KABUL, Afghanistan –
Staff Sgt. Amanda Elkin
Home Unit: 480th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing
Location: ISAF Joint Command, Kabul, Afghanistan
What do you do? Perform quantitative and qualitative assessments on how all theater ISR-owned assets are being employed.
What's a day in the life like while in Afghanistan? I wake up, and head to work where I will stay for a minimum of 12 hours. Then sometimes after work I go to hang out with friends at the coffee shop. Then, get ready to go back to work the next day.
What will you remember about your deployment 20 years from now? I believe that I will remember the great and unique experiences that I have had here, being able to work with so many different NATO partners.
What's the most useful item you packed? Definitely Febreze.
When did you realize you "weren't in Kansas anymore;" aka your "Dorothy" moment? As soon as I left the passenger terminal. I realized that the U.S. presence was not the only one here and definitely not the greatest in numbers either.
What has been the highlight of your tour? When it snowed for a week straight; everything seemed so clean and pure; a surreal experience.
What's the best part of the deployment? The best part is the experience to meet and work with all the different countries represented here at ISAF Joint Command.
The worst part? Having to eat noodles and tomato sauce or rice and curry at every meal for lunch and dinner.
What new survival skill have you learned? Learning how to ask where the bathroom is in five different languages counts.
What do you do during down time? Hang out with friends, or hope that the internet connection is working.
What is the first thing you will do when you return? Give my son the biggest hug and kiss ever and then head to the spa.
What is the first thing you will eat when you return? The first thing I will eat is a tie between Chipotle and Texas Roadhouse, and a pint of beer!
What insight experience will you take away from your time over there? Definitely a better understanding and ability to understand deployed work and how things are when you are close to the fight. Everyone's simply focused on their job and all trying to achieve the same goal. This goal is simply getting the people with boots on the ground whatever they need to succeed.