Where is all the money going?

By AME1

As I sit here in Afghanistan on my third “Combat” deployment, I ask myself one question; where is all of the money going? I did a combat deployment at the beginning of 2003 on the USS Theodore Roosevelt at the start of OIF for “Shock and Awe”. I watched the planes I worked on take off the pointy end of the ship armed to the teeth with Mavericks, JDAMs, GBUs, AMRAAMs, Sparrows, HARMS, and Sidewinders to take out strategic target as well as provide close air support in Northern Iraq for the 101st Airborne, and the 173rd Armored Brigade. It was pretty amazing, granted at the time I supported the war in Iraq, due to ignorance on my part. For the summer of 2006, I sat in Al Asad, Iraq, and I watched the planes I currently work on, take off into the desert sky, and support the troop convoys all over the roads in Central Iraq by tactically jamming IED signals. Now, currently, I watch those same planes take off into the frozen Afghani night sky to do a “new” mission, one that has yet to be unclassified. Being in the Naval Aviation, you expect to do your deployments on an Aircraft Carrier, not as a “Dirt Sailor”, but who cares, I’m here, trying to do my job the best I can. Back to my point, where’s all the money going? In October 2001, the President said something along the lines of “We’re gonna get the guy who did this (bin Laden)”. Well, he was in Afghanistan, and apparently we weren’t fast enough, and he got away, so we needed a new war to “win”. So we invaded Iraq, under false pretenses, and have yet to “win” that one. If Osama bin Laden is such a bad motherfucker, why do we only have 27,000 troops in Afghanistan looking for him, and 130,000+ troops in Iraq staving off a civil war? Living arrangements on a ship are living arrangements on a ship, they don’t change from ship to ship, it is the same damn “coffin”. Ship life is ship life, it never changes, Groundhog Day takes on a new meaning when you are floating for 6 months. In Iraq, I had it pretty sweet compared to boat life. In each “can”, there were two sailors, furniture, an air conditioner (a must, it was 125 everyday), and huge concrete barriers around our camp to protect us from indirect fire (which we received often). Our BX/PX was like a damn Wal-Mart, aisle upon aisle of EVERYTHING you could possibly need in a combat OR to live a tolerable life. Our hangar was a huge Hardened Aircraft Shelter, a relic of the Saddam Era, but a good facility nonetheless. We had to team up with the Seabee’s to build it up to our standards, but we were provided everything we needed in minimal time. Here in Afghanistan, it is quite a different story. My living quarters are pathetic. It’s a particleboard hut, with seven other dudes, some of us only separated by sheets. No room is the same, and we have only two heaters per hut (that aren’t always working). Oh yeah, it has yet to get above 40 degrees F since I’ve been here. These particleboard houses have been fire tested by the Army, and the average time for one to be FULLY engulfed in flames is 3 minutes, 30 seconds. Rather unsettling considering mine is 45 feet from the perimeter fence. Our BX/PX is “sufficient” at best. It has a bare minimum of stuff you don’t need, and they sell the same crap they give away at the DFAC, wtf? Our “hangar” if you can call it that, is like a big circus tent. They call it a “clamshell”, probably because it opens like a clam, but it is the stupidest thing ever. If it were to take a direct hit from an RPG it would melt in no time flat. EVERYTHING on this base in Afghanistan is either made out of plywood, or old shipping containers. Everything in Iraq was all nice and either brand new or refurbished. If Osama is such a bad motherfucker, and we want his head, why don’t we pour some money into Afghanistan instead of into Iraq? Why don’t we utilize the greatest fighting force on the planet to catch guys who are actually the “bad guys”, instead of using them for the benefit of a small group of people and their personal interests? If you ask me, the priorities in this region are all fucked up, and something needs to change.

AME1