The Devils Playground

I was on turning on the TV like I did every morning when getting ready for school. The first image that hit my young impressionable mind where that of the towers falling. At 14, it was vary Impactful. It changed the way I viewed the world around me. It primed and charged me, as well as a whole generation for the next 15 to 20 years for conflict.

My name is William Maza. I'm a second generation Salvadorian Emigrant. My dad's family immigrated to California in the 70's, and my mom's in the 80's. In the early 80's my dad was a bus driver In San Francisco, and my mother ended up being one of his passengers, coincidently they both where from El Salvador.

You see, at the time El Salvador was under Civil war. My dad's family escaping the conflict as early as they could. While my mom survived under it, until she immigrated in 1980.

With their Union, I shortly came into their lives in August, 1st 1986. A Leo, born under the year of the Tiger.

In 2001 I found myself in U-haul truck leaving the West, for the Midwest. West Bountiful, UT a small burb town 15 minutes north of Salt lake City.... far far faaaar away from California. My mom separated from my dad in 1994. He moved back to El Salvador, so I didn't really see much of him. Her and I, bounced around from place to place, while she worked and went to school.

Utah was different, it took me some getting used to. But ultimately I'm glad we ended up here. I'm convinced if I would have stayed in California, I would be in Jail or dead... hehe

I graduated High School in 2005. I did odd jobs here and there.. I tried college, but the classroom environment wasn't for me. Not yet. In November of 2007 I walked into my local recruiters office, I looked at him right in the eyes, and I told him I wanted to be a Infantryman. lol he chuckled, and he signed me right up. I wasn't a stupid kid, I knew what I was getting myself into.

My only regret was not being able to go RANGER!! haha, OR Special Forces. But I'm glad I got opportunities to train and work with them.

In 2010 After one deployment under my belt we caught wind that we where going to, Afghanistan.. gulp... naw I wasn't scared. I was to stupid to be. Our platoon sergeant picked up the training tempo, and we started to train in the mountains. Stationed in Fort Carson, Co. We had no shortages of Mountains.

Later on we caught Intel that we where going to be patrolling the Arghandab, River Valley in Kandahar province. Knows as the Devils Playground. This was where Capt. Dale Goetz. The first Chaplain killed since Vietnam died. From our base we where no more than 1k away from where he got blown up.

We landed in Kandar airfield September 25 2011. The Chinook assigned to airlifting us to the COP(Combat Outpost) was at the pad, fueled up and ready to go.

But this picture you're seeing.. well this was after we had to do an emergency lading back to the Heli pad. According to the pilot we had sprung a fuel leak. We had to get back on the ground quickly.. lol well it seemed like everything was trying to kill you in Afghanistan. Including the equipment.

So with that vary interesting start to my second deployment, we find a bird that's in proper operating condition to get us to our drop, link up with the outgoing platoon and start doing our job.

Home for a year.

I never thought I was going to ever see, Vietnam haha.. Especially in Afghanistan. It wasn't the desert I thought It was going to be. With the Arghandab river feeding the valley from the north. It was used by farmers to maintain the unique orchards that you find along side the river. Channels fed each individual orchard, maintaining the lively hood of the local people.

Our job was to patrol the orchards. For a year we explored every inch of our A.O. Keeping security for the people, fighting the elusive "taliban" and clearing cache's.

Our mission was to disrupt the flow of weapons coming from Pakistan through the valley, and into the northern part of the country. For the most part the least of our worries was being shot at. Better than getting your leg pealed back like a banana by a Chinese made PMN mine. - Notice the mine sweeper in the picture above. We learned quickly what happened when you developed patterns of travel, and when you where careless enough to think you didn't need a mine sweeper.

In exchange of mountains we got a, valley, and walls. Walls of the surrounding orchards. We wouldn't stick to the roads. So we would go over the walls. I'm 5'5, and with all my gear weight in at 215lbs. Got pretty good at it lol... or we would go right through em.

95% of the time our job was to interact, build trust with the local population, observe any changes in patterns that may effect the safety of our A.O. The Afghanistan people are a vibrant, simple people. Most of them didn't really know why we where there, some thought we where the Russians, and never left.

We tried to keep things light hearted given the nature of the situation all of us found ourselves in. We where all excited to see the new surroundings, meet the locals.. but we where all aware that things could be turned upside down in a split second... and they where. But me, myself. I tried to take away the positive things I experienced, as apposed to the negative.

Put up a school tent right outside the COP. We tried setting up a safe place so a teacher could come and teach.

We avoided the trails as much as possible.. so we would walk in the canals to avoid getting blown up.

It's been 3 years since my Adventures in the Army... I made friends, lost friends.. but all of those experiences made me the man I am today. I no longer feel that we should be there, we never should have went there in the first place... I truly wish to go back one day, under different circumstances.

I've put away the M4 and camo ... and picked a wrench.