Time for another addition to the Seth Chronicles.......
One of the wonderful parts of Seth being in the towers (other than he's safer than when he's on patrol) is the regular telephone contact with him. A typical day in the towers begins around 4:30 AM. As our evening is winding down, Seth is getting up and getting going. He must be in a meeting for briefing and tower assignments by 5:30. After briefing they travel to their tower and some can be a little distance. He's in the tower from 6:30 AM to 6:30 PM (or in Army talk, from 0630 to 1830) After twelve hours in the tower there is another hour spent on returning from the tower and briefing. All told, about a fourteen hour day. Seth then grabs supper in the chow hall and heads for the phones for a couple of quick (and not so quick) calls to family and girlfriend. He usually calls Jan at school each day around noon. He's been able to talk to Eli on a regular basis and since I was off school yesterday I got the pleasure of a half hour phone call! After phone calls he's off to his hooch for a little personal time, watching a DVD, reading or just plain relaxing before bed.
The towers in a word - BORING! Seth said that he can't begin to describe how boring it is sitting in a tower for twelve hours looking at rocks and sand. Luckily he's in the tower with another person and they can spell each other, but you can't leave the tower. Lunch consists of an MRE in the tower (and he's already tired of them) and the bathroom is a portapotty at the base of the tower. He notes that he gets about one good meal a day. The rest of the time he's just snacking on goodies sent to him from home. He has reached the conclusion that life on patrol is better than life in the tower although we keep trying to convince him that we prefer the tower. He did have a day off on Monday which helped a little. He was able to sleep in, clean equipment, and organize his many packages from home. They are trying to rotate more soldiers into Bagram so the tower shifts won't be so long. They have also begun rotating soldiers to Ghazni and Seth is hopeful that he will head there soon. In Ghazni there are more patrols, but no long boring shifts in the tower. He will be heading there in the middle of the winter months but don't worry - we were able to send him an electric blanket. This apparently isn't your daddy's war.....electric blankets and daily phone calls home! It's still war though, with soldiers dying and spending a long time, a long way from home.
Sunday morning Jan and I heard that two soldiers had died in the area around Bagram. We knew that Seth had been on patrol that day and while rational thinking would have us believe that Seth was fine, we spent several anxious hours until we found more information on the internet that identified the company......we breathed a huge sigh of relief that it wasn't Seth's company but out relief is tempered by the realization that as we were learning that our son was okay, some other family was learning that their child was dead.
Mail and packages have begun arriving for Seth and he says that his nickname is now "Package." He is hungry for mail - just letters and pictures from home to fill him in on our normal everyday lives. Also anything consumable......he has a hot pot now and can make soup and hot drinks. He said he can't get too much, because there are people who don't get any mail from home and he can share with others. Seth will have two days off the tower this weekend. One day will be a training day - They're going to the shooting range to qualify on their M4's and the other day will be more of a day off. On days off you are on RRF or Ready Reserve Force. If needed you can be called out to respond to emergencies. Sometime in December he will spend a period of time on QRF - Quick Reaction Force. He's not particularly looking forward to this. The soldiers live in a large hanger 24 hours a day. They must be ready to move out quickly to respond to different situations.
Another cow bit the dust today. It brings a little excitement to the towers. Seth told Jan that he didn't see the exploding cow, but did hear it.
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