Afghanistan, this'll be fun.

I remember standing there in body armor, waiting for the ramp to open. When it was finally all the way down all I wished was that they'd shut it again. The heat that came pouring in made it feel like I was standing in the exhaust from a jet engine. Standing there in my body armor with my weapon and all my gear I remember thinking, "Holy crap! This is like a whole new world." Then I thought, "That was probably one of the most stupid thoughts I've ever had." The sun was blazing in my face after being in the semi darkness of the C-17 for hours on end. There was movement outside and I didn't know what to expect. We'd been briefed over and over again that the enemy might engage us as soon as we landed, so I was expecting the worst. Once my eyes adjusted though, all that came into view was some Air Force puke standing there in shorts and a t-shirt, the tarmace the aircraft ramp was resting on and the burnt out hulk of some LMTV that looked like someone had blown the hell out of it. Later, we all found out that supposedly some Marine had been so trigger happy when they landed that he put a M203 grenade round into the cab of the truck and that was why it was blown to shit.

I couldn't for the life of me tell you what that Airman said or why the hell he was there. All I knew, as I climbed on top of one of the shipping containers inside the aircraft, still wearing full battle rattle, was that I wished I could smash that guy in the face. It was hot, at least 120 degrees out, but I've found that once it hits 120 degrees and it's hard to breath, you really don't care if its 123 or 140. It all sucks the same. So, all of us were wearing something like 30 pounds of body armor, along with whatever else we werecarrying, and I was climbing on top of a container that I honestly don't remember the contents of. I know it didn't belong to Shops Platoon, but that's about it.

We got done unchaining everything from inside the aircraft, the containers, the trucks and whatever else there was and stepped onto the tarmac. Imagine looking out on a landscape you've never seen, with heat you couldn't have imagined, even in Texas in August, and even though your brain is telling you that this can't possibly be real, you are stepping into it all on solid ground. At that point, you really have to start thinking that, "Hey, this might actually be real. I might be awake and this might really be happening."

I don't really remember what happened next. I'm sure we got our containers unloaded with forklifts and drove the trucks off the aircraft. Then I figure, knowing the Army, they either took us to our tents and then to chow, or the other way around. I do remember laying all the rounds they gave us out on our racks and taking pictures of them. It may seem juvenile, but after going through seemingly limitless training the government hands you more live rounds than you've ever seen layed out at one time and tells you, "You might need these." Anyway, we took pictures of the ammo and acted like we were proud and nothing was out of the ordinary. I know at that moment that I did feel a certain sense of bravado, but that would definitely go away. Later, I just remember feeling confused and wishing that I could put every one of those rounds into the people who were raining mortars and RPG's down on us every night. Why the hell were they trying to kill me, or any of us for that matter, with their random mortars? I never did anything to them. Hell, if we could sit down over schwarma we might be friends. All I know is that I swore I would do whatever it took to support and defend our Constitution and that was what I was going to do. So, I did my job everyday, whatever that might be, and tried to sleep every night, wondering in the back of my mind whether or not tonight would be the night the mortars came for me or one of my brothers.

Sleep tight folks, if you can. God know's I can't anymore.