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My Afghanistan Photos

#42
JacksonAerodyne said:
Basically a VBIED is a car bomb, this one had 1000lbs of explosives (ALOT!!!). It blew out right outside the front gate and the shockwave did that damage.

Both of my deployments I have basically been Infantry, but my primary job is Military Police. We usually go out and talk to the local village elders and see if there is anything we can do to help them. We deliver humanitarian aid (rice, flour, beans, cooking oil, school supplies, clothing) We also help them to get money or local labor to build walls or canals for their fields, build schools or mosques and various other things to help with their quality of life. Contrary to what some people may say (not many but there are a few) we aren't hostile to anyone unless they start the fight. We're not here looking to fight or "legally kill people" as I've heard some people say. We are here to train the Afghan Military and Police and help build an infrastructure so this country can self sustain in the future.

I'd be happy to answer any other questions, no luck with photos. All of the websites seem to load about 1/3 of a photo and then decide it doesn't want to finish. I did get 1 more:

6096665574_7ac9821a5a_b.jpg

I took some shrapnel from an RPG during a firefight. This is two days after the event and the shiny-ness is from this "medical superglue" they use instead of stitches.
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thanks for explaining that. Seems like a lot of work, but I'm sure it must be very rewarding.
Just for the fact that you're a talkbass member, I'd never think you were hostile.
So what's the usual reaction from the locals? I mean, do they understand you're there to help? and do they approve of the fact that you're there to help?
please I hope you don't take my questions wrong, I really am just curious and want to know what it is like to be there.

by the way, I once had superglue instead of stitches, got quite a big scar out of it...
 
#44
jmorbita said:
So what's the usual reaction from the locals? I mean, do they understand you're there to help? and do they approve of the fact that you're there to help?
please I hope you don't take my questions wrong, I really am just curious and want to know what it is like to be there.

by the way, I once had superglue instead of stitches, got quite a big scar out of it...
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Alot of them know we're there to help but still seem skeptical. There are some who just want us to give them the world (which obviously we can't do) and some are overly nice. There is alot of Taliban influence where I am, I'm only about 8k from the Pakistani border and some of the local are scared that if they talk to us/ accept our assistance the Taliban will hurt or kill them. It's happened a few times in our area. The overly nice guys are usually the ones who are paid by the Taliban to be nice in an attempt to make us feel safe in their village so when we go there we drop our guard and we're an easier target. The only problem with their plan is we know it so we're extra vigilant in those villages. There are only a few villages that are genuinely happy that we are here and helping, but for the most part they're either Taliban or scared of the Taliban in my area.

My first deployment was to Jalalabad, the 3rd largest city in Afghanistan. They loved us up there, we were always nice and they were always nice back. Only when we got about 10-15k outside of the city did they start getting shady and that's where we usually would get attacked.

As for the scar, this happened in Mar and it's Aug now, I have a wicked purple scar, I think it'll be there for some time.

jmorbita said:
did you try resizing the pictures prior to loading them?
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yes, I've tried resizing them to the point of where it would be hard to really see anything and it still doesn't want to work.
 
#49
Webtroll said:
i think the sizes are fine. it's a picture thread; it's not supposed to load fast
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hey troll, that was a suggestion so that he could load the pictures to picassa or whatever.
EricF said:
Keep the pics and stories coming, Jackson. :)
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+1
MakiSupaStar said:
Wow dude. This is really interesting. I really appreciate the first-hand perspective of a soldier that is actually there. Stay safe brother. We all appreciate your service.
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+1

In spite of the original reason why you're there, I hope there is still a lot of beauty to be found over there and lots of good memories to earn.
 
#50
Jackson, have you seen/caught men having relations with each other? When my buddy got back from Iraq (Marines), he said that he saw alot them (makes sense, they hate women), in bushes or wherever having relations, sounds strange, but he said it's true. Same in Afghanistan?
 
#52
@ RunMikeyRun: well this is my second deployment, the first one I was a little less calm about it all. But I also came to terms with death last time. If you're always worried or scared of death you have no room to think or react and you or your buddies will die. You have to push those thoughts out of your head and deal with the task at hand. I'm not scared of death but I don't want to die. You'd go crazy if you constantly thought or worried about death. After my 2nd IED this deployment (see pic on the first page, the one where the front end of the truck is almost completely gone) once we had arrived back on our base and the adrenaline had worn off I sat out back behind our hooch smoking and crying because it was just so much of a traumatic experience. You can't let that sh*t get to you, have to keep looking forward or you'll crack.

@Tastybasslines: No. Just no. I have seen men hold hands but that's a symbol of friendship in a lot of countries in the world. Now have I seen guys in my platoon having relations? J/K, we are the gayest group of straight guys ever though!!!


I have a few videos on YouTube from my first deployment, nothing crazy, mostly us driving around. There's a midget in one of em!!!
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#53
JacksonAerodyne said:
@ RunMikeyRun: well this is my second deployment, the first one I was a little less calm about it all. But I also came to terms with death last time. If you're always worried or scared of death you have no room to think or react and you or your buddies will die. You have to push those thoughts out of your head and deal with the task at hand. I'm not scared of death but I don't want to die. You'd go crazy if you constantly thought or worried about death. After my 2nd IED this deployment (see pic on the first page, the one where the front end of the truck is almost completely gone) once we had arrived back on our base and the adrenaline had worn off I sat out back behind our hooch smoking and crying because it was just so much of a traumatic experience. You can't let that sh*t get to you, have to keep looking forward or you'll crack.

@Tastybasslines: No. Just no. I have seen men hold hands but that's a symbol of friendship in a lot of countries in the world. Now have I seen guys in my platoon having relations? J/K, we are the gayest group of straight guys ever though!!!


I have a few videos on YouTube from my first deployment, nothing crazy, mostly us driving around. There's a midget in one of em!!!
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Click to expand...

Wow...
Did you ever read Carlos Castaneda? in a few of his books he says something along the lines of not fearing death, but having death as your guide. Take every task as it were your last one on earth, as it actually might be. I guess you guys put this advice to practice every day.
 
#54
wow, great stories and awesome pictures, Aerodyne! thank you for fighting for our freedom, and i thank everyone else on TB who has served to keep us safe.
i'd like to ask a few things, if you don't mind. i'm planning on joining the Marines and trying to become a 'tanker' after i get my college degree (i know you're Army; don't hate me!) and i was wondering if you've had any experience with deployed Marines. as far as assignments go, what are the major differences between the two branches?
if anyone else wants to chime in, feel free. any info is appreciated.

and again, thank you all for your service. you guys make me proud to be American
 
#55
Hartke20g: One of my best friends from high school is a Marine and he loves it. The military lifestyle is not for everyone, some people love it some people hate it. As a tanker I think you'd be more likely to deploy to Iraq but if you did go to Afghanistan, all the Marines are down south in the Kandahar and Helmand area. Not very nice areas, BIG IEDs!!! All I can say is give it a shot, you won't know if you'll like it or not until you do it. My advice would be to sign up for as short of a contract as you can that way if you don't like it you don't have to serve 5 years hating life like I have. If you find that you do like the Marines you can always re-enlist a year out from the end of your contract. The Marines are some bad@ss mofos, I wish you luck in your future.
 
#60
@BigDaddy & jmorbita: Haven't seen any Canadians, sorry. While at Bagram Airfield (Kabul) I have seen French, New Zealand and Polish soldiers.

Last deployment (when I was up north in Jalalabad), we had to go rescue a French convoy who drove their lead truck off the paved road onto some pretty rough terrain and broke an axle. When we arrived on the scene all the French soldiers were laying on their trucks, shirts off, working on their tan!!! They should have been pulling security and scanning because we were in a big of a canyon, had mountains on either side of the road. That was a perfect ambush site and a few of us had some bad gut feelings but luckily we were wrong. I've had a bad opinion of French soldiers after that, it was my only experience with them.

We also assisted the British SAS in a mission last deployment as well. Basically all we did was go about 40-50k to pick them up after a 'secret squirrel' mission. They were supposed to have helicopters but the weather took a violent turn and they weren't going to have birds available to pick them up for quite a while. So we drove out there, picked em up and drove em back. Hilarious group of lads!!! They were cracking jokes and we were throwing the "Limey" and "Yank" slang back and forth quite a bit. At then end, one of em offered me a cigar and a handshake and said "you Yanks aren't so bad after all." My response was "we kicked your ass once, and saved it twice, damn right we're good." Good times.

P.S. Trying to upload photos.... AGAIN!
 

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