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January 05, 2012Unfinished Business in Afghanistan
Two Marines walk the dusty streets at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan, Dec. 18. As the final U.S. forces departed Iraq, nearly 100,000 American troops continued counterinsurgency efforts in Afghanistan.
Photo by Cpl. Brian Adam Jones
By Brian Adam Jones
I have a rather polite alarm clock next to my bed.
At night, it douses my room in a cool, blue light. In the morning, it gently nudges me awake with soft tones that gradually increase in severity. The clock offers a welcome contrast to the lonely and gritty discomfort of Afghanistan, to the very concept of War.
But at 5 a.m. on Christmas morning, I was not happy to hear it.
Grumpy and bleary-eyed, I pulled on my desert camouflage uniform and laced up my boots. I’m sure my sentiment was echoed by the other American military men and women spending Christmas away from home.
As a combat journalist and communications specialist with 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward) in Helmand province, Afghanistan, my Christmas morning was spent facilitating a live interview between a Detroit television station and two hometown heroes.
Not far away, on adjacent Camp Bastion, Marine Corps UH-1Y Hueys lifted off into the cold morning air.
Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 369 launched Operation Noel, an effort to deliver care packages and Christmas cheer to Marines in remote outposts that don’t regularly receive mail and don’t enjoy the relative safety I have here at Camp Leatherneck.
While most of the remaining American forces in Iraq were able to make it home in time for Christmas, nearly 100,000 other U.S. troops spent Christmas morning in Afghanistan, quietly working as a part of an international coalition to create an increasingly peaceful and independent infrastructure here.
As the final U.S. soldiers departed Iraq, a thick dust storm blanketed Camp Leatherneck. The temperature dropped about 15 degrees, locking the region in a surreal scene where the sun struggled to penetrate during the day, and the base’s ambient light couldn’t escape at night.
For the Marines at Camp Leatherneck, the days leading up to Christmas were spent in a sort of snowglobe of dust and sand – 7,000 miles from a Western world focused on the end of military operations in Iraq.
And here we progress, hopefully a bit better every day, a bit closer to a viable and reasonable end to our presence here, where we can join the veterans of Iraq and the ones we love.
I hope everyone back home had a fantastic Christmas holiday and I can’t wait to be home soon.
Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 369 launches Operation Noel, delivering care packages and Christmas cheer to Marines in remote outposts.
Cpl. Jones' first entry - My Path to Afghanistan
Cpl. Jones' second entry - A Glimpse at the Future of Afghanistan
Cpl. Jones' third entry - Leadership in the Afghan Sky
Cpl. Jones' fourth entry - A Marine's Christmas Song
To contact me with feedback or questions, email me at brian.adam.jones@gmail.com. To learn more about the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward), visit the Facebook page.
The views, opinions, positions or strategies expressed by the author are his alone, and do not necessarily reflect the Department of Defense or United States Marine Corps.
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