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Today is January 18 and the Taliban hit downtown Kabul at 9:20AM. There were multiple suicide bombers and gunmen. Although they claimed to have gotten into government buildings and killed officials, they were lying out their fucking asses. They claimed to have gotten into the “Five-Star” Serena Hotel (where the rich people and diplomats stay)--more lies. They did damage another smaller hotel. In the end, all they managed to do was get a five-story galleria burned down when it was counter-attacked by police commandos and Afghan security forces. The fire destroyed the shops of dozens of hard-working Afghans trying to support their families. And they attacked an empty movie theater. They couldn't get near the government buildings and the bombers blew themselves up in the middle of the street. We watched the aftermath, live, on al Jazeera and the wreckage of the cars was littering a wide city avenue and not even close to any major buildings. It was interesting that the reporters from al Jazeera and Tolo (A Kabul station) were live, on the scene. The BBC guy was live, in the basement of the Serena Hotel. One of the al Jazeera guys was wounded.
I have to comment on the way this event was covered by the Western media. They virtually all reported that Kabul is, essentially, unsafe and that the Taliban can get in and out of town, at will. This one event, somehow, means we’re totally fucked and the war is lost. That was the gist of what I heard on the BBC, CNN, MSNBC and a number of print news web sites I looked at. This was so much bullshit and unworthy of serious consideration. First, I have been here for six weeks and this is the second bombing during that period. Even, today, despite our successes, there are multiple bombings in Iraq virtually every day. Second, and for crying out loud, there are about a gazillion roads going in and out of Kabul, not to mention the donkey-horse overland possibilities. What? Are they supposed to shut down every avenue of access and search every car, truck, bicycle, motorcycle, person, horse, donkey, cow and dog?
Third—and this is the real point—the true story that day was the combined actions of the Afghan security forces: the National Police, the Police Commandos and the Army. They saddled up, did their job and killed the bad guys—all of them who didn’t blow themselves up. Within four hours, security had been restored and two hours later the city-wide lock-down was lifted. If the FBI or Homeland Security had been running this operation, they'd still be talking about what to do and trying to negotiate. Let me make this clear—this was an all-Afghan planned, run and executed operation. They were on the alert because they developed intelligence that something was going to happen. Despite the bullshit claims of the Taliban on their web site, there was no NATO or ISAF involvement, other than the allied advisors assigned to the Afghan units. At an awards ceremony the next day, Gen. Bismullah Khan Mohammadi the Afghan Army Chief-of-Staff, said to the gathered solders, “"When we asked for three volunteers, ten of you stepped forward.” This is the story that should have been reported on.
Today, January 21, I heard Plan Number 9. I may be going to Hirat by the end of the week. They are waiting for the furniture, but the procurement request just went in. Yeah, this might happen in my lifetime. I am not holding my breath. I did, however, get to see pictures of the secure compound in Hirat (I have been misspelling it the Anglicized way). It is really nice and the room accommodations look really, really nice. The best part is that I was told that we have a full kitchen and I am looking forward to cooking, both for myself and my co-workers, if I ever get the fuck up there. We get lunch but are on our own for breakfast and dinner, which is okay with me. I just hope I get up there to take advantage of the nice digs. (Now it’s January 23. Plan Number 10. The trip to Hirat was called off, again—big surprise—and now they say maybe next Thursday. Yeah, when pigs fly out of my butt. And, oh, yeah, again…the kitchen, it turns out, is apparently only full of a microwave. No fridge, no stove. If I ever actually get there, I will “cure’ these deficiencies, much as we did in Vietnam).
I have been working on the training module for IEDs and Ordnance Identification and have really been enjoying it. I have found some great materials on the web, including numerous pictures of various improvised explosive devices of all shapes, sizes and types. For the Ordnance ID portion, I am using the pictures of the most likely munitions the ABP officers will run into and scanning them to my computer. Then I transfer the images into the PowerPoint presentation. I am developing a short section on explosives and explosive properties, just like they taught us in EOD School back in the old days. So, I am relearning about the properties of explosives like lead azide, mercury fulminate and tetrazene. When I was in EOD School for some totally unexplainable reason, I totally aced this part of the course of instruction. I say that because I managed to barely pass—I mean with a D-minus—biology and chemistry in high school.
Now it’s January 24 and another Sunday. We actually had a little rain last night, which was the first precipitation since I got here, other than at altitudes higher up. One of my colleagues just flew back from the North and said there was barely any snow, even on the highest peaks. This is not good news for the farmers. They need the snow-melt, just as we do in Oregon, and the Kabul River, which is a substantial body of water, is apparently too polluted to use for irrigation. If it isn’t one thing, it’s something else. I’m worried about the kitty—Andy Panda—because he hasn’t been around for four days. We thought we heard him, today, but when I went outside, he was not to be seen. Maybe tomorrow.
I have really been enjoying my new Facebook page and have been communicating regularly with several of my friends. I also just signed up for something called Classmates.com where I have reconnected with a couple of people I went o high school with. Man, graduation was almost 45 years ago. Great googly moogly!! My friend, Tony, who got me over here, will arrive at 9:30 tomorrow morning from Dubai. As of now, however, it appears that Aeroflot has managed to lose his luggage. This is totally bad news because he has my new supply of meds from the VA and a new Play Station for Daud’s son. There’s another Aeroflot flight due in before he leaves so, hopefully, the bags will show up. Mike and Kathy flew down to Zaranj for a day to see how things were coming along with the safe hotel we are supposed to live in. It appears that they still have not gotten the concertina wire up on the walls, so we have to wait for that to get taken care. All of our gear that was shipped from Hirat is there and the trucks that Rashid sent from here are also there. Now, if we could just get there. Hopefully, when Tony gets here, things will start to happen. Like I said, previously, everyone says he’s the guy “who gets shit done.”
I had to break down this week and buy a new laptop because the one I had was a total piece of crap. A friend had it built for me as a gift and the people who built it just didn't do a very good job. It was slower than whale crap, constantly locked up, I had to replace the keyboard before I left and they loaded it with Vista, the biggest pile of...well, you know. So, I bought a really nice Sony VAIO and this thing is sweet. Very fast, huge hard drive and lots of RAM, HD for movies, built in wireless and Bluetooth, motion-tracking camera and built-in microphone. Big 17.3" screen. Movies look and sound amazing and I can now get streaming TV and radio without it having to buffer every twenty seconds. I can finally see my friends, wife and son clearly and not in stop-motion. I bought it a local computer store and Daud went with me to make sure I didn't get ripped off. He even got them to knock $50 off and I got a really nice micro-speaker system for $10.
Well, I guess that’s about it for this week. Hope everyone is well and that you enjoy my posts, even with the occasional rant. If you have Skype and are not on my contact list, let me know what your Skype name is.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
STILL WORKING AND WAITING TO PUFO TO HERAT
Today is January 15. Man, has this been a screwed up week. We were going to Herat, then we weren't. Then we were, then we weren't. Now we are...maybe. We have a place to live, which is at our office compound. They turned some of the offices in Herat into bedrooms, like they did, here, in Kabul (which I'll get to since it affected me). We are apparently waiting for the furniture to arrive--beds, dressers, whatever. If we go, I'll believe it when I'm there. Everett, one of the other law enforcement guys, is up there now with one of the interpreters, Mobeen. I don't think they're actually doing anything because Mike told me yesterday the equipment is still not on its way to Zaranj. I guess Everett is so pissed, and totally not wanting to be in Kabul, at all, for any reason, that he is going home on the 29th. Mike has also put in his "retirement" papers and will leave when his contract expires in April. I will be sorry to see him go. But he has a new house and bought a restaurant-pub in Northern Wisconsin. And he's been here for some time, as well as Kosovo before that. Kathy, whom I haven't met, yet, is due back Sunday.
But here's the best news. My friend, Tony, who got me into all this, has been cleared by UN New York, to return and will, hopefully, be leaving the States on Monday (found out today that he is leaving on Saturday the 23rd). They screwed around for 166 days about a medical issue and finally cleared him. Daud, Rashid and Asef, as well as myself, are very happy that he is coming back. When I mention his name to any of the Afghan staff, especially the guys who drive the armored rigs, they all say the same thing, "He is a very good man." I will be so glad to see him. I know that once he gets back, some shit will happen and happen quickly. Everyone says, "He is the guy who gets shit done." I know that if we can just get to the field we will accomplish some good things.
Made my weekly trip to Camp Eggers today. Picked up a great pair of binoculars at the bazaar that are so lightweight, they barely weigh anything. They also have infra-red blocking lenses. Also, found a great scarf for my friend, Greg, and bought another one--black and white (I look like Yasser Arafat)--for myself. Gotta look stylish every day and not wear the same one. I went to the PX to get my new Toshiba laptop, but because I didn't get there by Tuesday, as I had hoped, they sold the one they were holding for me. All because my pay didn't get into my account on time. Hopefully, it will come in this week and before I go to Herat, assuming we actually PUFO Kabul. By the way, you may have noticed that the archived posts from 2009 have been removed from the site. It was taking up too much room, so people will just have to be satisfied with 2010. Loaded up on chow in case we do go to Herat. We cannot eat at local restaurants and Mike says we only eat at the ISAF mess hall a couple of times a week because we don't want to wear out our welcome. I also picked up a nice refillable butane lighter and very cool leather and pewter ashtray at the bazaar. Weirdly enough, they have a dragon inscribed on them that looks very similar to the one on my right arm that will be my Afghanistan tat once I return and have my dates in-country put on.
On Wednesday, the 13th, I was informed that I had to move out of the UNICA1 compound and move into one of the new "hotel" rooms, here, at the work compound. I am, apparently, being considered "Herat Overload," which basically means that I'm not supposed to be here. Well, get me the hell out of here, already. There is such a room shortage in Kabul (and everywhere, apparently), that the hotel rooms are to be used by long-term contractors. So, I had to pack up all my crap and PUFO from UNICA. I was amazed at the fact that, when I came here, I had a suitcase and a duffel bag. By the time I got to my new room, I had them, as well as a plastic footlocker, a box full of food, my backpack was completely loaded and there were two large plastic shopping bags of crap. I'm not crazy about working and living in the same place, because then I tend to work even more than normal since the office is just down four flights of stairs and across the courtyard. We don't have any TV, yet, and the women down the hall have the only refrigerator. If I knew I was going to be here any length of time, I'd buy a fridge. Fortunately, my window sills are marble and the windows leak pretty good, so things stay cold enough. Especially my Red Leicester cheese.
I can watch streaming video on my laptop and have found a great web site with live BBC news. I tried CNN, but their stream download totally sucks. Plus, I have plenty of movies. If you haven't seen the Nicolas Cage movie, "Knowing," you should do so. Very creepy and with a bad/good ending. Also, I am in the middle of "Crank-High Voltage," with Jason Statham. Very, very strange and filmed at extremely high speed in many scenes with very excellent cinematography. If you don't like extreme violence (although hysterical in most places because it is so insanely ridiculous), don't see it. I picked up "Angels and Demons," today, at the PX and will start that when I'm done with the other one.
I have started working on two new training modules. I am teaching myself about "Security Operations," which includes, roadblocks, checkpoints and cordon and search operations. By the time I'm done, here, I'll be an infantryman. I also started putting together my module on IEDs and Ordnance Identification. In both cases, I have found some spectacularly excellent materials on the web. My friend, Gary Huber, just sent me a great video of some Taliban guys blowing themselves up while trying to plant a booby-trapped 155 artillery projectile in a road. They were being watched from the air by a chopper crew, or close air, when the thing went off. You can hear the pilots going, "Holy, crap, dude, did you see that?" I will use this as a training film for the border police since it perfectly illustrates why they should not try to disarm these things, themselves, and to call for an EOD team or Engineer mine-clearing team.
When I was leaving the UNICA compound, I said my goodbyes to the guys I had met with the UN close protection teams. Andy, a South African, who I think is kind of the boss, asked me if I would give them a class on IEDs and Ordnance ID issues, so I said, of course, and told them to arrange this with the head of our security. I hope this transpires because it is always good when UNODC connects with other UN units in a professional, positive way. Plus, I was flattered they asked me. One guy is from Thailand and he is the biggest Thai I have ever met. I cannot remember his name, but he always addressed me as, "Sir." I had to explain to him that I had been a sergeant and he didn't have to call me sir. Then he said, "It is a sign of respect because you are older and you are here." I think it was a compliment. I thought that was pretty cool, but now he does call me "Sergeant."
And now, the weekly report on Andy Panda, the kitty. He comes every day now, at least twice and sometimes three times. He has become, I am afraid, a "Beef Jerky Junky," or a "BJJ," as we counter-jerky people say. If I go outside to smoke, he always comes over and rubs against me and purrs and makes a lot of noise. If I knew I was going to be here awhile, I would take him to the vet for shots and "fixing." He also has a little mange, so he needs some medicine. If I leave, I will worry about him because no one else here really gives a shit about one more feral cat. Plus, he'll probably go into jerky withdrawal. My Afghan colleagues think I'm a little nuts for taking care of him. Daud asked me why I was doing this and I asked him, "Did you know that the ancient Egyptians always buried cats with their Pharaohs?" He asked me why and I said, "Because they believed that cats were the eyes to the soul." Andy has these extreme green eyes and they are piercing. I wonder...
I ended up signing up for Facebook because couple of friends asked me to be their "friends." Then I ended up doing my own Facebook page. Well, it turns out to be pretty cool because, out of the blue, an old friend from law school and further on, saw me on a mutual law school bud's page. It was very cool reconnecting and I hope maybe I'll hear from other folks from the distant past. Katherine and I have yakked back and forth today, exchanged stories about our kids (although she has me outnumbered five-to-one). She really helped me out (along with her then husband, Reggie) when I quit practicing law and ended up in Northern Michigan. Saved my life, in some ways. Unfortunately, Reg passed away soon after they attended my wedding with Mona and we had moved to Oregon. Anyway, if you're reading this, Katherine, thanks for the Facebook jingle.
There's really not much else to say this week. So I'll end by adding a few new pictures of the kitty.
But here's the best news. My friend, Tony, who got me into all this, has been cleared by UN New York, to return and will, hopefully, be leaving the States on Monday (found out today that he is leaving on Saturday the 23rd). They screwed around for 166 days about a medical issue and finally cleared him. Daud, Rashid and Asef, as well as myself, are very happy that he is coming back. When I mention his name to any of the Afghan staff, especially the guys who drive the armored rigs, they all say the same thing, "He is a very good man." I will be so glad to see him. I know that once he gets back, some shit will happen and happen quickly. Everyone says, "He is the guy who gets shit done." I know that if we can just get to the field we will accomplish some good things.
Made my weekly trip to Camp Eggers today. Picked up a great pair of binoculars at the bazaar that are so lightweight, they barely weigh anything. They also have infra-red blocking lenses. Also, found a great scarf for my friend, Greg, and bought another one--black and white (I look like Yasser Arafat)--for myself. Gotta look stylish every day and not wear the same one. I went to the PX to get my new Toshiba laptop, but because I didn't get there by Tuesday, as I had hoped, they sold the one they were holding for me. All because my pay didn't get into my account on time. Hopefully, it will come in this week and before I go to Herat, assuming we actually PUFO Kabul. By the way, you may have noticed that the archived posts from 2009 have been removed from the site. It was taking up too much room, so people will just have to be satisfied with 2010. Loaded up on chow in case we do go to Herat. We cannot eat at local restaurants and Mike says we only eat at the ISAF mess hall a couple of times a week because we don't want to wear out our welcome. I also picked up a nice refillable butane lighter and very cool leather and pewter ashtray at the bazaar. Weirdly enough, they have a dragon inscribed on them that looks very similar to the one on my right arm that will be my Afghanistan tat once I return and have my dates in-country put on.
On Wednesday, the 13th, I was informed that I had to move out of the UNICA1 compound and move into one of the new "hotel" rooms, here, at the work compound. I am, apparently, being considered "Herat Overload," which basically means that I'm not supposed to be here. Well, get me the hell out of here, already. There is such a room shortage in Kabul (and everywhere, apparently), that the hotel rooms are to be used by long-term contractors. So, I had to pack up all my crap and PUFO from UNICA. I was amazed at the fact that, when I came here, I had a suitcase and a duffel bag. By the time I got to my new room, I had them, as well as a plastic footlocker, a box full of food, my backpack was completely loaded and there were two large plastic shopping bags of crap. I'm not crazy about working and living in the same place, because then I tend to work even more than normal since the office is just down four flights of stairs and across the courtyard. We don't have any TV, yet, and the women down the hall have the only refrigerator. If I knew I was going to be here any length of time, I'd buy a fridge. Fortunately, my window sills are marble and the windows leak pretty good, so things stay cold enough. Especially my Red Leicester cheese.
I can watch streaming video on my laptop and have found a great web site with live BBC news. I tried CNN, but their stream download totally sucks. Plus, I have plenty of movies. If you haven't seen the Nicolas Cage movie, "Knowing," you should do so. Very creepy and with a bad/good ending. Also, I am in the middle of "Crank-High Voltage," with Jason Statham. Very, very strange and filmed at extremely high speed in many scenes with very excellent cinematography. If you don't like extreme violence (although hysterical in most places because it is so insanely ridiculous), don't see it. I picked up "Angels and Demons," today, at the PX and will start that when I'm done with the other one.
I have started working on two new training modules. I am teaching myself about "Security Operations," which includes, roadblocks, checkpoints and cordon and search operations. By the time I'm done, here, I'll be an infantryman. I also started putting together my module on IEDs and Ordnance Identification. In both cases, I have found some spectacularly excellent materials on the web. My friend, Gary Huber, just sent me a great video of some Taliban guys blowing themselves up while trying to plant a booby-trapped 155 artillery projectile in a road. They were being watched from the air by a chopper crew, or close air, when the thing went off. You can hear the pilots going, "Holy, crap, dude, did you see that?" I will use this as a training film for the border police since it perfectly illustrates why they should not try to disarm these things, themselves, and to call for an EOD team or Engineer mine-clearing team.
When I was leaving the UNICA compound, I said my goodbyes to the guys I had met with the UN close protection teams. Andy, a South African, who I think is kind of the boss, asked me if I would give them a class on IEDs and Ordnance ID issues, so I said, of course, and told them to arrange this with the head of our security. I hope this transpires because it is always good when UNODC connects with other UN units in a professional, positive way. Plus, I was flattered they asked me. One guy is from Thailand and he is the biggest Thai I have ever met. I cannot remember his name, but he always addressed me as, "Sir." I had to explain to him that I had been a sergeant and he didn't have to call me sir. Then he said, "It is a sign of respect because you are older and you are here." I think it was a compliment. I thought that was pretty cool, but now he does call me "Sergeant."
And now, the weekly report on Andy Panda, the kitty. He comes every day now, at least twice and sometimes three times. He has become, I am afraid, a "Beef Jerky Junky," or a "BJJ," as we counter-jerky people say. If I go outside to smoke, he always comes over and rubs against me and purrs and makes a lot of noise. If I knew I was going to be here awhile, I would take him to the vet for shots and "fixing." He also has a little mange, so he needs some medicine. If I leave, I will worry about him because no one else here really gives a shit about one more feral cat. Plus, he'll probably go into jerky withdrawal. My Afghan colleagues think I'm a little nuts for taking care of him. Daud asked me why I was doing this and I asked him, "Did you know that the ancient Egyptians always buried cats with their Pharaohs?" He asked me why and I said, "Because they believed that cats were the eyes to the soul." Andy has these extreme green eyes and they are piercing. I wonder...
I ended up signing up for Facebook because couple of friends asked me to be their "friends." Then I ended up doing my own Facebook page. Well, it turns out to be pretty cool because, out of the blue, an old friend from law school and further on, saw me on a mutual law school bud's page. It was very cool reconnecting and I hope maybe I'll hear from other folks from the distant past. Katherine and I have yakked back and forth today, exchanged stories about our kids (although she has me outnumbered five-to-one). She really helped me out (along with her then husband, Reggie) when I quit practicing law and ended up in Northern Michigan. Saved my life, in some ways. Unfortunately, Reg passed away soon after they attended my wedding with Mona and we had moved to Oregon. Anyway, if you're reading this, Katherine, thanks for the Facebook jingle.
There's really not much else to say this week. So I'll end by adding a few new pictures of the kitty.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
GETTING READY TO MOVE--FINALLY
It is January 5 and I am closing in on my first month, here. It was another fantastically beautiful day--57°, lots of sun and totally blue skies. Andy Panda came to visit me when I was sitting outside having a smoke, being raucous and, clearly, wanting food. I had regular Tillamook beef jerky for him today; you know, the hard, stringy kind, not like the tender beef steak nuggets he scarfed up yesterday. At one point, he got a piece stuck on a tooth and was batting at his mouth until he got it loose. It was too funny. He totally annihilated the hard variety and, then, like yesterday, followed me around whenever I came outside, purring and meowing to beat the band. Ah, the little things in life that are wonderful and, yet, make no sense, at the same time.
Today we found out that we a have small problem in moving to our base in Herat. When there, the team stays at the Five Star Hotel. It’s not a five star hotel; it’s just the name of the place. Probably gets people in there because they think it’s a five star. Anyway, on December 18, 2009, the US Ambassador to Afghanistan, Carl Eikenberry, announced in Heart that our hotel was going to be the new temporary site of the US Consulate. Like they say on South Park, “Oh, my God, they killed the Five Star!! You bastards!!” Now, we’re looking for a new home and hoping that our security people will approve it. As I said in my last post, I’d like to get out of here and get to the actual training of the Afghan Border Police.
The ABP lost two men today in a shootout with drug traffickers in Kunar Province in Eastern Afghanistan on the Pakistan border and close to the Federally Assisted Tribal Area, a known stronghold of the Taliban and al Qaeda. I mentioned in the last post that the Iranians lost eleven the other day. The traffickers are fighting just as hard to keep their turf as are the Anti-Coalition Militias…it’s s like s second fucking war going on inside the first war. Plus, the Marines, in a joint operation with the Afghan Counter-Narcotics Police (who are trained by another group in our office), seized 4,100 pounds of opium in Helmand Province. And 256 pounds of heroin was seized in another operation. (As an aside, on January 8, the Marines and the Afghan National Police seized 5,100 pounds of opium, 1,100 pounds of opium paste, 50 pounds of heroin, guns, munitions and explosives. I am glad the President gave the military the authority to get involved in this "other war).
Over the past few days, I have been redoing the training module for “Tactical Convoy Movement,” a subject of which I knew nothing about before I started this project. So, I have had to teach myself everything I will teach the ABP trainees. Thank goodness for Google and the Chrome search engine. Hey, Microsoft, if you’re listening: “Google Chrome kicks your ass. It is ten times faster than your ‘new’ slow piece of crap, Internet Explorer 8. It finds more precise sites than IE could ever locate in a year.” So much for a short rant. I was fortunate to be able to locate a number of excellent documents, including several military tactical convoy manuals and papers written by soldiers who have actually led convoys in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
When I first looked at the convoy training module, I noticed right away that whoever wrote it clearly did so with the thought in mind that he—and only he—knew how to fill in the blanks left by the short, cryptic statements in each particular section. For instance, the page on the parts of a convoy merely said, “Convoy Sections,” and, then, “March Column,” The Serial” and “The Unit.” There was no explanation or definition as to what each of these was.
My feeling was that any trainer picking up this module, even a dumb ass like me, should be able to know exactly what things were and be able to teach the course. I also realized that many ABP trainees cannot read or write and although you can teach by speaking, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” So I found pictures showing the sections of a convoy and another one showing the elements of a convoy. I know that doesn't make sense, but they are two different things. I also found one that shows what vehicles are in the “trail”—wreckers, fuel truck, bob-tails, and the like.
It is January 9, and I have finished the training module on “Tactical Convoy Movement.” I am now working on the module for “Security Operations, Roadblocks and Checkpoints.” Once, again, I know virtually nothing about this topic so I am teaching myself the subject matter and rewriting, essentially, the entire manual. Yesterday, we went to Camp Eggers for our weekly shopping and eating trip. I also went to the barber and got my hair back to my usual buzz cut. It is so much easier to take care of and I no longer need to use conditioner. It wasn’t as nice as the barber at my hotel, but it was relaxing, nonetheless, and I almost nodded out in the chair. At the PX, I picked up a plastic trunk to store things in while I am in Herat and Zaranj since I will not need to have my suit, extra down jacket, dress shoes and shirt, ties, suspenders, etc. You never know when you’re going to an embassy shindig, so I brought these things with me. No embassy shindigs happen in Zaranj and we will be gone from Herat by the time the new consulate opens.
Now it’s “Change 43.” It turns out that our information that the US Embassy would not take over the Five Star Hotel in Herat until March 31, and that we could live there until then, was not entirely accurate. While it is true that they will apparently not physically move in until March 31, they have already taken it over and started renovating it into the temporary consulate. So now we’re looking for a new place to live and people are supposed to be heading up there tomorrow. It will be interesting to see what happens by tomorrow morning. I have started packing the things I won’t take into my new plastic trunk and will have to make decisions about how much and what clothing I take so I have more room for my food supplies. I’m taking enough with me to get through the first week until I get the lay of the land and scout out the local grocery stores.
Today is January 10 and I have now been here for a month. I have to say that it has gone very quickly and even though I have not been doing what I was hired to do, I have enjoyed the work of rewriting the training modules, representing my agency at NATO/ISAF meetings and doing whatever tasks I am given. Our finance people, who were a little confused about where and how to send my pay, finally got things figured out and the request went in today to deposit my first check directly into my account at Standard Chartered Bank, an Indian bank located, here, in Kabul. Hopefully, the funds will hit my account tomorrow, Tuesday at the latest, I will take care of my bills, send money home, get cash, and head for Herat. I will also go to the PX and pick up my new laptop, a very nice Toshiba, since the one I have now is a complete piece of crap and has been nothing but trouble ever since I got it.
Well, that’s it from Kabul and, hopefully, next Sunday’s blog will be from Herat. It looks like the weather in Heart is even better than here, with temperatures ranging from 57 – 67 over the next five days. Yippee skippee.
Today we found out that we a have small problem in moving to our base in Herat. When there, the team stays at the Five Star Hotel. It’s not a five star hotel; it’s just the name of the place. Probably gets people in there because they think it’s a five star. Anyway, on December 18, 2009, the US Ambassador to Afghanistan, Carl Eikenberry, announced in Heart that our hotel was going to be the new temporary site of the US Consulate. Like they say on South Park, “Oh, my God, they killed the Five Star!! You bastards!!” Now, we’re looking for a new home and hoping that our security people will approve it. As I said in my last post, I’d like to get out of here and get to the actual training of the Afghan Border Police.
The ABP lost two men today in a shootout with drug traffickers in Kunar Province in Eastern Afghanistan on the Pakistan border and close to the Federally Assisted Tribal Area, a known stronghold of the Taliban and al Qaeda. I mentioned in the last post that the Iranians lost eleven the other day. The traffickers are fighting just as hard to keep their turf as are the Anti-Coalition Militias…it’s s like s second fucking war going on inside the first war. Plus, the Marines, in a joint operation with the Afghan Counter-Narcotics Police (who are trained by another group in our office), seized 4,100 pounds of opium in Helmand Province. And 256 pounds of heroin was seized in another operation. (As an aside, on January 8, the Marines and the Afghan National Police seized 5,100 pounds of opium, 1,100 pounds of opium paste, 50 pounds of heroin, guns, munitions and explosives. I am glad the President gave the military the authority to get involved in this "other war).
Over the past few days, I have been redoing the training module for “Tactical Convoy Movement,” a subject of which I knew nothing about before I started this project. So, I have had to teach myself everything I will teach the ABP trainees. Thank goodness for Google and the Chrome search engine. Hey, Microsoft, if you’re listening: “Google Chrome kicks your ass. It is ten times faster than your ‘new’ slow piece of crap, Internet Explorer 8. It finds more precise sites than IE could ever locate in a year.” So much for a short rant. I was fortunate to be able to locate a number of excellent documents, including several military tactical convoy manuals and papers written by soldiers who have actually led convoys in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
When I first looked at the convoy training module, I noticed right away that whoever wrote it clearly did so with the thought in mind that he—and only he—knew how to fill in the blanks left by the short, cryptic statements in each particular section. For instance, the page on the parts of a convoy merely said, “Convoy Sections,” and, then, “March Column,” The Serial” and “The Unit.” There was no explanation or definition as to what each of these was.
My feeling was that any trainer picking up this module, even a dumb ass like me, should be able to know exactly what things were and be able to teach the course. I also realized that many ABP trainees cannot read or write and although you can teach by speaking, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” So I found pictures showing the sections of a convoy and another one showing the elements of a convoy. I know that doesn't make sense, but they are two different things. I also found one that shows what vehicles are in the “trail”—wreckers, fuel truck, bob-tails, and the like.
It is January 9, and I have finished the training module on “Tactical Convoy Movement.” I am now working on the module for “Security Operations, Roadblocks and Checkpoints.” Once, again, I know virtually nothing about this topic so I am teaching myself the subject matter and rewriting, essentially, the entire manual. Yesterday, we went to Camp Eggers for our weekly shopping and eating trip. I also went to the barber and got my hair back to my usual buzz cut. It is so much easier to take care of and I no longer need to use conditioner. It wasn’t as nice as the barber at my hotel, but it was relaxing, nonetheless, and I almost nodded out in the chair. At the PX, I picked up a plastic trunk to store things in while I am in Herat and Zaranj since I will not need to have my suit, extra down jacket, dress shoes and shirt, ties, suspenders, etc. You never know when you’re going to an embassy shindig, so I brought these things with me. No embassy shindigs happen in Zaranj and we will be gone from Herat by the time the new consulate opens.
Now it’s “Change 43.” It turns out that our information that the US Embassy would not take over the Five Star Hotel in Herat until March 31, and that we could live there until then, was not entirely accurate. While it is true that they will apparently not physically move in until March 31, they have already taken it over and started renovating it into the temporary consulate. So now we’re looking for a new place to live and people are supposed to be heading up there tomorrow. It will be interesting to see what happens by tomorrow morning. I have started packing the things I won’t take into my new plastic trunk and will have to make decisions about how much and what clothing I take so I have more room for my food supplies. I’m taking enough with me to get through the first week until I get the lay of the land and scout out the local grocery stores.
Today is January 10 and I have now been here for a month. I have to say that it has gone very quickly and even though I have not been doing what I was hired to do, I have enjoyed the work of rewriting the training modules, representing my agency at NATO/ISAF meetings and doing whatever tasks I am given. Our finance people, who were a little confused about where and how to send my pay, finally got things figured out and the request went in today to deposit my first check directly into my account at Standard Chartered Bank, an Indian bank located, here, in Kabul. Hopefully, the funds will hit my account tomorrow, Tuesday at the latest, I will take care of my bills, send money home, get cash, and head for Herat. I will also go to the PX and pick up my new laptop, a very nice Toshiba, since the one I have now is a complete piece of crap and has been nothing but trouble ever since I got it.
Well, that’s it from Kabul and, hopefully, next Sunday’s blog will be from Herat. It looks like the weather in Heart is even better than here, with temperatures ranging from 57 – 67 over the next five days. Yippee skippee.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
ANOTHER WEEK GONE AND A NEW YEAR
It is New Years' Eve at 6:29PM in Kabul. I never would have thought, a year ago at this time, that I would be where I am, doing what I'm doing. Right now, I'm watching "Indiana Jones and the Search for the Holy Grail," somewhat appropriate given the part of world I am in. I'm not sure what I'll do later tonight, but I imagine some of the others who live, here, at UNICA1, will gather at the bar to ring in 2010. I will probably join them, at least for awhile.
Today was another day at the office, working on projects for the Afghan Border Police and hoping that we get to one of our bases to actually start training ABP officers, sooner, rather than later. Two days ago, we got the word at the office that we were moving from the fourth floor of the main building to a pre-fab trailer on the ground. They are going to turn the top two floors into living quarters because there is a scarcity of safe hotels in Kabul. Our security has very high standards and they are extremely careful when it comes to our safety. Holy, crap, what a pain in the ass the move was. We had to move our desks, filing cabinet (with all the files inside), all of our books, written materials, computers and other hardware and all the other things that have accumulated in the office over the past five years. Up and down, up and down, up and down...four stinkin' flights of stairs. The trailer is much smaller than our office and with five of us in there, it is crowded to the point where we have decided it is not healthy. Breathe in oxygen, breathe out carbon dioxide. We had to open the window today, despite the chill in the air (it is definitely getting colder), because it was so stuffy. It's still okay, though, because I really love the four Afghan guys I am working with. I know I have said it before, and I will probably say it again before this journey is over, but they are a good and dedicated group. I can only hope that this New Year brings some modicum, even if slight, of peace to their ravaged country.
Now it’s 10:41AM, January 1, 2010. Another year gone and a new one has begun. It is the Sabbath, here, so I am off and just hanging out in my room, working on this blog entry and one of our training modules that I am rewriting. I will be going grocery shopping this afternoon with Kelly who has worked for the UN for twenty years in one war zone after another, East Timor and Sudan, to name two. I admire her and all the others I have met who have made the decision to work for an organization that, despite its well known problems, has devoted itself to trying to assist people in the worst imaginable places and situations. It seems interesting to me that there are certain elements in the US who oppose the UN because of bullshit and usually false claims that they are anti-American (our entire non-Afghan team are all Americans), they don’t pay their bills and the rest of the right-wing crap put out by these people—none of whom, as far as I know, has ever lifted a finger to make the world better in even a small way. Okay, so maybe the UN doesn’t pay its bills on time, like rent for their headquarters in New York. Instead, it is funding sixteen peacekeeping missions around the world, many in dangerous, war-ridden areas like Darfur, the Congo, Haiti, Timor, the India-Pakistan border, Kosovo, Lebanon and the Sinai. Then there’s the insane right-wing who say the UN is part of the “New World Order,” who want to enslave us, the black helicopters, secret detention camps and the rest of the delusional shit they preach.
I talked to Mona last night when it was Midnight, here, and again just now at Midnight in Oregon. It was so cool to be able to talk—for free with Skype—and see each other on video. Several of you reading this also have Skype and we either have talked, or hopefully, will in the future. If you want to do this, go to skype.com and download the program. It is free and if you have a video camera, we can video. If you do have Skype, look for my contact info as Stuart A. Steinberg, or VietnamEOD. I just returned from the grocery store. Today, we went to a new place—Karimi’s Supermarket. It was wonderful with many more choices than Finast and Spinney’s, where I had previously gone (in addition to the PX). In fact, the Finast store, which is very close to my living compound, is closed because of a fire last week that caused a gas explosion and blew out all the windows. At Karimi’s, I was able to pick up instant espresso and Coffemate in individual packets, Ruffles (with ridges), peaches and pineapple in juice, not syrup like they have at Finast. I got two one-pound bags of Tillamook Country Smoker (from good ol’ Oregon) beef jerky, Walker’s chocolate chip shortbread from Scotland, Dinty Moore beef stew and turkey breast with smashed pertaters and gravy. They’re good cold, but I am hoping to pick up a microwave when Finast reopens. But here’s the best find of all—I got two eight-ounce packages of Red Leicester (pronounced “Lester”) cheese, some of the best cheddar in the world. It's from England. I will have some later on my Jacquet Francais Toast. It is made in France and is like thin pieces of golden brown toast.
Today was beautiful—blue skies, bright sun, 51°. More of the same tomorrow. It is concerning to my Afghan friends that there has been no snow yet, nor any rain. It is needed, like in Central Oregon, for irrigation and will mean a bad crop year if we don’t getting some. When I flew to Mazar, as I previously blogged and show in a picture, there is snow everywhere once you go to higher elevations. Kabul is at 5,876 feet and you would think there would have been snow by now. I think it is due to the unusually warm weather, including temperatures of the high-twenties and low-thirties at night. The humidity has also been very low—34% today. It is too bad that with all the humanitarian dollars flowing in, here, someone has not figured out how to bring water from all the snow in the mountains at higher elevation. The Kabul River flows near the city and typically swells in size from snowmelt. My guess is that if there is no snow, here, there is less snow at the higher elevations which feed the rivers. There is the Kabul River, but I am assuming that it is so polluted that it is not used for irrigation.
Today is January 3. We made our regular trip to Camp Eggers to the PX, but found when we got there that the bazaar was Friday. I have to develop a better intelligence network since Collie’s guy at Eggers--Fouad, the phone dude--gave us bad intel. The weather was spectacular—it must have been close to 60 at one point and, even now, at 5:30PM, it is 48--blue skies and lots of sun. I went with Kelly and her friend, Amani, who is Palestinian. She works for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. She told me she was staying at the Serena Hotel and, apparently, was unaware of the fact that the Serena has been hit several times by rockets on the ground floor—where her room is. I told her to request a room on a higher floor and, fortunately, she was aware that the hotel has a lot of empty rooms right now. She was very appreciative of my advice.
Today, I was very happy to find that the PX not only had more of the Tillamook Country Smoker steak nuggets, but they had the peppered kind, which are my favorite. Jennifer, a friend in Corvallis, guilt-tripped me about buying them all the last time, so I only bought five bags. I got some more warm socks and t-shirts and a very nice black hoodie that zips. Also, Kelly gave me a nice little table for my coffee pot and toaster. I looked at a microwave at the PX, but it must be ten years old because it weighed a freaking ton. I will go into the city this week and look for something light-weight. We all went to the Green Beans Coffee Shop and sat in the sun drinking good coffee and chatting. Then, we went to some of the little native shops on the base and I bought another scarf, while Kelly and Amani looked at rugs and fur coats. . I was looking for one for my friend, Greg, but could not find anything that was earth-tone in color. Amani had to leave, so Kelly and I went to the Thai restaurant. It was quite good. I had wonderful crispy spring rolls and nuclear Thai chili sauce for dipping. I also had a chicken salad with lots of little pieces of crispy chicken cooked in a hot sauce, with cashews, slivers of ginger and green and red cabbage. I could not resist and had my first Coke since getting here—it was great. It’s amazing how you appreciate some of the weirdest things from back home. Maybe I can find a Big Mac. It is interesting that none of the American fast-food places have set up here--yet.
I heard, today, that the Brits lost an EOD man on New Years’ Eve. This dampened my holiday spirit and reminded me about how dangerous this place is. This is the third British EOD man killed in the past two months. Of course, it was in Helmand Province and he was part of a Counter-IED Team. For you EOD folks, and those of you reading this that are not ex-EOD, we have lost 79 EOD people in Iraq and Afghanistan, including two women. In the Vietnam War, we lost 37. It is a sobering thought. Today, the Iranian border police had eleven of their counter-narcotics border police killed in a shootout with drug traffickers near the Iranian border with Afghanistan. It was across the border from one of our Afghan Border Police outposts. Since 1979, the Iranians have lost 3,300 men fighting narcotics traffickers. It appears they take this war against opium product seriously and I respect them for that.
Well, that's about it for this week. One more thing. I sent out an email about the orphanage in Mazar-i-Sharif and the fact that I am trying to raise funds to help 160 children stay warm this winter. So far, people have offered $2,050. I need to raise another $5,800 to buy winter coats and gloves, thermal underwear and warm socks. I will figure out how to deal with the shipping once I know we have enough for the clothing. Others are helping with firewood and coal and trying to winterize the orphanage. I am hoping that Eveline, who works for the UN Aid Mission, will be sending me some pictures of the orphanage and the kids. Hope to hear from others of you who want to help. Later.
Today was another day at the office, working on projects for the Afghan Border Police and hoping that we get to one of our bases to actually start training ABP officers, sooner, rather than later. Two days ago, we got the word at the office that we were moving from the fourth floor of the main building to a pre-fab trailer on the ground. They are going to turn the top two floors into living quarters because there is a scarcity of safe hotels in Kabul. Our security has very high standards and they are extremely careful when it comes to our safety. Holy, crap, what a pain in the ass the move was. We had to move our desks, filing cabinet (with all the files inside), all of our books, written materials, computers and other hardware and all the other things that have accumulated in the office over the past five years. Up and down, up and down, up and down...four stinkin' flights of stairs. The trailer is much smaller than our office and with five of us in there, it is crowded to the point where we have decided it is not healthy. Breathe in oxygen, breathe out carbon dioxide. We had to open the window today, despite the chill in the air (it is definitely getting colder), because it was so stuffy. It's still okay, though, because I really love the four Afghan guys I am working with. I know I have said it before, and I will probably say it again before this journey is over, but they are a good and dedicated group. I can only hope that this New Year brings some modicum, even if slight, of peace to their ravaged country.
Now it’s 10:41AM, January 1, 2010. Another year gone and a new one has begun. It is the Sabbath, here, so I am off and just hanging out in my room, working on this blog entry and one of our training modules that I am rewriting. I will be going grocery shopping this afternoon with Kelly who has worked for the UN for twenty years in one war zone after another, East Timor and Sudan, to name two. I admire her and all the others I have met who have made the decision to work for an organization that, despite its well known problems, has devoted itself to trying to assist people in the worst imaginable places and situations. It seems interesting to me that there are certain elements in the US who oppose the UN because of bullshit and usually false claims that they are anti-American (our entire non-Afghan team are all Americans), they don’t pay their bills and the rest of the right-wing crap put out by these people—none of whom, as far as I know, has ever lifted a finger to make the world better in even a small way. Okay, so maybe the UN doesn’t pay its bills on time, like rent for their headquarters in New York. Instead, it is funding sixteen peacekeeping missions around the world, many in dangerous, war-ridden areas like Darfur, the Congo, Haiti, Timor, the India-Pakistan border, Kosovo, Lebanon and the Sinai. Then there’s the insane right-wing who say the UN is part of the “New World Order,” who want to enslave us, the black helicopters, secret detention camps and the rest of the delusional shit they preach.
I talked to Mona last night when it was Midnight, here, and again just now at Midnight in Oregon. It was so cool to be able to talk—for free with Skype—and see each other on video. Several of you reading this also have Skype and we either have talked, or hopefully, will in the future. If you want to do this, go to skype.com and download the program. It is free and if you have a video camera, we can video. If you do have Skype, look for my contact info as Stuart A. Steinberg, or VietnamEOD. I just returned from the grocery store. Today, we went to a new place—Karimi’s Supermarket. It was wonderful with many more choices than Finast and Spinney’s, where I had previously gone (in addition to the PX). In fact, the Finast store, which is very close to my living compound, is closed because of a fire last week that caused a gas explosion and blew out all the windows. At Karimi’s, I was able to pick up instant espresso and Coffemate in individual packets, Ruffles (with ridges), peaches and pineapple in juice, not syrup like they have at Finast. I got two one-pound bags of Tillamook Country Smoker (from good ol’ Oregon) beef jerky, Walker’s chocolate chip shortbread from Scotland, Dinty Moore beef stew and turkey breast with smashed pertaters and gravy. They’re good cold, but I am hoping to pick up a microwave when Finast reopens. But here’s the best find of all—I got two eight-ounce packages of Red Leicester (pronounced “Lester”) cheese, some of the best cheddar in the world. It's from England. I will have some later on my Jacquet Francais Toast. It is made in France and is like thin pieces of golden brown toast.
Today was beautiful—blue skies, bright sun, 51°. More of the same tomorrow. It is concerning to my Afghan friends that there has been no snow yet, nor any rain. It is needed, like in Central Oregon, for irrigation and will mean a bad crop year if we don’t getting some. When I flew to Mazar, as I previously blogged and show in a picture, there is snow everywhere once you go to higher elevations. Kabul is at 5,876 feet and you would think there would have been snow by now. I think it is due to the unusually warm weather, including temperatures of the high-twenties and low-thirties at night. The humidity has also been very low—34% today. It is too bad that with all the humanitarian dollars flowing in, here, someone has not figured out how to bring water from all the snow in the mountains at higher elevation. The Kabul River flows near the city and typically swells in size from snowmelt. My guess is that if there is no snow, here, there is less snow at the higher elevations which feed the rivers. There is the Kabul River, but I am assuming that it is so polluted that it is not used for irrigation.
Today is January 3. We made our regular trip to Camp Eggers to the PX, but found when we got there that the bazaar was Friday. I have to develop a better intelligence network since Collie’s guy at Eggers--Fouad, the phone dude--gave us bad intel. The weather was spectacular—it must have been close to 60 at one point and, even now, at 5:30PM, it is 48--blue skies and lots of sun. I went with Kelly and her friend, Amani, who is Palestinian. She works for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. She told me she was staying at the Serena Hotel and, apparently, was unaware of the fact that the Serena has been hit several times by rockets on the ground floor—where her room is. I told her to request a room on a higher floor and, fortunately, she was aware that the hotel has a lot of empty rooms right now. She was very appreciative of my advice.
Today, I was very happy to find that the PX not only had more of the Tillamook Country Smoker steak nuggets, but they had the peppered kind, which are my favorite. Jennifer, a friend in Corvallis, guilt-tripped me about buying them all the last time, so I only bought five bags. I got some more warm socks and t-shirts and a very nice black hoodie that zips. Also, Kelly gave me a nice little table for my coffee pot and toaster. I looked at a microwave at the PX, but it must be ten years old because it weighed a freaking ton. I will go into the city this week and look for something light-weight. We all went to the Green Beans Coffee Shop and sat in the sun drinking good coffee and chatting. Then, we went to some of the little native shops on the base and I bought another scarf, while Kelly and Amani looked at rugs and fur coats. . I was looking for one for my friend, Greg, but could not find anything that was earth-tone in color. Amani had to leave, so Kelly and I went to the Thai restaurant. It was quite good. I had wonderful crispy spring rolls and nuclear Thai chili sauce for dipping. I also had a chicken salad with lots of little pieces of crispy chicken cooked in a hot sauce, with cashews, slivers of ginger and green and red cabbage. I could not resist and had my first Coke since getting here—it was great. It’s amazing how you appreciate some of the weirdest things from back home. Maybe I can find a Big Mac. It is interesting that none of the American fast-food places have set up here--yet.
I heard, today, that the Brits lost an EOD man on New Years’ Eve. This dampened my holiday spirit and reminded me about how dangerous this place is. This is the third British EOD man killed in the past two months. Of course, it was in Helmand Province and he was part of a Counter-IED Team. For you EOD folks, and those of you reading this that are not ex-EOD, we have lost 79 EOD people in Iraq and Afghanistan, including two women. In the Vietnam War, we lost 37. It is a sobering thought. Today, the Iranian border police had eleven of their counter-narcotics border police killed in a shootout with drug traffickers near the Iranian border with Afghanistan. It was across the border from one of our Afghan Border Police outposts. Since 1979, the Iranians have lost 3,300 men fighting narcotics traffickers. It appears they take this war against opium product seriously and I respect them for that.
Well, that's about it for this week. One more thing. I sent out an email about the orphanage in Mazar-i-Sharif and the fact that I am trying to raise funds to help 160 children stay warm this winter. So far, people have offered $2,050. I need to raise another $5,800 to buy winter coats and gloves, thermal underwear and warm socks. I will figure out how to deal with the shipping once I know we have enough for the clothing. Others are helping with firewood and coal and trying to winterize the orphanage. I am hoping that Eveline, who works for the UN Aid Mission, will be sending me some pictures of the orphanage and the kids. Hope to hear from others of you who want to help. Later.
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