Deployment, 5 months in

Well, it's been a long time since I last posted a blog. Probably lost a few readers in the process, as my last post was back in August.

I have been in Afghanistan for a few months now. We left home on August 15th, so today makes 5 months. Time hasn't been easy here, but I can't complain too much. I am stationed at a pretty decent FOB (Forward Operating Base). Been on quite a few missions.

A while back, we had our first named operation, Operation Rugged Outbreak. I can't go into detail as to what the operation entailed, but just let me say that we were busy for about a week. In one week, I saw 14 IED blasts, 7 trucks destroyed/disabled, took incoming artillery fire, and flew about 16 hours of missions on the RAVEN UAV system.

So far, my platoon has been lucky (kind of). We've had 7 IED strikes against our platoon, 5 of which disabled vehicles. We've only had one "casualty", and that was a concussion that left him confused and disoriented for a long time. He was previously involved in several (I've heard rumors of 13!) IED blasts, so it's easier for him to get a concussion than most people.

I will try to keep posting on this blog, but you'll have to understand if I get a little busy. Soon I hope to get my posts going about Skyrim, the newest Elder Scrolls game.

 - Woody