Letter From Afghanistan #01

After my last deployment I heard many people were asking when I was going to write for the journal again.  The problem was that I was sitting at home in Washington and there wasn’t really any news that I figured was really all that exciting and note worthy.  Within the last month that situation has changed and I am now sitting in a tent in the middle of Afghanistan.  As my second tour in the Global War on Terror, I will spend the next 5 months (with one month already finished it totals about 6 months) in Afghanistan.  Each week I will take a little time to write a short article in the hopes of keeping all my friends and family up to date on how things are going here.

Back in May, about half way through the month, I was notified that I would be leaving shortly to spend the next 6 months at a small Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Afghanistan.  This was a bit of a surprise since I wasn’t supposed to leave on a deployment for at least a few more months.  I was informed that things had come up at some of our other weather stations and that a couple of people that were ahead of me on the deployment list were now not able to go and so I would have to leave a little sooner than was previously expected.  At first I was a little disappointed that I was given such a short notice to get all of my affairs in order and get packed.  After a short time I realized that there are circumstances when a deployment isn’t in the best interest of either the Air Force or the Airman.  Shortly after the death of DJ, my brother, in 2005, I was scheduled to deploy within the next month.  At the precise moment that my squadron was informed of his passing the notified me that my deployment had been cancelled and that someone else would be going in my place.  I felt bad for sending someone away from their family on such a short notice, but at the time it was the best for everyone involved because my attention probably wouldn’t have been where it needed to be and that is when people end up getting injured or killed.  So realizing that the Air Force only wanted to send people who were able to do the job fully, I accepted my fate and started prepare.  There was a lot to get done and a short time to get it finished in, but it was something that could be done.  The first step was to let my parents and my girlfriend know that I would be leaving a little early.

When I got home I told my girlfriend that I would be leaving earlier than previously expected.  I expected the tears to start flowing and to hear how it wasn’t fair that I had to go in someone else’s place, but instead I was met with an interesting perspective.  I was informed that since I was going to be leaving earlier than we thought before then I would be getting home earlier.  So much so that I should even be home in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year and so I wouldn’t be missing the holidays by spending them in Afghanistan, since I was going to be going anyway.  It was a good way of looking at it and it made it all that much easier to accept the short-term notice.  It is interesting how different people have different perceptions of the same situation.

Over the next couple of weeks I had a lot to do.  I needed to fulfill the requirement set for me by the Air Force and my squadron to help me prepare for being out of the country for over half of a year.  I had to go to the legal office to ensure that all of my legal matters were in order.  After that head over to the finance office so that they can make sure that I knew about all of the pay changes that would take effect during my deployment.  I would start receiving Hazardous Duty Pay and my pay would also become tax free during my deployment.  There were many more appointments like these that required me to receive a briefing and get a signature.  I was also required to go to the clinic for a medical records revue and to make sure that I was medically ready to deploy.  This usually requires several visits due to the fact that there are several different aspects of the medical review that have to be completed before they can sign off.  I must go to the Dental office and the immunizations office among several other offices.  The dentist would take some x-rays and immunizations would make sure I was completely up to date on my shots.  The immunizations clinic is always one of my favorite stops because I always seem to need something from them.  The day that I stopped there I was informed that I was going to be getting my second anthrax shot.  There are several shots in the series and you can receive them as often as every six months.  The last shot that I was given was prior to my last deployment.  I was also told that I would have to come back and meet with a doctor so that I could be prescribed an anti-malaria pill.  After I met with the doctor I was prescribed an anti-malaria pill that I must take once a week.

After all of the appointments were finally over I finally got my orders that I need so that I can get on the plane and to get to where I would be spending the next 6 months of my life.  After that it was just a matter of getting all of my equipment packed so that I would have all of the supplies that I would need.  I also needed to get my laptop ready along with any movies and music that I would like to take with me.  Then early in the morning my girlfriend and I drove into the squadron where we were the weapons that we would be carrying with us and then drove to the airport.  After all the joys of airport security we were on our way to our new home for the next 6 months.  It was hard to say good bye but goodbyes were said and tears were cried all in the hopes that the next 6 months would be the fastest 6 months of our lives.

This is where I will sign off for today.  Next week I will finish talking about the trip to actually getting to our final stop and some of the interesting times on the way.  As with the last deployment I would love to hear from you.  You can email me at the same email address I had in Iraq, john.iraq@hotmail.com (I realize that I’m not in Iraq anymore but I already have it set up), or you can send me letters at:

SSgt John B. Ferderer

Task Force Pegasus

HHC 2-82 (SWO) Task Force Corsair

APO AE 09355

Please send me any questions that you have and I will try to answer them to my best ability.  May everyone have a great week and have a great Air Force Day!