BACK IN AFGHANISTAN

I'm back in Afghanistan after spending a wonderful 22 days in Oregon with Mona, the doggies, horsies and kitties. We entertained many of our friends and I was able to enjoy one of my favorite things, which is to cook for people who are important to me. There were our horse buddies, my good Vietnam bud Jim and his wonderful wife, Kerry (who have often looked in on Mona and the critters while I have been gone--as have the horsey pals), old family friends, Byron and Louise. Then we had dinner out with Florian and Donna and they also came over for spaghetti. They, too, have been watchful over my wife and I appreciate all of this wonderful friendship from all of our friends. And we had dinner with my good friend, and also a fellow Vietnam veteran, Anne Philiben, who I worked with for more than four years assisting our Central Oregon veterans who are homeless, disabled and disadvantaged. I went to the Monday luncheon of the Bend Band of Brothers, a group of more than 200 veterans from all wars and times of peace. And I had breakfast with my brother and fellow Vietnam veteran, Gil Zaccaro, who finally retired after many years in the Navy and law enforcement. He looks great with his new "longer" hairstyle.

At the Bend Band of Brothers lunch, I was with Anne, my friends Bill Bussey, Bob Maxwell--Oregon's only living Medal of Honor winner--Dick Tobiason, Jake's Diner owner Lyle Hicks, who provides the space and food, and all of my other veteran brothers and sisters who were there. I was greatly moved by those who welcomed me home from my second war, something which did not happen for most of us who served in Vietnam. I was saddened shortly after I return to Afghanistan to learn that my friend and fellow BBoB member, Bill Bussey, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. Bill was the driving force behind the BBoB and cared as much for his fellow veterans as anyone I have met in my 32 years of doing veterans' advocacy as a lawyer and service officer for Vietnam Veterans of America. He was a huge supporter of our outreach program and personally saw that the families of every soldier from Oregon who has died in Iraq and Afghanistan received a memento and solace from the BBoB. He particularly ensured that Central Oregonians paid due respect to those young men and women from our communities who gave their all.

We went to Florida for six great days with all of my friends and fellow Vietnam veterans in the National EOD Association and the Vietnam EOD Veterans Association. Joe, Dave, Doug R, Doug T, Boyd, Bud and crazy Roger—buy a damn computer, you tightwad—and all the others, I love all you guys. The hotel was fantastic, on the ocean; the weather, however, was too cool for either ocean or pool swimming. We attended the somber events at the EOD Training Center at Eglin Air Force Base where we, sadly, added the names to our memorial of sixteen young men and women. These soldiers gave their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2009 - 2010 performing EOD functions that saved the lives of their fellow soldiers and the civilian population which has been so devastated in both countries by IEDS, roadside bombs, car bombs, suicide bombers and all of the landmines and ordnance lying around every place.

That night, we attended a formal dinner with some 1300 EOD men and women and their families. It was one of those few chances when we get to wear our medals and share an evening with those we served with and those who came before and after us. After the dinner, we went to a local bar where EOD people go and partied with about 400 loud, happy EOD people from all the branches of the service. Someone commented that we may be the only field in the joint services who train together, go to war together, party together and no one gets into it. Unfortunately, the trip home was "the trip from hell," with long delays in the airports and lost luggage. It took us longer to get from Pensacola, Florida, than it takes me to get from the Oregon desert to Afghanistan.

On the way back, I stopped in Dubai and spent a nice night at the Traders Hotel, part of the Shangri La chain. Fantastic room, great room service food and a bath with a Jacuzzi. Man, I gotta get a gig in Dubai when I'm done here. Just kidding. Got back to Kabul and immediately packed all my gear, put most of it in storage and headed back to Herat, where Tony and I are now permanently stationed, along with our interpreter, Fahim. Compared to Kabul, particularly after the two attacks, there, last week, and the attack on the Kandahar base, this is like a vacation spot. Don't get me wrong...it's still as dangerous, here, as anyplace else, just less obvious and active, at this time. We pay more attention and never take chances. I got to teach the first half of my Community Policing class to the officers at the ABP base and I think they received it well, foreign as some of the concepts, no doubt, were to some of them. We are trying to convey the idea that they cannot get the people to trust them if they stay in their offices and let the regular patrol officers and NCOs do all the work. One captain said that he knows that when he goes to the villages, the people do not trust him, like they do some of his enlisted men, because they don't know him. I said, "So, there's the reason why we're teaching this class and why you need to be out with your men." I hope he and the other officers, at least those who truly care about their country's future, take the lesson we taught them and put them to good use.

Today is Friday, May 21, here, at about 11:30PM. Yesterday, Tony, me and Fahim, went on a fact-finding mission back to the Kohsan District, where Victor and I went on the humanitarian mission last month. We met, again, with Mr. Ahmad, the District Administrator, several of the village elders, the district counter-narcotics chief and the head of the provincial water and power department. Wahid, from Alternative Livelihood, had put this together, just as he did the previous HA mission. We talked about the huge problems facing the people of Kohsan, largely around issues that related to water--water for the farmers, the bad shape some of the irrigation canals are in, and the need for a dam on the nearby river. We already knew that farmers all along the border with Iran in the northwest were in very bad shape due to the lack of rain this year and the low snow pack this winter.

The District Administrator told us that farmers are leaving their ancestral homes because they cannot take care of their families. The young men are leaving, some turning to crime, because there are no jobs for them. In fact, he told us that, "Bad people are coming from across the border and telling them that there will be no jobs for them and are offering them money to turn to crime." No doubt, much of this criminal activity is related to smuggling drugs, precursor chemicals and other forms of contraband. In many areas along the border, the farmers use an ancient irrigation system called "Karez." It is an ancient underground irrigation system and somewhat of an engineering marvel. They are prevalent in areas such as along the Iranian border in the northwest where the rivers do not flow year-round and there is usually a good water supply from runoff in the mountains after the winter snow. In the area we are concerned about, parts of the Karez system are in disrepair and cannot get the water to the low-lying desert farmlands.

Our local Alternative Livelihoods office made a proposal to have a technical survey done and it was approved by the procurement people in Kabul and a contractor was selected. The cost: $12,000. In the end, the survey did not happen because the Alternative Livelihood people in Kabul said they did not have $12,000 that could be spared for this matter. You have to be kidding me!! Dyncorp gets paid billions to do nothing except sit on their fat asses in their compounds, and we can't find $12,000 to help these farmers, many of whom are starving because of their inability to grow the crops they need to sustain themselves and their families. And our headquarters in Vienna forces us, and all of the UNODC projects in Afghanistan, to give them part of our budgets, money provided by donor countries to help the people of Afghanistan, because they are too lazy and self-important to go look for their own sources of funding. The State Department is going to build a consulate in Herat--for no other reason other than to spy on Iran--to the tune of $100,000,000. I haven't seen long queues of Afghanistan citizens lining up for visas to the United States. But we can’t find a lousy $12,000 to do this survey of the Karez. There is, as they say, something wrong with this picture.

Today is May 25 and Tony returned to Kabul. Tomorrow, Fahim and I will go to the ABP base and I will teach the second part of the Community Policing class. I found out, today, that I have to go back to Kabul on June 6 so I can take a three days class on—get this—how to stay safe. This is being taught by the UN Department of Safety and Security and I am trying to figure out what the hell they can possibly talk about for three days. I got the hostage “survival” material by email today and almost laughed out loud. I am supposed to surrender, not put up a fight and try to—I swear I’m not making this up—find out what I have in common with my captors, assuming they are able to keep me captive. I am positive they will all speak English and that we all like heavy metal. Speaking of which—on the same day my friend, Bill Bussey died, Ronnie James Dio, the great heavy metal vocalist, also passed away. He replaced Ozzy in Black Sabbath and their “Heaven and Hell” album is, maybe, the best metal album ever made. Last year, to celebrate the album’s 30th anniversary, Sabbath toured with Dio and called themselves, “Heaven and Hell.” Their one album is amazing and the songs, “Double the Pain” and “Eating the Cannibals” are just plain killer. Am I right, Florian? Dio was also the singer for Ritchie Blackmore’s, “Rainbow,” and he made a number of great solo albums. I will miss new music from this great singer.
Guess that’s enough for now. Hope everyone is having the kind of weather we are—hot and dry days, cool and dry nights. Perfectly blue skies. Later.