Dear Elliot,
Greetings again from Afghanistan. I hope you enjoyed my last letter. Since then, I went on another expedition with my soldiers and US Special Forces. I took a few pictures and wanted to send them to you.
The night of the patrol, we had to be prepared for any attack, and we took turns pulling guard duty throughout the night. We had heard the base where we were staying might get rocketed. Even though I am a Lieutenant Colonel (the highest ranking Soldier on the patrol), I must share the same burdens as my men. So I stood guard watch from 2230 (10:30 p.m.) until midnight. It was windy and rainy. Thanks to Flat Stanley, nothing happened.
The green photos are of Flat Stanley helping me pull guard duty with my M4 carbine. The green light is what I see through my night vision goggles. These neat gizmos amplify light so you can see in the dark. (Wouldn’t that be neat? You could walk around your house at night and see everything, even though it was pitch dark.)
The next photo is of Flat Stanley manning our biggest machine gun, the “Ma Deuce.” It actually is called the M2 .50 HB MG. That stands for M2 (hence, “Ma Deuce”) .50 (50 caliber, meaning the bullet is 50/100, or one-half inch, in diameter. That is a very big bullet), HB (for heavy barrel), MG (machine gun). This machine gun fires a big bullet that weighs 673 grains (a grain is a unit of measurement for bullets and gunpowder), so we say the .50 caliber is “673 grains of diplomacy.”
The next day, I met some farmers who happen to grow poppies. One told me he knows it is wrong to grow poppy, but he must feed his family. That is a dilemma for any parent, because a child (you, Elliott) are a parent’s most precious possession in the world, and a parent will do anything to care for his or her child. The photo of me with the locals shows that farmer holding the water bottle. The net in his left hand is used to capture birds on the ground (like quail, I suppose). The farmer then raises the birds.
I then climbed a high hill looking for caves where guns and bombs might be hidden. We found no caves, but it was good exercise, especially with my 20+ pounds of body armor and rifle. Attached are some photos from that hill.
The next to last photo is of one of our terps (interpreters), Fawad (pronounced faWAHD). He is a very nice young man and an Olympic athlete. He played on the Afghan Olympic volleyball team. No kidding. The last picture was taken as we were heading home. It just seemed like a neat shot. I hope you like it.
Once again Flat Stanley really enjoyed an adventure in Afghanistan. He’s a good Soldier. I would take him anywhere with me.
Warmest regards,
Bill
1 comment:
Wow, that sure is a handsome soldier in front of those poppies! kimi
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