It's never too late: An interview with Major Rod Long

Major Rod Long, officer commanding Air Reserve Flight Torbay, left his family on Boxing Day 2007 knowing he wasn’t going to see them for at least seven months. He was slated for a deployment to Afghanistan from which he returned in July 2008. At the time, Maj Long, 60, was reputedly the oldest Air Force member since the Second World War to go on an overseas mission. He discussed his experiences with Stela Susic from Air Force Public Affairs.

Air PA: You’re a reservist and therefore can’t be tasked with a deployment to Afghanistan. What made you volunteer?

Maj Long: I wanted to go so my grandkids [wouldn’t] have to… I wanted to do something that I could say left a mark. I really wanted to experience Afghanistan so that, hopefully, someone wouldn’t have to go there a second or third time. I felt that if I retired and didn’t, I’d be sorry for it down the road. We get tasking messages all the time, and I go through them and try to convince people to go. It’s hard when you don’t do it yourself.

Air PA: Afghanistan is rough terrain. Were you at all concerned about physical fitness?

Maj Long: When you’re getting ready and preparing for it, there’s always doubt in the back of your mind, ‘Geez, all these guys are 20, 25 years old.’ But I completed the battlefield fitness test; age didn’t even come into effect. The best thing about working there was that an old guy can get satisfaction out of crawling around Afghanistan with young guys and keep up.

Air PA: What was your position over there?

Maj Long: I was an escort officer in Kabul. It was a NATO position. My job was looking after VVIPs: military personnel of three stars and up, the civilian equivalent and anyone who wanted to experience Afghanistan for whatever reason, such as media. I’d make all the arrangements, and determine threat assessment levels.

Air PA: What was your typical day like?

Maj Long: You rise at 5:30 or 6 a.m. You work 15- or 16-hour days. Usually, there was a high-level briefing of events that occurred in the last 24 hours. After that, you had your regular meetings. If there was a visit, I had [to find out about] road closures, and [make] arrangements for convoys to get through. Sometimes we needed helicopter escorts. A regular day basically involved planning, touching base, and making contacts.

Air PA: What was it like living there and interacting with Afghan people?

Maj Long: Generally, Afghan people appreciate the fact that we’re there. They are very poor; a lot of them make meagre pay. They work around the base. Nothing ever went to waste. All the cardboard boxes things came in went home with them at the end of the day because most of the things they can burn in their houses are garbage. As a result, the town has got that smell. When you wake up, and it’s chilly because it’s February, and you suck in that breath, you start coughing because they’re burning everything, including plastic--anything they can keep a fire with to keep themselves warm. There are so many untold stories about their livestock freezing to death and their friends and relatives freezing to death because it's that cold. There were no real jobs created to deal with the masses; no factories put up, no manufacturing. There was no large-scale economy of any kind; they’re used to making a living however they can.

Air PA: What was your most memorable experience in Afghanistan?

Maj Long: I can’t pinpoint just one. In the last few days I was overseas, there was a bombing. I was packing up when the Indian embassy was hit that morning. I can remember looking around; no one around the camp flinched – it was business as usual. I even thought it was nothing. But, the ultimate thing you remember is when you actually set foot in Afghanistan for the very first time. How different the world is from anything you've ever known; how it smells different, looks different. Of course, everything is beige; there's no colour whatsoever. Everything's got dust over there, no matter what it is. I'm still unpacking my kit and see this beige dust coming out of everywhere. My boots were tan issue but they're that desert beige now. That's what I remember most about it.

Air PA: It must’ve been difficult being away from your family

Maj Long: It was. There was so much to look forward to coming back. A sense of accomplishment helped me get back to normal life. I wanted to put in at least six months after the tour to unwind, and make sure we have a good turnover here for whoever is taking over my job. I'm ready to leave now, though, and spend time with my family.