Sangin Valley: The Mental Rollercoaster of a Marine Deployed to Sangin, Afghanistan

By Mitchell Holmes

Sangin Valley is a day-to-day journal written by a US marine deployed to Sangin, Afghanistan, in 2011. It shows the reader the mental roller coaster our troops experience while being deployed overseas, away from their families and everything they have ever known, being forced to grow up quickly and see and do things they never have before. This helps the reader understand how they can support the troops and our veterans already home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Apr 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524603632

Mitchell Holmes

Mitchell Holmes was born in Longview, Washington, on July 5, 1991. Growing up, he was close to his family and loved the outdoors, hunting, fishing, working, and saving money. He developed at a young age a dream to follow his father’s footsteps in many ways. His father, Michael Holmes, of Clatskanie, Oregon, is a Vietnam veteran. Being a war fighter was all he ever wanted to be for Halloween; he played in the woods and pretended to be in a war and often talked about it and the day he was going to do it. From his second-grade veterans’ day assembly to the day he left for Afghanistan in 2011, that was his dream. Mitchell now lives in Rainier, Oregon. He is married to Sara Holmes and has two young daughters, Diamond and Peyton. Mitchell decided to follow his father’s footsteps after returning home and now works for RD Reeves Construction Inc., the logging company his dad retired from.

Book preview

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Sangin

Valley

The mental rollercoaster of a Marine deployed to Sangin, Afghanistan

Mitchell Holmes

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AuthorHouse™

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© 2016 Mitchell Holmes. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 04/14/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5246-0362-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-0363-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016906130

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Dedications

Acknowledgments

Glossary

Sangin Valley

Gone But Not Forgotten

Dedications

This book is dedicated to the Marines of 2nd platoon Alpha Company 1st Battalion 5th Marine Regiment who deployed to Sangin, Afghanistan in 2011 and to all the Marines and Sailors who didn’t make it home from Sangin.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my family and friends who supported me through my years in the Marine Corps and while on deployment. I thank my wife and kids for allowing me to spend countless hours away from them to get this published. I also thank Tim O’Brien, author of The Things They Carried, the book that encouraged me to keep a journal while I was deployed.

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Glossary

611: The paved road that runs from the south end to the north end of Sangin, paved by the United States military to provide a safe supplies route to all units in the city

AO: Area of operations

AUP: Afghan Uniformed Police

ANA: Afghan National Army

BC: Battalion Commander

BZO: Battle sight zero

CO: Commanding officer

COG: Corporal of the Guard

DFAC: Dining Facility

DEMIL: Demilitarization, removal of military activity or control from an area

EAS: End of active service

EOF: Escalation of force

EOD: Explosive ordinance disposal

FOB: Forward operating Base

HE: High Explosive

HESCO: A modern gabion used for flood control and military fortification

IDF: In direct fire

IED: Improvised Explosive Device

KIA: Killed In Action

LP/OP: Listening post Observation post

MRE: Meal ready to eat

NJP: Non judicial punishment

PX: Post Exchange

PB: Patrol Base

POG: Personnel other than grunts

PDHA: Post deployment health assessment

QRF: Quick reaction force

ROE: Rules of engagement

RPG: Rocket propelled grenade

RTB: Return to base

USO: United service organizations

UGR: Unitized group rations

VCP: Vehicle checkpoint

VBIED: Vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device

Sangin Valley

March 25, 2011

My name is Mitchell Holmes, I grew up in Cowlitz and Columbia county in Washington and Oregon. I have three sisters and two brothers and both of my parents are living. My childhood dream ever since my second grade Veteran’s day assembly has been to join the military, go to combat, then return home, get married and have kids. I remember that assembly like it was yesterday and often think about that day, my Dad took the day off to go to it with me. I even have a picture of us standing on the stage together somewhere and hope I’m able to find it when I get back. That dream has come true, I’m now a Marine with 1st battalion 5th Marine Regiment Alpha company 2nd platoon 2nd squad. Today is the first time in my life that I’m leaving my family and friends to go to a place that I know I may not come back, knowing there’s enough of a chance that the Marine Corps even had us write our own obituary and take pictures for the newspaper. It’s not easy to leave my family but I’m excited and have wanted to do this since second grade. It’s really got me thinking, about life, the past, and the future or if I even have one. Many of the guys seem pretty upset leaving their wives and kids. My biggest fear is what it will do to my family if I don’t make it home alive. We said goodbye and waved to our families as the bus drove off. My Mom, Teresa Cahill, Tim Cahill my stepdad, Ross Cahill my little brother and my close friends Bryanna and Steve Kessler were there to watch me leave. My Dad Mike Holmes said goodbye last time I was on leave which was probably easier for both of us than being one more person I feel guilty leaving. When we got on the bus and before it took off Staff Sergeant Praxedus stomped up the steps looking motivated as ever and told us to look outside at our families and said we have to fight every fucking day to get back to them. We left March Air force base to Bangor, Maine, then to Leipzig, Germany. After a couple hours there we flew to Manas, Kyrgyzstan. At Manas I learned that the Airforce calls what we call a chow hall, a DFAC and they are much nicer than our chow halls. Here is where it was put in perspective how much different we are from the other branches, but damn, their cooks cook real food instead of just adding water to the powdered eggs and heating stuff up in the oven.

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Mitchell and Michael Holmes at Mitchell’s 2nd grade Veterans Day assembly.

March 29, 2011

Today we arrived at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan. We will stay here for a few days to acclimatize, prepare ourselves for what the next seven months brings, and whatever else the higher ups have to do before we fly into Sangin. It’s a lot