A Battlefield Tourist

The Leap

Jan 7 at 10:10pm by David Tate

The second you buy your plane ticket it becomes the real deal.  Fortunately, the cost to Kuwait from Roanoke and back was just $1,300!!  Seriously… I was expecting $3,000 with the way the world is these days.  But the fact is, once you invest that nonrefundable money, you pretty much have made the call.

Unfortunately, by this time I was expecting to have somewhat of an itinerary for my trip.  I was hoping to go the easy route, which was one embedment with one unit – in this case the goal is/was USMC 3/8, the combat element of the Special Purpose MAGTF (Marine Air/Ground Task Force).

The MAGTF essentially replaced the combined forces of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and USMC 2/7, which left the area for good in November 2007.  Their area of operation is primarily central Helmand and Farah Provinces in Regional Command South.  Fortunately I was granted permission to embed, unfortunately it is for only one week.

Greetings. I hope the new year is treating you well so far.

Regarding your embed, we will not be able to accommodate a month-long embed with Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force – Afghanistan . February is looking very busy, but I could offer you a week long embed between the dates that you requested, probably after Feb #. Would Feb. ##-## work for you? Please let me know.

I look forward to working with you!

Busy?  No kidding… that’s why I’m coming.  I don’t want to be there when you’re not busy! 

Adapt and Overcome

So that throws a bit of a wrench into things.  The biggest problem is that I have the month of February and every day counts.  I also need ITOs (Individual Temporary Orders) in order to come into theater with the military. In this case, I have learned I can fly to Kuwait then get a military flight straight into Kandahar.  Definitely less comfortable, but no visa needed, no Kabul needed, no Bagram needed, less travel days and no goatee needed!

There are straight flights from Doha, Qatar as well, but again, I don’t want to deal with getting a visa and all that.  Afterall, I really only have about three weeks on the ground as it is.

The downfall is that I don’t get to go through the more adventurous part of the trip; actually getting a hotel and staying in Kabul for a few days. My Dad certainly likes that better, unfortunately, I wanted to get pictures for the archive that show the people and the city of Kabul.  A bit dangerous, but worth it.

The More Lines in the Water, the More Fish

So I have some time to fill and I need to get a plane ticket, which we all know, gets more expensive as the day approaches.  I guess I’m just going to have to rely on some hope and good karma.  If that fails, I could find myself in an overpriced hotel room in Kuwait City or a dusty tent in the Kuwati desert at Ali al-Salim for more time than I care. 

I do have good leads with an Embedded Training Team, British Marines and maybe even Blackwater.  With all that in mind, I did buy my ticket and can only hope it all works out in Kuwait.