Peace Support Operations PSO or workshops for logistics personnel and specialists of the Mission Contingent of the ISAF mission.
In advance of the actual deployment I additionally had to join a reconnaissance mission to AFG to the place of our responsibility at the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) at KUNDUZ. Our team consisted of 4 officers and 2 sergeants including me, who were given the task to evaluate the situation on ground in and around the operational base and to verify the information we had received till then. Although we were provided with quite a lot of data we wanted to be sure that they were still up to date and reliable. Next time I would arrive here as the BNs TVB responsible for the supply and provision of our soldiers, not only in the camp and nearby areas, but also for the ones on missions and at the forward operation bases (FOB) deep in enemy territory. This is completely different from doing this job back home. In mission country you cannot just drive over to the next garage to get spare parts for your combat vehicle. No, in combat areas the lines of supply are much more complicated and way longer.
sunset in the Camp
Structure wise, I was assigned to the Staff and Supply Company. Due to that I also was responsible for the support with personnel and material of the Staff with its 7 sections as well as the Base Security / Defense Company and the military police. One who has never been in the Bundeswehr may imagine the SSCOY as a huge company with its different departments. In our case for example , there was a canteen with its responsibilities, the “Nachschubzug”, which is a supply platoon taking care of pickup and transportation of the supplies arriving at the airport, the “Materialgruppe”, a supply group distributing all material and ordering or sending spare parts and damaged parts from and to Germany, the “Instandsetzungsgruppe”, mechanics responsible to keep all vehicles operational and the “Luftumschlagszug”, an air logistics platoon offloading air transportation and taking care of distributing the mail and material to the areas of operation. As you see there was a lot of personnel and effort needed to keep this machine PRT KUNDUZ running.
3. March 2005
O
n the 15th of March we started at 12:30 from the military section of the airport of Cologne/Bonn in an Airbus of the Luftwaffe (German Airforce) to our layover in Termez, Uzbekistan (/اوزبيكيستان ترمز).
At 21:30 we landed on its airport. Whoever thought he could finally get off the plane was immediately disappointed. The door opened and an Usbek official came in. Accompanied by one of the German Airforce ground crew guys he collected all our military IDs, saying this was a regular procedure to check if the incoming personnel matches with the reported list and that we would get our IDs back when we proceed to our flight on the following morning. One of the guys being deployed for the second time turned over to me, smiled and said that they going to copy them now and forward the data to the Russians. I laughed and said:
"You´re joking, right?"
He laughed back and said:
"No!"
Actually, that was a well-known fact.
Once they had all our IDs, we were allowed to leave the plane and walk over to the so called transit camp which was located only 200 meters away from the runway. It was dark and humid. We were led to the tent area where we could buy a Coke and a more or less warm sausage for dinner. Then we went to our declared tents. Thank god they had air-conditioning, so that we were able to get some rest for at least a few hours. According to local time it was 0100 when we laid down. So it was a short night, because at 0430 we had already boarded again, this time a C-160 Transall on a direct flight to KUNDUZ (کندوز). We had to start that early because later in the morning the temperatures would rise to an unbearable degree. Too hot for the Airforce to fly.
It is 0500 local afghan time at KUNDUZ airport or what those people call to be an airport. The main building was a ruin and the tower looked everything but stable. The first thing drawing my attention were the rays of sun right above the tower and the remains of two destroyed combat helicopters left by the Russians when they withdrew 1989.
We were picked up with some jeeps and Mungos (an ugly tiny military transportation vehicle which was actually concepted as a street cleaning vehicle) and brought to the main base. My first impressions of the country were overwhelming. I sat next to the driver of the Mungo and watched how the life in and around KUNDUZ began the day.
Then suddenly I was hit by a negative feeling. I saw all those children with their small barrows carrying those yellow canisters. Immediately the words of that officer came to my mind when he warned us about these canisters. Could these little children really be assassins? Those with their yellow canisters? But not only they had those canisters. There were yellow canisters everywhere! In each corner. In front of every store. Beside every single road.
The next thing I recognized where all those children working on the fields along the road. Considering that awful crazy heat it was hard to watch. Later I found out that almost all children have to get up very early in the morning to work on the fields together with their parents. Afterwards they go to school and return to the fields in the evening to work again. Like in Germany back then children had to help their parents with their work to assure the families survival, but nowadays this would be far from every imagination. Over here it is still everyday life.
The PRT at the northern afghan provincial capital KUNDUZ was founded by the US forces and was taken over by the Bundeswehr in October 2003. The official tasks of the german-run PRT were:
Support of the official structures of the central afghan government in the provinces of KUNDUZ and TAKHAR in all kinds of aspects.
Different from the time when the PRT was led by the US forces there were also civil officials from Germany present, such as the ministry of foreign
affairs, the ministry of interior as well as the ministry of economical cooperation and development who worked very close together with the German military. The camp was guarded and secured by afghan security forces.
Arriving at the camp we were met by our predecessors at the so-called market, which is the central place of the camp and then brought to our quarters where we would stay for the next eight days of our introduction.
The next morning we placed our luggage, which actually consisted only of our combat back pack, on the field beds and went for breakfast. In front of the canteen tent there was a hand washing installation. Hygiene was elementary in the camp. In a country with almost no sanitary infrastructure, the dust of feces is permanently present in the air. At noon it was the worst. No one who was not deployed there can even imagine the smell. A good protection those days was the Kufiya, the typical head scarf which I used to spray with orange perfume and wrapped it around my mouth and nose to avoid breathing in that sickening feces dust. Of course, you were not 100 percent save using this but it helped to make it through the day.
Afghan security forces at work
Entering the canteen, we were just amazed by the variety of all the tasty looking foods that were on offer. It was even more and so much better than in the facilities back home! Fresh fruits, fresh baked bread, cheese, ham, scrambled eggs and even freshly brewed coffee. After having breakfast, the COY commander showed us the most important stations in the camp such as the location of the sections J1 to J6 of which J6 for example was responsible for the whole IT infrastructure of the camp and its forces. After that we visited the security COY. Later that day I got to meet with a SGT 1st class of the COY. His name was Christian S. and his task was to show us around and teach us about the way of life in the camp. We got along with each other quite well from the very first day and spend a lot of time together during my stay.