January 13, 2015

Troop housing 2011. This is slightly better than sleeping in your MRAP vehicle. Actually the man in the top photo is an ISI electrician, stationed on this combat out post (COP) to assess and repair the electrical installation. The top photo shows the Hesco walls that make up the perimeter structure. These are wire mesh reinforced gigantic sand bags designed to withstand rocket attacks. Smaller sand bags compliment the openings and rooftop. Co-workers have described the vipers, camel spiders and scorpions found inside their huts, you put your boots on before you  roll out of the bunk. All in all, much better than being outside the wire. The southeast (near Jalalabad) is home to the Haqqani network as well as numerous smaller networks looking to make a name for themselves. A camp like this is built with troop labor and starts with a delivery of plywood, Hesco forms, lumber, nails, generator, fuel, and, hopefully,  an excavator to fill the bags. Add a pallet of water, pallet of MRE's and a few MRAPs, and you have the beginning of a round the clock effort to establish a presence. Ass busting work in 100+ degree temperatures and hopefully nobody shooting at you while you work. The final product lacks port-a potties so BMs go in the left over MRE bag and get burned (you get the visual here, some balancing required). Showers if you get one is under a .5L water bottle. God bless the kids that do this. See the documentary Restrepo for a real eye opener about war and this war in particular.