September 11, 2011 Seven-Minute War in Afghanistan

By Bill Davis

I have been involved in these wars ever since 2005. My first overseas contract was in Iraq. I started working for Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) November 5, 2005 in Balad, Iraq. I started out as lead mechanic and soon moved up to a supervisor. We worked on a lot of M915 that the army had, and KBR had Mercedes and Volvos that were not up armor. Many drivers had been killed in these trucks with no protection. After putting up KBR three years, I got a chance to jump on board with Dyncorp. Navistar had just come out with MRAP vehicle that was supposed to take the place of the Humvee. After going through their training in West Point, Mississippi, and Red River-u in New Boston, Texas, I was sent to Mosul, Iraq, and taught the opnet class on the MRAP vehicle.

Mosul was considered one of the hot spots in northern Iraq, and of all the places I have been in Iraq, Mosul was the best. After spending a year in Mosul, I took off eighteen months and started working for Navistar/Defense. I was sent to Afghanistan as an FRS, assigned to the Jordanian army. I was told that I would have interpreters and transportation when I got in country. Afghanistan was nothing like Iraq. The leadership wasnt there, and there was no help for the FSRs that were on ground in Shank, no interpreters and no transportation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Aug 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781449763091

Bill Davis

Born in Midland, Texas. Lived in Midland until 1964 when my family moved to Arlington, Texas. Graduated from Sam Houston High School in 1969. Joined the Navy immediately after graduation and served for 11 months and six days- received an honorable discharge. Married Shirley Ann Carver October 25, 1974 in Arlington, Texas.Attended Tarrant County Junior College and received an Associate Degree in Electronics Communication Technology. Hired by General Dynamics in Fort Worth, Texas June 1978. The wife and I moved to Azle, Texas in April 1979. Worked at this location for 29 years and 10 months retiring from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Fort Worth as a Hardware Engineer Sr, MCSE with a BSIT. Enrolled by the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota in 2006 as 1/8th Lakota. Hired as Church Administrator at the Lighthouse Church in Azle, Texas April 2008. Published best seller "The Cowboy Chronicles" December 23, 2009

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Copyright © 2012 by Bill Davis.

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-5526-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-6309-1 (eBook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012910122

FROM A JOURNALIST AND EYE-WITNESSES on 10th of September of this month 2011, a suicide bomber targeted an American military COP in Sayed Abad district, Wardak province by detonating 10,000lb of explosives packed in along vehicle. The explosives went off with huge explosions, sending firewood and shocks waves throughout the American compound and destroying part of the outpost called Lucifer. This was in addition to causing them life casualties of hundreds of troops and other material lost.

Contents

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1. Dog Eat Dog World

2. Ground Support In Shank

3. Eye In The Sky

4. American DFAC

5. Seven Minute War In Afghanistan

6. Twenty Miles From Mcclain

7. Abandoned And Left Behind

8. Three Mad Dogs From The East

9. Unemployed In The USA

10. Military Air And Ground Support

11. Afghans Bazaar Store

12 Jingle Trucks

13. EOC, Headed Home

Preface

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Written by Bill Davis, December 8, 2011

I HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN these wars ever sent 2005. My first overseas contract was in Iraq. I started working for (KBR) Kellogg Brown and Root November 5, 2005 in Balad Iraq. I started out as lead mechanic and soon moved up to a supervisor, we worked on a lot of M915 that the military had and KBR had hundreds of Mercedes and Volvos that were not up-armored, many drivers had been killed in these trucks due to no protection. After working for KBR three years, I got a chance to jump onboard with DynCorp. Navistar had just came out with MRAP vehicle that was suppose to take the place of the humvee, after going through their training in West Point Mississippi and Red River-U in New Boston Texas, I was sent to Mosul, Iraq to teached the opnet class on the MRAP vehicle. Mosul was considered one of the hot spots in northern Iraq, and of all the places that I have been in Iraq, Mosul was by far the best. After spending a year in Mosul, I took off 18 months. I than started working for Navistar/Defense, I was sent to Afghanistan as a FRS, assigned to the Jordanian army. I was told that I would have two interpreters and transportation when I got to Afghanistan. After I got to Afghanistan I found it was nothing like Iraq, the leadership wasn’t there, and there was no help for any of the FSR’s that were on the ground in Afghanistan, no interpreters, no transportation and no tools. We had no support what so ever. I’m not really complaining because the money was good, but there was a lot that went on there that shouldn’t have. I could never understand why anyone would hire a man and set him up for failure or put a man on the front line and then tell him not to shoot back.

Dog Eat Dog World

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ONE TEAM, ONE MISSION IS where several countries should come together and fight a war against another enemy or against terrorism, were all fighting for the same reason, either take control or take out who ever is behind this terrorism. I have spent over five years working directly with the military and on their vehicles in and around a maintenance shop in Iraq and Afghanistan and without this support from contractors it would be hard for men and women of the arms force to continue their missions in and outside the wire of a military compound. I spent over 30 years of my life turning wrenches state side, during the first 15 years of my ongoing career I was certified on the Caterpillar, Cummins, and Detroit engines and I don’t mean ASE certified either. Caterpillar, Cummins and Detroit will not recognize or will not accept the ASE certificates that are issued on line. I have worked for the best; I am considering one of the best in my field. Do I know it all, no; I learn something new every day, sometimes I wished I have never seen a truck, but this is my calling and this is my story.

There are several difference companies that work for the military here in Afghanistan and in Iraq, but none of them will come together and work together as one team, remember one team-one mission, well this is a dog eat dog world and I am stuck in the middle, so what do you do, well this dog will bite you back. I learn a very valuable lesson my first year overseas working for KBR, if you don’t stand up for yourself, then you stand alone, so I learned to stand my ground and bite back, the bigger dog will win, I did. I enjoyed working for KBR. I enjoyed what I did, but it seemed like whatever you did, you were either getting growled at or they were trying to bite you, it’s like everybody was hydrophobia or had the mad dog blues, whatever they had I didn’t want any of it so I kept my distances and just did my job. So I grew up fast 10,000 miles from home.

I was in a country that didn’t even like the Americans and they sure didn’t want us there, but I had a one year contract to fulfill here in Iraq. So I soon started biting and growling back, it wasn’t long before I had a whole pack of hydrophobia dogs trying to attack me, the first day on the job it wasn’t long before I had them all figured out, most of them had never been in maintenance shop or worked in a maintenance shop, and they didn’t know anything about a truck, some of them were automobile mechanics, not truck mechanics, there is a difference. Some of them were carpenters, plumbers and electricians that were hired to work on trucks in a 10 level maintenance shop, that wasn’t all that hard, but it was way above their heads and I knew it. So that put me half way up the ladder and I wasn’t coming down no matter what. A little over a year I moved on to the top of that ladder, from lead mechanic to supervisor as I moved up the pay increased. I had more responsibility and was later moved to the southern part of Iraq, there I had my own shop, my own employee’s and that’s where I did it my way. I still had some mad dogs around me, but they knew I would bite back.

KBR was a stepping stone for me, just like a lot of other people around me, crawl before you can walk. If you have got to leave home to work, get all the money you can so after three years with KBR, I got onboard with DynCorp, the pay increase was over whelming and I couldn’t pass it up. It was just too good to be true. I went from $84,000 to $210,000 a year. Who wouldn’t jump on something like that? I went back to the states and went through all their training