Evil Mog

I get out there and thankfully I was smart and I pre-sent all the gear I needed on a convoy ahead of me. There's this broken down, destroyed crater effectively where the old piece was. I come up and there's guys, basically giant bulldozers and heavy equipment moving the old gear out. The gear inside is just completely toast.

I get out there and thankfully I was smart and I pre-sent all the gear I needed on a convoy ahead of me. There's this broken down, destroyed crater effectively where the old piece was. I come up and there's guys, basically giant bulldozers and heavy equipment moving the old gear out. The gear inside is just completely toast.

Meet up with the local sergeant who's like, hey, we're putting your new gear down right where the old one was, dropping this new sea container in. What do you want to do with this old thing? I'm like, take it back, salvage it, destroy it. We don't really care. Use it for training. You wire up the new SATCOM. You are calling on to your folks out of the UK going, hey, do you see my bird?

Meet up with the local sergeant who's like, hey, we're putting your new gear down right where the old one was, dropping this new sea container in. What do you want to do with this old thing? I'm like, take it back, salvage it, destroy it. We don't really care. Use it for training. You wire up the new SATCOM. You are calling on to your folks out of the UK going, hey, do you see my bird?

Yeah, we're locked on. Here's the activation. Boom, new terminals are online. You've deactivated the old accounts. You do a couple plugins, test the new laptops, and then there's already a lineup around the block of folks who have gotten their email in like a week and a half, right? And so all of a sudden, you start running them all in. They're all nice and happy. You run down to the chow hall.

Yeah, we're locked on. Here's the activation. Boom, new terminals are online. You've deactivated the old accounts. You do a couple plugins, test the new laptops, and then there's already a lineup around the block of folks who have gotten their email in like a week and a half, right? And so all of a sudden, you start running them all in. They're all nice and happy. You run down to the chow hall.

You munch whatever warm food they've got. You stick around for a day or two for troubleshooting, and then you –

You munch whatever warm food they've got. You stick around for a day or two for troubleshooting, and then you –

call your boss on the defense service network hey can you guys get me a helicopter out they're like sorry man all the birds are tasked so finally you head yourself down to the talk the tactical operations center you introduce yourself like hey when's your next convoy out if you're lucky they send you out on a combat patrol which are way faster and less annoying than a convoy because it's you know one or two vehicles and

call your boss on the defense service network hey can you guys get me a helicopter out they're like sorry man all the birds are tasked so finally you head yourself down to the talk the tactical operations center you introduce yourself like hey when's your next convoy out if you're lucky they send you out on a combat patrol which are way faster and less annoying than a convoy because it's you know one or two vehicles and

It's a little more comfortable. If you're not lucky, you're crammed into the back of this armored personnel carrier that's hot as balls wearing body armor in the heat, and yet take your eight hours to go 100 kilometers to get back home.

It's a little more comfortable. If you're not lucky, you're crammed into the back of this armored personnel carrier that's hot as balls wearing body armor in the heat, and yet take your eight hours to go 100 kilometers to get back home.

I mean, that kind of has happened. Not nearly as extreme, but have you ever tried to repair 200 pairs of Cat 5 in a sandstorm from 100 feet up in the air? 100 feet in the air? What's up there anyway? Yeah. I was a comm tower. I had to go through this one bridge spot because most of the stuff at CAF was all underground.

I mean, that kind of has happened. Not nearly as extreme, but have you ever tried to repair 200 pairs of Cat 5 in a sandstorm from 100 feet up in the air? 100 feet in the air? What's up there anyway? Yeah. I was a comm tower. I had to go through this one bridge spot because most of the stuff at CAF was all underground.

But we had this one spot that was basically all hooked up to a tower because of the way this one extension went. And so we had an outage. Someone drove a piece of equipment through the cables. And so I had to go up and resplice all this outdoor cable. And I'm up on this tower and all of a sudden it's a sandstorm. And I'm like, oh, no.

But we had this one spot that was basically all hooked up to a tower because of the way this one extension went. And so we had an outage. Someone drove a piece of equipment through the cables. And so I had to go up and resplice all this outdoor cable. And I'm up on this tower and all of a sudden it's a sandstorm. And I'm like, oh, no.

I can't work on this cable with gloves on because it doesn't... You ever tried twisting and terminating cable with gloves? It just doesn't work. So I'm getting blasted by sand in this whiteout condition trying to terminate because I'm not going to try and climb down the tower. It's just not going to happen. I'm hooked in there, ready to rock.

I can't work on this cable with gloves on because it doesn't... You ever tried twisting and terminating cable with gloves? It just doesn't work. So I'm getting blasted by sand in this whiteout condition trying to terminate because I'm not going to try and climb down the tower. It's just not going to happen. I'm hooked in there, ready to rock.

I got 30, 40 cables done before the sandstorm ended and then finished off the rest of the job. One of the things we did, in addition to making sure people call their families back home, is we ran a video teleconference unit. And so people could see their families back home. We found out one of the guys coming out of a FOB, his convoy got bumped.

I got 30, 40 cables done before the sandstorm ended and then finished off the rest of the job. One of the things we did, in addition to making sure people call their families back home, is we ran a video teleconference unit. And so people could see their families back home. We found out one of the guys coming out of a FOB, his convoy got bumped.