The early phases of Steak Mission Helmand have been executed and we are approaching our line of departure. After a delayed flight out of DFW the main body arrived at London Heathrow around noon. Cold and drizzly, as all London days seem to be, a malfunctioning jet bridge forced us to deplane through the rear door and down a steep and slippery stairway to waiting busses. Along with my old friend Chad Downs and my new friend Jules Smith, we took the train in to central London to meet up with Wayne Fleenor and sample the local brew at two pubs in Mayfair. Later we linked up with team leader Harvey Gough for dinner and a return ride to Heathrow. There we met Army football coach Rich Ellerson and the balance of the team. In addition to those already mentioned, team members include veterans Tony Booth, Terry Castle, Michael Dee and Jason Reasonover. Newcomer Ronnie Yankee rounds out the battle roster.

After about10 hours on the ground in London, we boarded our British Air overnight flight to Kuwait City. We were warmly greeted by members of our military reception team, including LTC Paul Henry, USMC and Army Captain Lillian Guadalupe and Dave Kim. (Interesting side note: CPT Kim is assigned to the ARCENT – the Army headquarters element of Central Command – as the military band director. His “real” job, when not deployed, is as the Assistant Director of the West Point band.)

At this point, our plans began to unravel. We had two options for follow – on air travel into Afghanistan. It proved difficult, to say the least, to align Harvey’s expectations for air support with our Marine Lieutenant Colonel’s ability / willingness to accommodate those expectations. There was a scheduled 2:30 pm departure out of Kuwait to Kandahar or a 5:00 am departure the next morning directly to Bastion. For our purposes, Bastion is adjacent to Camp Leatherneck and therefore better than Kandahar, which would require yet another flight. On the other hand, we’d like to get to Afghanistan sooner rather than later. After many machinations and arm twisting – including a threat from Harvey to cancel the Marines in favor of an Army unit in Kuwait – the issue was resolved by the passage of time. We are going to Bastion and departing at 0500 on Tuesday, 1 May.

Update: 1 May, 2012: We are now at the airfield in Kuwait, it is 0300 and we expect to depart at about 0500 for Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. We spent the night – what there was of it – at Camp Arifjan, southeast of Kuwait City, had dinner with the Deputy Commanding General of the US Third Army stationed here, and are at the starting point for our mission. We cross the LD – line of departure – in 2 hours and are ready and eager to be on our way forward.

More anon.

David

Best wishes to the whole team.Thanks for bringing us along, I look forward, to the next post.

To our Family, Friends and Supporters:

Steak Team Mission Founder Harvey Gough (aka Steak 6) and 11 other volunteer team members will soon deploy to Afghanistan. We will be serving the Marines of Task Force Leatherneck in Helmand Province. The plan is to prepare approximately 2,000 cooked-to-order steak dinners for Marines assigned to six separate combat outposts (COP) scattered across the province. We are transporting all of the foodstuffs necessary to complete a full meal including appetizers, tenderloin steaks, ranch style beans, coleslaw, cornbread and ice cream bars.

This mission, we have a special guest joining us: Coach Rich Ellerson, West Point’s head football coach. We are very pleased that Coach Ellerson can join us and bring an added bit of excitement to the deployed Marines and Army personnel we expect to encounter. Most of the team have multiple missions under their belts, both foreign and domestic. This is the 18th Steak Team Mission and the third to Afghanistan. It will be my sixth overall and fourth overseas.

The team will first rally in London, then fly on to Kuwait and the Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility. From there, we will board a United States Air Force cargo plane, along with several pallets of food and equipment, for “insertion” to the war zone via Camp Bastion, a British-controlled air base in Helmand, adjacent to Camp Leatherneck, the main Marine base in the area. After a day of equipment issue, security briefings, preparation and a little bit of catch up sleep, the team will split into two separate teams and, over the course of 3 or 4 days, travel to forward outposts to do our small part to serve the Marines who do so much and serve us so well.

The successful execution of every steak mission relies on the staunch support of our many friends and family who give generously. Every donation, every in-kind contribution, every gesture of support and encouragement makes a difference and makes these missions possible. You are legion, and I hesitate to even try to enumerate you for fear that I will leave someone out. THANK YOU ALL. You know who you are.

Special thanks to my wife, my kids and my parents for lovingly indulging my need to get off my butt, go out and try to just DO SOMETHING useful in support of the special breed of men and women who willingly go in harms way for me. Again, and again, and again.

I don’t know how much connectivity to expect once downrange. My guess is: not much. But, I will attempt regular updates, along with photos, as the mission progresses.

This year, I learned another military expression from Michael: “Charlie Mike” These are the phonetic alphabet terms for the letters “C” and “M” used in radio transmissions. Charlie Mike = Continue Mission. So, until the next post … Charlie Mike.

David