After spending almost an hour on yesterday's blog entry, trying to figure out how to easily link back to old MySpace blog entries, I realized there was no easy way. For whatever reason, MySpace doesn't offer bloggers any way to see or index their own blogs. Other people who subscribe to the blog can, but since MySpace won't let you subscribe to your own blog, the author can't.

Rather than track down and hurt the 'features' developers for MySpace, I decided to create my own index, which will reside forever at the top of the blog entry list (or at least until 2010). Ah, the miracles of forward-dating.

Just a note about the contents of this blog and my reasons for maintaining it:

This website is privately operated and is designed to provide personal information, views and commentary about John Severns' experiences in the United States Air Force and as a member of the military. The images depicted and opinions expressed on this website are solely those of the author and contributors and not those of any agency of the United States Government, expressly including, but not limited to, the Department of Defense, or the United States Air Force. The site is not designed, authorized, sanctioned, or affiliated, by or with, any agency of the United States Government, expressly including, but not limited to, the Department of Defense, or the United States Air Force. Users accept and agree to this disclaimer in the use of any information accessed in this website.

Additionally:

Every picture, every sentence is carefully screened to make sure nothing is being said that would put any of our Soldiers or Airmen in danger. In fact, nothing is being said in this blog that isn't already being released in some fashion to the media here in Afghanistan.

It's been a while since I posted to this blog, I see. I blame the fact that life in San Antonio simply isn't as exciting as Afghanistan.

Before I get into the meat of this post, I invite you to check out a post by right-wing blogger Michelle Malkin, in which she posts a leaked email I sent out to our PA shops:

Michelle Malkin's blog

The other day we got some guidance from higher HQ on the "GWOT" flap. For those of you who aren't in the loop, the term "Global War on Terrorism," which has been used for the better part of a decade to describe the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is falling out of favor.

There's a couple reasons for the term's decline. The first and most obvious is that with a new administration, we have new priorities. A Global War on Terrorism, much like a War on Drugs, implies a long (in fact, infinite) conflict based on ideological rather than political goals. Although the Obama Administration hasn't made any official attempt to end the term's use, it's clear they think we need a new name for the conflict.

The second reason, and in my mind the most dominant, is that GWOT was never a terribly accurate term to begin with. It's not global, it's not really a war, and (at least since the Iraq invasion) it's not against terrorism. Let's go point by point:

This is a "Global" war: Is it really? Actual fighting is only taking place in two states. Although several nations are involved to some extent, only one is on war-time footing, and that's America. We are 'fighting' terrorists in other nations, if by 'fighting' we mean asking Pakistan to please recapture the Swat Valley.

This is a war: Kind of quibbling, I know, but only Congress can declare war. I actually don't mind the use of this word.

We're fighting Terorrism? This is the stickler, and probably why the Administration isn't happy with the term. Let's be honest with ourselves for a moment and admit that terrorism is never, ever going to go away. There will always be non-state actors willing to resort to violence to achieve political goals. Calling this a war against terrorism implies that we'll be fighting for a long, long time.

Calling it a war on Terrorism has also been inaccurate ever since we invaded Iraq. Without going into the debate over whether that war was appropriate or worthwhile, it's been pretty well established that there were no terrorists in Iraq to speak of before we invaded and toppled Saddam's government.

Anyway, back to Malkin's blog. The email we got a few days ago said that it was time to let the term GWOT go. Since that had the potential to inflame folks* who insist that we remain locked in a life-or-death struggle with extremists, the goal was to keep the change low key.

Anyway, fun times in San Antonio.

*(Incidentally, few of these people seem willing to actually pick up a rifle and join the fight themselves. Apparently they subscribe to the "The pen is more powerful than the sword" argument.)

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I had kind of an odd idea yesterday -- doing a oral narrative of some of the more important events of my last deployment, and illustrating them with photos from my collection. I figure it's a neat way to show in more detail what things were like than my blog allows, and with any luck it will keep me from forgetting the details.

The first one is in my profile, but I figured it can't hurt to include here either. It's a description of the first combat event our team underwent, in Baraki Barak.

Before I arrived in Afghanistan and started this blog, I spent three months at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina, going through the Army's Combat Skills Training course.

It was not a pleasant experience. We spent three months in the woods at an underdeveloped FOB with no showers, no latrines, and no buildings but tents. Also, there was no heat. Also, it was January.

No one enjoyed the CST experience. What it did, though, was provide us with the basic combat skills we needed to survive in Afghanistan. As Airmen, we didn't have the marksmanship or tactical skills needed to run a convoy or react to contact. What CST did was give us those skills, albeit in an uncomfortable and unnecessarily drawn out process designed for the lowest common denominator.


So it was with some trepidation that I went back to Ft. Bragg this weekend, to help conduct some training for the new PRT rotation preparing for their own Afghan adventure. Specifically, I was there to provide some "real life" examples of how information operations are conducted, and give them a more applicable grounding in IO than the doctrinal courses they had received.

The training was a great success. Everyone seemed excited about the deployment and their chance to have an impact on the future of that country. IO is still a new discipline, and it was satisfying to help shape it for the next year out there.

As for FOB Patriot, the collection of tents in the woods where we did the training, it hasn't changed much. They still live in tents, but have bunk beds instead of cots. They have shower and laundry facilities. The dining facilities have televisions in them. People didn't have to wear their flak vests unless they were out on a mission. Oh, and the tents had air conditioning.

That makes it sound softer and easier, but at the same time their training seemed better over all. The trainers seemed to have a much better idea of what the troops would be facing in Afghanistan and tailored their lessons to it. Time was better used. Everyone seemed more confident.

I think they'll do alright out there.

It's been a while since my last post, but the simple truth is that life in San Antonio isn't as blog worthy as life in Afghanistan. Pretty much ever day was an adventure over there -- someday, I hope to do it again.

Until then, however, we have San Antonio. There may not be a counterinsurgency or slowly forming nation state here, but it does have its attractions.

Canyon Lake, about thirty miles north of the city, is a large lake created a while back by the Army Corps of Engineers (for which we are all grateful). It's a pretty large lake, with more than 80 miles of shoreline, and several peninsulas managed as natural areas by the Corps. Since I'd never been up there before, and I had Monday off, I took a quick day trip to explore some of the paths and trails around the lake.

Even back in the states, it seems I can't get into the news without it being for something bad.

Air Force grounds training planes

Still, it's nice to be back in the traditional Public Affairs world. I seem to have retained my touch.

As for Texas, it's a nice place. It's certainly more crowded than any place I've lived, but that could just be San Antonio.

The new apartment is a step up from the B-huts of FOB Gardez. The fact that there's a huge shopping center not a mile away from my new home is a nice change too.

This entry is actually a few days late, but in my own defense I’ve been pretty busy.

We left Gardez on March 15th, then spent the better part of 10 days jumping around Afghanistan and the surrounding countries, trying to catch a ride back to the States. We finally landed in Baltimore on the 26th, and the team split to go their separate ways on the 27th. For me, that meant flying back to Omaha and Offutt AFB, the station I left 15 months ago.

A lot changed back at Offutt. Only a few people were left in the office from when I was there, but they were happy to see me back. The entire command staff up at the wing had changed, and new buildings had sprung up all across the base.

I only stayed at Offutt two nights, just long enough to in- and out-process. Normally people don’t do both at the same time, but I already have orders for San Antonio, and it’s time to start heading that way.

There’s not much to say about my deployment that hasn’t already been said. I remember wondering, way back last January, how well I would weather spending 15 months with the Army in a combat zone. I’m happy to say that things ended up very well -- this assignment went better than I could have hoped, and I’ve been generously rewarded with both experience and actual awards.

When I left home I had seven ribbons on my rack. The next time I put on my uniform I’ll have 16, including two Army Achievement Medals, an Air Force Combat Action Medal and a Bronze Star. That’s a bit more than most junior captains can claim. More important, though, the next time a flyer talks about being "at the tip of the spear," I’ll be able to just roll my eyes.

I have a new respect for the Army now. Their leaders are the best I’ve ever seen, and their focus on results is a refreshing break from the corporate Air Force. I still thing the Air Force does some things better than the Army (including how it treats its people), but there are definitely things the services can learn from each other. Hopefully after serving with both, I’ll be able to combine the best of both worlds.

This will be my last blog entry in this series. While I’ll probably continue to write entries from San Antonio, obviously they will no longer be about Afghanistan or my adventures there. Hopefully I’ll get another chance to go on a mission like this one, and I’ll be able to start a new journal to detail those adventures. Until then it’s back to life-as-usual here.

To everyone who’s followed these entries, thank you for your interest and the occasional kind words. Knowing that there were people back home who cared about our safety was one of the things that made our jobs easier.

Farewell, and thanks for reading.

The last time I was in Manas AB in Kyrgyzstan, it was on our way into Afghanistan. Manas is basically a waypoint, a base with a large enough runway to accomodate all the airplanes that won’t fit onto the dilapidated airstrips of Afghanistan.

Unlike last time, I’m actually spending several days here. On our way into the theater, I was only on the ground for a few hours before we flew to Bagram. I’ve been here for almost a week now, and I’ve still got a few days to go. Apparently the Air Force is more concerned with moving people into the fight than out of it (which is fine by me -- I get paid the same either way).

With any luck, I’ll be back in the states by the middle of the week. Just one more annoyingly long flight to go.

It's been almost 48 weeks since we arrived at Bagram Air Field, the main point of arrival for units entering Eastern Afghanistan. In just under three weeks, we'll start our long journey back there on our way home.

There are still missions left to run here, but over the next few weeks our replacements will slowly start to take over for us. Already they are getting settled into their new rooms and learning their way around the FOB.

This is the beginning of the end of our time in Afghanistan. Soon we'll be home.