March Update

Well it has been awhile since my last post.  I have been side tracked at work leaving me little time to update the Blog.  Let me fill you in on developments since I last wrote on the Blog.  First, Jason is no longer at COP Khiligay, he is at his Squadron's headquarters in Kunduz.  He is now the public affairs officer and doing a great job taking pictures and dealing with his new job responsibilities.  Recently he has been helping an author, Mike Walling, who is writing a book about the US military's role in Afghanistan.  The book won't be out until next summer, but should be great.  Jason's new address is:

1LT John Bonds
S3 HHT, 3-7 CAV
FOB Kunduz
APO AE 09368

Here are some recent pictures:

Here is the Facebook address of Mike Walling if you have any interest:

https://www.facebook.com/mike.walling.33

The New Year Begins

The New Year has come to the Hindu Kush along with cold weather and sense of isolation.  On the other hand the isolation brings with it a modicum of safety that only a parent can truly appreciate.  Jason is stuck in the day to day routine of being in an outpost that is both frigid and small.  However even in the frozen north of Afghanistan, life goes on.  Below is a picture of Jason and a member of his platoon who is re-enlisting on New Years Day.

The New Year also brings some of Jason's friends from West Point to Afghanistan.  His buddy Tim is now in southern Afghanistan and in February his best friend from West Point, Steve Convery, will begin a deployment as a helicopter pilot at a fairly nearby post and will actually make some flights to COP Khiligay.  Seeing Steve will at least be something that Jason can look forward to in the short term.  Here is a picture of Jason and Steve from their West Point graduation.

For now, Jason says he is doing fine and anxiously awaiting mail from home.  So if you have a second and are not to busy, drop him a line at fwfc6@msn.com.  He will appreciate hearing from home!

The Holidays in the Hindu Kush

As we approach the new year, a little year end recap is in order.  Before Christmas, Jason and several others had a nice helicopter ride to Kunduz.  Below is a picture of Jason and friend Gentry in Kunduz.  Gentry is also posted to Fort Stewart and is originally from New Mexico.  They started at Fort Stewart together and Jason says that Gentry and is wife (living in Savannah) are super nice.

Christmas itself was not like being home, but they tried to make it as much like home as you can in the middle of nowhere during a war.  Here are several Christmas pictures, including a couple with Jason and his buddies serving both the American and German troops on Christmas Day.  Not exactly the dining room at the Plaza Hotel in New York, but the tent was about as festive as it gets!

What you can not really tell is that the temperature has dropped into negative numbers during the night time and it frequently does not get above freezing for days.  Most of the guys spend the day trying to keep warm. I have talked to Jason over the last several days and outside movement has been somewhat limited by the weather.  The good news is that is supposed to break the freezing mark sometime shortly after the first of the year.  Here is one last picture that gives you an idea of the Hindu Kush and the cold weather which has definitely settled in...

December settles in...

December has brought changes to the Hindu Kush as it gets colder, especially at night.  Jason is pulling through although he wishes the tents were a little warmer.   Army-Navy was a disappointment, but it was the closest game in the last ten years.  Jason wants to thank everyone that has sent packages to him at COP Khiligay and posted this on his Facebook page:

To have friends and family care enough about you to send things to remind you of home while you are away means more that you could ever know, a HUGE thank you to everyone back there.  These are from today.  Sometimes Afghanistan isn't bad at all.  No mess hall for us tonight!

As most folks know, COP Khiligay also has a contingent of German soldiers.  Jason got to take the German marksman test, and he apparently aced it!  Below is a copy of the certificate and medal he received.  He can't wear the medal because he is an officer, but it is pretty cool looking anyway.

ARMY Navy Week

I talked to Jason three times on Saturday: before, during and after the TCU-Oklahoma football game.  "How frustrating was that," he exclaimed at the end of the game.  "TCU didn't lose, they just ran out of time."  One of my co-workers claims that statement belongs to Texas A & M, but I have to disagree.  TCU was in the game right down to the last play.  Jason will argue forever that the game should have been tied, that the referee's over looked a holding call on the Sooner's long touchdown run, which was pointed out and circled by the TV commentators and then promptly forgotten.  Oh well, for TCU there is always next year.  Don't forget they started sixteen freshmen.  Not a bad year for the first year in the Big 12.  Just ask Mac Brown.

Last week's activity in the Hindu Kush was uneventful as far as what was publicly disclosed, but I think there was some activity that was off the ability to disclose list.  Jason didn't say anything specific, but I think I can tell when he is leaving something out.  Whatever it was, it was successful so far as I can tell.  Here are a couple of pictures from Thanksgiving in COP Khiligay which Jason took:

Now for the news of the week:  this is Army Navy week!  America's game!  Army can win the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy for the first time in years!  There will be all kinds of pranks at West Point and in Annapolis to the Cadets/Midshipmen that are taking part in the Exchange Program.  Jason had an Air Force "Zoomie" one semester as a roommate who the plebes took all of his furniture and clothes and put them on the roof of Pershing Barracks.  It was hilarious.  There will also be a number of "Spirit Videos" which will make the rounds.  Here is a link to one of my favorite Spirit Videos from years' past:

This year's favorite, from West Point:

Finally, in all seriousness, GO ARMY, BEAT NAVY!

Thanksgiving Week

Jason had a busy week in Hindu Kush...and Fayetteville for that matter.  He started the week getting to meet the Hungarian Minister of Defense, a Four Star Chief of Staff and the Command Sgt. Major of the Hungarian Defense Forces.  A pretty good group of folks according to Jason.  Later last week he was promoted to First Lieutenant, which put a smile on his face and in his wallet.  Here is a picture of his promotion which was taken on the golf course at COP Khiligay.

Jason wrote the following post on Thanksgiving Day which appeared on his Facebook wall:

There is a lot to be thankful for out there. Thankful to sleep in a warm bed at night and to wake up in the morning. Thankful to have a sackful of naan and a rice cooker to make some queso. Thankful to have a little black bar instead of a little gold one. Thankful to have a good group of guys over here with me. Thankful to be born in a place not resembling the bronze age. Thankful to know all of you. Wish I was back there, don't have too much fun without us.

He later added, and thanks for the TCU win!

Thanks to Mary Noel and Laura, while Jason was in Afghanistan his alter ego, Flat Jason, was in Fayetteville enjoying all Fayetteville had to offer.  You can see that Nancy was still a little bitter over the Longhorn's loss to TCU.  At the same time, Jason is still smiling!  Below are several photos of Flat Jason from the Arkansas-LSU game:

All's Quiet in the Hindu Kush

Not much happening in the Hindu Kush mountains as the region gets closer to winter.  Jason says everything is fairly monotonous right now.  He is inter-acting more with the Germans than he had before.  The Germans seem to have a better set-up than the Americans, with a paved road and get this, a hot tub and sauna.  According to Jason they are available for the Americans to use from time to time, but apparently the clothing optional rule for the hot tub seems to cut into the Americans use of the facility.  Jason was a little bummed that TCU didn't have a game this weekend, so I think he channeled his energy into the Cowboy game.  While the Cowboys won, it was in overtime and I don't know if he stayed up to the end.  The first half was all Cleveland, and the second half favored the Cowboys, so he may have gone to bed after the first half.  He also told me that now that daylight savings time is over, they are only eight and one-half hours ahead of us.

Last bit of news, the TCU Magazine did a short piece on Jason as his never ending support of the Horned Frogs.  You can see the article at:

 http://comradestrue.blogspot.com/2012/11/frog-spirit-in-afghanistan.html

Here is the text of the article:


FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2012

Frog spirit in Afghanistan

Second Lieutenant Jason Bonds (right) is the platoon leader of the Blue Platoon in the Bonecrusher Troop in the 3rd Squadron of the 7th United States Calvary Regiment, deploymed at Command Outpost Khiliguy in northern Afghanistan. His unit is part of the 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division of the U.S. Army.

Bonds and his Horned Frog spirit are alive and well seen here unfurling a TCU flag at the snowy Salang Pass at 12,723 feet in the Hindu Kush Mountains north of Kabul.

Bonds' spirit exceeds that of most Frog fans. He routinely stays up all night to watch the TCU football team play games. Last week's game against Kansas State kicked off at 4:30 a.m. Afghan time and Bonds was watching. In October, when the outpost experience a bombing attempt, Bonds told his family he was more concerned about the TCU-Texas Tech game.

Interestingly, Bonds is not a TCU alumnus. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 2011, but he grew up a TCU fan from birth. His family lived on Greene Avenue, just east of campus, and took Bonds to football games before he could walk.

"I don't remember missing many up until I went to college, and even after that I would time my leave to coincide when TCU was playing at home," Bonds wrote us. "Long story, but I am a pretty massive fan, and to me home, TCU, and Fort Worth are indistinguishable. I am hoping to go to TCU for grad school depending on how my contract with the Army plays out over the next couple of years."

Friends and family follow Jason's service and experiences in the Lone Star Over Afghanistan blog set up by his father.
POSTED BY THE TCU MAGAZINE AT 9:31 AM