Beep...Beep,  Beep...Beep, Beep...Beep  I look at the green face of my watch; 5 AM stares back at me.   It's quite and pitch black in the room; nice that it's quiet; this it last time today that it will.  The rest of the day will be filled with radio calls, reports, yelling.  I lay there in the dark with my watch still beeping.

The war in Afghanistan is typified by brand names, Oakley, Under Armour, Suunto, iPod and a myriad of others.  It seems at times when we roll out we resemble NASCAR drivers with logos and brand names plastered all over us; subdued yes; but all over us.  Right now it's Suunto that's upsetting me, with it's beeping and unwillingness to let me go back to sleep.   Just leave me alone.  I shut the watch off.

No such luck.  I get out of my bunk and put my feet on the cold concrete floor.  It's fitting that we're ETT Vampire as we live in a concrete bunker with no windows, when the lights are off it's black no matter the time of day.  I leave the lights off ; grab my red flashlight, searching now for my iPod.  Found it!  plug it into the speakers and find my mission day music, Mettalica "One" from ..And Justice for All.  The music floats from the speakers; setting the tone.

This is my favorite not for the words; if you really listen to it paints a pretty bad picture of war.  But for the pacing, it starts slow,pianissimo and builds to the punching; fortissimo ending.  Much like my morning and probably day is slated to be.

With the sondtrack for the morning rolling I find my ACUs and start putting them on. I suffer from OCD; every good soldier here does.  I get dressed in the same manner everyday, I do not deviate.  It's what keeps me ready and alive.  My life is a bushel of habits and rituals, ingrained in me by years of Army training. 

Pants first, left leg pocket tourniquet; right leg Combat Gauze, another brand name. 

Search the shelves for my blood chit a piece of paper that says in 27 languages that the US government will pay money if someone assists me.  No amount is listed on  and I'm concerned that the 700 billion bailout of Wall Street may have cut into the money they set aside to get us back.  The cold hard truth is that we've all agreed that none of us will ever be captured.  The Geneva Convention does not apply to us here.  We follow it; they don't.  Many have seen the video of Daniel Pearl on the internet and we know what awaits us if we're captured.  We'll do whatever it takes to ensure that never happens.

Pants are on, ACU top.  9 line MEDEVAC card, map, another tourniquet.  By this time Mettalica is punching it way out of the speakers.  Shake boots out and put them on.  Check my M9,  M4 and Aimpoint sight.  These were all cleaned the night before, but I still check them.  "In God We Trust all others We Check"

Head for the latrine.  I have a reoccuring fear here,it's not the ACM or an IED; it goes something like this.  I head to the latrine with my flashlight, we have portipotties here with no lights.  I get into the latrine and start to prep and sit down.  Just then my flashlight catches the glint of the massive camel spider in the upper corner of the latrine; and the sucker pounces on me.  I'm under attack!  I spill out of the latrine in a very vulnerable position with this thing biting me.  I now have to go to the medics and explain why I've been wounded in the latrine.  I don't think this qualifies me for the Purple Heart, which is an award I'd just as soon not have, and I have to explain to everyone why I was evaced. 

No attack in the latrine.  Thank God!  Head over to the vehicles and climb in; start it up.  Wait for air pressure to build and check the batteries.  Everything in the vehicles is powered by the air lines or electircal, you can't open a 450 lbs door without mechanical assistance.  The vehicles are cold armored behmouths, sitting like tan mountains in the feint morning light. 

Climb into the back and start the Blue Force Tracker and radios, do a radio check.  Good to go!  These have all been set up the night before.  Vehicle is warming up and others from the team are spilling out of the building with crew served weapons and various other pieces of equipment.  The smell of exhaust, break free and Copenhagen fill the air.  These are the smells of pre-combat.

Belts of ammunition are feed into the crew served; a shiny jewelery of death. Happiness is a belt fed weapon.  Clanking, hammering and cussing provide texture to the morning.  Everyone knows their job and they go about it in precise professionalism.  

Go over to the Tactical Operations Center (TOC) and check on air evac status, close air support and artillery.  The mission is a humanitarian assistance drop but in the words of Big John McCarthy, you'd better be ready to "Get it On"  at a moments notice.  The day you're not ready will be the one the ACM decide to get frisky and bite a piece off.  The TOC is the nerve center of the FOB and it hums with energy; human and electrical.

Back to the hooch, call my wife and see how things are at home.  It's the evening there and she's getting ready to have dinner.  I can't tell her that I'm leaving or what I'm going to do.  I have no idea who could be listening.  She's doing well and I tell here I'll call later, she knows by the sound of my voice that I'm preoccupied and getting ready to go somewhere.  She doesn't say anything, but she knows.  I tell her I'll call or email later.  Love you and be safe is what she tells me.

Grab the rest of my equipment.  Check my vest, radio, mags, frags and all the other equipment that goes on it, at this point it weighs about 30 lbs.  Individual Body Armor with plates is ready to go, it's getting a little ripe and needs to be washed.  Won't matter in a coupld of hours as I'll smell just like it.  Note to self wash this nasty thing when I get back.   Another note, check everyone else's armor to see what state it's in and get them to wash it.  We all must smell rancid.

Put all of this stuff on and head to the vehicles.  IBA, vest, helmet, gloves, eye protection, pistol.  I've now increased my body weight by 60 lbs.  Starting doing inspections, you can do this one of two ways.  The first, line everyone up walk through and look at all their stuff.  I prefer the second way taught to me by my first Platoon SGT.  Go to each guy individually and ask them how things are going, talk to them and listen to their answers,  soldiers know when you're just talking to them to talk. While you're doing this look at his equipment.  If you see anything wrong tell them you noticed it and have them correct it.  My personal opinion is it keeps guys more relaxed and you can have the other guys doing stuff while you inspect. Plus, you can spend more time on guys that have issues without embarassing them in front of the rest of them team. Just a technique.

Load everyone into the vehicles and head over to the ANA side.  The ANA are staged and getting ready to head out.  I get out and talk to the commander.  Any updates, changes, everyone ready to head out.  He's good and ready to go.  A nervous tension permeates the air, the mission isn't combat today; but the enemy always has vote in the matter.  The ANA are getting more and more professional by the day, it used to take us an hour to get them ready and now they're ready when we get there.  We must be doing something right.

Final checks are going on, artillery laid on target, radios still up.  Usually at this point a radio decides it doesn't want to work and we play the what happened and how do we get this thing back up.  Not today, things are going well.   Everyone got everything? The team gathers a final time before we mount up.  Rehash the mission, any critical points, check.

Mount up and strap in, discuss rollover drill.  It's what we're going to do if the vehicle rolls over.  The terrain here is a series of washed out wadis, leading to steep hills so the possibility that we'll roll a vehicle is very real.  Inside our vehicle everything is tied down; an ammo can hitting you in the face as the vehicle rolls will ruin your Crest smile pretty quick.  Everybody knows their part.

Start rolling, final radio check.  "All Vampire vehicles, Vampire 06 in sequence radio check"  All reply with good comms status.  "All Vampire vehicles, Vampire 06, roger on comms, Good Hunting"!

And now we see how then enemy will vote.