Castillo humbled by experiences on USO tour

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Thursday, Mar 06, 2008
By Luis Castillo, Chargers.com

Chargers defensive end Luis Castillo is joining Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris and Panthers defensive end Mike Rucker on a week-long USO tour to U.S. military bases in Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan. Chargers.com caught up with Luis again Thursday afternoon, which was actually early Friday morning for Castillo.

It’s been a packed couple days since we last caught up, and it’s hard to put into words just how much I’m learning and how much fun I’m having on the USO tour.

On Wednesday we got up around 5 a.m. and headed to the terminal for our flight into Afghanistan. We were flying into Bagram Air Base, which is one of the biggest bases in Afghanistan. I think there’s around 10,000 troops there. We were taking a C17 cargo plane in. We had to be there about three hours ahead of time for the flight so in case our mission needed to change, we’d have all the troops ready to go and be able to mobilize as soon as possible.

When we got there, there was a group of about 100 Army infantry soldiers that had been flown into Manas Air Force Base in Kyrgyzstan to be flown into Afghanistan. Up until that point, we’d been hanging out with a lot of Air Force personnel that don’t get that much infantry work in Afghanistan.

The soldiers that we were with, many of them were on their second and third deployments, some in Iraq and some in Afghanistan. We really got to talk about experiences and some of the things they’ve been through. You could tell these guys have been in some wars and been in some gun fights.

I loved hearing the stories of some of the things they do to customize their rifles and just their tales from the battlefield. We talked about the technology, which really fascinates me. They have these red dot lasers on their rifles that can only been seen through their infrared goggles. They can put a red dot on an enemy and the guy won’t know he’s being targeted because he can’t see the dot. It was neat to hear about how they use those tools to get their jobs done.

I was talking to one leader who has six men under his charge when they’re in the field. When they carry their M16’s, the standard amount of rounds they carry is 240, which is seven magazines. The guy was big, built like an offensive lineman. He carries 20 magazines, which means he’s carrying about 60 pounds of ammunition plus a 35-pound vest.

We asked why he carries so many bullets. He explained that when they’re in combat and one of his guys is low on ammo, he wants them to be able to come up behind him without asking and get more. He doesn’t have to stop shooting and his men don’t have to stop shooting. I thought that was a pretty incredible story of leadership.

We boarded the C17 with about 150 people. We were in a cargo plane that can fit two Blackhawk helicopters. They loaded it up with seats and we were on our way. The plane doesn’t have any windows. We looked back and it was full. Everybody was holding their M16’s, full loaded with their vests fully packed and ready to go.

As I told you last time, I was hoping to go up on the landing for part of the flight. Peter King and Mike Rucker were up there for the take off, and when we started our landing, I went up with about 45 minutes left and saw the whole descent into Bagram. All I can say is wow. The landscape was amazing. We were on the outskirts of the Himalayas, and it was just peak after peak, snow covered and beautiful, possibly the most beautiful terrain I’ve ever seen.

When I got up there, the pilots were putting metal plates on the seats and they put their vests on. As they were approaching, they wanted to be protected in case any kind of bullet or something should strike the aircraft. Once they were set, they strapped me and another guy into the jump seats. Unfortunately, I was too big to get the five-point seatbelt on, so I got three buckles locked in.

The pilots started giving me instructions. They told me to look out to the left and keep an eye out for a flash of light or a burst of smoke. The pilots are locked in on their landing and I’m listening to them talk on the headphones. I hear them going through their checks and signals. They’re trying to get clearance to land and all. I’m pretty tense at this point because they tell me I’ve got to look for missiles. I’m staring at the terrain as hard as I can.

All of the sudden in my headset I hear a siren go off. I hear, “Missile locked! Initiate defensive systems!” I’m wondering what in the world is going on. I’m really getting scared. I look around at the other guys and ask them what’s happening and all of the sudden one of the co-pilots turns around and starts chuckling. They pressed the thing to go off just to mess with me a little bit. They got me good on that one!

We landed in Bagram, which is an active war zone. As we were coming in, you could see the huts where they natives live. Then we get on base and you see all the F15’s, the F18’s, the Blackhawks, the Apaches. It’s all there.

Once we got there we got a full tour of the base and spent a long time with the Apache helicopter pilots. The Apache is one of the military’s most potent assault planes. There are two pilots and little room for cargo or anything. It’s clearly an assault vehicle. They show us the whole thing and let us sit in it.

The weapon system is insane because they have a camera that looks at the pilot’s face and where the pilot looks, that’s where the guns point. They don’t have to aim. They just look at it and they’re locked in. We got to hear a lot of stories from the pilots, which was really neat.

They also took us in an Apache flight simulator, which is what they use to train. We got to take it up. I sat in the pilot seat and Peter King went in the seat that controls the weapons systems. I’m learning how to take the helicopter up, how to fly. Peter is over there shooting stuff as we’re going through this simulated mountain range. Like everything we’ve done, it was quite an experience.

We’ve continued to meet some unbelievable people. We had about 100 soldiers show up for a Q&A last night to drill us with questions. That was a blast. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting to meet so many amazing people and I’m continually humbled by their talents and their willingness to serve.

For the first time since we got here, we finally got a full night’s sleep last night. We went to bed around 11 p.m. and we’re all in the same bunk. Tommie Harris couldn’t sleep so he asked if anybody had any stories. Peter started telling jokes and we spent the next hour cracking up hysterically. We woke up at 8 in the morning and were ready for another day full of humbling stories, new adventures and even more incredible people.

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