My Band of Brothers

April 9, 2007 By DougT
Posted in Guest Blogger

[Here is another great guest blogger post from Capt Doug Traversa from A*W*A*C]

I’ve been interested in the military since a young age. I used to devour books on WWII, build models, watch war movies, and generally submerse myself in the topic every chance possible. My best friend in junior high school was much the same. We argued the merits of the Russian T-34 tank against the German Panzerkampfwagon III. We knew the gun sizes on virtually every battleship in the war. Yes, we were geeks, WWII geeks.

Ending up in the military seemed inevitable. Yet one of the more fascinating aspects of warfare escaped us. Yes, we knew the hardware inside and out, we knew the dates, locations, and tactics of most battles. We laughed at war movies that tried to pass off modern, angle-decked aircraft carries as authentic WWII versions. You couldn’t slip much past us. But one thing that didn’t come up much was how war forms friendships and bonds that civilian life seldom does.

Coming to Afghanistan last summer would introduce me to a new world in many ways. Never mind the completely alien culture of the place, the primitive living conditions, and the suicide bombers. I would learn about a new form of friendship, one forged by imminent danger and hardships.

I have always been a loner, not forming many close friendships. Yes, I have friends, just not many close friends. My family has been the focus of my attention for the last 22 years. So when I arrived in Kabul, the people most important to me would be absent from my life for the next year. I settled into my old habits. When going to meals, I went alone and read a book while eating. I was not being unfriendly, it’s just what I enjoyed doing. I wasn’t concerned with making friends; I’d just get through the year and move on.

Originally our hut had six people in it, a lieutenant colonel, a major, and four captains including me. However, after a couple of months, we had a new major move in, and at this time the boss decided to divide the hut in half, which angered us captains. Yet being walled off into one half of the hut was a catalyst that drove us to form a closer friendship. I started joining the other three for meals, and slowly we became closer friends.

Living in the plywood huts known as “B-Huts” can be a miserable experience if you are living with a jerk. In our case, we each had a small section about 8 feet by 12 feet in size. We could build plywood walls for privacy, but even with that, if someone played their music loud, banged around early in the morning, snored loudly, or any of a number of other unpleasant things, life could become miserable quickly. Indeed, this happened in some other huts.

I have been very fortunate to have three great hut mates. Doug Templeton, Mike Toomer, Drew Morton, and I have spent most of the last year in Hut R5 (East Side). We’ve shared experiences like having the front gate of Camp Phoenix (where we live) destroyed by a car bomb or having another one go off just outside the wall, shaking our hut and sending up a huge black cloud of smoke. We all head off to work each morning in full body armor, lugging two weapons. When we return we say things like “Lucy, I’m home,” or “How was the office today?”

We’ve shared each other’s pain and joy on more than one occasion. Doug’s father died, Drew got engaged, Mike debated at length about applying for active duty status as a lawyer with the Air Force (he’s in the Guard now), while Drew agonized over whether to leave the Air Force since there is a massive draw-down occurring this year. I missed the graduation from college of my oldest son, and my youngest son played his first season of football ever for his high school, and I missed all of that. I am hopeful that I can see my daughter graduate from college in May. It will be close.

We have had to deal with inadequate equipment, dangerous conditions, and genuine fear for our lives on many occasions. Yet somehow we manage to turn our anger into humor. If you’ve ever watched M*A*S*H (and who hasn’t), you may wonder if all the witty banter that went on in that show was realistic. Yes, it is. I have laughed harder and longer here over the last year than most people ever do. The stress and Spartan conditions seems to have sharpened our wits nicely, and now Mike is actually producing humorous videos during our remaining time here, and naturally we give him inputs all the time.

The truly amazing thing about this is that we are all very different. We’d probably never have met each other back home, even assuming we were all stationed at the same base. We all have very different interests and hobbies, and would certainly have run in different circles. Yet here we truly have become as close as brothers. I finally understand what camaraderie is all about. You can read about it in books, watch it on movies, even hear about it from people who have experienced it, but until you go through something like this, you won’t fully grasp it. Although the price was steep, being away from my family for a year, it was a wonderful lesson to learn, and I am a much better person for having learned it.