OK, I developed a couple of rules:
1. No photos that reveals the inner organization of the FOB.
2. No photos of locals' faces.
3. No photos of patients. (See below.)
I have discovered that this disqualifies a LOT of my photos. I know that rule #1 is probably futile, as the ANA is full of spies and my photos are all kinda dated anyway, but I'm being cautious. I'm sure as hell not posting my aerial views of the FOB! The reason for rule #2 should be self-evident. But, that's why the photos I'm posting are a bit boring. I've got some great shots of the FOB artillery, and some soccer games at dusk, but they violate my rules.
So, I suppose you are all wondering what I was doing in Naray...
Well, I was part of a surgical team attached to a BAS.
Here is my operating room:
If you look very close you can see the fly-paper...
My hooch is next. Note the cocked and locked Beretta next to the bed. Some of those ANA guys looked pretty shady...
I really can't complain, though. I had concrete walls and a bed, when most guys were living on cots in tents. As a matter of fact, the little building I lived in was the designated bomb-shelter. (It was a small, disused interrogation building.)
Here's a jam session at the BAS:
Here's a general view from the FOB, showing mountians and HESCOs. For the uninitiated, HESCOs are wire and fiberboard cubes that one fills with earth as a barrier. Sort of a sandbag on steroids. Any student of modern US operations should know about them. Also, the tents had been sprayed with quick-drying insulating foam- that's why they look funny. It permanently ruins the tent, but it's better than freezing.
Here are more HESCOs, with a Blackhawk landing in the background:
More HESCOs, with our urinals (for comic relief):
Here's a view from the FOB, of the Kunar River, looking southward:
Same river, looking northwaed. I think the bridge at Naray is lost in the shadows:
The town directly across the river from us was Shahmazur. Here are a few shots:
(The second one has a Blackhawk over the town.)
Here's the creek outlet, just below Shahmazur: (where we tried to aim the golfballs)
Her's a great golf shot, off of the latrine roof:
Schmeltzer's left leg is straight, and his eyes are still on the tee. Outstanding, considering that he'd never hit a ball before deployment. His right elbow should be straight, though, until much later in the follow-through...
That's also as much of the FOB as I am willing to show.
Here's an "artistic" golf photo, with the terraced fields of Shahmazur in background:
A Chinook landing, and coming close to brownout:
More Chinooks, one sling-loaded:
One of the local jingle-trucks:
Final shot of a trooper leaving the latrine roof, in winter, with Shahmazur in background:
Also, I just checked out GoogleMaps, and they now have a decent high-res map of Naray. Those images must be pretty recent, too, because the FOB is shown just south of Naray- it wasn't when I last checked a year or so ago. But, of course, the FOB images are relatively low-res.
You all may be wondering about all of those mountians to be seen towering over the FOB. When I first arrived I , too, had visions of Dien Bien Phu dancing before my eyes. But I was assured that Naray was secure. Basically, it was the most northerly full-sized FOB up the Kunar Valley. It was surrounded by smaller OPs and mini-FOBs that were on mountaintops. Nuristan was just north of us, and that was indian country, and you could nearly spit into Pakistan from Naray, but any attacker had to get through those outer FOBs first. (But FOB Keating in the town of Kamdesh was one of those, wasn't it...?) And the towns in the center of the valley, along the roads, were reasonably anti-Taliban.
Later.
