Reed was deployed to Afghanistan in late August. He's with the 19th Engineering Battalion. After arrival in Kandahar, he was flown to FOB [Forward Operating Base] Wolverine somewhere near Pakistan.
Getting a haircut
He captioned this photo, "Too cool"
Reed's uncle, Neil Heinle, owns and manages Mid Dakota Wheel Alignment in Bismarck. Reed thinks the world of Neil and has done a spot of work at the shop. Neil made Reed an honorary member of the crew by giving Reed a personalized shirt identical to those worn by the employees at Mid Dakota. Reed sports the shirt while posing in front of an International Max Pro / MRAP [Mine Resistant Armor Protected] vehicle. Reed said this is an upgraded Humvee but so tall that it tips easily.
Reed had no compliments about Afghan water and even less good to say about the "moon dust" or fine-grained sand that gets into everything. He wrote, "Remember when we camped out on the bank of the Heart River and sand got into sandwiches even though they were sealed in plastic bags? That's what it's like here." He said it took a couple of weeks to get the scabs out of his nose resultant from the wind and sand. I remember early on when there was debate about sending troops to Afghanistan, someone argued we should just "bomb them back to the Stone Age," to which another replied, "They are already there." I disagree. I think they've progressed to at least the 14th Century.
Back home, we've been in fairly close contact with one Mollie Mullins, someone Reed met at Fort Knox. He has taken quite a fancy to her, and we have, too.
Reed's new address is:
SGT Reed Vukelic
19th EN BN
15th EN CO
FOB Frontenac, 2nd PLT
APO-AE 09355