Arrival

21 FEB 09
FOB Terminator, AFG


Dear family, friends, and loved ones:

I am writing you from literally the middle of nowhere Afghanistan. I probably couldn't tell you exactly where we are but I really can't anyways because there's nothing here. Except us, and our awesome eye in the sky, and a whole lot of guns.

I drove into FOB Terminator (sweet name, I know) in a convoy of MRAPs. I won't go into detail about these awesome machines suffice it to say they are saving lives. Tell your congressman. Our convoy passed through a small town that would make a set of farm houses outside Yuma look like palaces, it is the center of commerce in this province. To say these people live destitute lives would be a monumental understatement. They have nothing. They are terrified. They have no future. And that's why I am here. When we built our little fort out here in the middle of nowhere two months ago, people wept. They finally had proof that we were here to help them, here to help put and end to the daily terror they have endured for some very long. And help we will.

Besides being a better target for the bad guys (don't worry they can't shoot straight,)we offer them a source of protection, a source of income (many drive trucks for us and help gather resources and supplies), and an outlet for their problems. Corruption in the political system here is a way of life. In Tijuana you can bribe a cop and get out of a speeding ticket, here the cops have road blocks set up to collect tolls instead. This is something we have to combat in a non-kinetic way. We can't engage the local government militarily, we have to be political. Our leaders are doing their best to help and we are making progress.

The other half of our conflict is spectacularly kinetic (mom stop reading). We are engaging with and destroying the enemy in an awesome fashion. We are where I want to be. I can tell you with no apprehension that US forces can defeat any other military force in the world. The great thing here is the bad guys don't believe it. So they are engaging us and we are hitting them back, hard. And we are winning. And our success is driving the people away from the AAF (Anti-Afghani Forces) and to us. Thank God.

I saved thanking God for my last point because He is the most important element. God is here. God has always been here. He is with our troops and with our leaders. And he is listening to you. Please continue to ask him for protection over us, guidance for our leaders (which now includes me, wow!) and love in hearts to help differentiate between the good and the bad.

Sincerely,



Robert M. Woodson
Second Lieutenant, Infantry
1st PLT, A Co, 2-2 IN "Ramrods!"
R.L.T.W!