Todd is home safe for the holidays and loving the lazy life!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
Letter Eight
Hey ya'll,
Here are some picture of me buying the bike from the locals here. Most of these pictures are of the old bike that I had to take back, but in the pictures of me at the store you can see the new ones lined up also. I got one of the new red and black bikes. I will have to send better pictures of the new bike sometime.
Love,
Todd
Here are some picture of me buying the bike from the locals here. Most of these pictures are of the old bike that I had to take back, but in the pictures of me at the store you can see the new ones lined up also. I got one of the new red and black bikes. I will have to send better pictures of the new bike sometime.
Love,
Todd
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Newsletter
To all friends and families of First Platoon,
Another month done! Everyone is still safe and healthy. What else can you ask for, besides a ticket home of course?
This month has been fairly uneventful except for when SFC Dowell dislocated his finger catching a football. He was out of commission for a few weeks but is back with the platoon once again. SSG Rivera had to step in and fill the platoon sergeant shoes while SFC Dowell was injured, but that is a position all too familiar to Rivera. He played the part of platoon sergeant for many months before SFC Dowell made it to the unit in December.
We have a new addition to the platoon; former second platoon member SGT Bouxsein is now joining the best platoon in the company. We are lucky to have him. He fits in well with the other Soldiers and brings a wealth of knowledge to the table. We have already sent him to Bagram to get some training on a new system that the Army is trying to implement. Once he returns he will be the subject matter expert and it will be his job to teach us about it and help us put it into operation.
PFC Contryman’s mom sent over a handful of mini refrigerators for the guys. Her generosity, and that of the others that helped her with the project, is greatly appreciated. It is hard to believe how something as simple as a cold drink can raise the spirits of the men, but it does. It especially comes in handy on those long, hot, all day missions. So thank you to Mrs. Contryman and those that helped her.
Redeployment is still a ways away but information is starting to flow down on what is happening to the unit once we get back from Afghanistan. So just keep asking your Soldiers questions and hopefully we can get you the answers you need as you plan for possible future moves.
Another month done! Everyone is still safe and healthy. What else can you ask for, besides a ticket home of course?
This month has been fairly uneventful except for when SFC Dowell dislocated his finger catching a football. He was out of commission for a few weeks but is back with the platoon once again. SSG Rivera had to step in and fill the platoon sergeant shoes while SFC Dowell was injured, but that is a position all too familiar to Rivera. He played the part of platoon sergeant for many months before SFC Dowell made it to the unit in December.
We have a new addition to the platoon; former second platoon member SGT Bouxsein is now joining the best platoon in the company. We are lucky to have him. He fits in well with the other Soldiers and brings a wealth of knowledge to the table. We have already sent him to Bagram to get some training on a new system that the Army is trying to implement. Once he returns he will be the subject matter expert and it will be his job to teach us about it and help us put it into operation.
PFC Contryman’s mom sent over a handful of mini refrigerators for the guys. Her generosity, and that of the others that helped her with the project, is greatly appreciated. It is hard to believe how something as simple as a cold drink can raise the spirits of the men, but it does. It especially comes in handy on those long, hot, all day missions. So thank you to Mrs. Contryman and those that helped her.
Redeployment is still a ways away but information is starting to flow down on what is happening to the unit once we get back from Afghanistan. So just keep asking your Soldiers questions and hopefully we can get you the answers you need as you plan for possible future moves.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Letter Seven
Here are some pics of me I thought you all might like to see. I have a couple with the kids and one with my interpreter Nisar. Either Nisar or his brother Bashir go out on mission with me everytime and help bridge the language barrier. Nisar is 23 and his brother Bashir is 25 but they both look old like all afghani's.
Love, Todd
Love, Todd
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Letter Six
Hello Everyone,
I know that it has been a long long time since I last wrote one of these emails. My Bad. It is mainly because I can't think of what to write. The interesting or exciting stuff in my life right now I cannot write about due to operational security and the rest is just pretty much monotonous and not interesting. Anyways, over the last few months we have been doing the same stuff over and over again. We drive to a few main high threat areas and drive around all day looking for bombs or bad guys so that it is safe for the rest of the coalition forces and Afghan people to move about. When we get bored we play with the local kids or go shoot off a bunch of rounds and find something that needs to be "blown up" and we take care of it. The action has picked up lately as the temperature has been rising. I suppose it will stay that way until winter hits and the mountain passes are all closed. Where I am at it gets between 100 and 130 degrees every day. That sucks but we are used to it by now. It should cool off here in the next few months and the rainy season should hit. While everyone else is getting snow we will just get a break from the heat and maybe a little rain. They have not had snow where we are at for the last 5 years which is kind of good because it won't be freezing but it is bad because that means we won't get a break from our usual mission set. We will be doing the same thing all year long while the rest of our guys down south will transition to snow and ice removal in the winter months.
Latest rumor around here is that they will be trying to move me to an executive officer position in the next couple of months. That takes me off of the road and puts me behind a desk handling the maintenance and supply issues of the company. It will be kind of nice to have the change and I will be a lot safer, but I hate to leave the guys. I wish I could take them all the way home. There is also a lot of talk about moves happening once we get back. So to make a long story short I will probably not be in Kansas very long once the deployment is over. I will either be in White Sands, NM, or Fort Leonardwood, MO. We will see, I have some decisions to make and anything can change in the next 10 months we are here. That's just how the Army is.
I love all of you. Thanks for the support. I can't wait to get home on leave to see most of you.
-Todd
I know that it has been a long long time since I last wrote one of these emails. My Bad. It is mainly because I can't think of what to write. The interesting or exciting stuff in my life right now I cannot write about due to operational security and the rest is just pretty much monotonous and not interesting. Anyways, over the last few months we have been doing the same stuff over and over again. We drive to a few main high threat areas and drive around all day looking for bombs or bad guys so that it is safe for the rest of the coalition forces and Afghan people to move about. When we get bored we play with the local kids or go shoot off a bunch of rounds and find something that needs to be "blown up" and we take care of it. The action has picked up lately as the temperature has been rising. I suppose it will stay that way until winter hits and the mountain passes are all closed. Where I am at it gets between 100 and 130 degrees every day. That sucks but we are used to it by now. It should cool off here in the next few months and the rainy season should hit. While everyone else is getting snow we will just get a break from the heat and maybe a little rain. They have not had snow where we are at for the last 5 years which is kind of good because it won't be freezing but it is bad because that means we won't get a break from our usual mission set. We will be doing the same thing all year long while the rest of our guys down south will transition to snow and ice removal in the winter months.
Latest rumor around here is that they will be trying to move me to an executive officer position in the next couple of months. That takes me off of the road and puts me behind a desk handling the maintenance and supply issues of the company. It will be kind of nice to have the change and I will be a lot safer, but I hate to leave the guys. I wish I could take them all the way home. There is also a lot of talk about moves happening once we get back. So to make a long story short I will probably not be in Kansas very long once the deployment is over. I will either be in White Sands, NM, or Fort Leonardwood, MO. We will see, I have some decisions to make and anything can change in the next 10 months we are here. That's just how the Army is.
I love all of you. Thanks for the support. I can't wait to get home on leave to see most of you.
-Todd
Monday, July 16, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Newsletter
To all friends and families of First Platoon,
We are back under a year again, finally. This month has been a pretty busy month for the platoon. We are still clearing lots of kilometers but we are starting to fall into a good routine. We try to give the soldiers as much down time as possible and no one seems to be getting burned out yet. We had our first group of guys go home on leave. That is a grand milestone to reach because it starts to give the guys something to look forward to. We had two new babies born in the platoon; congratulations to the Ford and Aven families. SSG Rivera took second place in a 10k run on the Army’s birthday. We got the internet hooked up in the soldiers rooms as some of you may have heard. Hopefully, this helps them stay in touch with you at home a little better. I know a lot of them have already purchased the web cams and other accessories so their loved ones can see them and vice versa back home.
With all of the countless number of miles spent on the road I think the statistic that we are most proud of as a platoon is that we have won over a confirmed number of 973 hearts and minds of the Afghan people.* The preferred method of winning hearts and minds is to utilize our friendly smiles and graceful waves. Children seem to be the easiest ones to win over with adults a little more skeptical.
On a negative note, the temperatures have reached 100+ degrees around here and we are burning up. Along with the warm temperatures all the sweet creepy crawly animals are coming out to play. Cooper and Horne said they saw a spider walking down the road the other day that had its own shadow.
The Colonel came and visited the platoon and seemed to be pleased with the way your Soldiers have been operating, so make sure to congratulate them on a job well done so far. We appreciate all of the support from home and look forward to the day when we get to take our own leave for those of us who haven’t yet.
If you have any questions or need any assistance please feel free to contact me at todd.j.severson@us.army.mil.
1LT Todd Severson
1st Platoon Leader
* Disclaimer: This is just an arbitrary number and there is nothing confirmed about it.
We are back under a year again, finally. This month has been a pretty busy month for the platoon. We are still clearing lots of kilometers but we are starting to fall into a good routine. We try to give the soldiers as much down time as possible and no one seems to be getting burned out yet. We had our first group of guys go home on leave. That is a grand milestone to reach because it starts to give the guys something to look forward to. We had two new babies born in the platoon; congratulations to the Ford and Aven families. SSG Rivera took second place in a 10k run on the Army’s birthday. We got the internet hooked up in the soldiers rooms as some of you may have heard. Hopefully, this helps them stay in touch with you at home a little better. I know a lot of them have already purchased the web cams and other accessories so their loved ones can see them and vice versa back home.
With all of the countless number of miles spent on the road I think the statistic that we are most proud of as a platoon is that we have won over a confirmed number of 973 hearts and minds of the Afghan people.* The preferred method of winning hearts and minds is to utilize our friendly smiles and graceful waves. Children seem to be the easiest ones to win over with adults a little more skeptical.
On a negative note, the temperatures have reached 100+ degrees around here and we are burning up. Along with the warm temperatures all the sweet creepy crawly animals are coming out to play. Cooper and Horne said they saw a spider walking down the road the other day that had its own shadow.
The Colonel came and visited the platoon and seemed to be pleased with the way your Soldiers have been operating, so make sure to congratulate them on a job well done so far. We appreciate all of the support from home and look forward to the day when we get to take our own leave for those of us who haven’t yet.
If you have any questions or need any assistance please feel free to contact me at todd.j.severson@us.army.mil.
1LT Todd Severson
1st Platoon Leader
* Disclaimer: This is just an arbitrary number and there is nothing confirmed about it.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Friday, May 11, 2007
Newsletter
The Family Readiness Group (FRG) has a monthly newsletter that Todd has been asked to contribute to. Here is the first entry he wrote and a couple of photos of the 1st Platoon:
1st PLATOON
To all friends and families of First Platoon:
Well, we have knocked out the first month. The only problem is that after we got one month down they told us we are extended for three more months. Talk about one step forward and two steps back.
The first month was pretty eventful. It took us a while to get into Afghanistan, I think we flew through 5 different countries, but once we landed we hit the ground running. We had a bunch of in-briefs to go through so that we could learn the rules of the FOB (Forward Operating Base), the culture in our region, and some of the diseases and threats in the area. After we finished those we started getting classes from the unit we were replacing on our equipment and tactics. They were very helpful and defiantly set us up for success. We started riding along with them on missions and then slowly integrated in until we were running missions alone.
We live like gypsies a lot of the time driving from place to place living out of a sleeping bag. So far we have cleared about 2000 km of road. It gets monotonous at times, but we still have fun with it. We spend a lot of our free time watching movies and playing cards, video games, and volleyball. We are going to be road trip experts by the time we get home at the end of the year.
Your letters, packages, and prayers have helped us immensely since we have been here. I know the soldiers don’t get to the phones or internet as much as we would like, but they are working on the limited access issue here and hopefully it will get better. The good news is that it has only been taking about 8 days for packages to arrive from the states. Thank you for your support.
If you have any questions or need any assistance please feel free to contact me at: todd.j.severson@us.army.mil.
Grizzly 16
1LT Severson
Clearing routes and beautiful scenery
Mechanics conducting inventory on the equipment. Is that Todd sitting in the chair in the background?
1st PLATOON
To all friends and families of First Platoon:
Well, we have knocked out the first month. The only problem is that after we got one month down they told us we are extended for three more months. Talk about one step forward and two steps back.
The first month was pretty eventful. It took us a while to get into Afghanistan, I think we flew through 5 different countries, but once we landed we hit the ground running. We had a bunch of in-briefs to go through so that we could learn the rules of the FOB (Forward Operating Base), the culture in our region, and some of the diseases and threats in the area. After we finished those we started getting classes from the unit we were replacing on our equipment and tactics. They were very helpful and defiantly set us up for success. We started riding along with them on missions and then slowly integrated in until we were running missions alone.
We live like gypsies a lot of the time driving from place to place living out of a sleeping bag. So far we have cleared about 2000 km of road. It gets monotonous at times, but we still have fun with it. We spend a lot of our free time watching movies and playing cards, video games, and volleyball. We are going to be road trip experts by the time we get home at the end of the year.
Your letters, packages, and prayers have helped us immensely since we have been here. I know the soldiers don’t get to the phones or internet as much as we would like, but they are working on the limited access issue here and hopefully it will get better. The good news is that it has only been taking about 8 days for packages to arrive from the states. Thank you for your support.
If you have any questions or need any assistance please feel free to contact me at: todd.j.severson@us.army.mil.
Grizzly 16
1LT Severson
Clearing routes and beautiful scenery
Mechanics conducting inventory on the equipment. Is that Todd sitting in the chair in the background?
Friday, April 27, 2007
Letter Five
Thought I would send a picture of myself since we haven't seen each other in a while.
-Love Todd
-Love Todd
Monday, April 23, 2007
Letter Four
Hi everyone,
I know that it has been a while since I have written, so I thought that I would just drop a line to let everyone know that I am ok. Everything is going pretty good here. We got one month down and found out that we are extended 3 more, so that kind of sucks. We have been here a little over a month now and have cleared about 2000 kilometers of road, which makes for long days considering we average about a 35 km/h pace. We have also had a few route recons where we have had to determine the trafficability of a route. We are on the road about 5 days a week with 2 maintenance days worked in throughout the week to keep our vehicles running. We are lucky if we sleep in our own beds half of the time. The good news is that we have not had anything blow up on us, nobody has shot at us, we have not had to shoot at anybody, and we haven't found anything too dangerous. There is all kinds of bad stuff going on in our area, but lucky we have not had to deal with any of it yet. So keep praying for us, I wouldn't mind if I didn't see anything all year. The weather is getting hotter and hotter every day, we are probably in the 90s now. They finally fixed the air conditioning on my vehicle so that makes the missions a little more bareable.
I have been getting a lot of your guys' packages and mail and it is awesome. Thank you very much and please keep them coming. I know some of you have asked what to send and you want to help out. I'm still working on figuring out how we can give stuff to the Afghani people without making it a tactical risk (for example: all the kids crowding around our vehicles cause we are handing stuff out makes it hard for us to complete the mission). So for the mean time just keep sending snacks, movies, pictures, letters, etc. for the soldiers and myself. Anything that tastes good or brings back memories of home helps. I'll try to do a better job at keeping you guys posted. Sometimes I just get caught in a rut and it is hard to find time to use the computer. Talk to you soon.
Love,
Todd
I know that it has been a while since I have written, so I thought that I would just drop a line to let everyone know that I am ok. Everything is going pretty good here. We got one month down and found out that we are extended 3 more, so that kind of sucks. We have been here a little over a month now and have cleared about 2000 kilometers of road, which makes for long days considering we average about a 35 km/h pace. We have also had a few route recons where we have had to determine the trafficability of a route. We are on the road about 5 days a week with 2 maintenance days worked in throughout the week to keep our vehicles running. We are lucky if we sleep in our own beds half of the time. The good news is that we have not had anything blow up on us, nobody has shot at us, we have not had to shoot at anybody, and we haven't found anything too dangerous. There is all kinds of bad stuff going on in our area, but lucky we have not had to deal with any of it yet. So keep praying for us, I wouldn't mind if I didn't see anything all year. The weather is getting hotter and hotter every day, we are probably in the 90s now. They finally fixed the air conditioning on my vehicle so that makes the missions a little more bareable.
I have been getting a lot of your guys' packages and mail and it is awesome. Thank you very much and please keep them coming. I know some of you have asked what to send and you want to help out. I'm still working on figuring out how we can give stuff to the Afghani people without making it a tactical risk (for example: all the kids crowding around our vehicles cause we are handing stuff out makes it hard for us to complete the mission). So for the mean time just keep sending snacks, movies, pictures, letters, etc. for the soldiers and myself. Anything that tastes good or brings back memories of home helps. I'll try to do a better job at keeping you guys posted. Sometimes I just get caught in a rut and it is hard to find time to use the computer. Talk to you soon.
Love,
Todd
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Letter Three
Hi everyone,
I know that is has been a while since I have talked to a lot of you. They have been keeping us really busy here. I have been all over the map doing missions. I have been leading most of them but our platoon officially took over just a few days ago. I feel like a gypsy running from place to place living out of a bag, and then when we finally do get back to our home base we have a day or two to work on our equipment and vehicles and then we are gone again. I finally got some time to call last night but the military is in a blackout so I couldn't use the phones. A blackout is when they shut off all communication to the states because somebody has died and they want to be the first to inform the family, not an email or phone call. So that is kind of sad to think that at that moment a family was probably being informed of their loss. Anyway, I will call as soon as the lines open up again.
The first time outside the base running missions was a sensory overload. It is kind of hard to descibe what I saw, felt, and thought. The easiest was to describe the country I think is to compare it to the old "Jesus of Nazarith" movies. People living in mud huts, small villages, cart pulled donkeys, people hearding sheep and goats on foot with sticks in their hand. It is very primative the only thing modern here is a few vehicles and 2 way radios. Suprisingly, volleyball is a super popular sport. I have seen more locals playing that than soccer. The main roads between bigger cities are usually paved but everything else is dirt roads or rocky, mountain passes. Once you get into the mountains the valleys are beautiful with plush green vegetation and flowing streams, but as you head up the mountain everything dies. Most of the roads we take are in the valleys so we do a lot of stream/river crossings in our vehicles.
There are a ton of carpets and genie bottles for sale here but I have yet to see a carpet that flies or a bottle that actually produces a genie. I have no hard evidence but I believe the Taliban probably rounded up all the Genies and magic and put them in a concentration camp somewhere. It still has not stopped me from hopping onto the carpets though to try and woo the local women by singing "I can show you the world" from Disneys "Aladin". It just doesn't have the same effect when the carpet doesn't actually fly.
The people seem to be used to Americans and know how to react when they see our convoys coming through, which is nice. A lot just stare at us and watch us like TV. Some give us thumbs up and wave (mostly little children). And some kids give us thumbs down and throw rocks but I think that is mostly cause they don't know what they are doing and are bored, there is no hostile intent involved. The animals and women around here do a ton of work with little respect. You will see a woman carrying a whole sack of crop or a huge rock with a man walking right in front of her with empty hands. It is a little crazy. Once the girls here get in their teens they start to wear the burka that covers their face and they turn away from us as we pass. The animals all look like they are starved, and we have had a few jump in front of our vehicles as if they just wanted to get this life over with. The older people here look like they are a Gabillion years old, just wrinkled and beaten down by the hands of father time. I have been taking quite a few pictures that I will start sending sometime when I figure out what the policy is on sending certain pictures. Talk to you soon.
Love,
Todd
Disclaimer: I have never tried to woo an Afghan woman. That would probably get me in trouble because it is way against their traditions and it would piss someone off. We can't even look at the women or talk to them because of their culture. Besides, these women don't have anything on Diana.
I know that is has been a while since I have talked to a lot of you. They have been keeping us really busy here. I have been all over the map doing missions. I have been leading most of them but our platoon officially took over just a few days ago. I feel like a gypsy running from place to place living out of a bag, and then when we finally do get back to our home base we have a day or two to work on our equipment and vehicles and then we are gone again. I finally got some time to call last night but the military is in a blackout so I couldn't use the phones. A blackout is when they shut off all communication to the states because somebody has died and they want to be the first to inform the family, not an email or phone call. So that is kind of sad to think that at that moment a family was probably being informed of their loss. Anyway, I will call as soon as the lines open up again.
The first time outside the base running missions was a sensory overload. It is kind of hard to descibe what I saw, felt, and thought. The easiest was to describe the country I think is to compare it to the old "Jesus of Nazarith" movies. People living in mud huts, small villages, cart pulled donkeys, people hearding sheep and goats on foot with sticks in their hand. It is very primative the only thing modern here is a few vehicles and 2 way radios. Suprisingly, volleyball is a super popular sport. I have seen more locals playing that than soccer. The main roads between bigger cities are usually paved but everything else is dirt roads or rocky, mountain passes. Once you get into the mountains the valleys are beautiful with plush green vegetation and flowing streams, but as you head up the mountain everything dies. Most of the roads we take are in the valleys so we do a lot of stream/river crossings in our vehicles.
There are a ton of carpets and genie bottles for sale here but I have yet to see a carpet that flies or a bottle that actually produces a genie. I have no hard evidence but I believe the Taliban probably rounded up all the Genies and magic and put them in a concentration camp somewhere. It still has not stopped me from hopping onto the carpets though to try and woo the local women by singing "I can show you the world" from Disneys "Aladin". It just doesn't have the same effect when the carpet doesn't actually fly.
The people seem to be used to Americans and know how to react when they see our convoys coming through, which is nice. A lot just stare at us and watch us like TV. Some give us thumbs up and wave (mostly little children). And some kids give us thumbs down and throw rocks but I think that is mostly cause they don't know what they are doing and are bored, there is no hostile intent involved. The animals and women around here do a ton of work with little respect. You will see a woman carrying a whole sack of crop or a huge rock with a man walking right in front of her with empty hands. It is a little crazy. Once the girls here get in their teens they start to wear the burka that covers their face and they turn away from us as we pass. The animals all look like they are starved, and we have had a few jump in front of our vehicles as if they just wanted to get this life over with. The older people here look like they are a Gabillion years old, just wrinkled and beaten down by the hands of father time. I have been taking quite a few pictures that I will start sending sometime when I figure out what the policy is on sending certain pictures. Talk to you soon.
Love,
Todd
Disclaimer: I have never tried to woo an Afghan woman. That would probably get me in trouble because it is way against their traditions and it would piss someone off. We can't even look at the women or talk to them because of their culture. Besides, these women don't have anything on Diana.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Letter Two
Hey everyone,
Everything is going good here. The unit we are taking over for is giving us some good training and setting us up for success once we leave the wire and start doing missions. It is pretty beautiful here with nice green grass and trees growing in the valley around us and mountains surrounding us in the distance. The FOB itself seems ok to me but the people who have been to Iraq say it is crap compared to how they lived there. Here we are living in tents and plywood buildings. In Iraq they had more permanent structures along with fast food restaurants and nice gyms and everything else. Maybe it will get better here because there is a whole brigade moving in so they will probably expand and build onto the FOB (Forward Operating Base). We are getting ready to head out on a mission sometime soon with the unit we are taking over for so that they can show us the land and how they execute, and then they will ride around with us as we execute and give us pointers. After that we will completely take over and it will be on me to lead the guys and run all missions. The roads we are clearing can vary from nice paved highway type roads to crazy single mountain roads that have a 200 ft cliff on one side and a 200 ft drop off on the other and your tire on the outside hangs halfway off the cliff. So it will be interesting. I'm kind of excited to get out there and see what it is like. Take care of yourselves and I will talk to you soon.
Love,
Todd
Everything is going good here. The unit we are taking over for is giving us some good training and setting us up for success once we leave the wire and start doing missions. It is pretty beautiful here with nice green grass and trees growing in the valley around us and mountains surrounding us in the distance. The FOB itself seems ok to me but the people who have been to Iraq say it is crap compared to how they lived there. Here we are living in tents and plywood buildings. In Iraq they had more permanent structures along with fast food restaurants and nice gyms and everything else. Maybe it will get better here because there is a whole brigade moving in so they will probably expand and build onto the FOB (Forward Operating Base). We are getting ready to head out on a mission sometime soon with the unit we are taking over for so that they can show us the land and how they execute, and then they will ride around with us as we execute and give us pointers. After that we will completely take over and it will be on me to lead the guys and run all missions. The roads we are clearing can vary from nice paved highway type roads to crazy single mountain roads that have a 200 ft cliff on one side and a 200 ft drop off on the other and your tire on the outside hangs halfway off the cliff. So it will be interesting. I'm kind of excited to get out there and see what it is like. Take care of yourselves and I will talk to you soon.
Love,
Todd
Letter One
Hey guys,
I have been flying non-stop until about right now, and I still am not at my final destination. I've managed to hit 6 countries in 3 days or however many it has been. I'm not even sure what day it is now, or time for that matter. We don't go by day or night here we go by hit times and where we need to be when. The good thing is that almost everything is open 24 hours. So we left Topeka and flew to Germany, from there we went to Turkey, then to Kazerkistan (or something like that), then we got on a military plane to fly to Afghanistan but the weather was bad there so we over shot that and went to Kuwait. After a 5 hour wait in Kuwait we tried to fly back to Afghanistan and made it this time. Now I am at one airbase waiting to fly to our final destination in Afghanistan. So it has been crazy. I think that we are maybe 12 hours different than you guys, if I go by local time? My ass hurts from sitting so much but other than that everything is going good. We should get in tomorrow sometime (the 10th), and start to get settled. I think that we will have to go through about a day or so of briefs, and then we will start working with the other unit to get everything transferred. I'll write you guys again when I get a chance and let you know what my living situation is like and whether or not I have phone and internet access. Someone was saying that if you lived by a military base I could call them and they would put me thru for free to you guys since it is a local call. So I might try that with offutt. We'll see. Talk to you guys soon hopefully.
Love,
Todd
I have been flying non-stop until about right now, and I still am not at my final destination. I've managed to hit 6 countries in 3 days or however many it has been. I'm not even sure what day it is now, or time for that matter. We don't go by day or night here we go by hit times and where we need to be when. The good thing is that almost everything is open 24 hours. So we left Topeka and flew to Germany, from there we went to Turkey, then to Kazerkistan (or something like that), then we got on a military plane to fly to Afghanistan but the weather was bad there so we over shot that and went to Kuwait. After a 5 hour wait in Kuwait we tried to fly back to Afghanistan and made it this time. Now I am at one airbase waiting to fly to our final destination in Afghanistan. So it has been crazy. I think that we are maybe 12 hours different than you guys, if I go by local time? My ass hurts from sitting so much but other than that everything is going good. We should get in tomorrow sometime (the 10th), and start to get settled. I think that we will have to go through about a day or so of briefs, and then we will start working with the other unit to get everything transferred. I'll write you guys again when I get a chance and let you know what my living situation is like and whether or not I have phone and internet access. Someone was saying that if you lived by a military base I could call them and they would put me thru for free to you guys since it is a local call. So I might try that with offutt. We'll see. Talk to you guys soon hopefully.
Love,
Todd
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