The relationships which develop between those who serve together  in military conflicts foster amazing relationships. Shared experiences bring together cultures and friendships to last a lifetime. Brothers in arms is  short series of  stories about a triangulation of  two Jacksonville, Fla. military officers and an Afghani translator ~ ~

Mark (left) and Jon

A suicide truck bomb explodes at Camp Phoenix, Afghanistan, outside  a metal container serving as a make-shift office.   U.S. Navy Cmdr.  Jon Singleton and U.S. Army Maj. Mark Rinaman are inside at that precise moment.

“Welcome  to the sh*t,”  said Rinaman.

The year is 2006. Camp Phoenix is home of  Coalition Joint Task Force Phoenix. Established by the U.S. Army National Guard, the task force’s mission is to train,  mentor and assist a growing Afghanistan National Army.

Rinaman is in the  Florida National Guard -  “I was doing engineering, planning and environmental services consulting, as well as acquiring and developing real estate projects when I got wind in November 2004 that I was likely going to get called up,” he said.  “I was alerted February 2005 and went on orders 28 March 2005 for 15 months.”

As task force Signal Officer for  Combat Communications, Rinaman’s assignment is managing  communication infrastructure [IT, radio, phone service] to connect several thousand soldiers in over 20 locations throughout Afghanistan.

“My whole mission in life is to make sure nobody gets whacked [because of poor communications connections],” said Rinaman.

To fill manpower shortages within  Task Force Phoenix,  Navy, Air Force and Marine Individual Augmentees are assigned  to the U.S. Army.  Singleton rotated in-country as a Naval Reservist officer, in May 2006. Upon arrival at Camp Phoenix, Singleton hooked-up with the brother of he and his wife’s close friend -  Mark Rinaman.

Somehow,  Singleton’s initial orders at Camp Phoenix put him at the Quartermaster Corps (in a warehouse). Maybe because during his active naval duty, he had coordinated  loading pre-positioning ships at Blount Island. Or because he had commanded fleet maintenance and fleet support units at NS Mayport. At any rate, someone in the Army related that to Supply Dept. The  position essentially didn’t match his skill sets, so he  swaps jobs with a Personnel mentor at Kabul Military Training Center.

With Afghani soldiers - Herat, Afghanistan

Rinaman and Singleton serve together at KMTC headquarters, albeit in different command positions,  for about six weeks. After work, the  KMTC  ritual of  cigar-smoking knows no branch of the U.S. Armed Forces or  coalition country. Rinaman rotates back to Jacksonville, ready to spend the next three – six months getting his “business-pipeline”  up and running again.

Singleton’s rotation begins a new cycle of transitioning troops, who are at the same time, training and mentoring the fledgling Afghanistan National Army.

“For our first two months in-country, Jon’s primary job was personnel accountability. The metaphor that best explains this challenge is ‘herding rabbits on a flat bed truck’. We had people jumping and hopping everywhere – Jon was the one responsible to get his ‘arms around the rabbits. — Col. James R. Lyman, U.S. Army, commanding officer.

To be continued …

- k. a. gardner

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