16 OCT

Real quick week. They are flying by now. I said last week that I was in to T minus 7 weeks, but that was wrong, I have 31 days until I leave this base and then about a week and a half of travel before hitting the U.S. Many of you may have heard Murl and I are headed to San Diego for a few years for our next tour.

Not much at all to report here. People don’t talk much here about more troops or the Afghan elections…that stuff is all over the news, but not much to talk about it here. The biggest thing going on in my life is over 200 people moving into my neighborhood that was once a quiet little wooded FOB that we called home. There have been murmurs of it for months, but nothing concrete. Well about two weeks ago, it got real concrete real fast. The French took over a U.S. base in Kabul and the displaced folks (GA National Guard) needed a place to call home. Problem is, there was really no room in then inn. After re-setting up tents that we set up twice and disassembled, taking out the base recreation room, chapel, store, mail room, and moving a lot of people around, they think they have room for all of these people. How does it affect me? Hopefully soon, one of these fine folks will take my job and I’ll lose my office. I will be able to stay in my room until just before we roll out. Lines will be longer to use the computer and phones, and the gym will be more crowded. All in all, it just makes the place more crowded and less pleasant to be at.

Watched Game Day broadcast from the Parade Grounds Sat night and woke up early to watch the LSU/UF game. I think we all know how that turned out, but there were some promising things I saw in the game. I cannot express how nice it is to be able to watch live football, especially the Tigers, while over here. With the bye week this week, I’ll have to watch the Saints game instead of LSU.

We celebrated the Navy birthday this week. Nothing big, but they made us a cake and hung up a ton of decorations. We have been burning scrap wood in the evenings and sitting around the fire. It is really starting to cool off here. Still getting hot during the day, but only up to the high 80s/low 90s. At night, it is probably dipping into the 60s. The fire pit is our escape from all of the new people clogging up the gym and slowing down the internet.

If you cannot tell, I am most definitely ready to pack my bags and start my journey home.

Have a good weekend. God bless.BMP

09 OCT

Week 8 down, counting down the days of week 7 now. I was able to watch the Tigers claw their way to victory “Between the Hedges” last week. With a midnight kickoff, I set my alarm for 1145pm and went to bed about 7pm Saturday night. I rose just before midnight and couldn’t get a satellite signal in my office (where I’d rather watch the game and yell at the TV in privacy), so I had to watch with about 8 UGA fans and one other tiger in the dining facility (DFAC). The GA boys brought in flags, hats, and barely intelligible North GA accents. I played the part of the “bigger man” for once in my life and just brought a good attitude and the burning desire to see them all cry. I was able to keep my mouth shut for most of the game, but a moment of weakness proved to be too much when one of the guys looks at me like he had just done me a favor and exclaims “You lucky! He ‘bout got that ‘un” when a GA player missed a crucial pass in the final minutes with LSU still down. I said the first thing that came to mind, “…’bout don’t count big boy, we gunna score us a touchdown.”

As you all know, I ended up on the right side of that deal. Now we face a battered Tebow (possibly) and a win hungry UF team that could be the best team Coach Miles has ever seen, but it is Saturday night in Tiger Stadium, and anything can happen. This will be a 0400am kickoff for me, and there is at least 2 UF fans on the camp, so it should be a good one.
Nothing new to report from my side of the world, really. I have been staying on the FOB for the most part, so my interaction with the story factory has been minimal. I have made arrangements for one of my terps to buy me a pressure cooker and rice cooking lessons from my counterpart’s “driver” (really, I have never seen the guy drive. He mainly is a tea boy, cook, and self proclaimed body guard.) He talks with the whiniest nasal voice that is so far from soldier-like, he’d be more fitting as a Circle K bathroom attendant than a soldier, but that joker can make some tea and cook the heck out of some rice. One of his duties is keeping my counterparts things straight…weapons, ammo, rockets, papers….you know, the essentials. I saw him wearing a pistol once (odd because only officers in the ANA or senior enlisted have pistols), so I asked where he got it, but before I could get it out, I realized it was my counterpart’s pistol and holster. He explained to me that when he comes in, he takes it off and gives it ton San-Jan (pron. Sawn-john), that way, when he needs it, San-Jan can give it to him. That there is what I call Afghan logic, remember, everything makes sense to someone.

You may have read that 8 U.S. soldiers died in a fierce battle in Nuristan Province. That is about a day’s drive or 1hr flight to the north of me. 21 more were wounded. I don’t know what the exact number of Afghan Soldiers KIA/WIA is, but it was substantial. 29 U.S. KIA/WIA tells me that almost no one went unharmed. On small outposts like this one, there are sometimes as few as 10 U.S. personnel. These brave men were attacked in the early morning hours of Saturday by an estimated over 200 enemy fighters. With the use of their personal weapons, large machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars, and help from aircraft above, they were able to take out over 100 fighters. This is all straight out of the papers and such, but I just wanted let some of you know that may not have heard about these brave souls. They were in the process of packing up and moving out of this remote location as part of the big plan to re-concentrate in population centers to provide better protection for the AF people. These guys were days or hours away from air conditioning and satellite TV, but for some, that would never happen. Yet, 24 hours later on national television, the National Security Advisor declares that Al-Qaeda is no longer a serious threat in AF, and they are not capable of mounting an attack on U.S. assets in country.

QUOTE FROM ARTICLE: Jones, interviewed on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday, said Gen. Stanley McChrystal's call for additional troops in Afghanistan was "just one option," and he said Al Qaeda is not getting stronger there.
"The good news ... in Afghanistan is that the Al Qaeda presence is very diminished," Jones said. "The maximum estimate is less than 100 operating in the country. No bases. No ability to launch attacks on either us or our allies."

This wasn’t said before this crap went down in that valley in a remote location filled with lawless extremists. This was said by our President’s primary advisor on all things related to national security BEFORE the deadliest day in AF in over a year. He is also a guy against more troops. Some may argue that it wasn’t AQ, but the Taliban that have been ramping up attacks over the years. This is FALSE information or a misunderstanding of the big picture. The TALIBAN were/are Afghan people that ruled and still desire to rule the country with an iron fist through human rights violations and endless acts of a horrific nature. AQ is a worldwide network of Muslim extremists that want nothing in life more than to see the failure of our great nation and the death of Israel. AQ fighters are AF, Pakistani, Iranian, Chinese, Somali, Egyptian, Saudi, Sudanese, Filipino, Australian, German, French, AMERICAN,….yellow, white, black, and every combination of the above. They go by different names and have different leaders, but they have one common goal and one recognized head leader, Usama Bin Laden. When fighters are killed or captured in this country, they are rarely some dude from around the corner, they are more than likely foreign fighters. So, when this guy says that there are probably less than 100 AQ fighters in the country, he is just wrong, and in my opinion, intentionally trying to water down the threat that AQ poses to our forces and our country.

On another note, the folks back home have been doing an excellent job putting some puzzles together and taking some bad people off the streets. Thanks to the hard work and countless hours of information gathering, we have eliminated several domestic terrorists and one AF born guy that wanted to blow up the big D. Let these arrests be a reminder that there are people in America that want to do us harm and lots of it.

With all that said, have a great Columbus Day weekend. Geaux Tigers and God Bless.
BMP

02 OCT

A quick and uneventful week in the books.

Besides an LSU squeak-by win , a few short convoys, and one real long one, I didn’t do too much. We went to Kabul and back in one day to drop off some guys so they could make the long journey back to their families. I look forward to making that same journey in 45 days; though, I won’t be home until mid DEC.

I have inherited some new responsibilities in the past 2 weeks. I was chosen to be the proof reader /reviser for a few award narratives and have now become one of the primary construction supervisors/approvers. Thursday, one of the construction interpreters found me…”Mr. Person, Mr. Person, we have problem, come I will show you.”

“Oh, I bet you do.”

So he takes me to show me how they were unable to drill 6” holes and could only drill 3” holes in the concrete because of the “webar” in the slab. I watched them try, and said that it was possible that they were hitting rebar, but more than likely, they just didn’t know how to use the drill. I looked at the drill, flipped a few dials and the drill came to life with a hammering noise as the bit spun violently. They stood back and watched as I made their 3” hole into a 6” hole with ease. They cheered me on as I did their work.

I relinquished the drill and made sure they understood how to use it and that they knew that in the future if they are having a problem, right after breakfast is probably a better time to tell me about it than after lunch.

The terp could only say, “Mr. Person, you are right, we will listen to you. This piece of equipment, we did not even know about it.”

This is a typical story for how the construction goes around here. We have one project that is 4 months behind on a 1 month project. The guy claims to be finished, but he is not. He expects to be paid immediately…our rogue little policy is to pay them day for day….he will be paid in February.

As far as my comments on current events goes, I was shocked to find out that B.O. has only spoken to his highest ranking officer in AF once via telephone since he was put in place at the beginning of the summer….I doubt it is just me, but that doesn’t seem right to me.

There has been a bunch of shuffling of people around here. A bunch of soldiers moved out of here today to go other places. There is supposed to be several hundred moving in throughout OCT, but that stuff changes day to day and is half rumor usually.

Keeping it short this week. Think of me surrounded by UGA fans watching the LSU game with a midnight kickoff Sunday morning. Have a good weekend. God Bless.

BMP

25 September

[no pics due to computer problems]

It has been over a month since I wrote. I came home for leave for 2 weeks and had a great time with family and friends. I regret not being able to visit with everyone, but that is life. It took me about 3 days to get home in late August and about 6 to get back to my base in mid to late Sept.

From what I have seen of people returning from leave is that they arrive back here completely de-motivated and “flat.” I vowed that I would be different. As I left Murl in the BR airport, I got on a plane to start a journey. In my mind, I was walking out of the locker room back to the playing field for another half of give it all you got. I flew from BR to Dallas to Germany to Kuwait to Bagram, AF and on to my base essentially. It was no problem until I hit Kuwait and realized where everyone loses their motivation. It is just something about being stuck in that for place 3 to 5 days that takes it out of you. I linked up with a friend there and we traveled on together.

I returned to my base on the first day of the Islamic celebration of Eid. I learned that this is a holiday that lasts a week, and you better not expect anyone to do any work. It falls on the heels of Ramadan where no real work occurred for about a month. Needless to say, it has been an easy transition for me from leave to nobody doing anything. I think it helped me regain some motivation that was stolen from me in Kuwait. On the other hand, with the discussion of more/less troops, more money, different strategy, going home, staying…it is very hard to set long term goals and convince these wild people to do things the right way. I am not talking about the American way, I am talking about not stealing, about following a contract to the letter, about taking responsibility for actions and inactions. I lost something else on leave…my rose colored lenses of hope for this country and the people that drag it down. We have created a welfare state filled with people with a sense of entitlement and no appreciation for the work we do here. Once again, these statements are not all encompassing, but I think it covers the majority.

So the question lingers…What happens if we pull out now? Well, over the course of several years, they will destroy everything we built for them through neglect, feuding, waste, and tribal warfare. The government will collapse because currently there is no money going into it other than the American Dollar. As the country descends into civil war, the power vacuum created will inevitably be filled by tyrannical extremists that will harbor/support people that want to kill westerners and destroy our way of life.

Add more troops? It worked in Iraq, but remember, the average Iraqi is much more educated than the average Afghan and so it is hard to compare the two countries. The extra troops would have to be properly employed not like the hundreds of soldiers I saw living at Bagram Airfield doing nothing. They were ordered to Afghanistan, but weren’t put to work upon arrival….that is your tax dollars.

Our President is currently “mulling” his VP’s plan to reduce troop number and use more UAVs and Special Forces. Who do they think runs the huge airfields and bases required to house these people and their equipment? For example, Bagram Airfield (BAF) has close to 20,000 personnel, and only 10% (2,000) will ever leave the base. The rest are just base support. Our generals are saying they need more troops…is it possible, even conceivable that the VP is more in tune to the war strategy than and the career military men, not the way I see it. There are a thousand different combinations of money, troops, and asset changes that will not work in this war and a few that will. If I knew what would work, I’d probably not be writing this right now. However, what I do know is that it takes time. When you are talking about shaping a country and changing a culture, it takes generations. You have to breed out the instincts that tell people to lie, cheat, and steal. There have been several major strategy shifts in the 6 short months I have been here. You have to hold people (everyone, including the president and his family) accountable for their actions. People need to know that if they do something or don’t do something, they will be held responsible and it won’t be fun. (See the rise in crime in America over the last 30 years, the rise in single mom’s raising babies in the U.S. without the help of the father, the sky rocketing numbers of foreclosures and the rest of our financial down spiral… "You mean I have to pay for all of that?…you meant that is my problem?” Those people, those Americans were raised by what amounts to negligent parents that created self righteous, irresponsible children who were never or insufficiently punished for wrong doing.

Final note. Several Marines and a Navy Corpsman died recently in an ambush a few hours north of me. They had recently visited a village to see how they could help them. When they returned days later with some goods, food, and medical supplies, the villagers had tipped off the enemy and a bloodbath ensued. It has been reported that women and children were seen giving the men ammunition and grenades during the battle. That is the thanks America gets. I am not sure I understand why anything in that district is still standing…it should have all been turned into a glass parking lot.

Do I have a bad attitude about Afghanistan now? No, I have a different one. I still think it is a beautiful country with interesting people. The people that I liked before, I still like them, but I know that most of them have a twisted idea of right and wrong and are more concerned with themselves than their fellow man.

The link below is from the AP a few weeks ago.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jG_2tsp8fZWr0GRo6QuqU4ybqr0gD9ALRB2G0%22%3EAfghanQ&A

I had a blast on leave and look forward to coming home real soon. The latest news on the street is early December. I miss you all. God bless. Geaux Tigers.

BMP

Video

21 August

New road built for base access. The construction is pretty low quality, but it sure looks good.


What do you do when the Americans pay to have your dirt road rebuilt and black topped? Why, hell, you cover it with dirt to protect it!

The view from one of the guard towers...I've been telling them for months they need to cut the trees.

They decided to listen 2 days before elections.

Farming technique. They completely clear the fields and then let the sheep graze for a few hours to get all the scrap grass.

Full week. It wasn’t a long one because I was busy the whole time. I find that staying busy is the key to success during these long times away from home. Additionally, keeping a routine helps the days pass seamlessly. For the past month, my focus has been on election security for my FOB and mentoring the ANA security company. Election day came and went just like any other day for us. Others were not so lucky. I tracked fighting all over the country yesterday. Many FOBs filled with “regular guys” just like me were mortared throughout the day and night. The enemy used intimidation tactics on the public, but for the most part, the polls were not attacked significantly in our area. At the time of this posting, I don’t know of any significant attacks in the country that disrupted the overall election process.
A few notes/quotes on the election from some of the people I talk to daily:
1. “If it came down to one or two votes, I’d vote for the other guy, but I will vote for Karzai b/c he will win.”
2. “I will vote for Karzai b/c he is known.”
3. “I will vote for Karzai b/c he will win.”
It seems that Karzai will get re-elected b/c of the Afghan attitude that picking someone else is like admitting you were wrong 4yrs ago. They want to vote for the winner b/c they want to be right. Some view themselves as no worse than 4 years ago, so electing someone else is seen as a grave risk.
The contractors that are doing construction on the FOB were not allowed on from the 18th through the 21st, so it has been peaceful and quiet around here without the constant rumble of cement mixers and power tools. That will all change again tomorrow, but for now, the silence is nice.
Finished another book this week. This one was a non-fiction look into the Army’s elite Delta Force. Pretty good book about how the counter terrorist tactics of today were dreamed up over the last 30yrs in the minds of some of the fiercest fighting men to ever wear the uniform. It also sheds light on the fact that America is at war constantly. Whether it is 150,000 in Iraq, 60,000 in Afghanistan, or 3 men in a country that most people don’t know we have issues with, American service men are out there killin’ people that need killin’. Still, the politicians and career minded brass tie the hands of our fighting men; thus, terrorism shows up on our door step from time to time.

Note regarding previous post on Muslims imposing their way of life on others:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,539864,00.html?test=latestnews

This rule was later repealed because it is stupid.

Last entry before I come home for leave. I start my travels next Thursday and should be home around the 1st.
Looking forward to spending some time at home.
Have a good one. God Bless.
BMP

15 AUG

Only in AF can you get a tire mark on a guard tower 4ft off the ground over a concrete barrier and have no one around to explain how it was physically possible.


Delicious bread. Naan is cooked in this mud oven. You can pretty much see the stages from the round dough balls in the center, to the flat circles of dough on the right, and the finished product on the left. They press the flat dough onto an upside down metal bowl type object and then slam that up against the ceiling of the oven. The dough sticks to the mud and the bread bakes between the mud wall and the bowl. It is 120F outside this building and hotter inside.



M16 Training

16 Aug
Weeks are flying by quicker and quicker…a sign that I am getting busier and busier. I have spent most of this week pushing to finish election security projects and helping the ANA do the same. Didn’t have the day off Friday due to planning a security mission for the elections.
I was given a directive to train the ANA up on the M16A2 weapons system. No, problem. The Afghan Ministry of Defense (MOD) has been given a bunch of these and their plan is to trade them out for the battered AK47s, some of which are 50yrs old. The problem is that I was told to train them and qualify them in less than a week and a half. So, what did I do? Said, “Yes, sir, I’ll make it happen.” NOTICE: Expectation management failure.
Wednesday was a very frustrating morning. I nearly lost my voice trying to hammer too much information into their heads too fast. I realized it mid morning and vowed to get it under control. I went back Thursday with a different/reasonable attitude that they were going to learn at whatever pace they learn, and I was going to have to slow down the teaching to more closely match that pace. Thursday was much better. I will not issue any weapons before the elections because they will not be familiar enough with them to be combat effective. I may take some heat for this, but it is the right answer and it is what is safest.
Other than election security, I haven’t been up to too much. Spend a few minutes a day watching the news. Seems like health care and clunkers have the spotlight right now. We get AFN (American Forces Network), which has one channel of each variety: sports, news, prime time tv, radio station etc. The news is rotated between the major networks and cable news channels throughout the day. So you’ll be sitting listening to O’Reilly bash some bad plan and after the commercial, Rachel Maddow comes on and bashes O’Reilly. I get to see all sides of the story, but never the truth of course. All of these people are paid to talk, and talk they do. If you don’t know who Rachel Maddow is, look her up, and make sure you have a garbage can nearby. As far as I am concerned, she is anti-American and spends more time attacking conservatives than conservative policy or proposing her own ideas. Both sides are guilty of this from the anchors to the politicians.

Check out what the Great Communicator had to say about socialized medicene 48 years ago:

http://www.mikechurch.com/joomla/daily-features/ronald-reagan-predicts-58-years-ago-the-effects-of-socalism.html

Which leads me to ask everyone to look at goooh.com. GOOOH (Get Out Of Our House) is a political idea to replace all 435 members of the House of Representatives with everyday people that will make a decision based on what they believe is right and wrong, not what will get them support in the next election or appease a special interest group. There is only one special interest group that counts, and that is the American people. Just because one group of people decides to exercise a certain right doesn’t make them special, it makes them American. Goooh recently sent out an email that was rather thought provoking. The text went something like this: The federal gvt just took over a portion of the car industry…months later, they develop a program that gives people up to $4500 to give their old car up for a new one, thus incurring a new monthly payment and getting money flowing to the gvt owned auto industry. Hmmm? Sounds like a hidden bail out to me. Additionally, didn’t we just tell everyone to chill out on financing crap they cannot afford.
What about the “turned in vehicles?” They must be drained of vital fluids and have the engines rendered useless on the lot and scrapped entirely. No recycling of any parts…that is really green guys…good job.

Check out these videos of Aghans dancing. Remember, they have parties all the time for weddings and engagements with up to 1000 people. Men and women are kept separate and there is no alcohol…enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5-_5Bga4_s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI53lsAIkWA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIxPV8IvOSs&NR=1

Counting down the days. God bless and have a great weekend.
BMP