What a Hiatus!

I am going to pretend that my last Blog entry was NOT back in March, and that everybody is caught up with the goings-on of the Larsen household.  If you are not familiar, here is the short and dirty:

• I went back to Afghanistan at the end of December last year.
• After arriving in Kandahar, five days later I was in a pretty serious accident, broke my C7 vertibrae, messed up my legs a bit, received a moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury, cut up my head a bit.
• Spent time at Walter Reed National Military Hospital, then Madigan Army Hospital, then returned to Alaska.
• Went through physical therapy, thought things were going pretty well.
• Christi had knee surgery, started her physical therapy
• School ended.
• Summer started.
• Lots of fun stuff went on this summer
• The kids were incredibly busy
• Shane Walker, Marti Valenti, and I caught a metric ton of cross-bred trout and salmon during a fly-in fishing trip here in Alaska
• I completed the CH-47F New Equipment Training
•  Christi and the kids started school
• Summer ended
• I received a permanent medical disqualification from flying (waiverable, but only after 365 days)
• Winter started
• Halloween was an absolute riot
• The temperature dropped below -25 for the first time.

OK.  Now I feel a little better, especially that I was able to summarize the last 10 months in a pretty painless manner.  Hopefully everybody was at least somewhat familiar with most of the happenings touched on; if not, drop us a line!

Christmas in Alaska

I have been offline for quite some time now, as my last blog entry was the end of October of last year. So much has happened since then, I am not entirely sure where to start! So, as the famous nun sang, “Let’s start at the very beginning.” No, that would take too long. I will catch everybody up in a two-part post, starting off just after my last post…

After returning to FOB Wolverine from Kandahar at the conclusion of my last blog entry, I found that I had been transplanted into a small room, but I now had the advantage of a room to myself, with no hallway for other soldiers to pass to and fro through my living area. After arriving on Saturday evening back at Wolverine, I was informed on Sunday afternoon that I was leaving for another FOB called Tarin Kowt (hereafter referred to as TK), where our detachment there was short a maintenance test pilot due to the accident in the last post. So, two hours after I was informed of this, I was on a Blackhawk out of Wolverine, never to return (although I didn’t know this part yet…).

Tarin Kowt was quite nice, good living arrangements, decent food, and a command team that actually utilized me as both a maintenance test pilot and a mission pilot. I would have been satisfied staying there, but I was only there for about three weeks. After Jason (the MTP assigned to TK) came back “up” from the accident investigation, I was moved back to Kandahar. I was all ready to leave for Wolverine immediately, but the company commander asked me to stay for a week or two and help Phil (another MTP) take care of the tremendous maintenance workload.

Two days after arriving back at Kandahar, I got an urgent email from Christi, stating that she had an accident while scrimmaging the Fairbanks Roller Girls, and had ripped up her knee. The Emergency Room doctors that saw her referred her to her Primary Care Physician. Due to the impeccable timing of the scrimmage, and the fact that few Army medical personnel work over the Thanksgiving holiday, Christi had to wait until the Monday after Thanksgiving (six days after the accident) to get a MRI scheduled. No doctors would authorize a Red Cross message to get me home to help her out until it was determined that surgery was required for this injury, and so I got to wait, stressed out, over the holiday. Finally, Christi was scheduled for an MRI on the 16^th of December. She had to go back to her Primary Care Physician and get a referral for an urgent MRI ‘on the economy’ (non-Army medical care) to get an MRI any sooner. To make a long story short, I left Kandahar the second week of December, and arrived in Fairbanks on December 9^th.

I was originally authorized ten days of ‘emergency leave,’ and was counseled by a senior warrant officer in my unit to talk to Lt. Colonel Knightstep , the commander of the my home Battalion back at Ft. Wainwright. I went in to see him on the 13^th of December, and asked to get extended until the middle of January, after Christi’s knee surgery was tentatively scheduled. He told me that he didn’t have the authority to do so, but would work my request as necessary. The next day, he called my wife and told her that I would not be returning to Afghanistan this tour. We were both pretty thrilled!

Christmas preparations were in full swing, including a surprise visit by my parents, so the time really flew by. Christmas arrived, and everybody really enjoyed themselves. The next day, however, the jovial mood was brought to a screeching halt. I received an email that morning telling me that my release from theatre paperwork had been denied, and that I was to get on a flight the very next morning. I immediately called LTC Knightstep, and forwarded the message, he said he would work on getting me to stay longer. It turns out that my company commander overseas had given me permission to stay at home without clearing it through the proper channels, and so the guys overseas were actually expecting me back the entire time.

I ended up packing all of my stuff and heading to the airport the next morning to fly back to Afghanistan, via Seattle and Germany.

A sad sight

A couple of days ago, we at Wolverine received some sad news... one of our other crews experienced a hard landing (also called 'balling up an aircraft' because the aircraft end up in a general spherical shape). Fortunately, nobody was hurt, even though the aircraft was destroyed. Looking at the wreckage of this aircraft, I believe more firmly than ever that God watches over children and fools.
I am currently down at Kandahar again, albeit just for the next two or three days, when I will return to my home away from home up at Wolverine. This morning, a MI-26,the largest production helicopter the world has ever seen, flew in to the airfield with the forward 2/3 of our helicopter slung underneath. She (the ruined Chinook) was a complete loss even before the recovery team cut her tail off. Once the accident investigation is complete, I will be free to post photos of the ... carcass... as she is sitting here at the airfield. It is quite interesting to view an aircraft with such a sense of sadness, as if the ol' Mudslinger (her name stenciled across the rear of the ramp) was actually alive. I guess mariners of old felt this way about their ships as well - it is hard to see them die.
the attached photo is actually from a site called aerospaceweb.org. The main difference between this photo and what I saw this morning is the paint job of the big Russian. Also, the Chinook slung under this -26 is complete, with the exception of the rotor blades, which are almost always removed for slingload operations. The scale of this aircraft is amazing, as the -26 literally dwarfs the Chinook!

Just glad to be here, sir...

Just to be fair, I am not entirely rational right this second. I am currently halfway around the globe, in a place where my countrymen and I are neither invited nor wanted. My feelings are a little hurt right now, so I am going to take some editorial liberties and go off for a minute or two...

I just read an article about the president of Afghanistan, and his amazing statement to his Pakistani brethren. Now, keep in mind that the Alaskan Sugar Bears were in Pakistan this time last year, feeding the starving masses - the Pakistani government was unable to do that. Pakistan has been hiding Osama bin Laden for some time; possibly even years. Pakistani militants (allegedly NOT under the control of the Pakistani intelligence agency, WINK, WINK) have been attacking American and coalition troops from the border for quite some time. Although we provide over two BILLION dollars to Pakistan annually as military aid, these goat herding mutts are not our friends. Not even allies (who, by the way, don’t have to be friends). Here is President Karzai’s position, in his own words:
“God forbid, If ever there is a war between Pakistan and America, Afghanistan will side with Pakistan”
Obviously, there was an interpreter involved, because I don’t speak Dirka Dirka; but that seems pretty cut and dry. If I were the King of the World, or even just the President of the United States, US troops (and contractors, where applicable) would be leaving this Godforsaken country THIS AFTERNOON. Why are we spending countless American lives, spilling thousands of gallons of American blood, making thousands of new American widows, and spending billions of American dollars every year in this place? To “win the hearts and minds of the population?” Or is it to ‘install and continue to support a legitimate democratic system of government ruled by the populace’ here? Maybe it is just to “support the lawful Afghani government during reconstruction operations.” . Regardless of the reason American troops are here, Americans have been fighting their battles (or assisting them, as is more politically correct) since the Soviet occupation in the 80s. Whatever our pretense, it is time for Afghanis to figure out their own @%#$ country, and to begin to police themselves.

I've been called worse...

I had completed a maintenance test flight yesterday morning, and had to sign off the flight with our operations center. Once that was complete, I was walking down to the chow hall to get some lunch, and walked by one of the two Sergeants Major assigned to this little base (the top enlisted soldier in the battalion for those of you unfamiliar with Army ranks - rank of E-9; equivalent to a Master Chief Petty Officer for you squids out there). As we passed, he said, "Good morning, Lieutenant."
I stopped and looked askance at him, he took a double take - and began falling all over himself apologizing to me! He said that he mistook my three black dots for a solid black bar; and didn't mean to insult me. I laughed it off, and told him that I have been called worse, and then he said, "in that case, I'm glad that I didn't call you Captain!"
We both laughed, and walked off.
Hmmmmm.
After I read this post, I realized that it was actually funnier when it happened than it is when it is written down.

Dust and Rainbows

During July and August, Afghanistan weather has been, well, monotonous. Bright blue sky, incredibly dry air, temperatures that are hotter than %&*#&$@. Even up here at FOB Wolverine, about three thousand feet higher in altitude than Kandahar, the days have been very much the same. Until the first of September. If there were actually Weather Gods, they must have pulled off the page of their Far Side page-per-day calendar and realized, "Oh, it's September! Time for something completely different!" Over the last three days, we have had the usual sun (minus the 100 degree + temps), high relative humidity, cloud cover, rain storms, dust storms, wind storms, and finally, tonight, we have a wickedly awesome thunderstorm moving in - complete with a lightning show!
Attached are a couple of pictures that I have managed to take, my favorite is the dust storm rolling in - you can see the leading edge, the dust rolling up off the desert and the cloud advancing over the ground. Just for reference, the picture was taken when the dust cloud was about ten miles away - it reached our hanger in just over five minutes from that distance.

Signs, signs, everywhere the signs...

Here at WOLVERINE, there are some things that I walk past on a daily basis that I thought you might find amusing. There are others, however, that are kind of mind-blowing. Still others make me wonder, "why would somebody have to be TOLD that?!!!" Part of it is the fact that contractors hire individuals from other nations that may not have some of the same customs and courtesies that we do Stateside... I have taken a couple of photos, more to follow!