RIP 1LT Daren Hidalgo (March 4, 1986 - February 20, 2011)

The 20th of February, 2011 was a sad day for 2SCR, the Army, and the nation.  We lost a great soldier, a good friend, and a leader who cared deeply about his men.  1LT Daren Hidalgo paid the last full measure of devotion and all we can do is remember the impact he had on our lives. 

I only knew Daren as an acquaintance in school, but his was one of the first friendly faces I encountered when I finally got to 3/2 SCR.  Our paths didn't cross often, but I always thought highly of his abilities and character.  I am fortunate to be able to consider him a friend. 

Robert Baden Powell said that "No one can pass through life, any more than he can pass through a bit of country, without leaving tracks behind, and those tracks may often be helpful to those coming after him in finding their way."  We can only hope to aspire to honor his memory for the rest of our lives through our words and deeds. 

This is by no means a fitting tribute to Daren, but hopefully these few poor words will help someone else who needs comfort in these dark days. 

Daren, you will not be forgotten.

Rain in Afghanistan?

  

As you can see, rain is a big deal here in my little part of Afghanistan.  This part of the country, and probably Afghanistan as a whole, has experienced one of the worst droughts in memory.  So while the rain that we have received is not going to solve all of their agricultural, economic, and social problems, it does go a long way to helping these people have a better life. 

Most of the shallower wells dried up, and only the very deep, fifty meters or more, were able to survive the drought and excessive irrigation.  In America, most farmers who irrigate use drip irrigation systems, that conserve water while getting the most bang for the buck based on water placement.  Here, they simply flood the fields.  Not only does that mean that they over-saturate the fields, but that they are very difficult to walk through due to the mud.  The picture below shows the field structure very well, although it has not been worked for several years. 

There is a large wadi running through my AO, so for a few days we had to wade across running water in order to get to the other side.  Not exactly pleasant, as the wadi is nothing if not a huge dump for whatever trash the Afghans decide to throw away.  Of course, no trash pile would be complete without its complement of children running around the various trash, rubbish, glass, and general refuse.  Not to mention the fact that some of them are always barefoot.  Not good, but their immune systems must be pretty awesome after growing up amongst all that filth. 

Pretty short entry today, but thought it would be good to update and show some pictures of what my part of Afghanistan looks like.  Once again, let me know if there is a particular topic you would like to hear about.

First Combat

The following is my account of how I earned my CIB a couple of weeks ago.

The day started early, well before dawn, moving into an area near a major supply route for several of our bases, with us clearing from West to East. The focus of the mission was to find caches of potential IEDs and components, and so targeted searches were the order of the day. After dawn we searched several compounds, found an few-days old IED explosion site on an old supply route, and shortly following a dog found a cache in a grape orchard.  EOD investigated and Blew it in Place (BIP).  We started to question local farmers about the cache, but they professed a lack of knowledge or concern about their neighbor's actions.  About 15 min after blowing the cache, the other section of forces, to our south, started taking effective AK-47 fire from a grape hut. We took cover, and returned fire (I should have, but did not because of the distance from me to the enemy), and once we massed fires, the insurgents ceased action.

We moved out toward the point of origin, and my group was about 150m away from the grape hut we took fire from when a massive explosion surprised all of us. I distinctly remember someone (not sure who) say "that can't be good."  It wasn't.  The enemy took a few pop shots at my group and at the policemen in front of the hut, and I heard several bullets whistle overhead, although none impacted near me. All of the enemy fire was coming from behind the compound, so I did not have anywhere to shoot.  Firing ceased, and so we pulled back about 250 meters to consolidate and reorganize. We brought a Stryker to our location, and they fired smoke rounds to conceal friendly movement to conduct the casualty evacuation. I saw what was left of the Afghan as they carried him back to the Stryker, although I couldn't recognize him as human, and later found parts of him 150 feet away from the blast site. EOD inspected the IED site, but rather than clearing the grape hut that had caused us so many problems that day, we tried to destroy it, but we couldn't get permission based on the location of the local populace. Following that, we searched the nearby compounds, but only found one old man with cataracts. After searching the compounds, the decision was made to call QRF to have an MGS destroy the grape hut, but once again there were too many civilians in the area to engage.

While we were waiting for the MGS to arrive on site, we took cover in a small wadi. All of us sat against the walls of the trench, trying to relax a bit. One Soldier stood up and walked down the line, and I started to look at a bush that he had practically sat on.  I noticed a wire going down into the ground, but couldn't see the other end leading into anything.  As I was looking at it, an NCO walked over and pulled slightly on the wire, confirmed that it was buried, and called to EOD. They pronounced it an RCIED meant to kill dismounts and light-skinned vehicles. It took EOD two charges to BIP the IED, as the first time they did not use enough C4 to destroy it.  Thank goodness that there is a lot of good technology that worked well for us that day.

Following the MGS failure to launch, detained five personnel, and then continued to move towards the final position for the evening. We stopped for a few minutes, because someone found a wire headed pointed at a road. While we stopped to investigate, some Soldiers found an additional two PPIEDs very near the path we just followed.  EOD cut the wire, and then took care of the two PPIEDs. While hunkered down along the side of a road for cover, we found another possible location (although investigation showed it did not contain an IED). We finally finished the day's operation after a very long and eventful day. Some local elders stopped by to complain about the activity, although they seemed to try to blame us for it, and not the Taliban living in their own villages or communities.  The next day of the operation, I went out in the morning, but did not stay all day, as I had another Shura to attend (again).  Although the element did get shot at on their way out of the area on the second day, most of the morning was spent in discussion with the local men to try to gain intelligence on the enemy and keep him off balance.

For those of you that are reading this and becoming more concerned as you read, I only have one thing to say: DON'T!  It's not worth worrying about me more than you should.  I am both highly trained and very competent, but it is an unfortunate aspect of the profession I joined that something might happen to me.  So be it.  I'm here to give my very best for what my country believes is important, and that is all that matters.

This story probably varies slightly if you ask someone else on the operation, as things begin to get confusing, and time starts to lose much of its meaning.  That being said, however, this account is as accurate as I can make it.  I tried to add some photos, but the internet here really does not like anyone uploading or downloading anything.

Working with and through Interpreters

Interpreters are some of the most important people within the military organization in which we operate today.  I say this because here in Maiwand, we work with the local populace, the government, and security forces on a regular basis, almost all of whom require interpreters for communication to occur.  An additional hiccup requiring more skilled interpreters is that there are two major languages spoken here in Afghanistan: Dari and Pashto.  The people in this area mostly speak Pashto, although the more well-educated speak both.  Most of the ANA and ANP, however, speak Dari.  Some speak English, but this is typically a third language, so it isn't always the best. 

This all means that communication is rather difficult and tedious at times.  I've been to meetings and rehearsals where both Dari and Pashto translations were required, and let me say that they made something that was already tiresome almost unbearable.  I can only imagine how much worse it is for the terps having to listen to the same speech over and over again.  And as I wrote in an earlier post, Afghans like to repeat themselves multiple times by saying the same thing over again. 

Not only is translation time-consuming, it is also difficult to ensure that the meaning is conveyed in the simplest manner possible.  Some words just don't translate easily, not to mention all of the acronyms we use in the Army.  Speaking of which, I'm going to start working on a glossary of terms for the blog, so that I can start to be lazy and just use IED, SAF, SCO, and COP without having to translate it for you first.  Relatively short blog tonight, but I have other stuff on my plate right now, and will be sure to find the time to update again soon.