Winsted native reports from Afghanistan

WINSTED — Ten years ago this week, the horrors of Sept. 11, 2001, set in motion the events that would lead to U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, along with an international fight against terrorism and Islamic extremism. A reminder that those conflicts have not been resolved hit home this summer, when Winsted native Aaron Angell, a major in the United States Marines, announced to his family and friends that he would be deploying to Camp Leatherneck in the Helmland Province of Afghanistan to support counterterrorism efforts there.In July, Angell, currently a resident of Camp Lejeune near Jacksonville, N.C., with his wife and three children, told The Winsted Journal that he had just graduated from the Marine Corps University’s School of Advanced Warfighting, an 11-month graduate program that focuses on leadership with an intense courseload in military and geopolitical history. Graduates report to work at the general officer level to solve complex military problems in the field. On Sept. 3, Angell contacted The Journal via email from Camp Leatherneck, where he said his experience has already been “extremely eye-opening.” His dispatch below is the first in what will be a series of reports to help readers understand what is currently going on in Afghanistan.Angell flew into Kyrgystan, about 600 miles north of central Afghanistan, on China’s western border, and said he saw Marines he has met over the past few years, having been stationed in Iraq on previous missions. “Most of them were on their way home, but I had a chance to talk in depth with each of them to gain a better understanding of what is really going down in Afghanistan,” he wrote.“Then we flew to Afghanistan. I was extremely lucky to get into one of the two extra crew seats in the cockpit of the C-17 that we took down to Camp Leatherneck. This provided a bird’s eye view (literally) of the challenging terrain from Kyrgystan, through Tajikistan and then much of Afghanistan as we flew north to south. Nearly the entire flight was over mountains.“Almost immediately we flew out of an alluvial plain from mountains of the old USSR, and we flew over countless bald mountain ranges all the way until we dropped into the alluvial plain of southwest Afghanistan. Occasionally we would see some green along rivers deep in the valleys, and often there would be small pockets of buildings scattered amongst this green. It made me wonder how it was even possible for Genghis Khan and his enormous army to push through from the north and essentially conquer this land that today is called Afghanistan. “Rarely would we see a road, much less a paved road. Occasionally we would see a house complex boxed by a wall up on a mountain ridge. You have to stop and wonder why that house is there. Who lives there? What do they do? How do they even get there? We flew past Kabul and Bagram and saw a ‘bustling’ metropolis that was probably no larger than Hartford. Perhaps a better analogy would be Charleston, W.V., because there is nothing else really outside of the Kabul and Bagram area except for a few strings of road that branch out to some other distant cities.“Finally we dipped down out of the high white clouds, some of which were stuck trying to rise above the mountain ranges, and pushed through a thick layer of light dust. We were finally in the lowland areas of the Helmand Province. I was shocked at the realization that there truly are few defined roads across this vast land. There were dirt tracks heading every which way, like the ATV tracks in deserts of southern California. Some of the tracks were well beaten, showing the common roads from point to point. Finally, we saw one line of black asphalt, the famous (or infamous today) ‘Ring Road,’ or Highway 1 that today connects Kabul to Kandahar to Herat.“Now I am living on Camp Leatherneck, a very large base with U.S., British, Norwegian, Afghanistan and other coalition forces just to the west of Gereshk. The base has most of the amenities that you can imagine, although with some expected austerity. It is amazing to think that just a few years ago absolutely nothing was in this location. Everything that is here was brought here and erected by militaries and contractors to serve as a hub for military operations in Helmand Province. Everything includes concrete runways for our largest aircraft, asphalt roads, containers for billeting and habitability, gas, water, food, ammunition, laundry services, concrete barriers and wooden and tent office spaces. “I will admit that I feel a bit spoiled living with many of these services while some of our youngest and least experienced Marines are outside the wire daily directly conducting the business that we are here to conduct, providing security and stability operations and providing sustainment to those front line forces. However, the realization is prominent that we are all out here together to ensure that those front line forces have everything that they need to stay alive (from armor and ammunition, to fuel, chow and water). “So, that’s my take on life here right now. For me personally, I am still getting use to the time zone differences. I’m have a bit of trouble sleeping at night, but I am pushing through each day and that won’t be a problem for too much longer. Semper Fidelis!”This article has been updated to show Angell has three children, not two as was originally reported.