Breaking In A New Combat Outpost

Combat Outpost Red Hill sits on the lower slopes of a line of rugged desert mountains.  At night the lights of Bagram Airbase 15 miles south of here look like a good sized city.  During the day I can gaze over the half-built protective walls of the outpost where tawny colored villages interrupt the band of green that sweeps through the valley below.  The fields and relatively neat looking villages are a welcome contrast to the squalor of Kabul.  

The protective walls of this outpost are half built because Red Hill is a work in progress.  When we arrived there was nothing but the partial wall surrounding a bulldozed flat area.  By day’s end, some fabric Quonset huts had been erected and cots unloaded and set up.  The Vermont Guard soldiers of Bravo Troop 1st Squadron 172nd Cavalry out of Bennington were the first to stay the night at the outpost.  As it got dark Sgt. Thomas Burke of Woodford and Sgt. Jason Eaton of Fair Haven barbecued steaks for everyone.  

Despite the incomplete fortifications, we weren’t unprotected.  The soldiers had arrived in a long line of big gun trucks.  One was parked at each of the two un-gated entrances and manned 24 hours a day.

This outpost is surrounded by wreckage from the Russian occupation.  Faded green and rust colored tanks and twisted military equipment stretch for acres.  I took a short walk outside the outpost, careful to stay on the well traveled road.  I’d been warned that old Russian mines might be scattered around.  Sometimes mines are marked by rocks, painted white on one side and red on the other.  The mine is supposed to be on the red side of the rock.   Just outside the outpost, Sgt. Donald Buck of W. Charleston showed me a rock that was painted white and blue and we wondered what that meant.  Neither of us was interested in finding out.

 Life at Red Hill is pretty simple.  There’s no running water, no hot meals (beyond the inaugural day barbecue), and no showers. A diesel powered generator provides electricity for lights and communications equipment. The second day we were each given a plastic packet containing “First Strike Rations” – an assortment of goodies that theoretically added up to enough food to get us through the day.  Delicacies like "Beverage Base Powder Grape" and "Shelf Stable Pepperoni Sandwich".  It even includes caffeinated chewing gum!

Once the sun sets, the lights in the Quonset huts go on and the windows are covered to lower the outpost’s visibility. The three Afghan interpreters H.K. (“Hamid Karzai?” one of the soldiers joked), ‘Rock’ and Mansour sleep under the stars.  The soldiers lie on their cots reading.  Everyone turns in pretty early and by 10pm, the last readers have turned out their lights.

Steve Zind ReportFromAfghanistan@gmail.com

Photos Top To Bottom

Camp Red Hill Day One

Sgt Thomas Burke of Woodford (L) and Sgt Jason Eaton of Fair Haven grilling steaks

Sgt Donald Buck of W Charleston burning trash

Spc Josh Lacasse of Pownall L and Spc Aaron Buell of Hoosick Falls NY

Sgt Allen Lunna of Bethel

Soldiers Quarters at Combat Outpost Red Hill

Spc Nick Tarr of St Albans

Sgt John Bell of Pittsfield