While I spent the weekend trying to figure out just how cool I was (see post below) my little brother was spending another weekend at Camp Bastion in the Afghani desert just trying to live as normal a life as possible. Three years ago there was no Camp Bastion, it was just an oasis in the middle of nowhere, but now there's a tent city, hospital, airstrip and Task Force HQ. I've only got a vague notion of what things have been like there, my little brother has been very busy and has had the time for only the occasional email and phone call. However I read a remarkable piece in Friday's London Times by Tony Loyd about one day in the Bastion hospital. Here's how it starts:Beneath the warmth of the early morning summer sky a familiar routine begins at Camp Bastion’s hospital. The bodies of three British soldiers, brought in by a Chinook medical emergency response team shortly after 6am, are already lying in the mortuary.
Two were killed in action, the third died of wounds before he could be operated on. A fourth British soldier, an additional morning arrival, lay sedated in intensive care, with a leg blown off.
A team of medics and two chaplains were waiting at the main hospital entrance for the next helicopter to touch down. “We’re in the middle of a shit morning and it’s getting worse,” remarked Captain Cat Kemeny, the hospital’s adjutant. “We’ve got four more UK casualties coming in from three incidents. The next we’re expecting is a double amputee.” She had barely finished speaking when a Chinook landed near by and unloaded the newest casualty.
The rest of the story can be read here. Gareth (my little brother) not only read The Times's story but in fact was actually in the hospital that morning because of an injured arm, although of course he was way down the triage priority list. Gareth may be used to it, (this is the kid's third war and he spent most of last year in northern Iraq) but I'm not, and although I write fairly violent - and hopefully fun - crime novels for a living his life is lived at the tip of the spear and he is, without question, the family badass.
...
Anyway, I don't know how the Afghani war is going to end, but for the sake of all the Brits, Danes, Yanks and other soldiers on the front line I hope that it gets resolved sooner rather than later.
24 comments:
I can't begin to tell you how much respect I have for guys like Gareth. Good post, Adrian.
Amen to that, Adrian.
Mike
The funny thing is that all those guys just pretend that its a regular job. They're all so damn mellow and humble.
But anyway the important thing is that they have as boring a time as possible. And I hope they will.
Corey
Thanks mate
Heroes are always humble.
I wonder if I'll ever understand such a war...
Liliana
I used to understand it but now I dont know what's going on. All we seem to get is bad news from Afghanistan.
That's a very lovely post about your brother and his comrades-in-arms. I guess you really are totally cool, dude.
Afghanistan is a very complicated sort of place from anything I've ever heard, and I too hope that the situation is resolved soon, though I have a bit of pessimism about that. But I do hope your brother and all there with him arrive home soon, safe and sound.
Seana
I'm pretty pessimistic too although Gareth's morale (and those of his buds too) seems quite high.
I'm glad of that, and they may be right. I bet there is much you can accomplish even if you can't tackle centuries of history head on.
Adrian:
Funny - my little brother is currently with the US Army in Afghanistan after a spending a full year in Iraq a little while back.
I've always thought it amazing that he's not only doing something that I could never do, but when I talk with him, he sounds like he's right where he wants to be.
Please extend your brother my thanks for his service.
Cavalier,
Yeah for the people on the ground who see what the TB is up to and capable of, there's a level of understanding that we just dont get.
Cheers mate and GOOD LUCK to your brother too. Its not just about keeping your head down, there's the unpleasant random factor that comes with IED's etc.
Seana
Centures is right. All the way from ALexander the Great!
Amen to your brother's safe return, and to a time when one can visit that fascinating part of world safely.
==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Seana
I believe I meant centuries. Although centaurs would have been fun too.
The first and best of the Flashman books deals with the British Army's inglorious retreat from Kabul in the First Afghan War. Its a favourite of both me and my little bro.
Peter
Did you ever read Eric Newby's A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush or Robert Byron's Road to Oxiana?
Both are excellent travels through Afghanistan.
Is the run-up to the presidential vote hotting things up in your brother's part of Afghanistan?
I've ready Bryon but not Newby. And if you want visual embodiment of East and West meeting, you could do worse than look at sculpture from Gandhara, the Buddhas especially.
==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Centaurs would indeed be fun.
I didn't know that the first Flashman was set in Afghanistan. Wonder if your brother has turned anyone else on to them over there. I'll have to take a look around.
A book about Afghanistan that I didn't like much was The Kite Runner. It starts out brilliantly, gets less interesting when it takes the protagonist to Fremont, California--a place that probably spells doom to any novel--and then gets positively rank in the last part which is the return to Afghanistan. I simply do not understand why this book is so beloved. I think the author is a great guy (no, I haven't met him, just read interviews), and has a lot of talent. But I still think his editor should have given him a serious talking to about that last bit.
You may think that I have veered wildly off topic, but oh, no, I can go even further. I was just looking something up about the Pathans, because I'd read an interesting if somewhat worrisome news segment about them awhile ago, and in the course of my research learned that Shah Rukh Khan claims Pathan or Pashtun descent. And this reminded me of this story about his recent detainment in Newark.
He seemed cool about it, but I think it is absolutely appalling. This is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, stars in Indian cinema. Even I know about Shah Rukh Khan, and as we all know, I know almost nothing.
Peter
Its all been more or less the same for them. Its been bad since he got there and will probably be bad once he leaves.
Seana
Yeah the book is a hoot even during the grim Afghan sections. Hopefully Gareth is getting a few converts to the Flashman cause out there, the ironies are delicious.
Yeah I know about the Khan story.
My old college buddy Girish Shahane has been all over it. Neither of us are quite as aghast as you I'm sorry to say.
Funny, the report I read made him sound as if he had been very cool about it, which frankly, I think is a lot to ask of anybody. People go ballistic in our store because they have been waiting at the wrong desk, never mind being treated as a possible terrorist. I know you've had your own experiences with this stuff, Adrian, but I think all this kind of profiling by names on lists is insane.And I'm sorry, it does make the U.S. look very myopic and provincial. The Bob Dylan story, which your friend also mentions, shows equal stupidity. Yes, I can still call it stupidity, because I am not the president. Though I too will be happy to sit down in a garden with Shah Rukh, Bob and their apprehending officers and provide beer and do photo ops any time. But the beer, trust me, will be better. And I wouldn't be surprised if there was music. And dancing.
Seana
The Bob Dylan story was scandalous. Since when do we have to account for our movements to police officers? Since when do we have to prove our identity to police officers? Isn't there a little thing called the Fourth Amendment? Liberty really is being eroded little by little.
That's what I'm saying. It's not that big names should get more consideration, it's that when you see it happening to even them, you know it is pretty bad.
Sometimes airports are all right, but sometimes I can't believe how docile we are all supposed to be.
Seana
An airport is a private space where your rights are necessarily curtailed but no one has the authority to stop on you a public street and demand to see "your papers" - what is this the Third Reich?
You're right and I appreciate the distinction you're making. It is particularly ironic, not to say heinous, that Dylan is harassed for looking at buildings, while people can apparently bring unconcealed weapons to town halls meetings and presidential visits unimpeded.
As for airports, private spaces though they are, it doesn't seem like any other kind of private space I've ever seen, railway stations and bus stations included. The non-public, ie, police and security presence makes it a very different proposition. And I do feel like post 9/11 fears give the security element a lot more latitude than they had before. I think that an opportunity based on people's fears was seized to condition people in a way that is not totally coincidental.
Like I say, most of the time I get the need and it doesn't bother me to go through the hassle. But sometimes I am not so sympathetic to what's been implemented. A little power goes a long way with people, as we all know.
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