some money in the ones we are actually in and installed window AC units. I’ve been in these types before with just a fan at just one end of the room and that is REALLY not fun.

I am in the “death by PowerPoint” phase of training. Just going through a lot of briefs about the insurgency, the country, its culture and history, about the other governmental and non-governmental agencies we will be working with. Some of it is interesting, some of it is very dry, all of it is hard to stay awake through since they are given to us in 8 hour blocks… every day for about the last six days.

I don’t have very reliable internet access right now so this will be kind of short but I just wanted to share a bit of what I have found out about the PRT. Instead of being gone for 15 months as I was originally told it will actually be 12. 3 months of training and 9 months in country. The Himalayans are going to be in my backyard. Gardez is at 7,500 feet so the air will be thin and when I get there at the end of October it will be cold. The heist peaks I will be able to see are around 21,000 feet. I can expect -20 degrees in the dead of winter. Also, FYI the mission of the PRT as I said is to manage reconstruction projects in the province. We play the “good caps.” We will not be kicking in doors, actively hunting the bad guys. That will be left to the maneuver unit in the area with the 101st Airborne Division. Since I will still fall under them, my combat patch will be the “Screaming Eagle.”

(Above is a Hollywood depiction of E Co, 501st PIR, 101st Airborne Division on 6 June 1944 after jumping into France the night before. The real beginning of the legacy of the 101st Airborne Division)