CAMP EGGERS, Afghanistan –
Maj. Nathan Dawn
Home Unit: Air Combat Command Headquarters A8
Location: Camp Eggers, Kabul, Afghanistan
What do you do? My unit is the Combined Air Power Transition Force (CAPTF)/438th Air Expeditionary Wing. I am the air advisor and mentor to a group of Afghan National Army officers under the Afghan General Staff for Strategic and Operational air planning (Pentagon equivalent).
What's a day in the life like ... while in Kabul? A typical day starts out by walking 20 minutes outside the wire to the Afghan office where I directly mentor four Afghan officers who are in charge of tasking fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft to support the entire Afghan National Security Forces. I mentor them in effectively and efficiently tasking all National air assets in a prioritized process as well as developing strategic and operational directives to guide all the Afghan Corps (including Air Corps) units in the effective employment of Afghan airpower. It is customary to drink tea and eat some various snacks during our daily discussions. In the afternoons, I coordinate with other mentors within Combined Security Transition Force Afghanistan and International Security and Assistance Force in the various agencies and directorates to ensure all plans and activities are synchronized and integrated.
What will you remember about your deployment 20 years from now? The Afghan friends I made, the bazaars, flying on an Mi-17 helicopter, and what I did to contribute to the building of the Afghan Air Corps and what may become the Afghan Air Force
What's the most useful item you packed? My camera
When did you realize you "weren't in Kansas anymore;" aka your "Dorothy" moment? During my first convoy in the war torn streets of Kabul, people were riding on donkey carts, herding sheep, pushing large carts on the same street you are driving on ... I'm definitely not in Kansas anymore!
What has been the highlight of your tour? Flying in an Mi-17 helicopter to a town west of Kabul called Bamyan, where the Taliban blew up the giant Budda stone statues
What's the best part of the deployment? Knowing that I am helping to stand up the Afghan Air Corps to provide airpower in support of the country of Afghanistan
The worst part? Breathing the polluted air (which is around 1,000 times worse than the Environmental Protection Agency's limit for nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide)
What new survival skill have you learned? I learned how to give an IV to a battle buddy; got him on the first stick!
What do you do during down time? Air Command and Staff College by correspondence and watch movies
What is the first thing you will do when you return? Hug and kiss my wife and kids, then go buy a car (I sold my car before I deployed.)
What is the first thing you will eat when you return? Some good, spicy Chinese food
What do you miss the most? All the different ethnic restaurants I used to go to. After five or six months, the tastes here start to get old.
How is your job that you are doing now different from the job back stateside? Well, stateside I task ACC test units to conduct operational tests. I'm a Program Element Monitor for Aerial Targets, which is vastly different from my duties here . Currently, I work in developing Afghan air organizations and processes at the general staff level and mentoring air command and control processes as well as in the execution of the buildup of the Afghan Air Corps to fight the current war against insurgents here.
Have you tried the local cuisine? Yes. My interpreter has twice brought in a traditional home-cooked meal consisting of rice, flat bread, meatballs and lamb -- very tasty!
What do you think about what you hear on the news from what is going on stateside? When I hear on the news of our economy failing, or the election, I feel quite removed from all of that being on the other side of the world. I don't see the American economic "desperation" from here because after seeing how very poor living conditions are here and how very little Afghans really have, Americans have a long spiral down to even approach the level where Afghans are.
Do you have plans for any extra money that you might be making from this deployment? If so, what will you buy? I plan on saving some for retirement and for my children's college.