Narrative

Uncertainty of War

            There are often times in our lives that uncertainty looms like a dark cloud or shadow. Sometimes it could be starting high school, buying your first car, or going on your first date. However mine was in a much bigger spectrum. Mine was simply my first time I went on a convoy in Afghanistan. All the training that I had gone through could not simulate the actual feelings that rush into your head like water filling an empty bucket. I had no clue what to expect, all I was hoping was that I could revert back to my training and let it get me through this battle. 

Now if you have ever been on a convoy in a combat zone, you know that it's never an easy day. It's never a given. When you go on a convoy there are so many factors that go into it. It's almost like playing football. You need the players, the strategy or game plan. Except in this case you need the trucks, the Marines that operate those trucks. And of course the important part of the convoy, the load. The load on your truck is very important, because we are delivering supplies to outlining Forward Operating Bases (FOB's). Convoys are a frequent mission when you are in a Combat Logistics Battalion. I had my truck loaded, and ready to go for our upcoming mission. My unit was operating out of Camp Leatherneck in southern Afghanistan. Our mission was to deliver supplies to FOB Nolay and resupply the Marines working out there. FOB Nolay is about a three or four hour trip if you go in a straight line from Camp Leatherneck. However the route we took ended up taking us much longer.

            The temperature was in triple digits. The sun was bright as always without a single cloud in the sky. The air was dry and dense. Afghanistan is covered in sand and dirt as far as the eye can see. The dirt isn't like normal dirt, like it is here. It's more like pouring baby powder on the ground. It’s fine and worn down. The day goes on and the sun sinks down over the horizon, the temperature drops to a bearable feeling. I arrived at the motor pool ready for this mission. I went to my truck and started checking my load to make sure it was ready to go. Everyone was arriving at the motor pool and drawing weapons from the armory. I was grabbing what supplies I needed for the mission. I went to get my ammunition from the armory to load into my magazines. Before embarking on our mission we’d have a convoy brief so the convoy commander could tell us the information about the route we'd be taking and any recent enemy activity in the area. I wrote down the pertinent details of the mission. Such as frequencies we’d be using, call signs of trucks on the convoy, and the lost truck plan if any trucks were to get lost in the vast desert of Afghanistan.

            Once given the go ahead our convoy commander would tell us to load up and get ready. I yelled to my driver. "Hey man time to load up." He hopped in the truck and put his gear on. I started walking towards the exit to the motor pool my head started clouding with thoughts of uncertainty. I had no idea what might happen on this mission. Once at the exit to the motor pool I climbed back in the truck and put my head phones in to get ready for this mission. Many feelings came over me as we headed to the exit of Leatherneck. I could see the other vehicles pushing out the gate, mine waiting our turn to roll out the gate and see what this mission would bring. The route we took was concrete until we reached a certain point where we turned off the road and made our way through the desert. We had left at midnight. By the time we rolled through the emptiness of the desert, the sun was rising, and it was getting hot. My truck didn’t have a/c or windows that would open. I could see the local populous in their mud huts and children along the route begging for food. By this time I had heat rash from being in my hot truck and wearing all my gear. After long I had mixed feelings and was growing weary that we’d never make it.

A voice on the radio said. “There it is. There’s Nolay.” I heard this and knew our trip was coming to an end and I could breathe a sigh of relief. My driver pulled through the front gate and rolled around the barriers that were built to deter attacks on the base. I hopped out of my truck and guided it where it needed to be. I knew we had one thing to do, that was get accountability and make sure all the Marines were here. I had made it through the convoy. I knew all we had to do was make one more trip back to Leatherneck and it would be over, until the next mission.