lots of freedom in this picture…

Posted by colbysgregory on 23/09/2011

lots of freedom in this picture…, originally uploaded by colbyscottgregory.

Check out my latest photosf rom the deployment! one of these days i’ll write a few stories here

‘the wire’

Posted by colbysgregory on 16/08/2011

‘the wire’, originally uploaded by colbyscottgregory.

On Sunday morning I had an opportunity to spend some time driving around base and snapping some photos. it was a nice relaxing way to start my ‘day off’ (which by the way was 13 hours long).. Plenty to share but you’ll all have to wait awhile . Until next time, enjoy the pictures.

boots-on-ground

Posted by colbysgregory on 06/08/2011

boots-on-ground, originally uploaded by colbyscottgregory.

Added some photos to my stream. Hoping to get the camera out more soon!

belated update.

Posted by colbysgregory on 31/07/2011

It’s been too long since I updated this, but with good reason. My first week in Afghanistan was as expected: manic. Every day was longer than the last, with new procedures and new skills to take-on. I was starting to get into the groove, and out of the jet lag when I got the worst message of my life. At around 9:30 PM, after 13 hours of painstaking briefings, meeting scheduling etc, I received a knock on my door as I packed for the following day’s first trip of my deployment. It was one of the squadron commanders, he held a white printed piece of paper, on the top in big block letters told me all I needed to know “RED CROSS MESSAGE”. my worst fears were realized, my prayers had not been answered, it was time to head home to be with my family.

To those of you who don’t know, three years ago my mother was diagnosed with a fairly advanced stage of breast cancer. She battled the affliction with chemotherapy, and eventually surgery, all the while calling on her faith to keep her strong through the arduous process of overcoming such a terrible disease. After surgery recovery, all seemed well for a number of months, until we found the cancer had returned and was continuing to consume her body. At this point, all any of us could do was be there for her, and pray that she could overcome once again. She grew worse over the last few months and in my last visit prior to CST, she had trouble with anything that involved mobility. Things were not looking good. My prayers continued through my time at CST, and as I travelled to the AOR, I prayed her situation would improve enough for me to return to her after my deployment. Unfortunately, this wasn’t likely and I knew it, prayer seemed impossible. I tried anyway.

My journey back home took me around 48 hours, I got to the house around 10:30 PM. Mom was in her bed (she hadn’t left the room in a few days), she looked weaker still, but overjoyed to see me.

Ive spent the last 7 years away from home, with only short visits on holidays or the occasional long weekend. This two-week stint was actually the longest I’ve stayed in the Maine house since my parents purchased it in 2006. It has always been distant to me, my mothers condition included. This was the first time I was really put in a front-row-seat to my mothers suffering. This was the most painful experience of my life. I’d much rather suffer myself than watch one of my loved ones suffer, especially my mother. Bearing our own pain, we all helped her out where we could. I tried to bring her things she could eat whenever she indicated that she was hungry. My sister held her hand and remained by her side every waking possible moment. My father did a little bit of everything, we all took roles to make her as comfortable as possible. My grandmother (my mother’s mother) was even there, providing much of the background help (cooking, cleaning, laundry) as well as reading passages from the bible and science and health to mom. She wasn’t ready to give up, she wasn’t about to give-in to the illness and accept defeat. She struggled through the pain as she reminded herself of prayers, concentrated on other things, tried to rise above it.

On Saturday the 16th of July she passed away. We held a memorial service for her (she didn’t want a funeral, nor did she want to be buried) on Wednesday. The first part with family and her closest friends was held on the beach in front of the house. My sister and I shared the honor of spreading her ashes in the atlantic. We all said our respective prayers and said our goodbyes. It was (and still is) hard to accept that mom is no longer with us. She won’t be there to meet my future wife, children, see them grow up with me. I like to think that those in my future may not get to meet her, but shell get to know them.

So after all this, through the pain of watching my own blood suffer to the death, it’s time to attempt to return to normalcy. Normalcy exists in Afghanistan. I’m back at work now.

I’m going to do my best to get my camera back out and start shooting the goings on at Bagram. I’m struggling with a creative block right now. I just need to get my camera out and take it wherever I go.

the end (of the beginning)

Posted by colbysgregory on 25/06/2011

So, my training is FINALLY over… Three weeks of ‘hurry-up-and-wait’ has come to a screeching halt, and it’s time to get this show on the road. The last week has been a lot of the same, little training, lots of dull white space where I’ve been granted the distinct honor and privilege to recollect literally every moment of the program via composing a 7 page ‘after action review (AAR);’ so at least I had something to keep me entertained. A Major who is here with me decided to take it upon himself to write his own 19 pager, including a graph of time allotted versus time wasted versus time utilized. It closely resembled a masters thesis, I was outdone (I’m okay with that). What is an AAR you ask? Well let me tell you; it’s a paper (or just a very serious conversation) about the activities of a certain period of time (in this case: CST) outlining the goods and the bads (there were a lot of bads) of an activity. After around 4,000 words of eloquently stating how much of a waste of time the last three weeks has been, I slapped the Colonel’s signature on it and called it a day. I’m happy to have that thing behind me. The major’s AAR may not be used, since he just kind of wrote it without solicitation (in fact, I and other Majors asked him not to do one) and the Colonel doesn’t wholly appreciate renegade overachievers. Not to say it wasn’t a piece of work, it just wasn’t as concise as the USAF likes its criticism.

So, on to bigger and better things. Tomorrow I depart for my ‘point of embarkation,’ also known as BWI airport. I will wait here for about 24 hours before my plane will take me to Ramstein airfield in Germany, then Incurlik Turkey, then finally Manas airfield in Kyrgyzstan where I will have my last beer for 6 months, get issued a bag of chem gear and a new flak vest, and wait for the next available C-130 to fly me and my 832 bags of belongings to my new home in the heart of thriving Afghanistan. I’m really starting to get excited. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures on the way.

“the bobble head”

Posted by colbysgregory on 19/06/2011

“the bobble head”, originally uploaded by colbyscottgregory.

the bobble head is an award. this isn’t the kind of award you strive to earn. The bobble head is given to those who excel at screwing up. For the most part, safety infractions will deem someone worthy of carrying the bobble head around with them. Rules are: you must carry the bobble head around with you until it’s been passed on (there must be a ceremony). You must carry the bobble head EVERYWHERE (except to poop or shower), and when you are questioned about why you are carrying the bobble head, you must answer truthfully. Finally, you must add to the bobble head while it is in your possession. I obtained the bobble head myself by accidentally carrying a live magazine off the shooting range on Saturday, unfortunately no good pictures survived. I added the buffalo wild wings hat and crown, promoted the bobble head to the rank of first lieutenant, and added a Starbucks skirt to the statue.

week two.

Posted by colbysgregory on 16/06/2011

So i’m halfway through my combat skills training program. It’s picked up some, but still not as ‘intense’ as i was expecting. After weapons qualification on Saturday, we did some more ‘realistic’ shooting on the short range marksmanship range. This involved quick draw techniques, and shooting while moving. Probably the most practical training (and definitely the most fun) i’ve had since arriving. We also had a roll-over training exercise involving a HMMWV (Humm-vee for you civilians) body attached to a rotating turnstyle that flipped us over as if we had been in a vehicle rollover. We had to practice ‘egress techniques’ in full battle rattle, carrying weapons. I’m pretty certain that’s the sweatiest i’ll ever be. Unfortunately i wasn’t able to bring my camera to the event; it just slipped my mind. I’ve gotta get better at just bringing that thing everywhere, you never know when the next photo opp will be…

Tuesday we began specialized training for different groups. Some of us had crew-served-weapons (.50 caliber machine gun on top of a HMMWV), combat life saver certification, vehicle driver’s training, or something called ‘blue force tracker’ training. I was fortunate enough to be placed in the blue force tracker class, which is 4 days of a fire-hose-like immersion into an army command and control/situational awareness program. Boring classroom training, but it brings us back from McGregor and onto Ft Bliss, where we’re spoiled with the most incredible DFAC (Dining facility) i’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting.

made fresh for me right then! amazing food provided by the US Army

Tomorrow starts a few days of mayhem. we’re gonna take our final exam for the blue force tracker class, then go to a night class having to do with crew-served weapons (they all at once decided to train us all on those) before qualifying on them on saturday morning. Saturday evening we begin our language training (Dari, which is one of the 298,000 languages spoken in afghanistan). No idea what’s in store for next week, aside from a 2-day long IED training course. I’m looking forward to that (especially because that means we’re done afterwards).

writing in my bed. spend a lot of time here...

I’m quickly discovering that this program is a TON of hurry up and wait, followed by a butt-load of white space (twiddling my thumbs or playing angry birds to pass the time), followed by 48 hours of little-to-no sleep and 18 hour days. I certainly hope they will figure out how to establish some semblance of an equilibrium for future classes to come.

also, we got our multicam gear! still no uniforms, but this is a giant leap in the right direction for getting the right camo-pattern for our deployment. Hopefully we’ll be getting our uniforms on Wednesday. More to come soon, folks.

this is the 'new' pattern being used by all troops in afghanistan (looks a lot like the old BDU doesnt it?)

M4 qualifying day

Posted by colbysgregory on 11/06/2011

had some fun shooting M4s and my camera as well today . 101 Fahrenheit high temperature, 15mph winds blowing dust in our faces and in our weapons, but all were smiles. fun was had.