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FORWARD OPERATING BASE MESCAL, Afghanistan (1/13/2013) - Forward
Operating Base Mescal has no Morale, Welfare and Recreation
facility. It has no Post Exchange, no laundry drop off and no post
office.
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Members of the 101st Expeditionary Signal Battalion, a National Guard unit from Yonkers, N.Y., deployed to Forward Operating Base Mescal, Afghanistan, Dec. 25, 2012. The six-man team is responsible for providing both secure and unsecured radio and satellite capabilities for the entire FOB as well as boosting the networks of other nearby FOBs. From left to right: Pfc. Curtis L. Brewington, Sgt. Sergio A. Rodriguez, Spc. John Martin, Sgt. James P. O'Connell, Staff Sgt. Marcus A. Jones and Spc. Jonathan Pereira. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. Lori Bilyou)
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Soldiers stationed here receive mail about once a month
and the chow hall offers two choices at every meal: Take it
or leave it.
Despite the spartan accommodations however, six National Guard
soldiers with the 101st Expeditionary Signal Battalion from
Yonkers, N.Y. call FOB Mescal home and they are perfectly
happy to do so.
“I looked FOB Mescal up before we
got here and it didn't look very pleasant. There was a lot
of talk about the food and the bad winters, but it's not
that bad,” said Sgt. Sergio A. Rodriguez, a light wheeled
mechanic from the Bronx, N.Y. “I guess you could say it's
become home.”
All of the soldiers from the unit come
from densely populated urban areas in New York: Mount
Vernon, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten Island - places where
crowds are the norm and convenience is often taken for
granted. Now they live on a FOB that has fewer inhabitants
than an average New York City elementary school and on which
money is essentially useless because there's no place to
spend it.
“As far as my team is concerned, I feel
like being away from the comforts of Kandahar Airfield has
been beneficial to them,” said Staff Sgt. Marcus A. Jones, a
non commissioned officer in charge of the signal team.
The Yonkers' team was definitely not impressed when they
arrived and surveyed the facilities they inherited from the
outgoing signal unit.
“This place was really bad
when we got here, especially the living conditions,” said
Rodriguez. “The tent was just a big hollow shell. It was
very messy with clumps of stuff here and there - very
disorganized.”
But when the outgoing unit showed the
New York team around, they offhandedly mentioned a pile of
wood they hadn't used and were leaving behind.
“We
saw the wood as gold,” said Rodriguez. “Our eyes lit up and
instantly there were a million ideas of what to build. Now
everybody claims we have the best living conditions in the
southern region because of the way that our tent is set up.”
Inside the tent the team built individual rooms for
each soldier. They separated the living area from the work
area and created a common room where they can gather for
meals or a movie. They built shelves to store and organize
supplies and a workstation to set up their computers and
signal equipment.
“I think in the short time that
we've been here we've accomplished great things with what we
had.” said Rodriguez. “And that has made everything much
easier.”
In addition to learning construction skills,
the signal team is of course, doing their job by providing
both secure and unsecured radio and satellite capabilities
for the entire FOB as well as boosting the networks of other
nearby FOBs.
Their small number has also enabled each
soldier to cross train, which in turn ensures that things to
run smoothly. The network specialists have learned some
transmission skills and the transmission specialists have
learned some networking. They've all learned to lay cable.
“Even Rodriguez, who's a mechanic, comes in and tries to
trouble shoot some issues or helps out with installing
printers or Google Earth or whatever the request is,” Jones
said.
Without the distractions that larger bases
have, Jones insisted that he and the other members of his
team have been able to utilize their time better than others
who might waste it on video gaming or hanging out on the
boardwalk like some do on KAF.
“People on larger
bases could do more constructive things, self development
things like looking into schools, applying for jobs or
researching what they'd like to do when they get home,”
Jones said. “I think everyone on our team has found their
own way or what direction they'd like to travel since
they've been out here.”
Jones' team can also enjoy
the simplicity of a FOB with little to offer but time for
thought.
“This is probably the most peaceful state
of mind I've been in, in a very long time,” said Spc. John
Martin, an information and technology specialist with the
team. “Being here has made me realize all the stuff I used
to take for granted back home. Whether it's something as
simple as hot water or vegetables, being here has made me
grateful for all the stuff I have back home and conscious of
the fact that people in this country are not as fortunate as
we are.”
This might explain why this six-man team,
despite their separation from all things urban, is quite
content to remain on FOB Mescal for the duration of their
deployment.
As Rodriguez explains it, “It's
complicated, but to me I feel like I can learn more out here
than I can at KAF. I'm actually hoping that they'll fly us
home from Mescal. I don't even want to go back to KAF, not
even for transition. If it was my option, that's how it
would be. I really like it out here.”
By Army Sgt. Lori Bilyou
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2013
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