ROC Drill

I’ve been very busy this past week, actually working 16+-hour days, helping the IJC prepare for the big Rehearsal of Concept (ROC) Drill. In response to President Obama finally deciding to send 30 thousand US troops to Afghanistan, ISAF and GIRoA (Government, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan…this is the acronym we use most often) are finally getting into the detailed planning of how they’re going to deploy and use these extra troops (not to mention the extra 40 thousand Afghan army and police units GIRoA is standing up and the 7 to 10 thousand troops NATO will probably send) to provide security, governance, and development to the people of Afghanistan. This past week, planners, logisticians, engineers, and many others from each of the Regional Commands have been here, refining the plan, “mitigating” the “friction points”, and rehearsing for the ROC Drill.

The final drill was presented today to COMIJC (the three-star general) and several Afghan ministers and generals. It went well. The Afghans didn’t ask any questions, but a few of them did speak to all of the ISAF planners. The Minister of Defense said this level of support for governance and development, in addition to security is something that Afghanistan “has been screaming for for the past eight years”. Both ISAF and Afghan leaders believe that this next year could represent a “tipping point” (someone’s been reading Malcolm Gladwell) in the war against the Taliban. Fair, effective governance and sustained development are things that the Taliban can’t offer the Afghan people. I certainly hope it does start to make a difference soon.

My job in all of this ROC Drill process has been and will be probably until I leave, to monitor and track the flow of forces (personnel and cargo) into Afghanistan. I also have to have an idea of the issues affecting the airfields that the forces are supposed to flow through. That would be a hard enough job on its own, but it’s even more difficult when I have to rely on several outside organizations relaying that information and to date, they haven’t. I’ve spent the better part of the past week or two trying to figure out who had the information my boss expected me to know. I found three different offices that were building their own “synch matrix” to track force flow, but none of them owned the needed information and were also looking for the right organization to get that information from. Finally, two days ago, the right organization show up and says that yes, they own us a daily product so we’ll know the status of the force flow. Thank you! It’s still a little gray, but I think I’m close to figuring out exactly what I need to do to support the force flow. I just have to coordinate with a little more to get the right people to send me the right kind of information in a timely manner.

Johnny Jihad and the Detainees

Well the name may not be very politically correct, but I spent my Christmas Eve listening to live music performed by three lieutenant colonels and a full-bird colonel who are also deployed here. The four colonels strummed out mostly 70s classic rock in the coffee hut for a couple of hours Christmas Eve night. They’ll never make any money as a band, but it was great entertainment for a deployed environment. It made me want to play my guitar and sing 70s songs, too. In fact, after I left, I went back to my tent and looked through all of the guitar tabs I’ve saved on my computer. I read the songs, singing them in my head, and imagined playing the chords. I didn’t have a guitar, but wanted to play so bad I had to just visualize it. I’m debating if I should ask Val to mail me one of my guitars. It would be great to play every now and then, but storage space is already limited and I don’t get that much free time to play.
Speaking of free time, that’s how I spent most of Christmas Day. Having stayed up until 2 a.m. the previous night, I slept in the next morning…until 11 a.m.! Then I took a long, hot shower (a rarity) and went in to work just to check the unclassified e-mail. It was nice to receive several Christmas messages from family and friends. Thank you. Then I called Val and the kids at 8 a.m. their time to wish them Merry Christmas. They all seemed to have a great Christmas morning. Then I went back to work to surf the web some more, but work-related e-mails came in and people were stopping by asking for stuff, so I actually had to do some work for a few hours. But I was able to leave work early around 6 p.m. A late start and an early leave from work felt almost like a day off, so it was a pretty good day.



This picture includes the full-bird colonel. He didn’t sing any, but he played the harmonica pretty well, especially on Tom Petty’s “Last Dance for Mary Jane”. He also played a little lead melody on a few songs. I’m wondering if they need a finger-picking-folkie-hybrid-glass-slide-blues guitar player and backup singer…


Here are three of the four band members. Notice the one in the Santa hat. Many US soldiers (and a few Brits) were wearing them ALL day long. I know it’s Christmas, but my personal military bearing wouldn’t let me wear one in uniform. It must be my Marine training because I didn’t see a single Marine wearing one. Still the music was great.

Merry Christmas!!!

I hope everyone reading my humble blog has a wonderfully merry Christmas. Yesterday some of our Afghan partners in the IJC hung the banner pictured above on the fence outside of the CJOC. When I saw the sign and realized that the Afghans had it made and hung it up, it made me smile. I think it’s a really nice gesture. As printed on the sign, the MOD stands for the Afghan Ministry of Defense and the MOI is the Ministry of Interior. The patch in the upper left corner is the Afghan National Army’s seal and the patch in the upper right corner is the National Police. The banner even has Santa and the reindeer flying across the sky, above a church (although there’s no cross on the steeple). Overall, I think it’s very nice and just wanted to send everyone a Christmas greeting from Afghanistan. I’m thinking of all of you (trust me).

The IJC has a few things planned for Christmas Eve and Christmas: movies, food, a 5K “jingle jog” (yeah, right), live music by some of the deployed soldiers (including my deputy group commander), a DJ (there’s some civilian/contractor guy that hosts parties every now and then, although I’ve never gone to see what they’re like), caroling (I’m trying to be positive, but that seems like too much of a stretch for me), and of course church services. Tomorrow will probably be a shorter workday…maybe only 12 hours long. Then I think we get all day off on Christmas, which sounds nice, but I don’t know what I’ll do all day. I’m sure we’ll just hang out most of the day. I’ll try to take plenty of pictures. Love to you all. Merry Christmas!

Dorm Move onHold

So just as I make my peace with moving to the transient dorms, they put the move on hold. Word is that the lawyers have raised the issue of the legalities of moving international troops into dorms built with US money, partly due to insurance-like issues (what happens if a German slips in the bathroom and hurts himself?) and partly due to the fairness of the US paying the bill and every other country enjoying the benefit. Trust me, the French aren’t sharing the building they paid for. I’m kind of in that camp, too. I’ve served in the military for 18 and a half years. Why should I cram into a small, 8-man open-bay just to play nice with the international officers that are stationed here too? I’m learning more and more that many of the contributing countries have “national caveats” that keep them from doing specific things, especially when it isn’t specifically protecting their own troops. Yes, it’s great that they’re deployed here with us in Afghanistan, but if, for example, their helicopters will only emergency launch when it’s one of their troops that is hurt, that doesn’t do the rest of us any good. Anyways…! I get to spend a few more days in my spacious, quiet tent. We don’t know when we supposed to move. The Headquarters Support Group actively keeps information from us (a senior enlisted Brit soldier who attends the MWR working group was told he could only send out updates to the British and “not to the Americans”…What kind of “support” is that?). Most people think we’ll move right after the new year. We’ll see. At least it’s been confirmed that they have wireless Internet in the transient dorms, so that will be nice.

The Final Stage of Grief

Being a generally positive person and when faced with the inevitable (i.e. direct orders), I’m trying to make the best of a less-than-ideal situation. There was a brief rumor that staying in the tents would be an option, but that’s been squashed by leadership. On Christmas Eve, I’ll be moving to the transient open-bay dorms. I’m still concerned about storage space and a place to secure my valuables (I’ve recently learned that the locks on the half-wall lockers don’t work), but at least they’re regrouping everyone by rank and unit/organization. That will make it easier to coordinate and compromise with the living conditions. If fellow major “Joe” from my home unit is being annoying, I’m more comfortable telling him outright that he needs to straighten up. If I had to do that with an international senior enlisted, it would probably cause an incident and lingering tension. Also, and best of all, the transient dorms are supposed to have wireless Internet by time we move in (for real this time). That would be a big perk, to be able to sit in bed and surf the web...without being blocked from my own blog, Facebook, Flickr, etc. I’m already trying to figure out the best arrangement of the bunk beds to make the most of the wall and floor spaces. A fellow work mate and future open-bay mate has already helped be “acquire” a large metal shelf from the now abandoned dining facility. That will really help us stack all of our extra bags and free up some room and/or hall space. AND, it’s probably also the wisest, safest thing to do. Leadership has said that moving everyone into the dorms is a Force Protection issue, because the dorms are supposed to have some extra layers of roofing to protect from rocket attacks, certainly more than the tents. I wasn’t too worried about that, but today we received our second rocket attack since I’ve been here. The first was in early November, but it was a dud so I didn’t think too much of it. But today’s rocket actually exploded. Both were on the outer edges of the base, but it’s gotten my attention. So now I’ve accepted the move. I’ll enjoy the space in the tent for now, but look forward to having Internet available off-duty.

They placed these rocket shelters between the tents after the first rocket attack. Fortunately, I haven’t had to hang out in them any.

Bad Billeting Made Worse

Even before I switched tents to get a bottom bunk, I had the opportunity to move to a bottom bunk in a hard-billet, transient dorm room. I chose not to move. The transient dorm rooms are 8-man/4-bunkbeds open-bay rooms down a long hallway; they would be proper rooms, but they don’t have a fourth wall. The main reason I chose not to move was because there was actually less space and storage in the transient dorm room. There are four bunk beds in probably a 12-by-12 room. Instead of a fairly good-sized footlocker, they have thin, half-height wall lockers, which are too short to hang anything and too tall and without shelves to stack t-shirts and underwear. Instead of an electrical outlet per bunk, they have one electrical outlet with a six-plug power strip (most having power strips plugged into them, which is a fire hazard). When I checked out the room previously, there were multiple plugs waiting their turn to be plugged in. Instead of a front door with a cipher lock that provides some security, they don’t even have a door. Everyone’s extra bags of stuff (I have three full A-bags of stuff that doesn’t fit into my footlocker) just sits out in the hallway of an unsecured building. There were plans 2 months ago to have wireless Internet in the transient dorms, but while the other dorms already have it, the transient dorms currently do not. The bathrooms are inside, but they’re actually smaller, too (the toilet stalls are ridiculous; I paid a visit when I was trying to decide whether to move and while I was seated on the toilet, my knees literally touched the door and when I was pulling up my pants, I hit my head on the stall wall. I felt like Mr. Bean in there.) So the colonels get 2-man rooms, the lieutenant colonels get 3-man rooms, and majors and below get 8-man open bays. And staying in the tents “is not an option.” So they know we have better living standards in the tents, but are making us move out. Oh, and guess when we have to move…24 December, Christmas Eve! After 7 weeks of wishfully looking forward to moving up somewhat, we (O-4s and below) are actually moving down. And now I have to hope and scheme to get a bottom bunk again. It’s beyond frustrating. I’m actually a little angry and don’t know the positive that I’m supposed to focus on. Man, I’ll have to pray extra hard for patience tonight.

ISAF Joint Command

Even though we’ve been in Afghanistan for more than 8 years now, the ISAF Joint Command (IJC) was only stood up in September of this year. Previously, there was only the ISAF Headquarters and the individual Regional Commands (RC). ISAF Headquarters was busy coordinating the war on the political level with the international community, while the RCs were busy running the war for their respective geographic spaces. There wasn’t a corps-level, headquarters command that was focused on coordinating all of the RCs’ efforts. That’s what the IJC is designed to do. The IJC moved to North KAIA in late September. It took a couple of months to set up all of the office areas, computer networks/systems, and operational processes. The goal was for the IJC to reach “Full Operational Capability” by 12 Nov 09 and while I know there are kinks still be worked out, as the below commemorative photo indicates, apparently we met the goal. I’m in the second row behind the general officers and to the left. I don’t normally work on the Joint Operations Center (JOC) floor, but I was filling in for the Air Liaison Officer that morning. The JOC is where all of the current operations are monitored and managed.

Some notes about the picture: The JOC was built inside of North KAIA’s new gym. Although fairly well made, all of the desks are unsanded, bare wood. We have to duct tape the edges so we don’t get splinters. (This is really the temporary, 18-month IJC until the permanent IJC is built.) The five screens behind everyone are actually the front of the JOC. They display situational maps of current operations and informational PowerPoint slides. Sometimes we even watch live video feeds of the operations. I hope you can get the flavor of how diverse the supporting countries are. Just in the first row of general officers, there are 3x US Army, 1x US Navy, 1x US Civilian, 2x British, 1x French, 1x Spanish, 1x Italian, 1x Canadian, and 1x Norwegian. (I love how the Italians wear scarves tucked into their camouflage uniforms.) And the 1388 over the IJC logo is the current year according to the Islamic calendar. Hope you like the picture. It’s a rare look into an active JOC.

Happy Birthday Emily!

I think it’s one of those big life-hurdles when you’re oldest/first kid becomes a teenager. Val and I get a little overwhelmed thinking about it sometimes, especially here lately. It’s not because it means that we’re getting older. It’s because we think about our little babies growing up and facing more and more of life’s challenges on their own. Speaking for myself, the thing that calms my worries about Emily becoming a teenager is how wonderfully sweet and smart and level-headed she is. She has always been a joy to parent. She has always tried to do the right thing. She has always been sweet and calm. And nothing has changed in the “tween” years leading up to her 13th birthday. I know Emily will keep on being a sweet, caring, and achieving young lady. I’m so thankful to have such a wonderful daughter and I’m so proud of her for everything she’s done. Happy Birthday, Emily. I love you!

I Shouldn't be Surprised

I guess I gave the computer administers too much credit too soon. The web filtering program wasn’t fully running that first day. The second day it blocked (or “clogged”) everything. Now it’s settled into blocking “social networking and personal sites” and among other sites, anything that streams content, like my secret music site. (Check out Pandora.com, type in your favorite musical artist, and enjoy similar artists.) So now, I can check my Yahoo e-mail, which is good, but Facebook is completely blocked. Since I had just started getting into Facebook, I guess I can live without that for now, but I was starting to build up my friend list with distant relatives and old friends that I was looking forward to catching up with. I can’t access Flickr anymore either, to include ISAF’s and the American Embassy in Kabul’s official Flickr pages. Did you know Secretary of Defense Gates has a Facebook page? Me neither, but now I won’t be able to check it out. Most importantly, I can still access my blog site, BUT I can’t log-on in order to add any new posts or pictures. So until we get (the mythical) wireless Internet for personal use, I have to e-mail my posts to Val and have her upload them for me. Thanks, Val!

Major Crisis Averted

Well, I’m back at work, waiting for the SEC Championship game to start. I wasn’t able to nap before-hand…I’ll save that story for another post. But the good news is that a quick check of Yahoo mail and the Blogger indicate that I’ll still be able to use those sites, even now that the “content filtering product” is activated. To give the computer administers some due credit; they only blocked the chat features of Yahoo/Hotmail. Apparently, it’s the chat features that are bandwidth hogs. E-mails and the occasional picture aren’t too much. Even Facebook is working. (And the secret music site that I occasionally listen to is still working. Shhh, don’t tell the administers.) So, my apologies (for some mean/frustrated thoughts) to the computer administers. I’ll try to stay positive about the off-duty wireless Internet, hard-billet dorm rooms, and the MWR tent. Maybe the Army can surprise me with those, too.

No More "Social Networking"

Apparently, we had too much of a good thing, so of course it had to be shut down. Late last night, the computer administers sent out an e-mail notifying everyone that starting today they were going to enable “a web content filtering product which prevents internet attacks and performance degradation by enforcing DoD/CENTCOM/USFOR-A policy regarding internet usage for authorized purposes.” The program is designed to block access to explicit, hacking, and gambling sites. Well, duh, that’s no problem. The problem is that the program also blocks access to “social networking” sites, such as Yahoo mail and Facebook. I and nearly everyone else use these sites to stay in touch with lots of family and friends all over the world. Something we can’t do with just 30 minutes worth of morale calls per week. More importantly, I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to access and update my blog. I hope so, but based on the base support group’s recent performance I doubt it. This development wouldn’t be so bad if we had wireless Internet like they promised. That was supposed to be active on 16 November, but not only did it not happen, but there’s been no update on the status since then. Good grief! These are the frustrations that make a deployment more miserable than it has to be. I hope I’ll still be able to post after tonight. If not, I’ll have to wait until when (if) they get the wireless Internet working. Take care.

I just did the math and figured out that the SEC Championship Game is coming on at 0130 in the morning here in Afghanistan. I guess I’ll have to sleep a few hours before the game, come into to work (in uniform) to watch the game, then try to catch a quick nap after the game before heading back to work. Fortunately, Sunday is a late-start morning here; I don’t have to be in until 1030. So that should help. I’ve got to do whatever it takes…I’ve missed so most of the college football season this year it’s depressing (at least to me). Oooo man, I just checked and the National Championship Game is on 7 January at 8 p.m. That’s Friday 0730 in the morning here and I don’t have to be at work until 1100 on Fridays. I’ll only have to wake up a little earlier that day. (Those two late-start days are my only time off from a 12-14 hour work schedule. I still usually work 9-10 hours those days.) Here’s hoping it all works out to plan. Go Gators!Those people that "can't stand" Tebow, just can't stand that he doesn't play for their team. Any fanbase that had him would cheer him as their greatest hero. Get over it and enjoy a good news story.

Finally Got a Bottom Bunk

I’m not sure how long ago it happened—over a week ago, maybe two, but I finally got a bottom bunk. A Brit officer that I’d befriended in my first tent stopped by one day at work to let me know he was moving to a different tent that was “practically empty.” He was telling me so I could move down to the bottom bunk that he was using while the Dutch officer was home on leave. He was letting me know because I had given up my “seniority” as a tent resident to let him have it. I was trying to be nice because honestly, I was making me nervous when he climbed into him top bunk (he’s a few years older than me and I’m getting old!). While we were talking, it occurred to us that I could just move over there, too. After he left I practically speed-walked to my tent, grabbed my sleeping bag, and went to the new tent, B8, to claim a bottom bunk. Sure enough, there were two empty bottom bunks left; both closest to the front door. I choose the one to the left, opposite the way the door opens so I wouldn’t get as much as the light coming through. That night I moved the rest of my stuff over and set up my little space. It’s kind of a tight fit, but I don’t have to share space with anyone. In fact, just last night I rearranged my bags and footlocker to give myself a little more room and not bump into the footlocker. So is it everything I dreamed of? For the most part, yes. I have poncho liners on the sides of the bunk bed that blocks the air from blowing on me all night, so I don’t have to sleep with my head under the Gortex sleeping bag anymore. Obviously it’s easier to get in and out of bed or now, to just lean over and grab something out of my footlocker. I’m using the top bunk as storage space (and to ward off any new occupants). And I have a head board to lean against while I watch DVDs or play Spider Solitaire. Although I can’t step up completely, as there’s not really that much head room. Still, it’s better than the top bunk. If they could just get the wireless Internet working like they promised (back on 16 November), I wouldn’t mind staying in the tent my entire time here. Here's my new area: a footlocker for my everyday uniform items and valuables, additional bags stuffed along the side tent wall, cold-weather coat for trips to the shower/bathroom, poncho liners to block the air vents, bath towel on one post and laundry bag on the other. The black square on the left is even a window, should I ever get a day off and want to hang out and watch the clouds go by.

Just a picture of me in my deployment "pajamas", aka PT gear, to give you a scale of "my" living space.

One-Month Anniversary

Like a high school, puppy-love romance that’s lucky to last 6 months, I’m keeping track of my deployment time done by celebrating each month as an “anniversary”. It’s the last day of November; one month deployed…one down, five to go. The good is that it seems like the first month has gone by relatively quick. Of course, the bad is that I’ve got five more to go. I’m anticipating that January, the third month, will be the hardest. I think the length of time will start hitting me just before I hit the halfway point. Hopefully, moving into a roomy, hard-billet dorm room and enjoying the new MWR tent “sometime” in January will occupy some of the month. Then can I start focusing on being past the halfway point. Still, I hope Val and the kids have a mini-celebration today with some kind of dessert. Later tonight, I plan on enjoying a chocolate Zinger while I watch a “30 Rock” DVD, both of which Val sent in her latest care package. “Happy One-Month Anniversary, Guys!”

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a great day. Even though a lot of the leaders, to include the international officers, told us Happy Thanksgiving I have to admit it just felt like another Thursday. I had a pretty easy day though. It was very slow at work, so in the morning I went to the south side of KAIA and did some shopping; found some Christmas presents for the kids, and in the in the afternoon I went for a run. That may sound like I goofed off all day, but when you work a 14-hour shift there’s a lot of time to get work done. The chow hall did make the effort to give us a good Thanksgiving dinner. I had to wait in line for 30 minutes since everyone wanted the good meal. Night shift workers got up early to come to chow. And every foreigner on base wanted a taste. They should have made the rule that Americans go to the front of the line. Oh well. I had real turkey, mash potatoes, green beans, and crunchy stuffing, which I softened with gravy. For desert, I had a Danish! A real pastry and NOT pudding! That was a real treat. I wasn’t able to call home to Val and the kids though; that was a bummer. We use to be able to make 15-minute morale calls for free, but (of course) people abused it and they reconfigured the phone system so now you have to use an international calling card or go through a base operator. Unfortunately, the Army operator back in Heidelberg says I need a PIN to get through. AND the free Internet for the dorms is still not operational (three months behind schedule), so no Skype’ing home either. I’ve had it with the base support here. Tomorrow I’m going to go to the south side again and try to buy a cell phone and calling card. Val and I need the mutual support of a phone call more often. Wish me luck!

Another Day in Paradise

As I’ve said before, this blog isn’t political or operational; it’s personal. It’s more a diary of my deployment; things I want to share with my family and save for future memories. Well, yesterday was a rough day. Yet, as I was counting my miseries, I thought of Val, Emily, and Vance and it helped me get through the day. I just want to add it to the blog to share and record my feelings for my wonderful family. Hope you enjoy the thought.

“Sweetheart,

Well, the weather finally turned. It's been very cold and rainy for the past two days. The rain also effects aircraft flying in, so no mail today. They made an announcement this morning that people in the tents "should" be moving to the dorms "around" the first of January. If you're that unconfident or unsure about the timeline, it's not even worth making an announcement. I thought about buying Internet access from some civilian contractor that has some kind of personal deal set up, but I asked one of the colonels that used it recently and he said it wasn't worth it. The guy's charging $100 for the first month, then $75 per month after that, but the colonel said it very slow at certain times, namely between 9-11 p.m. which was primarily the time he needed, so he dropped the service. Of course, 9-11 p.m. is the exact and only time I could use the personal Internet. I don't want to spend $100 and still be frustrated when trying to contact you. I've tried to call several times today, but couldn't even get past the country code before it started beeping. I think the Army guys from Heidelberg know the code for making morale calls. I'm working my second tasker for these guys today. I should have it finished by tomorrow; 3 days early. After that, I'll feel comfortable enough to ask one of the Lt Col's for the code. Maybe a Heidelberg DSN will be more consistent. So to sum it up...no mail, no Internet, at least 6 more weeks in the tents, no gym, cold and rainy, and even my lower back is killing me today. (I must have slept on it wrong somehow; I was even thinking the other day, thankfully, how well I was sleeping on the firm mattress in the tents. I was trying to be positive and thankful and then I get lower back pain. I'm really starting to feel like I'm being tested.)

I'm not trying to whine or complain; just tell you how my day was. I'm just letting the conditions speak for themselves. At least work, other than being 14 hours long every day, is going okay. They haven't asked me to do anything too over my head. I've even continued to be a "great example" of the support they need in the security working group I'm in. But best of all, and the ray of sunshine, joy, and encouragement that I can always depend on, I know that I have a wonderful and loving wife and sweet and caring children at home that love me very much! Compared to having you guys in my life, the conditions here are just temporary annoyances that will be long faded memories years down the line when you and I and the kids will be able to tell fond, if trialed, stories of the time I had to go to Afghanistan. Faced with these minor (yet many) annoyances, it really helps to realize that I am so bless to have you and the kids. Thanks for being so wonderful and working so hard to always support me and the kids every day. I love you with all that I am!”

P.S. What a difference a day makes. It’s still cold, but it was sunny today. My back isn’t hurting. I finally got my third care package full of DVDs and snacks. Hopefully I'll be able to get a call through to Val! Don’t let the little annoyances get you down. It will get better. And remember to be thankful for the wonderful families you all have.

Battle Rattle

It’s not as elaborate as the Army guys here, but anytime we travel off base, I have to wear my “Battle Rattle.” I just carry a M-9 on my right hip, a couple of full magazines on the left front of my vest, first aid kit on the right front of my vest, helmet, and full goggles for eye protection (and my gloves were in the vehicle). I attended another meeting with our ISAF and Afghan partners the other day. So far, I’ve been off base five times. As I look at this picture of me, it makes me think how foreign this image is compared to the image my family must have of me. I’ve been in the military a long time and I’ve worn various types of Battle Rattle and carried (and fired) numerous weapons, but I don’t usually see myself dressed like this. And my family, who’s never been at any of those exercises or deployments with me hasn’t seen me dressed like this. They usually see the easy-going husband/dad in Florida Gators or international soccer jerseys. While it looks a little foreign to me, it feels natural given the environment. I wonder how strange it must look to them.

Mice Like Milky Way, Too

So the other day I was craving some chocolate. I had already eaten all of the Hersey Kisses that Val sent me, (don’t do the math!) when I remembered that I had a Milky Way bar in my backpack. I had gotten it at the Manas chow hall on the way to Afghanistan, but forgot I had it. So I took a break from work and walked back to my tent. I picked up my backpack that I leave out on top of one of my bags because I have my magazines and books in it. Apparently I also leave the zipper open so I can get into it easier. Once I pulled the Milky Way bar out, I noticed a small, bite-sized piece missing. I didn’t remember starting to eat the candy bar. Then I realized that once I start a candy bar, I finish it. Then I realized a mouse had chewed on it. There were strips of wrapper in the backpack. I was devastated! I thought about eating the opposite end, but thought about what Val would think, (she’s my moral compass) so I just threw the candy bar away. Since then, I’ve gone to the south side of the airport and bought a variety bag of bite-size candy bars (aka “portion control”) and I now store all food items in my footlocker. Every now and then, I leave a small empty wrapper on the floor so the mouse can smell it and think he’s going to get some more of my chocolate. I hope he’s as disappointed as I was when I missed out on enjoying my chocolate bar. And I hope he thinks of me and says to himself (in lyrical, Seussian form), “That fat rat!”

Thankfully, inauguration day was relatively very quiet. There were lots of pre-event threats and a few actual attacks unfortunately in other provinces, but nothing happened in Kabul city. I imagine most Americans won’t think too much of the non-attacks and safety of the day. As Americans, we assume a high standard of safety. We realize that something bad ‘could’ have happened during the inauguration. We understand that Afghanistan is a war zone after all. But here in Kabul, we, ISAF in support of the Afghan government and Security Forces, were expecting that something ‘would’ happen. For the past several weeks, every sub-organization in ISAF did a LOT of coordination to help the Afghans plan and execute an effective security plan for the inauguration. And a lot of credit should go to the Afghan government and Security Forces. They led the way in executing the plan and the fact that no attack happened is a huge victory for the government. The more competent the Afghan government is in protecting its people, the more confidence those people will have in their government. And in classic counterinsurgency terms, that is what will win the war against the Taliban.

“Afghan President Hamid Karzai, center, swears in his first Vice President Qasim Fahim, left, and his second Vice President Karim Khalili during his inauguration as President of Afghanistan at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009.” Noticing the different ethnic, traditional head dresses alone, you can see how diverse the Afghan government leadership is.

Yes, President Karzai did rock the purple and green robe. Actually, it’s an Uzbek chapan and it’s his signature look.Speaking of colorfully robes…did you see Secretary Clinton’s inauguration day coat? I think it’s kind of a nod to traditional Central Asian fashion, with Fall (Thanksgiving?) colors. Without trying to be too much of a fashion police, I think it was a nice gesture for the occasion.

And speaking of Secretary Clinton…they made the announcement yesterday evening that anyone who wanted to see the Secretary could go to the passenger terminal where she would be departing soon. Now, I’m not a Democrat or typically a fan of the Clintons, but she is the current Secretary of State, so I figured go check it out. It’s not that often that the average American gets to see a cabinet member up close. She spoke to the troops for about five minutes, stressing the importance of the mission that we and our allies are doing, the goal of training the Afghans to lead in the security and governance of their own country, and thanking the service members AND their families back home for serving and sacrificing time away from loved ones to carry out the mission. It seemed heart-felt. Then she made a pass down the front row of people to shake hands and have a few pictures taken. I was close to the front, but not close enough to get my picture taken with her; I didn’t feel like fighting through the crowd. Again, I’m not THAT big of a personal fan. Below is a picture from the US Embassy’s Flickr page (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kabulpublicdiplomacy/) of the event. (I was about 2 more people deep to the right of this picture.)

Tomorrow's the Big Day

Well, tomorrow’s the inauguration of President Karzai. We’ve been doing a lot of work preparing to support the event, as well as countering any insurgent threats. It’s been a long couple of days and we’re starting extra early tomorrow, but I just wanted to pass along President Karzai’s official website. It’s www.president.gov.af. They’re supposed to webcast the inauguration live. I’m most interested to see if President Karzai will be rocking the green and purple robe again.

Didn't Stay "Bored" For Long

When I first told the family, Val and the kids, as well as my Mom and brothers, that I was going to Afghanistan, I emphasized the fact that if I had to go to Afghanistan, at least I was going to probably the safest place in the country. As an international airport in the capital city, great efforts are made to secure the airport and surrounding area. It’s a prime symbol of control and stability for the government, as well as being vital to the economy. Since I knew the new command that I was going to had just moved to the airport and there weren’t going to be many of the MWR functions on the base (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation is the fun, after-duty organizations like a good gym, library, and Internet café), I made the comment to my family that even if I got bored, I would be more than happy to stay on base and stay as safe as I could. One of my brothers even told me that I had “better stay bored.”

Well, after just one week here, while still trying to get my feet under me and understand all the duties my work required, one of the colonels told me that I needed to represent the office at a meeting the next day. That sounded fine, since as I’ve said before, meetings are really where you learn what other people and organizations are doing and what you can do to help. What surprised me was that the meeting was at different base/compound within the city proper. The good news though was that one of the coalition partners transported us to the meeting in their military vehicles. For OPSEC purposes, I’m staying very vague, but given the situation it was probably the safest transportation we could have taken. I did get a picture of the vehicle, but I’ll have to share that after the deployment. So now, just two and a half weeks into my deployment, I’ve already been to four meetings at two different locations off-base. I’m glad I got the opportunity to get off-base and see even the tiniest bit of the city, but I hope the family isn’t too worried. These quick trips to meetings are relatively pretty safe and I’ll continue to stay as bored as possible.

Weekly Schedule and Base Pictures

It’s Sunday morning, which means an 1100 start for work, so I have a few hours to update the blog. Friday, being the Afghan holy day, is another late-start day. So every Friday and Sunday, I get about a half-day off. Of course, it would help if I could keep track of the days. This past Friday, I came into work a little early so I could check the Internet in peace before work got busy. By 0830, I was wondering where everyone was, then realized it was another half-day. Oh, well. I got a lot of personal Internet work done. For the rest of the week, I’m up at 0630, breakfast by 0730, and work by 0800. Throughout the day I run around attending various briefings, operational planning teams (OPT), and working groups, and coordinate information for various projects. I usually work to after 2100 (9 p.m.) and then head back to the tent to read “The Short History of Afghanistan” or watch movies on my laptop. Then it’s light-out around 2300 (11 p.m.) so I can get up the next day and do it all again.

Here's a view of my morning walk to the chow hall. You can see the snow has already started to form on the mountain tops. I think I'll be able to watch it gradually make it's way down. My work area is to the right behind the fence. The buildings to the left are the hard-site dorms. There are only international partners in the few that were finished before I got here. Hopefully, I'll be moving into the new ones, further down on the left, within a month.

The Post Office (or Mail Room) is a CONEX box between the dorms, and it's only the last box, (AND it's also the ammo distro spot). Everyday a few soldiers bring the mail over in a Humvee, sort it by name, and stack all of boxes in alphabetical order. Mail call is only 1100-1200 and 1800-1900. During the 1100 mail time, most of the boxes are still spread out on the ground, waiting to be sorted. It looked like a yard sale the first time I saw it.

Other than your work desk or your bunk, here’s the only other place on base that you can kind of hang out. There’s a little coffee shop in the CONEX to the right and all of the seating is outside, which is fine during the day, but once night falls, it too cold outside to hang out. The two big tents behind the coffee shop are going to be the cardio and free-weight gyms. They’re supposed to be open in the first week of December. That will be nice not to have to run around in the dust so much. The third big tent, which is just a frame right now, is going to be the MWR tent, which will have TVs and WiFi connections. That will finally be a proper place to hang out after work. It’s supposed to be ready by mid-December.

I'm Officially a Tent Person

During the first week of settling into the tent, there were several things about tent living that I vented to Val about, particularly having to sleep on the top bunk, and consequently not having anything to sit back against during my off time, and having to walk outside to go to the bathroom. I told her I dreamed of getting a bottom bunk so I could lean against the head rest, as well as being able to hang some poncho liners on the side of the bunk to make some privacy walls and that I was worried about it getting colder during the winter (it’s supposed to snow often) and it making the walk to the bathroom harder. Well yesterday the deputy commander told me there was a bottom bunk open in his bay-room dorm. It sounded great; a bottom bunk in the hard-site buildings, with an in-door bathroom. I went over to take a look before I made the move. I wasn’t that impressed.

They actually have less space per person than the tents. There are four bunk beds per bay-room, but zero storage. Everybody’s stuff is everywhere. It looked like the messiest frat house in America. Each person only has a small wall locker half the size of my current footlocker. There was only one electrical outlet with a power strip plugged in and literally a dozen plugs waiting their turn to be plugged in. In the tent, each bed has its own extension cord. That’s a big deal since everyone, myself included, has computers, iPods, and cell phones that they need to be charged. Yeah, the bathrooms are inside, but they’re not really better. I think the trailer bathrooms are actually better heated, since they’re “outside”. And their toilet stalls are ridiculous. The doors are so close to the toilet that your feet actually rest under the door. I’ll just have to rough the walk to the bathroom. I found a parka in the cold-weather gear they gave me at the Transit Center, so I’ll just use that as my overcoat to and from the bathroom.

So after complaining about living in a tent to Val, she thought I was crazy to turn down the hard-site dorm. It’s not as comfortable as home of course, but it could be worse. I guess I’ve adjusted enough…I’m not that afraid I’m going to fall out of bed anymore.

We don’t have wireless Internet yet, but I burned some pictures to a CD and was able to upload them to my work computer. Here are some pictures of the tent.

Across from the passenger terminal, 10 rows and 5 columns of Alaska tents form "Tent City."

Here's my home-away-from-home for at least the next few months, until the 2-to-3-man dorm rooms are finished.

You have to walk between the tents to get to the bathroom; that's the trailer in the background.

Here's the view from the front door. There are four bunk beds on either side of the tent. Right now, we are 13 of 16 occupied. Trust me, this in neat and orderly compared to the 8-man bay-style transit rooms.

I sleep on the top bunk, head towards the tent wall. I've hit my head on the light a few times, but I need to sleep that way so I can hang my watch near my head, so I can hear the alarm in the morning. A very nice Dutchman lets me step on his footlocker on the other side of the bunk, so I can get into bed easier.


And below, here's my storage space for all of my stuff. The open footlocker and bags to the right side is all mine.

My First Victory

I had a work-related victory today. After finishing the watch-floor shift and on 3 hours of sleep, I finally tried to do the job I'm here for. We had to review a long, proposed plan and make comments on it (based on our expertise and experience...okay). I had read it several times, not sure what kinds of comments I was supposed to make. It seemed like they wanted things that we could immediately changed and do to improve the plan, but I only questions because the air section was pretty vague. So that became my inputs, asking for specifics and asking them in such a way that 1) showed I knew a little bit of what I was talking about, and 2) guided them to way-aheads that they could/should consider. I sent my comments at the end of my 14-hour shift and went back to the tent. This morning I had two e-mails from fellow working group members saying I had made several good points and another from one of the colonels that forwarded my e-mail out as a "great example of the type of research we're looking for right now." So, that felt good. It was a classic case of not being exactly sure (confident enough) in what you were thinking, but finally overcoming the insecurity of the situation and just saying what you thought and be validating that you do have a clue after all.

First Care Package

I got my first care package from home yesterday! I picked it up just before lunch and the funny thing was that I could tell I had a huge grin on my face all the way back to my tent. I felt like a little kid that had just found some treasure or gotten a gift from Santa. It was exciting. After just two days here I realized there were a few home-medicine items that I needed that I couldn’t get here. I asked Val to send them, along with granola bars and a few one or two Euro coins for snacks. Of course, being so wonderfully caring, Val sent three magazines, two boxes of granola bars, a bag of Hersey kisses, and eight five-Euro bills. Man, now I’m set for awhile. (I did do a mini-binge on the Hersey kisses though. They’re one of my few weaknesses, but I should be able to space them out now.)

And now, I’ve already put in a second request for a care package from home. I need some cold medicine for a runny nose and family photos from the home computer. My PC laptop doesn’t have our family pictures on it because I had to re-format the hard drive and my Mac laptop doesn’t have them because it’s so new (bought it for the deployment) and I didn’t have time to transfer photos before leaving. Unfortunately, Val’s the one left trying to figure out how to save photos and burn a CD on the new Mac desk-top at home. “Upgrading” to Mac sounded like a good idea just before I left, but I didn’t realize how hard would be to learn a new computer system. It’s like Mac purposed tried to make EVERYTHING different. Yeesh. I’m sure it will be great when Val and I learn the system, but until then…”Sorry, Sweetheart.”

What This Blog Isn't

You may have noticed already that I haven’t written very many details of my job, or operations, or even current news events related to Afghanistan. I’ve seen several blogs where individuals share highlights of very work-related things that they’re doing and/or comments on reported events that have happened in Afghanistan. But I don’t plan to do much of either. For starters, because of my primary career field (for those that know), I’m very conscience of OPSEC (Operational Security) and even though this blog is not supposed to be connected to any search engines, I don’t want to put out any operational information that any ‘bad guys’ could use. So when I do talk about work, it will probably be in the most general terms possible. As for commenting on news, anything more than my opinion would probably venture into OPSEC concerns again, and there are plenty (maybe too many) opinions already out there. If you’re interested in lots of reporting and opinions on Afghanistan, there are plenty of websites and blogs that you can surf. However! I will share with you one website that I think is very good at factually reporting the bad AND good of events going on in Afghanistan. Check out the official homepage of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) at http://www.nato.int/isaf/index.html. They report and comment on all of the events that you’ll hear about in the news. They’ll also report on a lot of human-interest stories about the positive, non-military impact the international community is having on Afghanistan. Check out the multimedia section for maps of supporting countries and their general areas. It also has a link to ISAF’s Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/. There’s a lot of cool and interesting information on these pages. My blog will just have to be a human-interest story about little-ole me, trying to get through 6 months deployment away from my family.