Delaram...

23 December 2009

Another leg of my journey here in Afghanistan has begun. I am finally here at FOB Delaram, which is actually a Marine base. I am far away from Shank on the other side of the country. This FOB is in the Farrah province right next to Helmand. This place is much smaller than Shank but is actually pretty comfortable. Apparently it wasn’t always this way. When the FST I am working with arrived here they had no showers, small mess hall, and port-a-potties. The topography is much different, there are some mountains around here, large on a Texas scale but diminutive compared to those out and around Shank. It is very flat and very much a desert here. The trip here wasn’t too bad, I was delayed coming out of a place called Bastion, which is a huge, sprawling military camp. I stayed in a huge circus tent that was packed to the rafters with soldiers. That was a pretty cold and miserable night, but nothing a couple of ambien couldn’t handle.

Here is the run down on the pictures posted:

The first one is looking out of the back of a Chinook helicopter on my way to Bagram from Shank. This was the first leg of my long trip to Delaram. The Chinook was actually a pretty good ride compared to the Marine CH-53. That helicopter leaked hydraulic fluid the entire flight. According to those who have ridden them before, that is a good sign and that it is when they are not leaking that you have to worry!

Second picture is me, Specialist Brandt Bennett and Staff Sergeant Samuel Chiu. We took this picture at the small weapons range on the day it snowed real hard. I impressed them by shooting their M4 carbine at 25 meters and putting a group of 3 shot all inside the spade on a ace of spades playing card. I felt pretty cool.

The third picture is of a sunset over the airfield at Bastion.

This time of year, Christmas, we get lots of letters from people back in the US. There was one letter that particularly struck me and I wanted to share it with you:

Dear Military Hero,

Thank you for protecting our country. Even though in times of distress came you still didn’t give up on our country. And thanks for not backing down on our country. And I hope you are ok. Anyways tomorrow is a new day and I hope when this war is over that America (US) has won the war and that whoever is reading this will be ok. So please don’t give up on us. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Makaih

I found this letter particularly touching and intriguing. First of all, typing doesn’t do justice to the backwards “y’s” and misspelled words. I honestly felt the gratitude of this child in the letter. It is nice to have someone back there in the US, asking me to not give up and to push on when it gets hard.

Christmas is also coming soon! This is my second Christmas in a row being away from home. Last Christmas I was on call at the hospital. Santa Claus came to the hospital and left Christmas presents for the kids in my office. That was very sweet of Santa to be so considerate of them and me! I wore a Santa Claus suit to round on my patients. It was actually a pretty fun day, though I was away from my family.

This year, it is even more bitter sweet. Not only am I away from my own family, but I am away from my unit, my military family. Every week we get a devotional email from the military district leaders up in Kabul. This week there was a special devotional from Elder Paul B. Pieper of the Seventy. This was a special message to all of the military servicemen in the Middle East.

He points out that we who are reading his message are far away from home and all of things that we associate with Christmas, family, shopping, trees, parties, choirs and being with loved ones. Instead we are in harms way, on lonesome mountainsides and desert valleys surrounded by those who wish us harm. We are living in tents and temporary housing. He draws the parallel to Christ when he was born:
- far from home (his father in Heaven’s home)
- born in a manger (temporary housing)
- hostile environment
- spending his time in a foreign land, far from home
Christ has experienced all suffering and pain, so that he can know how to help us. How many times had the Savior longed to return to His father, to His father’s presence? I can think of at least one, suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross when the Father withdrew his Spirit from him. How the Savior must have longed to have that with him again?

By this Christ knows how to help the sinner, fallen from the presence of the Father and from the Holy Ghost. He knows how I feel being away from my little ones and my wife. I know that I can rely upon him to buoy me up and strengthen me.

This Christmas will be one that I will remember for the rest of my life. I do not want to waste it, wallowing in my own self-pity, but using it as a chance to draw closer to my Savior and be a stronger servant for it.

This morning I watched “Joy to the World” and that put me in a good mood and correct mindset. I read the account of Samuel the Lamanite as he prophesied of the coming of Christ. I was struck by how it must have been to see the Savior of the universe and of all of God’s creations as a small little baby, just like Sydney, Ainsley, Zachary and Audrey, tiny, soft, defenseless, and pure.

There is no serviceman’s group here in Delaram. I don’t even know if there are other LDS servicemen here. I miss my guys back at Shank. I miss my family, especially this time of the year