Now Ye're Talking - to a worker on a US Military Airbase

Boards.ie: Niamh

We have a new AMA for you today, today's volunteer lives and works on a US Military Airbase in Afghanistan.

There may be some questions asked that relate to classified information which he will be unable to answer. Please be respectful of this.

I'm sure I will have a few questions of my own to ask shortly! Let's be having some questions

livedadream

anything you want us to post over? a few packs of tayto? nutella? peanut butter oreos... my b/f used to love care packages...

recyclops

Hi there,

this is going to be an interesting topic my question would be.

do you think the drone operators who work in the states are often desensitized by their jobs and actions in the army as they are so far away from warzones?

Agent Smith

Did you fly threw Shannon?

jobless

What do most people do in their down time there?....

Boards.ie: Niamh

Some questions from me.

Are you allowed or expected to leave the base on days off and if so, is it safe to do so?

Would many people there be aware of or have any opinion on the case of Bowe Bergdahl? I only know about it from listening to a few episodes of Serial series two so not a huge amount. For those of you who have not heard about it, here's the description from Serial:

"In the middle of the night, Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl grabs a notebook, snacks, water, some cash. Then he quietly slips off a remote U.S. Army outpost in eastern Afghanistan and into the dark, open desert. About 20 minutes later, it occurs to him: he’s in over his head." He was captured, handed over to the Taliban and held prisoner for five years. Because he left of his own accord the US Army court martialed him and he is due to be sentenced in February 2017. Some think he deserves to be punished, some think he's suffered enough.

What is the landscape like in Afghanistan?

Rubecula

I work on a UK airbase so I was curious if you would be able to tell me your role there?

I work on a US Military Airbase, AMA

livedadream wrote: »

anything you want us to post over? a few packs of tayto? nutella? peanut butter oreos... my b/f used to love care packages...

I'm fond of the odd care package myself.
I usually get some decent chocolate sent over here because all they sell is American chocolate which has a distinct taste of vomit
And now I'm sitting here thinking about a crisp sambo thanks to you!

I work on a US Military Airbase, AMA

recyclops wrote: »

Hi there,

this is going to be an interesting topic my question would be.

do you think the drone operators who work in the states are often desensitized by their jobs and actions in the army as they are so far away from warzones?

I think so.
From talking to some of the guys stationed here there can also be a little bit of resentment towards them. The main reason I hear is because they get combat medals for their work even though they're thousands of miles away from the action. I think some of the guys here who see action first hand every day are a little bit pissed off about it.

One thing I learned about drones since being here is that each flight is actually controlled by people here and also by operators in the States.
People here on the base control the take off, then they hand over the controls to an operator Stateside, who then hands back over for the operator here to control the landing.

Big Nasty

Maverick or Iceman?

I work on a US Military Airbase, AMA

Agent Smith wrote: »

Did you fly threw Shannon?

Nope!
Dublin - Dubai - Afghanistan.

GLaDOS

I take it from the description as a "Worker on a US Military Airbase" that you're not actually military? Or am I wrong?

Either way, what does your job entail?

I work on a US Military Airbase, AMA

jobless wrote: »

What do most people do in their down time there?....

Depends on what base you're on. Activities vary slightly from base to base.
On most, they have event nights to keep people busy. On a larger base like Bagram, they have R&B nights, karaoke nights, even a salsa night where people go to make fools of themselves salsa dancing!
Then they always have a barbecue or some sort of party around holidays like July 4th and Paddy's Day. (And yes I have had to explain to people that it's not fcuking Patty's day.)

Most people kind of fill their time by hanging out with friends or going to the gym or just chilling out in their rooms.
Alcohol is illegal on base so unfortunately there's no bar to hang around in.

Big Nasty

What's the male to female ratio on base?

Presuming it's very high in favour of male do women get a hard time?

I wonder do you get many lads catching teh ghey for a bit of relief?

I work on a US Military Airbase, AMA

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

Some questions from me.

Are you allowed or expected to leave the base on days off and if so, is it safe to do so?

You cannot leave the base whatsoever. Once your in, you're in. The only way you leave is if you fly to another base.
The only people who would actually exit the gates here are the military or security forces.
If you did decide to walk out and somehow managed to get past the security gates, it wouldn't be very long before you'd be killed or captured.

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

Would many people there be aware of or have any opinion on the case of Bowe Bergdahl? I only know about it from listening to a few episodes of Serial series two so not a huge amount. For those of you who have not heard about it, here's the description from Serial:

"In the middle of the night, Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl grabs a notebook, snacks, water, some cash. Then he quietly slips off a remote U.S. Army outpost in eastern Afghanistan and into the dark, open desert. About 20 minutes later, it occurs to him: he’s in over his head." He was captured, handed over to the Taliban and held prisoner for five years. Because he left of his own accord the US Army court martialed him and he is due to be sentenced in February 2017. Some think he deserves to be punished, some think he's suffered enough.

Yeah everyone here knows who he is.
I'm a fan of Serial myself and I've mentioned his name to people a few times. From what I've personally seen, he's universally hated here.
The general opinion here is no matter what he says his intentions were, he put soldiers lives at risk by taking a walk off base. And for what it's worth, nobody I've talked to buys his side of the story. They either believe he's a traitor and wanted to switch sides, or that he wanted to be a hero and go off like a lone wolf to earn himself notoriety and a shiny medal. Either way, they all think he's not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

What is the landscape like in Afghanistan?

Beautiful. Seriously.
The mountains surrounding the bases are astonishingly beautiful. In the winter, they're topped with snow and in the summer when the snow melts they look like something straight off the cover of a National Geographic magazine.
I often say that if the country wasn't such a mess, it would be a fantastic place to visit.
I have some photographs of the mountains. I'll try dig them out and upload them here.

I work on a US Military Airbase, AMA

Rubecula wrote: »

I work on a UK airbase so I was curious if you would be able to tell me your role there?

GLaDOS wrote: »

I take it from the description as a "Worker on a US Military Airbase" that you're not actually military? Or am I wrong?

Either way, what does your job entail?

I'd rather not say what my exact job here is.
But I don't work directly for the military here. I'm a contractor. One of thousands of contractors here in Afghanistan. I'd love to say I get up to some Jason Bourne type stuff out here but I'm afraid not!

Todd Toddington III

Have you seen a tr3b?

Shannon757

Does your job involve much work with aircraft or do you work in a different industry?

Big Nasty

Todd Toddington III wrote: »

Have you seen a tr3b?

He's probably seen Biggins. In fact he might actually be Biggins!

I work on a US Military Airbase, AMA

Big Nasty wrote: »

What's the male to female ratio on base?

Presuming it's very high in favour of male do women get a hard time?

I wonder do you get many lads catching teh ghey for a bit of relief?

I don't know the exact ratio of men to women but it's not as lopsided as you may think.
If I was to guess I'd say it's about 70% men 30% women. I could be way off with that figure but I think it's about right.
The women don't get a hard time from what I've seen. For the most part they're seen as equals and are pretty much "One of the guys" if they're military.
The US military are pretty big on their "SHARP" program here. That's their sexual harassment campaign that's constantly being trotted out. Sexual harassment is taken extremely seriously and will get you into serious trouble here.

I have heard stories of soldiers "catching the ghey" but I don't think it's all that common. I don't think they'd need to have a go off each other anyway because the female soldiers get around. A lot.

I work on a US Military Airbase, AMA

Shannon757 wrote: »

Does your job involve much work with aircraft or do you work in a different industry?

I don't work directly with the aircraft but I travel on different types quite a bit while I'm here. I've gotten up close and personal with some F16 jets recently which was an unreal experience.

I work on a US Military Airbase, AMA

Big Nasty wrote: »

He's probably seen Biggins. In fact he might actually be Biggins!

I'm pretty sure he's the general here

cml387

Are you the only Irish guy?

I work on a US Military Airbase, AMA

cml387 wrote: »

Are you the only Irish guy?

There's a few Irish here. Not many though. Out of the thousands of people here I've met less than 15 Irish people. All guys too.
There were Irish soldiers based in Kabul a couple of years ago but they've all left now.

Vojera

Do military personnel have a strong sense of their own mortality or do you think that's something they have to blank out to a certain extent?

Do you sense a lot of patriotism among the US personnel or is that a media myth?

I work on a US Military Airbase, AMA

Vojera wrote: »

Do military personnel have a strong sense of their own mortality or do you think that's something they have to blank out to a certain extent?

Do you sense a lot of patriotism among the US personnel or is that a media myth?

I think a lot of them certainly try to block it out and not think about it.
It tends to hit home every now and then. For example, last week a US soldiers was killed here in an IED explosion and the mood on base was noticeably different for a few days. I think when something like that happens it makes them stop and think that it could very easily have been any one of them.

The sense of imminent danger is never too far from anyone's mind here, whether your military or not. We're constantly under attack from the Taliban and injuries and deaths do happen.
Whether you're military or not, if you get too complacent that's when people get hurt. I think it's good to know that you could be killed here at any moment. It keeps you on your toes.

As for the soldiers being patriotic....that depends on who you talk to. Some are just regular Joe's doing their job and that's it.
Some others are really all about 'Murica!
Most fall somewhere in between.
The impression I've gotten from them all is that every single one of them is willing to die to protect their fellow soldiers. People can say what they want about America, but when it comes to the people on the ground they're tremendously loyal and decent people for the most part.

6541

is there a black market for stuff, like drugs, booze contraband in general ?

muffler

If you were base commander what three things would you change on the base from a non operational point of view?

I work on a US Military Airbase, AMA

6541 wrote: »

is there a black market for stuff, like drugs, booze contraband in general ?

Most definitely.
If you have the right contacts on base you can buy booze pretty easily. A 500ml water bottle refilled with vodka will cost you about $50.
The illegal booze sales is a pretty lucrative business here.
I'm not sure about the drugs side of things but I'm sure you could get your hands on some if you asked the right people.

Pornography is also contraband and they have all the major websites blocked here but of course there's ways around that.

Having sex on base is also a breach of General Order #1. Rumour has it there's a small prostitution ring operating on some bases too so that's been causing some headaches for command.

Some locals are allowed on base every day and they run little market stalls in certain areas of the base. You can buy everything there from fake Beats headphones, to fake aftershave and fake brand name clothes. They also sell trinkets and antique stuff too.
One thing to note about those guys is, it's generally understood that when you buy from them you are indirectly funding the war against yourself due to their links to Taliban.

Ericdravancrow

Where are the UFO's hidden?

I work on a US Military Airbase, AMA

muffler wrote: »

If you were base commander what three things would you change on the base from a non operational point of view?

I'd allow a small amount of booze to be sold.
On some bases in other countries there are small bars where you can have 2 drinks maximum. It'd be nice to have a pint and unwind every now and then.

I'd install a swimming pool!
It's hot as fcuk out here and a pool would be nice!

I'm not sure about a 3rd thing but leave it with me and ill think of something.