News from Kabul.

As Bravo Company waited in full gear in the darkness and cold of pre-dawn Saturday morning to board busses to Fort Jackson's main training sites, we hadn't yet heard the news. Our lesson for the day was to continue with our convoy training in preparation for our final event: the Convoy Battle Scenario. In this scenario, each platoon of about 30 sailors is required to plan, organize, and conduct a convoy of six vehicles through about a seven mile course rife with ambush points, IEDs, and land obstacles and mock villages, police stations, and a hospital. The mission will be to bring a diplomat to meet with a village elder and provide security once arrived. At the conclusion of the meeting, the convoy will depart and return the same route. There will be upwards of twenty actors playing locals is full dress; explosions will be simulated by smoke, blank rounds will simulate live, but the rest is real. Real doors will be kicked in, real buildings and cars will be searched, and real people will be treated during medivac situations. I was named as the assistant convoy commander, so I will be busy in the next upcoming days planning and briefing.

Just as we were making our initial preparations, a real convoy in Kabul, Afghanistan was attacked by a VBIED, killing seventeen, including about ten US servicemen. The convoy was traveling to complete an ISAF (International Security and Assistance Force Afghanistan) mission on behalf of NATO. Many of the members of Bravo platoon are headed to Camp Edgers to work that very same mission just a few weeks from now. It is unknown if and how many Navy personnel were involved-but if there were-it is likely they would have attended the same NICAT class in Fort Jackson before deploying. Because it was the weekend; most headed separate ways and only a murmur of discussion was held amongst the students.

We've been taught many of the current tactics of IED use, but they are still deadly and still continue to be a threat. Practicing the final convoy exercise begins to get you hyper-aware of the possibility that every pieces of garbage by the side of the road, every sign post, every unusual rock or pothole could potentially conceal a deadly bomb. If you stopped at each bend in the road or each telephone pole to call EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) teams, the mission you were sent to do never would be completed. Trust in other members of your team to watch out for the things you don't see, trust in the equipment you ride in and wear to protect you, and trust in your training to spot danger from a safe distance are all you have to rely on-even then, bad things still happen.

Location:Camp McCrady, Fort Jackson, SC