Ichhabe
07-03-2004, 12:03 AM
Found this letter that was a reply to us from American school children. Hope you find it interesting.
Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, 2002-06-03
Dear Mrs. XXXXX Language class. First of all, thank you for your warm and caring letters. We were surprised to receive those letters from an American school class, I can tell you that.
Because of our little spare-time we have chosen to answer the letters from you in this one letter. This is to be honest, the fairest way to do also.
Most of us do speak English, but to write back is a little bit harder. So that some of you would receive answers, and some not, was not an option. And to use Megan Elizabeth’s own word; it feels a little strange to write to strangers But we will try to do our best.
First of all, a little about ourselves; we are the NORENGUNIT, it stands for Norwegian Engineer Unit.
There are 16 of us that are stationed at Bagram Airfield (BAF) and support the US. Army in their operation Enduring Freedom.
We are a very small unit compared to the other nations that are here at BAF, as stated earlier we are only 16. Originally there were 18 of us, but as you all know we had one man seriously injured during sweeping on April 5th. Sorry to say, but he was permanently blinded after that tragic accident. But taken into consideration and circumstances he also were a very lucky man, cause he had only minor secondary injuries. The rest of him is intact, he didn’t loose any limbs or fingers due to the explosion.
Almost all of you are teenagers, or close to be. We then trust your age, and can take bad news as well as good news.
War has its toll. Some have to bear this toll a little more than the rest. Because of this, one in our team decided to go home. We all stand behind his decision, and hope that all goes well with him. Our comrade, Torbjørn that lost his sight, had to take the heaviest toll of us all. His life is forever changed, and now has to learn a lot of things again, to cope with everyday-life.
We all know that our work has its risks, and every now and then we will be reminded by that in the hardest way. But fortunately he will live.
That was may a grim opening, but so is the essence of our work, we must be prepared for, and take heights for the worst.
Now a little about what we do, and how we work and operate:
First off all, our government were asked in middle of December 2001 if Norway could give support for EF in Afghanistan. This was to give the US. Army the possibility to operate from a secure base, by clearing Qandahar Airfield for mines and unexploded ordnances. The first group met on December 20th and left for Qandahar, Afghanistan December 31st. Our group released them at BAF on March 15th and started to work a few days later.
Our work can be divided up in these different operations;
Sweeping: This we do in front of Flailing. Before the Flail can operate in a secure manner, we need to sweep the area for unexploded grenades, bombs and other dangerous stuff. We also remove objects that can hinder the Flail in its work. That be metal objects that with it size is in the way for the Flail to do its job in a satisfactory way. Barbed wire that can tangle in to the chain of the Flail and so on.
The sweeping is done by the way that one person or the whole squad is going over the field and mainly use the eyes to see what are over, and beneath the ground. On top of the ground it is no problem to see object that are dangerous, or will be in its way for the Flail. Beneath the ground is harder.
What we look for is holes were bombs have fallen, but not been set of. Bombs comes in different shapes and sizes, so we try to look for such impact holes. The problem is that if the bombs have been laying in the ground for several years, the hole it self can have closed. So therefore, we can never be sure that the area is safe for flailing. Another thing with bombs that has not been set off, is that they can travel beneath the ground up to a 100 feet or more, so if we find these holes, the bomb can be in a total different place than we expect.
When we are more than one person we walk side by side with about 8 ft. to 20 ft. apart depending on how much vegetation that are in the area so that we can in a safe and fast way cover the whole field as efficient as possible. When we find unexploded ordnances ( UXO’s) we either pick it up and carry it to a demolition pit, or if it is not safe to bring along, mark it with a red and white UXO tape so we can come back to the spot and detonate it were it lays.
During this kind of work we are using safety equipment such as a helmet with a face shield, flak-jacket and evacuation-shoes- That is a shoe filled with air, so we can safely walk in the field, even when mines are present. The air in the shoes make our groundpreassure lesser than if we would have walked without them. (Reduce the groundpreassure with about 90%)
Verifying: When out verifying we use the same safety equipment as with sweeping. Normally we want to gather information about an area without going in and totally clear the whole area. We walk in to the field that we want to know more about and prod here and there to see if we can find mines. Again we also use our eyes and look for the mines. The reason for this is that sometimes we want to know ahead what kind of mines that are there, what pattern they are laid in, and if there are ****y traps on them.
In this way we get valuable information of the different field and by that are able to plan what resources, and how much to eventually put in on the task.
Mine clearing: Clearing in the old fashion way, using a probing-rod or bayonet is maybe the most dangerous thing we do. In front, we have good training in a safe environment so that ahead we have learned how different mines looks, and works. There are two types of mines. Anti-Personnel and Anti-Tank mines. They again come in a lot of variations and sizes. Too much to get in to here. But trust us, there are a lot.
When probing we need to be fully concentrated and focused on what we does. Using the rod or bayonet we are clearing the field literally inch by inch. This is a time-consuming job and you can yourselves do the math on how many times we put the rod in the ground per squearefeet when probing with a with of 1 inch sideways and 1 inch forwards.
When finding a mine this way, we carefully have to remove the dirt covering it. This again is time-consuming cause we need to be careful not to set it of.
We also look for ****y traps so we do not haste when doing this.
Depending on the mine, we either pick it up and defuse it, or put explosives on top and destroy it where it lays.
When finding Anti-Tank mines we always pull them up by using rope, and lie in a safe place while doing so. We don’t want to take any more risks than we need to do. Looking for ****y traps is very dangerous and the risk isn’t worth it when we can do it in a safe way. We only dig up Anti-Tank mines when we find it for the first time and don’t have a specimen for training purposes. Then we carefully dig it up, checks for ****y traps and take it with us, so we can use it for training.
Explosive Ordnance Reconnaissance: We give support to the various EOD teams at Bagram with going out in the field and look for UXO’s. Due e to the fact that the EOD teams are small, it will be too much for them to go out looking them self. Its here were we come in, providing this service. We often combine these reconnaissance missions with the sweeping. When finding an object that we a) never seen before, or b) know that we’re not have the competence to dispose the UXO in a safe way, we then contact either American or British EOD so they can take care of it.
Explosive Ordnance Disposal: Is in simple words, destroying of munitions and explosives. That be mines, grenades, shells, small arm-ammunition and so on.
This is not what we’re been trained and learned in. But after a while your skills improves on various fields, and we learn a lot about EOD. That’s why we are able to perform light EOD-tasks. This is again to save time for the EOD-personnel. It is not necessary for them to go out on tasks that we are able to handle. But then again, EOD is also a very dangerous job, especially if your not trained for it. We have to take precaussions here in the same way as when clearing minefields.
We never work on UXO’s that we know we can’t handle. The risk isn’t worth it, simply as that.
Smudding: It is a form of EOD, there we lay down behind a shield for cover and uses a rifle to set of the object.
Normally we do this on mines, but can also be used on UXO’s. Normally we use a rifle with a telescopesigth and calibre 7.62 mm, but we also have a calibre .50 that gives a better punch if needed.
Normally the man with the rifle lays about 90-300 feet away from the object depended of what it is he shooting at. The purpose of smudding is simply to destroy the object so it is no longer able to cause any harm.
Flailing: The Flail we use is a Danish vehicle called the Hydrema. It has 72 chains with bolts in the end that rotate and can set of mines as deep as 8 to 16 inches down in the ground.
After we have swept an area the Flails moves in and start the work. On a good day, it flails a path that is 10 feet wide and up to 700 feet long an hour. On really good days, if the ground is easy to work with we are able to go up to 1200 feet an hour.
In this way we are able to clear areas that would be impossible to manage in the ordinary way by using a probing rod or bayonet.
Support to patrols: From time to time we give support to different patrols.
When they either go by foot or vehicle they need Sappers with them that can analyse the mine threat and so on. They also want to have us with them in case of mine-accidents. In that way we can give instant support to evacuate the wounded personnel to a safe-zone by using our evacuation-shoes to get the injured out.
Most of the time we just sit in the vehicle, but on occasions we go in front as lead to check for mines.
We are also being consulted if the leader of the patrol feels that it is necessary, specially in cases where he wants vehicles to drive. This is especially important on new routes that has never been cleared.
The last thing anyone wants is that the vehicle set of an Anti-Tank mine or that any soldiers steps on an Anti-Personnel mine.
Mine Awareness training: When coming in to a mine-infested area it is very important to learn how to behave.
Even though every soldier know that there are mines in Afghanistan, and even knows there are a lot of them, mines-accidents happens. It is not everybody who knows how to read the signals for if there are mines in an area. It takes training and experience to do so. It is not even sure that we, who are the lead on mines and its threats can say for sure that there are or aren’t mines in an area by just looking at it. But we are better trained to do so. We can see the signals, interpreted what we see and so on. That is what we try to give away to those attending to our classes.
We also tell how to behave when coming in to a minefield, and what to do if you or your comrades have set of a mine. We also show them various types of mines found in the area, different types of UXO’s and so on.
Another problem with working in such an area is the build in curiosity- of- man. Some people just have to pick up an interesting object they’ve never seen before. That can be lethal here in Afghanistan. The ground is littered with all kind of dangerous object and a lot of them look totally innocent. We use to say that if it looks like its totally innocent, it is then it is the most dangerous. “Never pick it up, don’t even poke it with a 10 foot pole!”
Mine Awareness Training is most important after being there a while. People start settling in, and their awareness is decreasing. Then it is important to kick in with a lesson or two. This has been said to them over and over again. For many it is boring. This they already know. That’s why we use effects and blow up stuff. Everybody likes a good explosion.
We also try to angle the material by using humour. When you make people laugh, you make it more interesting, and they remember it for a longer time.
And now, we will try to answer your questions in the best possible way. There were a lot of them. Some are quite similar, so bare over with us if your questions haven’t been answered. OK?
The first thing is that our unit is a little age-spread. Our age span from 23 to 41 years. Some are married, some are not. Some have children, and some have not.
All of us here are volunteers, that will say; we were asked to participate back in February cause most of us has ordinary civilian jobs.
One is a nurse, one work in storage as a truck-driver. One has a horse-farm. One work as a miner all the way up in Spitsbergen. That’s pretty far up north. Two are carpenters and only three have they work in the army.
Many of us have earlier experience in mine-infested areas in the world. We have served in Lebanon, Bosnia and Kosovo.
You see, Norway has a conscript army. We serve for twelve months and then we become reserves. But good training and good instructors can put us in all over the world and do a job like this.
Robby asks how it is to live here?
Well… It’s very hot here. It is very dusty. We live in tents. We don’t have a refrigerator. (just after finishing this letter, an American Engineer-major came with a refrigerator so we now can enjoy cold water and icy coca-cola) Our shower is a plastic tank on top of a container. When it is filled, up to two days later the water is still cold, and just before it is emptied, it is very hot. We have a TV with DVD and a VCR, but no channels so we can’t watch the news. It is a lot of bugs here. The garbage dump that is maybe less than 1000 feet from us produces a lot of flies. We don’t get mail or newspapers from home. We are very isolated at BAF, cannot go out of the camp after dark.
We live in a strange and foreign culture that is not so easy every time to understand. It is very difficult to talk with the locals. We don’t talk their language, and they don’t talk our. That is maybe the hardest thing, the language barrier. We eat only rations that are given to us from the US. Army. So called “Meals Ready to Eat”. They do not taste good. Hehe…
That may sound like a lot of negative things, here are some positive ones:
We are in a stunning beautiful country. Lots of high mountains all around us. For those who like the sun, it is a lot of it here, believe me.
We are doing a job that we feel is important. We support the American armed forces so they can operate from a secure base. We will never know it, but we may have saved some limbs and lives doing what we have done here. In the same time, we also have contributed to lesser mines in Afghanistan. We like to think that maybe some children also in the future have been saved from the danger of mines. We learn about the afghan culture.
We meet soldiers from all over the world. Getting a lot of new friends. Co-op with other nations. It is very good to see how other nations and people work. It is not always you self that have the best system. Learning from others is also important.
We have Internet. That isn’t bad. Gives us the chance to be in contact with our loved ones at home. We can read the news. So the Internet has its positive side that we do not feel isolated from the rest of the world. We can phone home via a satellite-phone, also again help us not feeling to isolated.
And if we see everything from a little distance, we do have a great time here. This is an adventure. A historical moment that we humbly is a small, but important part of.
There is no doubt that we will forever remember our time spent in this country. What we have learned and experienced here, good and bad things will be with us for the rest of our lives. Hopefully we will come out stronger and wiser, than when we came in.
Emily can’t understand that we can live under such awful conditions.
Well, there are times when we ourselves can’t understand that. But man is an adapter. We adapt and improvise under different conditions. And it seems like we prosper the most under harsh conditions and difficult times. That is the essence of man. In hard times we come together, conduct wonderful things to adapt and overcome. Take September 11th, even tough it was a horrible thing to your nation, a lot of good thing aroused from that. A lot of people have come closer. Communities know get together and people talk and co-operate more than before. It was just to bad that it had to take such an event for these things to happen.
And in the same line of question, Adam asks if it’s pretty bad?
Sometimes it is pretty bad, have to be that honest. When mines wound your friends, and when you hear other nations has lost soldiers KIA, you do not like the situation. But again, we have to look forward and do our job in the best way. As we sit here and write this, we learn that a polish captain has lost one leg due to stepping on a mine. Some in our unit had a close co-op to the polish sapper-platoon and we take it very hard. Again we are reminded of the heavy toll some has to bear. Again we are reminded of the danger we put ourselves trough, so others can have a better day.
But, mostly our days are filled with joy. We feel like a family, and have a lot of good American, British, Canadian and Polish friends. We try to take care of each other in the best way. So to answer Adam’s question; we have it pretty good.
Amanda Sue asks if it is boring here, fun and exiting?
I think we can answer shortly on that. Sometimes we are very bored. Mostly we have a lot of fun. And working with mines is exiting. The day we feel that working with mines is boring, and you doesn’t feel an itsy bitsy scared, you better stop doing it.
Brittney Joan is curious about our work, and says she is only babysitting small children.
Babysitting small children is important too. Remember, their parents have put a lot of trust in you. They can go out, in the knowledge of that you are taking good care of them. There is a lot of trust in that. We may do an impressive dangerous job here, clearing mines and all that. But we need food, water, and clean clothes. We are not able to do all of that, so there are others doing it for us. We couldn’t do the things we do, if it wasn’t for the support by others.
So is it for the small children that you are babysitting. Their parents couldn’t do those things if it weren’t for you.
Shay lea asks if we do any sport?
At home we do. But down here there are some of us that are just jogging and lift weights. There is not so much to do after working hours. We mostly sit down and talk about the day that have been. Look at some movies. Read books or cruising the Internet. Maybe play a board game or two. Cards and dices are helpful time-consumers during the evening.
And talking about Internet. You must visit our home site, www.sapperbase.com. We have put out some pictures there, but it is not as good as we want it to be. There is still a lot of work to be done, but we try to do some now and then.
And finally, how to write your name in Norwegian. We’re supposed to by our writing rules to write names of people as they write it themselves. But we didn’t find that marking over the letter “Y”. Sorry
Jensica ask if this is like an adventure?
Oh yes! We have seen things, experienced stuff, met people and done things most of us, even in our wildest dream couldn’t figure out. No doubt that this is truly an adventure.
And yes, it gives a good feeling knowing that we are protecting innocent people. It helps us coping with our own losses. Everything has a price, even freedom.
Mccal ask if it scary here?
Sometimes there is. And that is not just mines and the war that is scary. There are a lot of spiders here, and snakes. But of the bugs that scare us most are the scorpions and centipedes.
Janessa ask how we came down here?
Most of us are as told before ordinary civilians.
The Norwegian army base it self on conscription. We have all been in the army as conscripts earlier. Most have their background as an Army Engineer soldier, but other comes from other branches.
Anyway, in February we received a phone from our old regiment, were they asked us if we wanted to join up and go to Afghanistan. It wasn’t a problem for them to fill up the unit I’ll tell you.
One week later we met and started to train for this mission.
But even tough we like us down here, we now, after 2 ½ months looks forward to get back to our loved ones in Norway. They also, even tough “sitting” home, participated in our mission by thinking of us, and share our joys and grieves. They too, are seeing forward for the day when we are coming home.
Bridgette asks how long we’ve been in service?
As we do not have a professional army in Norway, it is only officers who can have their work in the army. The rest of us are volunteers, and we have served as volunteers all from 1 year and up to 4 years, divided up in various contingents.
We also are spread all over the country, from the southernmost south to the northernmost north.
And when writing this letter, we are about 30 days from seeing our family again.
Ashley asks how to say “thank you” in Norwegian?
It is written like this: Takk. The way you ****ounce it is: Taaqq. You can also say: Tusen takk. And that is ****ounced like this: Tuuseen taaqq. OK?
She also asks if we have pets?
We don’t have pets down here. First, if we brought one from Norway, it would have been put in three months quarantine when coming home again because there is rabies here in Afghanistan. The second is that taking pets down here is quite risky. This is a nice environment for all kind of diseases and lice and you know what.
We had for a few weeks a little turtle, but we released it cause we felt sorry for that little cutie being closed in a box, even tough the box was quite huge.
Wild animals and reptiles belong in the wild. That’s why we let it go. But we enjoyed its company while we had it.
Suki Marie says that your class have been studying about many wars.
That means you’ve also studies history. And knowledge about the past is knowledge about the future. It is up to us to use that in the best possible way.
Jesse asks if it is scary minesweeping?
In the beginning it was a little exiting. Normally it isn’t scary, but some minor episodes have been scary while doing it. Like when a C-17 cargo-plane gives full throttle with its jet engines a 100 feet from you, when you are close to some sensitive UXO’s. But normally it is all right, with now episodes worth mentioning.
And yes, it is hot here. We have had days with temperatures above 100 F. And that is hot enough for us.
Kristel start asking if all of use are sweeping?
Yes. Even tough we have two mechanics that’s main-job is to attend the vehicles they too do their “bit” in the minefields and when we are sweeping. They too have been trained to conduct sapper-tasks cause it is necessary that we all have that knowledge. It is also good for them to do other things than work on vehicles all day.
Our unit is very small. So we all knew each other. But the EOD, sapper and mine clearing units here in Bagram is small. Even tough we personally don’t know each and everyone in the other units; we’ve met from time to time. It’s like a band of brothers. So when they get hurt, we get hurt.
She also asks if there are any women here?
Yes, there are. But not many. We do not have any women in our unit, but we see some of them American and British women from time to time. It is good to have female-companionship here, so it is not just an all-male thingy.
Our unit is not intended to do combat. We are here to clear areas and others that are trained for such things do the fighting. But of course, if we need to protect ourselves, we are able to do so. But so far it have not been necessary.
And then the question if we cry sometimes?
It has happened. After Torbjørn were injured, some of us had to take to tears. As our friend we felt really sad. When someone close to you gets really hurt, you hurt too. Tears are some times necessary, to get sad things out of the system.
Mitchell wants to know how to say hockey in Norwegian?
That’s easy. It is as simple as “hockey”, or “ishockey” is= iis.
Then the last question, and maybe the hardest to answer. “What’s it like in war?”
You tell us? We are living on a base. We are every now and then on the outside of it. We have never ourselves been in any hostile situations. We do clear mines, and that’s dangerous. But the mines don’t jump on us. We know we are in a war, but do not feel like it. So we cannot answer that in a good way.
We hear from time to time from other soldiers that they think we are brave doing what we’re doing. The funny thing is that we think they are brave, being up in the mountains looking for the enemy. They are the ones that really are in harms way.
It may sound a little weird, but we feel “safe” while doing our job. We have been trained, and worked with this earlier. So for us, its just “work”. We do not feel like heroes, we do not see up on ourselves as brave. We just doing our bit.
We hope this letter have given you some of the answers that you’ve seeked. We have tried to be as honest and open as possible.
There are some pictures with this letter that you can look at. There you can see how we work, and how our base looks like.
Many of you thank us for being here in the war against terrorism. A little story about why we are here; we were sitting in our camp one night, this was just two days after Torbjørn were injured. We all felt sad, and we had a lot of friends from the other nations coming in and paying us respect and bringing condolences. An American major sat down with us for several hours and talked with us. As we went in to the nigh, and after sharing countless of histories he suddenly picked up something from his pocket. Then he gave us the reason why he was in Afghanistan. Without a word he showed us a piece of rock. He held it up for all to see. It was a piece of the WTC. Taken from Ground Zero by a fireman and given to him. Not an eye was dry there we sat around our table in the tent. It is difficult to explain it in words, but it was an incredible moment. Seeing the major with that rock in his hand and tears in his eyes, thanking us for being here and helping out USA in its moment of need. Words there and then weren’t necessary. We all knew…
We are about to end our mission here at Bagram Airfield. When these words are being written, we have started to get our equipment under control. Almost the entire base have been swept and cleared. But there are still a lot to do. But we won’t do that work. Others are coming in and will continue on what is left. But one thing is sure; we will forever take with us what we’ve learned here, and what we have seen. Some memories will fade away, but friends we have learned to know, we will never forget. We have them in the US.Airforce, in the Marines. Among the Army and Special Operation Forces. We have learned to know Canadians, Polish and British soldiers. That is one of the things that will make it hardest to leave Afghanistan, all those friends we have learned to know. Many of them we will never meet again, but some we will. That is life in a nutshell.
And again, we have to say we’re sorry for not answering your letters individually. But we see this as the best way to do it.
And thank you for taking your time to send us those letters. It is good to know that people out there care of what we do.
And in the end, we all hope that this war will come to a good end, for all parts involved.
One day, man will have come so far, that wars will be of the past.
…in thankfulness, us in NORENGUNIT II, Bagram, Afghanistan.
Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, 2002-06-03
Dear Mrs. XXXXX Language class. First of all, thank you for your warm and caring letters. We were surprised to receive those letters from an American school class, I can tell you that.
Because of our little spare-time we have chosen to answer the letters from you in this one letter. This is to be honest, the fairest way to do also.
Most of us do speak English, but to write back is a little bit harder. So that some of you would receive answers, and some not, was not an option. And to use Megan Elizabeth’s own word; it feels a little strange to write to strangers But we will try to do our best.
First of all, a little about ourselves; we are the NORENGUNIT, it stands for Norwegian Engineer Unit.
There are 16 of us that are stationed at Bagram Airfield (BAF) and support the US. Army in their operation Enduring Freedom.
We are a very small unit compared to the other nations that are here at BAF, as stated earlier we are only 16. Originally there were 18 of us, but as you all know we had one man seriously injured during sweeping on April 5th. Sorry to say, but he was permanently blinded after that tragic accident. But taken into consideration and circumstances he also were a very lucky man, cause he had only minor secondary injuries. The rest of him is intact, he didn’t loose any limbs or fingers due to the explosion.
Almost all of you are teenagers, or close to be. We then trust your age, and can take bad news as well as good news.
War has its toll. Some have to bear this toll a little more than the rest. Because of this, one in our team decided to go home. We all stand behind his decision, and hope that all goes well with him. Our comrade, Torbjørn that lost his sight, had to take the heaviest toll of us all. His life is forever changed, and now has to learn a lot of things again, to cope with everyday-life.
We all know that our work has its risks, and every now and then we will be reminded by that in the hardest way. But fortunately he will live.
That was may a grim opening, but so is the essence of our work, we must be prepared for, and take heights for the worst.
Now a little about what we do, and how we work and operate:
First off all, our government were asked in middle of December 2001 if Norway could give support for EF in Afghanistan. This was to give the US. Army the possibility to operate from a secure base, by clearing Qandahar Airfield for mines and unexploded ordnances. The first group met on December 20th and left for Qandahar, Afghanistan December 31st. Our group released them at BAF on March 15th and started to work a few days later.
Our work can be divided up in these different operations;
Sweeping: This we do in front of Flailing. Before the Flail can operate in a secure manner, we need to sweep the area for unexploded grenades, bombs and other dangerous stuff. We also remove objects that can hinder the Flail in its work. That be metal objects that with it size is in the way for the Flail to do its job in a satisfactory way. Barbed wire that can tangle in to the chain of the Flail and so on.
The sweeping is done by the way that one person or the whole squad is going over the field and mainly use the eyes to see what are over, and beneath the ground. On top of the ground it is no problem to see object that are dangerous, or will be in its way for the Flail. Beneath the ground is harder.
What we look for is holes were bombs have fallen, but not been set of. Bombs comes in different shapes and sizes, so we try to look for such impact holes. The problem is that if the bombs have been laying in the ground for several years, the hole it self can have closed. So therefore, we can never be sure that the area is safe for flailing. Another thing with bombs that has not been set off, is that they can travel beneath the ground up to a 100 feet or more, so if we find these holes, the bomb can be in a total different place than we expect.
When we are more than one person we walk side by side with about 8 ft. to 20 ft. apart depending on how much vegetation that are in the area so that we can in a safe and fast way cover the whole field as efficient as possible. When we find unexploded ordnances ( UXO’s) we either pick it up and carry it to a demolition pit, or if it is not safe to bring along, mark it with a red and white UXO tape so we can come back to the spot and detonate it were it lays.
During this kind of work we are using safety equipment such as a helmet with a face shield, flak-jacket and evacuation-shoes- That is a shoe filled with air, so we can safely walk in the field, even when mines are present. The air in the shoes make our groundpreassure lesser than if we would have walked without them. (Reduce the groundpreassure with about 90%)
Verifying: When out verifying we use the same safety equipment as with sweeping. Normally we want to gather information about an area without going in and totally clear the whole area. We walk in to the field that we want to know more about and prod here and there to see if we can find mines. Again we also use our eyes and look for the mines. The reason for this is that sometimes we want to know ahead what kind of mines that are there, what pattern they are laid in, and if there are ****y traps on them.
In this way we get valuable information of the different field and by that are able to plan what resources, and how much to eventually put in on the task.
Mine clearing: Clearing in the old fashion way, using a probing-rod or bayonet is maybe the most dangerous thing we do. In front, we have good training in a safe environment so that ahead we have learned how different mines looks, and works. There are two types of mines. Anti-Personnel and Anti-Tank mines. They again come in a lot of variations and sizes. Too much to get in to here. But trust us, there are a lot.
When probing we need to be fully concentrated and focused on what we does. Using the rod or bayonet we are clearing the field literally inch by inch. This is a time-consuming job and you can yourselves do the math on how many times we put the rod in the ground per squearefeet when probing with a with of 1 inch sideways and 1 inch forwards.
When finding a mine this way, we carefully have to remove the dirt covering it. This again is time-consuming cause we need to be careful not to set it of.
We also look for ****y traps so we do not haste when doing this.
Depending on the mine, we either pick it up and defuse it, or put explosives on top and destroy it where it lays.
When finding Anti-Tank mines we always pull them up by using rope, and lie in a safe place while doing so. We don’t want to take any more risks than we need to do. Looking for ****y traps is very dangerous and the risk isn’t worth it when we can do it in a safe way. We only dig up Anti-Tank mines when we find it for the first time and don’t have a specimen for training purposes. Then we carefully dig it up, checks for ****y traps and take it with us, so we can use it for training.
Explosive Ordnance Reconnaissance: We give support to the various EOD teams at Bagram with going out in the field and look for UXO’s. Due e to the fact that the EOD teams are small, it will be too much for them to go out looking them self. Its here were we come in, providing this service. We often combine these reconnaissance missions with the sweeping. When finding an object that we a) never seen before, or b) know that we’re not have the competence to dispose the UXO in a safe way, we then contact either American or British EOD so they can take care of it.
Explosive Ordnance Disposal: Is in simple words, destroying of munitions and explosives. That be mines, grenades, shells, small arm-ammunition and so on.
This is not what we’re been trained and learned in. But after a while your skills improves on various fields, and we learn a lot about EOD. That’s why we are able to perform light EOD-tasks. This is again to save time for the EOD-personnel. It is not necessary for them to go out on tasks that we are able to handle. But then again, EOD is also a very dangerous job, especially if your not trained for it. We have to take precaussions here in the same way as when clearing minefields.
We never work on UXO’s that we know we can’t handle. The risk isn’t worth it, simply as that.
Smudding: It is a form of EOD, there we lay down behind a shield for cover and uses a rifle to set of the object.
Normally we do this on mines, but can also be used on UXO’s. Normally we use a rifle with a telescopesigth and calibre 7.62 mm, but we also have a calibre .50 that gives a better punch if needed.
Normally the man with the rifle lays about 90-300 feet away from the object depended of what it is he shooting at. The purpose of smudding is simply to destroy the object so it is no longer able to cause any harm.
Flailing: The Flail we use is a Danish vehicle called the Hydrema. It has 72 chains with bolts in the end that rotate and can set of mines as deep as 8 to 16 inches down in the ground.
After we have swept an area the Flails moves in and start the work. On a good day, it flails a path that is 10 feet wide and up to 700 feet long an hour. On really good days, if the ground is easy to work with we are able to go up to 1200 feet an hour.
In this way we are able to clear areas that would be impossible to manage in the ordinary way by using a probing rod or bayonet.
Support to patrols: From time to time we give support to different patrols.
When they either go by foot or vehicle they need Sappers with them that can analyse the mine threat and so on. They also want to have us with them in case of mine-accidents. In that way we can give instant support to evacuate the wounded personnel to a safe-zone by using our evacuation-shoes to get the injured out.
Most of the time we just sit in the vehicle, but on occasions we go in front as lead to check for mines.
We are also being consulted if the leader of the patrol feels that it is necessary, specially in cases where he wants vehicles to drive. This is especially important on new routes that has never been cleared.
The last thing anyone wants is that the vehicle set of an Anti-Tank mine or that any soldiers steps on an Anti-Personnel mine.
Mine Awareness training: When coming in to a mine-infested area it is very important to learn how to behave.
Even though every soldier know that there are mines in Afghanistan, and even knows there are a lot of them, mines-accidents happens. It is not everybody who knows how to read the signals for if there are mines in an area. It takes training and experience to do so. It is not even sure that we, who are the lead on mines and its threats can say for sure that there are or aren’t mines in an area by just looking at it. But we are better trained to do so. We can see the signals, interpreted what we see and so on. That is what we try to give away to those attending to our classes.
We also tell how to behave when coming in to a minefield, and what to do if you or your comrades have set of a mine. We also show them various types of mines found in the area, different types of UXO’s and so on.
Another problem with working in such an area is the build in curiosity- of- man. Some people just have to pick up an interesting object they’ve never seen before. That can be lethal here in Afghanistan. The ground is littered with all kind of dangerous object and a lot of them look totally innocent. We use to say that if it looks like its totally innocent, it is then it is the most dangerous. “Never pick it up, don’t even poke it with a 10 foot pole!”
Mine Awareness Training is most important after being there a while. People start settling in, and their awareness is decreasing. Then it is important to kick in with a lesson or two. This has been said to them over and over again. For many it is boring. This they already know. That’s why we use effects and blow up stuff. Everybody likes a good explosion.
We also try to angle the material by using humour. When you make people laugh, you make it more interesting, and they remember it for a longer time.
And now, we will try to answer your questions in the best possible way. There were a lot of them. Some are quite similar, so bare over with us if your questions haven’t been answered. OK?
The first thing is that our unit is a little age-spread. Our age span from 23 to 41 years. Some are married, some are not. Some have children, and some have not.
All of us here are volunteers, that will say; we were asked to participate back in February cause most of us has ordinary civilian jobs.
One is a nurse, one work in storage as a truck-driver. One has a horse-farm. One work as a miner all the way up in Spitsbergen. That’s pretty far up north. Two are carpenters and only three have they work in the army.
Many of us have earlier experience in mine-infested areas in the world. We have served in Lebanon, Bosnia and Kosovo.
You see, Norway has a conscript army. We serve for twelve months and then we become reserves. But good training and good instructors can put us in all over the world and do a job like this.
Robby asks how it is to live here?
Well… It’s very hot here. It is very dusty. We live in tents. We don’t have a refrigerator. (just after finishing this letter, an American Engineer-major came with a refrigerator so we now can enjoy cold water and icy coca-cola) Our shower is a plastic tank on top of a container. When it is filled, up to two days later the water is still cold, and just before it is emptied, it is very hot. We have a TV with DVD and a VCR, but no channels so we can’t watch the news. It is a lot of bugs here. The garbage dump that is maybe less than 1000 feet from us produces a lot of flies. We don’t get mail or newspapers from home. We are very isolated at BAF, cannot go out of the camp after dark.
We live in a strange and foreign culture that is not so easy every time to understand. It is very difficult to talk with the locals. We don’t talk their language, and they don’t talk our. That is maybe the hardest thing, the language barrier. We eat only rations that are given to us from the US. Army. So called “Meals Ready to Eat”. They do not taste good. Hehe…
That may sound like a lot of negative things, here are some positive ones:
We are in a stunning beautiful country. Lots of high mountains all around us. For those who like the sun, it is a lot of it here, believe me.
We are doing a job that we feel is important. We support the American armed forces so they can operate from a secure base. We will never know it, but we may have saved some limbs and lives doing what we have done here. In the same time, we also have contributed to lesser mines in Afghanistan. We like to think that maybe some children also in the future have been saved from the danger of mines. We learn about the afghan culture.
We meet soldiers from all over the world. Getting a lot of new friends. Co-op with other nations. It is very good to see how other nations and people work. It is not always you self that have the best system. Learning from others is also important.
We have Internet. That isn’t bad. Gives us the chance to be in contact with our loved ones at home. We can read the news. So the Internet has its positive side that we do not feel isolated from the rest of the world. We can phone home via a satellite-phone, also again help us not feeling to isolated.
And if we see everything from a little distance, we do have a great time here. This is an adventure. A historical moment that we humbly is a small, but important part of.
There is no doubt that we will forever remember our time spent in this country. What we have learned and experienced here, good and bad things will be with us for the rest of our lives. Hopefully we will come out stronger and wiser, than when we came in.
Emily can’t understand that we can live under such awful conditions.
Well, there are times when we ourselves can’t understand that. But man is an adapter. We adapt and improvise under different conditions. And it seems like we prosper the most under harsh conditions and difficult times. That is the essence of man. In hard times we come together, conduct wonderful things to adapt and overcome. Take September 11th, even tough it was a horrible thing to your nation, a lot of good thing aroused from that. A lot of people have come closer. Communities know get together and people talk and co-operate more than before. It was just to bad that it had to take such an event for these things to happen.
And in the same line of question, Adam asks if it’s pretty bad?
Sometimes it is pretty bad, have to be that honest. When mines wound your friends, and when you hear other nations has lost soldiers KIA, you do not like the situation. But again, we have to look forward and do our job in the best way. As we sit here and write this, we learn that a polish captain has lost one leg due to stepping on a mine. Some in our unit had a close co-op to the polish sapper-platoon and we take it very hard. Again we are reminded of the heavy toll some has to bear. Again we are reminded of the danger we put ourselves trough, so others can have a better day.
But, mostly our days are filled with joy. We feel like a family, and have a lot of good American, British, Canadian and Polish friends. We try to take care of each other in the best way. So to answer Adam’s question; we have it pretty good.
Amanda Sue asks if it is boring here, fun and exiting?
I think we can answer shortly on that. Sometimes we are very bored. Mostly we have a lot of fun. And working with mines is exiting. The day we feel that working with mines is boring, and you doesn’t feel an itsy bitsy scared, you better stop doing it.
Brittney Joan is curious about our work, and says she is only babysitting small children.
Babysitting small children is important too. Remember, their parents have put a lot of trust in you. They can go out, in the knowledge of that you are taking good care of them. There is a lot of trust in that. We may do an impressive dangerous job here, clearing mines and all that. But we need food, water, and clean clothes. We are not able to do all of that, so there are others doing it for us. We couldn’t do the things we do, if it wasn’t for the support by others.
So is it for the small children that you are babysitting. Their parents couldn’t do those things if it weren’t for you.
Shay lea asks if we do any sport?
At home we do. But down here there are some of us that are just jogging and lift weights. There is not so much to do after working hours. We mostly sit down and talk about the day that have been. Look at some movies. Read books or cruising the Internet. Maybe play a board game or two. Cards and dices are helpful time-consumers during the evening.
And talking about Internet. You must visit our home site, www.sapperbase.com. We have put out some pictures there, but it is not as good as we want it to be. There is still a lot of work to be done, but we try to do some now and then.
And finally, how to write your name in Norwegian. We’re supposed to by our writing rules to write names of people as they write it themselves. But we didn’t find that marking over the letter “Y”. Sorry
Jensica ask if this is like an adventure?
Oh yes! We have seen things, experienced stuff, met people and done things most of us, even in our wildest dream couldn’t figure out. No doubt that this is truly an adventure.
And yes, it gives a good feeling knowing that we are protecting innocent people. It helps us coping with our own losses. Everything has a price, even freedom.
Mccal ask if it scary here?
Sometimes there is. And that is not just mines and the war that is scary. There are a lot of spiders here, and snakes. But of the bugs that scare us most are the scorpions and centipedes.
Janessa ask how we came down here?
Most of us are as told before ordinary civilians.
The Norwegian army base it self on conscription. We have all been in the army as conscripts earlier. Most have their background as an Army Engineer soldier, but other comes from other branches.
Anyway, in February we received a phone from our old regiment, were they asked us if we wanted to join up and go to Afghanistan. It wasn’t a problem for them to fill up the unit I’ll tell you.
One week later we met and started to train for this mission.
But even tough we like us down here, we now, after 2 ½ months looks forward to get back to our loved ones in Norway. They also, even tough “sitting” home, participated in our mission by thinking of us, and share our joys and grieves. They too, are seeing forward for the day when we are coming home.
Bridgette asks how long we’ve been in service?
As we do not have a professional army in Norway, it is only officers who can have their work in the army. The rest of us are volunteers, and we have served as volunteers all from 1 year and up to 4 years, divided up in various contingents.
We also are spread all over the country, from the southernmost south to the northernmost north.
And when writing this letter, we are about 30 days from seeing our family again.
Ashley asks how to say “thank you” in Norwegian?
It is written like this: Takk. The way you ****ounce it is: Taaqq. You can also say: Tusen takk. And that is ****ounced like this: Tuuseen taaqq. OK?
She also asks if we have pets?
We don’t have pets down here. First, if we brought one from Norway, it would have been put in three months quarantine when coming home again because there is rabies here in Afghanistan. The second is that taking pets down here is quite risky. This is a nice environment for all kind of diseases and lice and you know what.
We had for a few weeks a little turtle, but we released it cause we felt sorry for that little cutie being closed in a box, even tough the box was quite huge.
Wild animals and reptiles belong in the wild. That’s why we let it go. But we enjoyed its company while we had it.
Suki Marie says that your class have been studying about many wars.
That means you’ve also studies history. And knowledge about the past is knowledge about the future. It is up to us to use that in the best possible way.
Jesse asks if it is scary minesweeping?
In the beginning it was a little exiting. Normally it isn’t scary, but some minor episodes have been scary while doing it. Like when a C-17 cargo-plane gives full throttle with its jet engines a 100 feet from you, when you are close to some sensitive UXO’s. But normally it is all right, with now episodes worth mentioning.
And yes, it is hot here. We have had days with temperatures above 100 F. And that is hot enough for us.
Kristel start asking if all of use are sweeping?
Yes. Even tough we have two mechanics that’s main-job is to attend the vehicles they too do their “bit” in the minefields and when we are sweeping. They too have been trained to conduct sapper-tasks cause it is necessary that we all have that knowledge. It is also good for them to do other things than work on vehicles all day.
Our unit is very small. So we all knew each other. But the EOD, sapper and mine clearing units here in Bagram is small. Even tough we personally don’t know each and everyone in the other units; we’ve met from time to time. It’s like a band of brothers. So when they get hurt, we get hurt.
She also asks if there are any women here?
Yes, there are. But not many. We do not have any women in our unit, but we see some of them American and British women from time to time. It is good to have female-companionship here, so it is not just an all-male thingy.
Our unit is not intended to do combat. We are here to clear areas and others that are trained for such things do the fighting. But of course, if we need to protect ourselves, we are able to do so. But so far it have not been necessary.
And then the question if we cry sometimes?
It has happened. After Torbjørn were injured, some of us had to take to tears. As our friend we felt really sad. When someone close to you gets really hurt, you hurt too. Tears are some times necessary, to get sad things out of the system.
Mitchell wants to know how to say hockey in Norwegian?
That’s easy. It is as simple as “hockey”, or “ishockey” is= iis.
Then the last question, and maybe the hardest to answer. “What’s it like in war?”
You tell us? We are living on a base. We are every now and then on the outside of it. We have never ourselves been in any hostile situations. We do clear mines, and that’s dangerous. But the mines don’t jump on us. We know we are in a war, but do not feel like it. So we cannot answer that in a good way.
We hear from time to time from other soldiers that they think we are brave doing what we’re doing. The funny thing is that we think they are brave, being up in the mountains looking for the enemy. They are the ones that really are in harms way.
It may sound a little weird, but we feel “safe” while doing our job. We have been trained, and worked with this earlier. So for us, its just “work”. We do not feel like heroes, we do not see up on ourselves as brave. We just doing our bit.
We hope this letter have given you some of the answers that you’ve seeked. We have tried to be as honest and open as possible.
There are some pictures with this letter that you can look at. There you can see how we work, and how our base looks like.
Many of you thank us for being here in the war against terrorism. A little story about why we are here; we were sitting in our camp one night, this was just two days after Torbjørn were injured. We all felt sad, and we had a lot of friends from the other nations coming in and paying us respect and bringing condolences. An American major sat down with us for several hours and talked with us. As we went in to the nigh, and after sharing countless of histories he suddenly picked up something from his pocket. Then he gave us the reason why he was in Afghanistan. Without a word he showed us a piece of rock. He held it up for all to see. It was a piece of the WTC. Taken from Ground Zero by a fireman and given to him. Not an eye was dry there we sat around our table in the tent. It is difficult to explain it in words, but it was an incredible moment. Seeing the major with that rock in his hand and tears in his eyes, thanking us for being here and helping out USA in its moment of need. Words there and then weren’t necessary. We all knew…
We are about to end our mission here at Bagram Airfield. When these words are being written, we have started to get our equipment under control. Almost the entire base have been swept and cleared. But there are still a lot to do. But we won’t do that work. Others are coming in and will continue on what is left. But one thing is sure; we will forever take with us what we’ve learned here, and what we have seen. Some memories will fade away, but friends we have learned to know, we will never forget. We have them in the US.Airforce, in the Marines. Among the Army and Special Operation Forces. We have learned to know Canadians, Polish and British soldiers. That is one of the things that will make it hardest to leave Afghanistan, all those friends we have learned to know. Many of them we will never meet again, but some we will. That is life in a nutshell.
And again, we have to say we’re sorry for not answering your letters individually. But we see this as the best way to do it.
And thank you for taking your time to send us those letters. It is good to know that people out there care of what we do.
And in the end, we all hope that this war will come to a good end, for all parts involved.
One day, man will have come so far, that wars will be of the past.
…in thankfulness, us in NORENGUNIT II, Bagram, Afghanistan.