For those who don’t know that I’m deploying or what I’ll be doing, I will be a part of a team of engineers on a “Provincial Reconstruction Team” (PRT) in Afghanistan. (A province is like a state in the US). The PRT’s mission is to aid the Government Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) in the development of infrastructure, governance, security, agriculture, etc. As an engineer I will be overseeing construction projects that are brought about by the people and government of Afghanistan and funded by the US. We have various types of projects to include roads, buildings, bridges, wells, power generation, etc. I’m really excited about what we will do and, although I don’t know everything about it yet, I truly believe that it is designed to help Afghanistan develop and maintain itself as an independent nation.
Right now I’m nearing the completion of my combat skills training and will be going shortly to Afghanistan for about 9 months. To say that this training has been an experience would be an understatement. The “powers that be” understand that being away from our families and home station is hard for everyone but also that there is very valuable training that needs to happen before our deployment. As such, every day for about 3 months is crammed with all kinds of training.Generally we’ve had physical training (PT) 5-6 days a week. At the beginning of training we had it at 5am (which meant people started waking up at 4:15am). As a side note, I never set my alarm while at CST. We slept in open bay barracks so there has always been 3-12 alarms going off every morning. There is absolutely no way that I would ever sleep in. But, for PT I’ve been lifting weights and running so hopefully by the time I get back I’ll be a little easier on the eyes Kathy! Now, if I can only figure out a way to grow some hair back! ;-)
Here we are playing dodgeball (for fun, not for PT):
We have spent a lot of time studying the Pashto language and having general Afghan culture training. My language instructor was from Afghanistan and a really smart and funny guy. He was a neurosurgeon in Afghanistan and he’s been in the states for about 2 years trying to get his medical license here. I joked around a lot with him and we took some funny pictures but unfortunately he asked us not to share them on the internet because he is worried about the implications it might have on his family in Afghanistan (pictures of him with the US military will not go over too well with the Taliban) But, here is a picture of me with another Afghan-American holding hands! I think I look scared or something but I’m pretty sure I was just tired.
We spent about a week learning combat lifesaver skills. This included things like tourniquets, pressure bandages, nasal pharyngeal airway (“nose-hose”), and even giving an IV to someone. We had a couple tests and a final exercise with dummies that spoke, “bled” (just water), and had a pulse.
Below is my arm after someone attempted to give me an IV. It worked but I bled a lot and accidentally got some on the carpet!
We had a 4 day combatives class (hand to hand combat) where we learned different grappling, throwing, and choking moves. It was a great class but of course I hopefully will never need to use any of it. Unfortunately I partnered up with a guy twice my size and when he was on top of me and I threw him off, my thumb got caught up and hyper extended to the point that it was badly sprained (thankfully not broken). I had to wear a brace for a couple weeks and fortunately only missed a couple days of training that I couldn’t participate in.
We also had extensive weapons training. Can't give too many details but I'll just say it was fun, but again, hopefully I will never need to use it.
We had a fleet of “humvees” and we trained in convoys and mounted combat patrols. I played the role of both the truck commander (commanding the driver, gunner, and dismounts) and a dismount for security. We had mounted weapons that we trained with engaging targets while moving and in the halted position. 
We went over identifying IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and we had lanes where there were IEDs planted (fake—like giant firecrackers) that we ran our convoys through and had to ID and react to.
This is the short of it all. Overall, pretty good training and I feel I’ve learned a lot and am more prepared for what may happen while completing my mission. Again, this training is only precautionary to what could potentially happen not we’ll actually be doing. Don’t worry Kathy! J
3 comments:
Yay!!! You got it on the blog! Thank you!!! This is awesome! I want more! I LOVED to see all the pictures Dave! You are so handsome!;)(This is the first time I've seen these pics!)Wow, you DID bleed a lot. I have to say too, that the "holding hands" pic was a little bit of a shock....he must be a friend, right? Dave didn't mention that he learned in his culture classes men who are friends hold hands, fyi. =) I miss you, but I am so proud of you! I know this training has been rough, pretty brutal, but I have to remind myself I know it was only to help prepare you and help you for what lies ahead. I am so impressed but all you have done and learned. You made it! I love you sooooooooo much Dave!!!!!!! You are my hero.
I guess you're cool, Dave. Maybe you could try the same hair thing that the guy from jon and kate plus eight (minus jon) did. It would go well with your newly found manly physique. Nice manly shot of the blood picture, too. Bud would be jealous. :) Good job getting prepared and hopefully you'll never need it. Take Luck!!!!
hey dave, wow first of all no way you get to do IVs I am so jealous, I had to wait until my 1st semester of nursing school to do that, but after looking at your arm, I wonder about the dude who poked ya. Anyways we are glad you are having some fun. Thank you Dave for being such a wonderful guy and soldier. We apreciate all you do. Thanks Kathy for letting him be a soldier too. It must be rough and hard for you family, but we thank you so much. We love ya and are planning on invading colorado to visit ya soon.
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