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It is January 29. This has been a good and productive week, although there have been a couple of negative events. On Tuesday, January 26, there was a suicide bombing near Camp Phoenix, one of the US bases on Jalalabad Road, which I have previously mentioned is also known as “Bomb Alley.” The bomber was aiming for a US convoy and either set his device off too early, wasn’t close enough, or the bomb didn’t contain enough explosives. Eight US soldiers and six civilians were wounded and, thank God, no one was killed. Three of the wounded civilians were interpreters for the military.
Yesterday, another US convoy was traveling in the same area and thought a car was a bomber and opened fire. They killed a local, and very popular, Imam, who was traveling with his two young sons and, apparently, picking up another son from a religious school. The kids were not hurt. As always happens when these events occur, there are conflicting stories. The first story by the military is that the Imam got his car too close to the convoy. Local people who saw what happened say the Imam was sitting on a side road, engine idling, waiting for his son to exit the religious school when the convoy opened fire with no warning. The National Police called it “an accident.” Whether it was a legitimate response to a perceived threat after taking proper actions before opening fire (hand signals first, then warning shots), or a complete fuckup, is yet to be seen. In either event, it caused a large and noisy demonstration because this was a popular young preacher with two wives and ten kids. I will be following the investigation of this event with interest. It is hard to win over the Afghan people when we continue to kill them in this fashion, unless it appeared to be a clear threat and the Imam ignored the hand signals and warning shots, assuming they were given.
My friend, Tony, whom I have mentioned several times in previous posts, is finally here. I picked him up Monday, the 25th, at the Kabul International Airport and it was just great to see him coming across the parking lot. He was not at the office five minutes and had already jumped back into the fray as if he had not been gone for almost six months. All of the Afghans in the office were as glad to see him as I was and believe that he can make some things happen for our program that have been getting put off for a lot of reasons I don’t understand and that make no sense. Of course, my on-again, off-again move to Herat and our eventual move to Zaranj are two of those things.
In the meantime, Tony has already given me several assignments that concern making our program better and will provide needed information for the countries who donate funding for our program and the various projects we are involved in. So, my work on the training modules is on hold right now as I begin the process of researching the issues for the first project, which is putting together a Border Liaison Office project. This will bring our police officers and their leaders into close working relationships with their counterparts across the border in Iran and Pakistan. This is not a new idea for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, who provides assistance to similar projects in other parts of the world. It is now time for Afghanistan to implement a similar program and we have been given the task of making that happen.
I have been reading a ton of material that I was able to find on the web about this program as it has been instituted in other parts of the world, particularly on the borders of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, China and even Myanmar. There is also a cross-border program being developed between Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, and then Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Nearly 20% of the opiates leaving Afghanistan are trafficked into Central Asia and most of that goes through Tajikistan. Their Drug Control Agency (the DCA) has been very successful in interdicting narcotics and UNODC is hopeful that a meaningful and productive program can also be established along the Afghanistan border with these Central Asian countries.
It’s been a week since I last wrote and now it’s February 6. A lot has happened. First—and, of course—last week Tony and I got the word that we had to move again. This is my sixth move in two months. We moved to the UNOCHA compound. UNOCHA is the main UN humanitarian affairs organization and their compound is way the hell out Jalalabad Road, the place I talked about, above, where the bombing and the shooting of the Imam occurred. ISAF and many of the other NATO forces have their big combat bases on Jalalabad Road, so their convoys are regular targets. You have to make sure that your driver stays far back from a convoy, or even two or three military vehicles traveling together. If traffic is good, it’s a thirty minute ride to the office. If traffic is bad—which is pretty regularly—it can take an hour or more. One day it took Collie two hours to get here. So, by and large, it totally sucks.
Although our new quarters are pretty nice, there are some problems. We are living in pre-fab containers that are about 20-x-10. They are new and we each have our own bathroom, which actually has good water pressure. So, taking a shower doesn’t take forever and you can wash the soap out of your hair. We have no internet or TV cable, yet, and they say it will be taken care of in 3-4 days, but Tony says that, in Afghanistan, that could mean a month. It is called, “Afghanistan Time.” The furniture is also new, but the lacquer hasn’t quite cured and when the heat is on, the fumes are pretty bad. Then there’s the power outlet situation. The way the container is laid out, the main power outlet is behind the bed and about six feet away from the desk. The microwave is located on a shelf above the desk, so that’s not near the plug, either. And, today, the management told us that they would not have power strips—or freaking sheets for the bed—for 3-4 days. It’s weird…everything is 3-4 days. We are going to the PX at Camp Eggers later to get sheets, some small rugs for the floor and power strips so we can plug things in. We also have to provide our own drinking water, which we got free each day when we were living at UNICA and when I was at the UNODC compound, there are water dispensers on each floor. What a pain in the ass, but, after all, it is Afghanistan.
Twice this week, Tony and I have met with someone from the Nimroz area about their needs. It was very interesting that the top three issues were agriculture, training and jobs for women and education for their children. They also want to do something about the drugs going through their area, which is why he came to see us. There have apparently been some other agencies—military and civilian—who have come into this area in the past, made a lot of promises and then either not followed through or just left without doing anything. There is an engineer there from some company with a contract to help them bring water from the Helmand River to their farming areas for irrigation. Apparently, the company’s security people told the engineer it “wasn’t safe,” so, according to the man we met with, he never leaves his office and has done nothing. I’m not sure what we can do about the water situation, but it is something I intend to look into.
Today is February 8. We are still without internet, cable and the other items at our new living quarters. I called the development manager and asked about the internet and the cable and was told—on the fourth day of being here—that it would be another 3-4 days before we have these things. I guess Tony may be right and that, on “Afghanistan Time,” this might mean a month which will really piss me off. I did find out today that, at least, we do have laundry service that is part of our rent, although they forgot to issue us the laundry bags which our clothes “must be in.” It has snowed for the last three days, off and on, and rained some, as well. This is good for the farmers, but, man, these guys cannot drive in this stuff and they don’t use snow tires or chains. The last two mornings, we have seen a number of vehicles off the road, crashed into phone poles and flipped over on their roofs. Our drivers, thank God, are relatively skilled at driving, even at high speeds, in the snow, so that’s good.
Yesterday, we got into a big fight with the head driver over being picked up at 6:00AM, instead of at the normal 7:15 time. If you take the 7:15 ride, you have to stop at another facility and pick up people there and, then, you’re screwed by rush hour traffic. Plus, you are sitting in traffic on Jalalabad Road at a time when military convoys could be pulling out, or coming back in. There are also as many as six people in the rig, which also makes you a target, especially in a vehicle that is marked “UN.” The ride yesterday took an hour. So, this morning, even though the driver was supposed to be here at six, he arrived at 6:20. Still, even after we stopped to pick up Collie at Green Village, we were at the office in thirty minutes. Tony went to the head of the drivers, Fida, and made it clear that we were to be picked up at six. Fida said we would be picked up at six tomorrow. We will see.
One of the tasks that Tony has given me is to do a weekly news briefing on stories that relate to what we do, or the Afghan Border Police and other National Security Forces. Or stories that I find of interest. This week, apparently, the Taliban are in “blow up an animal mode.” You couldn’t make this one up if you tried. Two days ago, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle drove his bike into a crowd at a dog fight and killed three people and wounded nine. Unless he was a member of the Taliban branch of the Animal Liberation Front, I am unclear of the tactical significance of bombing a dog fight. I am hoping that the dogs got away in the confusion. Then, today, the Afghan National Police stopped another suicide bomber on his donkey—I swear—carrying 200 kilograms of explosives. I am grateful they were on the watch and that the donkey is doing okay, although he now apparently has PTSD.
Well, that’s it for the last two weeks and I want to get this up. Don’t forget to get flowers, or something nice, for your significant other for Valentine’s Day. For the EOD people on the blog list, I made my reservations for the convention and the Memorial Foundation ball and dance. Looking forward to seeing all of you there. Duffy—no excuses this time!! Be there…or else.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
STILL NO HIRAT AND MY CAT IS MISSING. ANOTHER VICTIM OF THE TALIBAN?
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.
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 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.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
PUFO, MAZAR-i-SHARIF, MY NEW ROOM
Today is December 19 and I learned a new term from Simon in Counter-Narcotics: "PUFO". "Pack Up and Get the Fuck Out." There was an explosion about an hour ago and, of course, we all assumed it was a bombing related to Karzai's coming announcement about his cabinet and parliament appointments. So, we got ready to "PUFO" and were to be taken to our living compounds before they locked everyone down where they were located which, for me, would have been in the office. I broke down my computer and packed up all my gear, grabbed a bunch of reading material and left to catch my rig to the compound. Then, Mark, my main boss in law enforcement, came in and said it was a controlled detonation in one of the military bases and there were no security issues. Then I had to "UnPUFO", a phrase I made up on the spot which cracked everyone up. It was interesting that whenever the explosion went off, I didn't even hear it. Or maybe I just spaced it out.
Even though I have only been exposed to one bombing since arriving, maybe I've already assimilated the fact that it is a way of life here and there is nothing you can do about it. Thirty seconds after it happens, everything is back to normal. Well, I guess as normal as it can possibly ever be, here. It was the same way in Vietnam; just a fact of life in a war zone.This afternoon my big boss, Jean-Luc, took several of us to lunch at a wonderful Korean restaurant inside a very secure and heavily guarded compound. I think it is a private compound owned by the restaurant owners. We had this dish called “hot pot.” It is a wok on a gas hot plate and it cooks noodles, several different types of meat, scallions and veggies in a wonderful spicy hot sauce. Then you eat it over sticky rice. I also had spicy hot spinach with garlic and some really, really strong coffee. It was a nice change from the meals that are prepared for us at the office kitchen. There, we typically have things like barbecued chicken, beef stew, rice and beans, potatoes, soup with veggies, nice salads with cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes and cukes. They also make this wonderful, chewy flat bread. It’s kind of like tandoori, but way bigger. It’s funny, but I have never eaten "cukes" and tomatoes because for some reason I thought I didn't like them. Here, you eat what there is and now I guess I like them. The best part is that I pay $30 a month for breakfast and lunch. A dollar a day!!
I got a response from NATO today about my request to make contact with the Afghan EOD School. They forwarded it to someone who can make this happen. I am very excited about the opportunity to meet the trainers and see what they teach their students during a grueling six-month course and what they might offer our program with the Afghan Border Police. Given the remote locations of our posts on the Iranian border, the chances of getting EOD support when needed is virtually impossible. Unfortunately the same is true for close air support and med-e-evac. This has cost some of our ABP officers their lives. I have this idea that we might send some of our Afghan Border Police through the program and then have ABP EOD teams at the battalion (Kandak) level. Imagine the prestige for these men, and their units, and what they could then do for their fellow officers. A very nice Air Force 1st Lieutenant responded for NATO and kept calling me “sir.” I had to write back and tell him he could just call me “Stu” because I had been an enlisted man.
Today is December 22. I am in the UN “safe” (I’ll explain further on) compound at Mazar-i-Sharif and have been in this city since about 1PM, yesterday. It is 4:30PM, now, and the power has been off for about thirty minutes—oops…it’s back on. Oops…back off. Now, back on. It goes back and forth from city power (which is crap) to our own generators, which are quite good. We are in the far north of Afghanistan, close to the border with Uzbekistan. This is a major narcotics trafficking area, due to its remoteness and really shitty roads once you leave the city and head north for the border. Daud, Asef and I flew out of Kabul yesterday about 10:30AM on a UN DeHavilland Dash 8. It is a thirty-seven seat turbo-prop and was quite comfortable, especially since I had two seats to myself. We first landed in Fayzabad in the far northeast province of Badakhshan and it was a totally amazing experience. I had dozed off with my MP3 player blasting one of the newest Black Sabbath tunes into my ears They called themselves “Heaven and Hell” when they got back together in 2007—live at Radio City Music Hall—after their monster 1980 album by that name. If you don’t own this album, you should. And remember…”If it ain’t metal, it’s crap!”
When the plane hit the runway, I was jolted awake by the fact it was made of "PSP"—pierced steel plate. Holy crap, you Vietnam guys, does that ring a bell, or what? Many small fire bases and remote LZs in Vietnam had runways made of PSP and if you haven’t dropped suddenly onto one of these (usually very short) things…well. It could be pretty exciting since the plane typically stopped just before going into a rice paddy, or off the side of a mountain. When you took off, it was a total experience because these runways were so short you thought you would go off the end before lifting off, then, "whang,” almost straight up. For those of you who weren't in Vietnam, if you've seen the Mel Gibson-Robert Downey Jr. movie, "Air America," you have an idea of what I'm talking about. Fortunately, this one had plenty of length. We were only on the ground for ten minutes and then flew off to Kunduz back to the west in Balkh Province (regular runway) and, finally, into Mazar-i-Sharif. I have to tell you that flying over the snow-covered mountain ranges from Kabul to Mazar was a humbling experience, with them coming one after the other and each increasing in altitude and snow cover. They were stunningly beautiful and visually silent in their extreme remoteness and deep, white snow. You would see remote villages 17,000 feet below and wonder how they survived (which they have for thousands of years). Many of them had no roads in and out and are completely snow-bound for several months. I was trying to figure out what they use for heat since I saw no trees.
When you fly into Mazar (the short name), you immediately see the immense ISAF base called RC-North (Regional Command). I mean, huge—with long runways at the airbase, giant transports, advanced jet bombers and gobs of heavily armed helicopters from many nations. Everywhere there were armored vehicles of all shapes and sizes, also armed to the teeth with heavy machine guns, mini-guns, grenade launchers and all other sorts of hardware. It made me immediately feel very safe. This is where Daud, Asef and I would make our presentation to RC-North about our program along the Iranian border. Our driver from the local UNODC office was there to meet us at the airport and took us to the office where I met the Regional Manager. I later learned that both of them had come in from vacation to assist us. They saw that lunch was prepared–rice and vermicelli with raisins, a local favorite, and wonderful green tea.
We left for the RC-North base about two-thirty and got there about three. We were thirty minutes early and the officer who met us suggested we check out the bazaar. I bought a nice purple, black and white Afghan silk scarf which I now wear. Get this—the first officer we met was a Croatian captain. As soon as he saw me, he said, “Hey, EOD,” and pointed to his EOD badge. He was a captain Jerman and we shook hands heartily. What are the odds? Even, here, it is a small world. The meeting started late because we had to wait for the Rule-of-Law guy from the US State Department. He was the only American left in his office due to holiday leaves and he had already been to three meetings that day. Our host, a colonel from the Swedish Army, greeted us warmly, as did the American Army guys. ISAF meeting, there were representatives there from several of the NATO forces, as well as the local head of the Afghan Customs Department and a general from the Afghan Customs Police. I was unsure why no one was there from the Afghan Border Police, but it may have been because their trainers/mentors are with a US contractor and they have a very closed and secretive way of doing things. In fact, ten minutes into Daud’s part of our presentation, the two contractor reps got up and left without saying a word. If they had someplace to go and had to leave because the meeting started late, they could have said something. I thought it was very rude and very discourteous to our hosts and the Afghan government officials. They are running a mentoring program with the Afghan Border Police in the north so, naturally, we were very interested in talking to them and learning what they are doing.
Our presentation went extremely well and we were thanked profusely by our host, as well as the US Army personnel who were there. Daud did the photo part of the presentation and I handled the data part. Let me tell you about our officers and what they go through to protect their country from the scourge of opium products and precursor chemicals. In 2007, alone, they had 900 men killed in action--in all of the eight-and-a-half-years of this war, ISAF forces have lost something over 1,500. The ABP is paid $180 a month, hardly a living wage. Given the importance of what the ABP does, I do not understand this lack of a living wage. They have no benefits and usually live away from their families, which is a very big deal here. They get about $0.70 a day in food and live in remote areas in total bad guy country. It is not surprising that the desertion rate is very high and who can blame them? In one remote outpost on the Iranian border, there are seven ABP officers in a post that is nothing more than a large mud hut. No blast walls, no barbwire, no anti-personnel mines. They have no heavy machine guns or mortars. One hit from an RPG-7 or a 120mm mortar and the place turns to dust. Every time they seize drugs or weapons and munitions, they deny the Anti-Coalition Militias their main source of funding for weapons, munitions and explosives. So, when you think you're having a bad day, think about these men.
I’m not going to go into a whole lot of detail on the remainder of the trip to Mazar, other than to say that the next day, Daud and Asef took me to the Blue Mosque and we were able to walk around the entire place. As the pictures show, it is stunningly beautiful. At night, it is lit up like the biggest Christmas tree you have ever seen, with brilliant flashing red, green, yellow and blue lights. Apparently, they actually have a staff that plans the lighting display and they change the design every few days. Man, I’d hate to see the electric bill for this. As we walked in front of the main entrance, I noticed white birds and asked Daud if they were doves. They were—get this—white pigeons and they are revered as part of the mosque experience. I explained to him and Asef that in the States, the pigeons are mostly grey and we refer to them as “flying rats.” I told them why. As we walked a little further, there was a large area on the well manicured grounds that was surrounded by a low picket-type fence. Inside were all kinds of ducks—mallards, wood ducks, little white ducks—and the people were feeding them. A woman walked by me carrying a little black lamb in her arms to be blessed. As we walked around the perimeter, I noticed that many of the people there were looking at me. I may have been the first Westerner they had seen that was not carrying guns. As we were leaving, I saw an old man with deformed legs who was sitting on the sidewalk with a small hand broom and sweeping the dirt away. I was compelled to do something and I gave him 100 Afghan dollars, about $2.00 US—he kissed my hand and I got a little choked up.
The rest of the time in Mazar, until I left Wednesday morning on December 23, I stayed at the safe house, except for one trip to the UNODC office to take care of some admin issues. I worked online doing research on a number of topics, learning about the farm programs being run by some of the other people staying there. Eveline, who is from Austria, works with orphans. Most of their parents were killed by the Taliban or other Anti-Coalition Militias. As she told me of these kids’ plight, it made me remember how the Oregon State Council of Vietnam Veterans of America had assisted an orphanage in Cambodia. The children there were from the Montagnard, Rhade and other native tribes of Vietnam and their parents, as well, had been murdered by a despotic, despicable government. I knew right then I was going to do something to help Eveline. These kids have no heat in the orphanage that is reliable and winter is fast approaching the Northern provinces. They need socks, underwear, thermal underwear, pants and shirts, winter coats, gloves, shoes and boots. You Vietnam guys will be hearing from me later about this after I learn more detail about the kids’ ages and sizes, as well as the number of boys and the number of girls.
On December 24, I moved to my permanent room at UNICA1. I was really lucky in this regard because rooms are scarce and there are waiting lists for all four safe locations. UNICA1 is the best because it is only 200 yards from the office, the restaurant (if you want to eat there) is superb, there is a gym, bar, free coffee, laundry service and lots of Gurkha security. Here’s the best part. First, my room is on the second floor, off the ground in case of an incoming attack. I am in the last room on the left in my hallway, but at the end of the hall are two double doors leading to a suite that belongs to the a Close Protection Team. These guys are armed to the teeth. They saw my EOD tattoo and were very happy to have me as a neighbor…you never know whose skills will come in handy. You can see in the picture that I have a window that gets good sun and it opens so I can get fresh air and air out my stinky cigarette smoke. My new TV had only rabbit ears the first night because the cable has to be turned on. I was watching soccer from England on an Indian station. What a trip. The sportscaster was yelling in Hindi and it was a riot. All the other stations are in various Afghan and Arabic languages.
On Christmas, the restaurant staff outdid themselves and it was quite amazing and wonderful. We had brunch at 11AM—omelets, bacon, sausage, potatoes, croissants and other rolls, fresh fruit and pineapple juice (mimosas for those who wanted it), all kinds of pastries and cheeses (I had some really ripe Gorgonzola). The dinner that night was even more incredible. It was probably the best holiday meal I have ever eaten, even better than the ones I have prepared. There was turkey, roast beef and lamb; mashed and roasted potatoes; steamed carrots, squash and cauliflower; all kinds of fresh rolls, cheeses, fruit, shrimp cocktail and a wonderful peppery gravy. The desserts were…well…unreal. There was a chocolate roll cake that had absolutely the best chocolate I have ever tasted. At the end of the meal, Pope (the food services manager) brought in his staff and we gave them a standing ovation.
Well, I guess that’s enough got this post. My associate, Daud, who took the pictures in Mazar, is not here today because it is a religious holiday. I will add them later. I hope that everyone had a great Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa. And if you see the Kwanzaa-Bot, tell him I said, “Hi.” That’s for all you Futurama fans.
Even though I have only been exposed to one bombing since arriving, maybe I've already assimilated the fact that it is a way of life here and there is nothing you can do about it. Thirty seconds after it happens, everything is back to normal. Well, I guess as normal as it can possibly ever be, here. It was the same way in Vietnam; just a fact of life in a war zone.This afternoon my big boss, Jean-Luc, took several of us to lunch at a wonderful Korean restaurant inside a very secure and heavily guarded compound. I think it is a private compound owned by the restaurant owners. We had this dish called “hot pot.” It is a wok on a gas hot plate and it cooks noodles, several different types of meat, scallions and veggies in a wonderful spicy hot sauce. Then you eat it over sticky rice. I also had spicy hot spinach with garlic and some really, really strong coffee. It was a nice change from the meals that are prepared for us at the office kitchen. There, we typically have things like barbecued chicken, beef stew, rice and beans, potatoes, soup with veggies, nice salads with cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes and cukes. They also make this wonderful, chewy flat bread. It’s kind of like tandoori, but way bigger. It’s funny, but I have never eaten "cukes" and tomatoes because for some reason I thought I didn't like them. Here, you eat what there is and now I guess I like them. The best part is that I pay $30 a month for breakfast and lunch. A dollar a day!!
I got a response from NATO today about my request to make contact with the Afghan EOD School. They forwarded it to someone who can make this happen. I am very excited about the opportunity to meet the trainers and see what they teach their students during a grueling six-month course and what they might offer our program with the Afghan Border Police. Given the remote locations of our posts on the Iranian border, the chances of getting EOD support when needed is virtually impossible. Unfortunately the same is true for close air support and med-e-evac. This has cost some of our ABP officers their lives. I have this idea that we might send some of our Afghan Border Police through the program and then have ABP EOD teams at the battalion (Kandak) level. Imagine the prestige for these men, and their units, and what they could then do for their fellow officers. A very nice Air Force 1st Lieutenant responded for NATO and kept calling me “sir.” I had to write back and tell him he could just call me “Stu” because I had been an enlisted man.
Today is December 22. I am in the UN “safe” (I’ll explain further on) compound at Mazar-i-Sharif and have been in this city since about 1PM, yesterday. It is 4:30PM, now, and the power has been off for about thirty minutes—oops…it’s back on. Oops…back off. Now, back on. It goes back and forth from city power (which is crap) to our own generators, which are quite good. We are in the far north of Afghanistan, close to the border with Uzbekistan. This is a major narcotics trafficking area, due to its remoteness and really shitty roads once you leave the city and head north for the border. Daud, Asef and I flew out of Kabul yesterday about 10:30AM on a UN DeHavilland Dash 8. It is a thirty-seven seat turbo-prop and was quite comfortable, especially since I had two seats to myself. We first landed in Fayzabad in the far northeast province of Badakhshan and it was a totally amazing experience. I had dozed off with my MP3 player blasting one of the newest Black Sabbath tunes into my ears They called themselves “Heaven and Hell” when they got back together in 2007—live at Radio City Music Hall—after their monster 1980 album by that name. If you don’t own this album, you should. And remember…”If it ain’t metal, it’s crap!”
When the plane hit the runway, I was jolted awake by the fact it was made of "PSP"—pierced steel plate. Holy crap, you Vietnam guys, does that ring a bell, or what? Many small fire bases and remote LZs in Vietnam had runways made of PSP and if you haven’t dropped suddenly onto one of these (usually very short) things…well. It could be pretty exciting since the plane typically stopped just before going into a rice paddy, or off the side of a mountain. When you took off, it was a total experience because these runways were so short you thought you would go off the end before lifting off, then, "whang,” almost straight up. For those of you who weren't in Vietnam, if you've seen the Mel Gibson-Robert Downey Jr. movie, "Air America," you have an idea of what I'm talking about. Fortunately, this one had plenty of length. We were only on the ground for ten minutes and then flew off to Kunduz back to the west in Balkh Province (regular runway) and, finally, into Mazar-i-Sharif. I have to tell you that flying over the snow-covered mountain ranges from Kabul to Mazar was a humbling experience, with them coming one after the other and each increasing in altitude and snow cover. They were stunningly beautiful and visually silent in their extreme remoteness and deep, white snow. You would see remote villages 17,000 feet below and wonder how they survived (which they have for thousands of years). Many of them had no roads in and out and are completely snow-bound for several months. I was trying to figure out what they use for heat since I saw no trees.
When you fly into Mazar (the short name), you immediately see the immense ISAF base called RC-North (Regional Command). I mean, huge—with long runways at the airbase, giant transports, advanced jet bombers and gobs of heavily armed helicopters from many nations. Everywhere there were armored vehicles of all shapes and sizes, also armed to the teeth with heavy machine guns, mini-guns, grenade launchers and all other sorts of hardware. It made me immediately feel very safe. This is where Daud, Asef and I would make our presentation to RC-North about our program along the Iranian border. Our driver from the local UNODC office was there to meet us at the airport and took us to the office where I met the Regional Manager. I later learned that both of them had come in from vacation to assist us. They saw that lunch was prepared–rice and vermicelli with raisins, a local favorite, and wonderful green tea.
We left for the RC-North base about two-thirty and got there about three. We were thirty minutes early and the officer who met us suggested we check out the bazaar. I bought a nice purple, black and white Afghan silk scarf which I now wear. Get this—the first officer we met was a Croatian captain. As soon as he saw me, he said, “Hey, EOD,” and pointed to his EOD badge. He was a captain Jerman and we shook hands heartily. What are the odds? Even, here, it is a small world. The meeting started late because we had to wait for the Rule-of-Law guy from the US State Department. He was the only American left in his office due to holiday leaves and he had already been to three meetings that day. Our host, a colonel from the Swedish Army, greeted us warmly, as did the American Army guys. ISAF meeting, there were representatives there from several of the NATO forces, as well as the local head of the Afghan Customs Department and a general from the Afghan Customs Police. I was unsure why no one was there from the Afghan Border Police, but it may have been because their trainers/mentors are with a US contractor and they have a very closed and secretive way of doing things. In fact, ten minutes into Daud’s part of our presentation, the two contractor reps got up and left without saying a word. If they had someplace to go and had to leave because the meeting started late, they could have said something. I thought it was very rude and very discourteous to our hosts and the Afghan government officials. They are running a mentoring program with the Afghan Border Police in the north so, naturally, we were very interested in talking to them and learning what they are doing.
Our presentation went extremely well and we were thanked profusely by our host, as well as the US Army personnel who were there. Daud did the photo part of the presentation and I handled the data part. Let me tell you about our officers and what they go through to protect their country from the scourge of opium products and precursor chemicals. In 2007, alone, they had 900 men killed in action--in all of the eight-and-a-half-years of this war, ISAF forces have lost something over 1,500. The ABP is paid $180 a month, hardly a living wage. Given the importance of what the ABP does, I do not understand this lack of a living wage. They have no benefits and usually live away from their families, which is a very big deal here. They get about $0.70 a day in food and live in remote areas in total bad guy country. It is not surprising that the desertion rate is very high and who can blame them? In one remote outpost on the Iranian border, there are seven ABP officers in a post that is nothing more than a large mud hut. No blast walls, no barbwire, no anti-personnel mines. They have no heavy machine guns or mortars. One hit from an RPG-7 or a 120mm mortar and the place turns to dust. Every time they seize drugs or weapons and munitions, they deny the Anti-Coalition Militias their main source of funding for weapons, munitions and explosives. So, when you think you're having a bad day, think about these men.
I’m not going to go into a whole lot of detail on the remainder of the trip to Mazar, other than to say that the next day, Daud and Asef took me to the Blue Mosque and we were able to walk around the entire place. As the pictures show, it is stunningly beautiful. At night, it is lit up like the biggest Christmas tree you have ever seen, with brilliant flashing red, green, yellow and blue lights. Apparently, they actually have a staff that plans the lighting display and they change the design every few days. Man, I’d hate to see the electric bill for this. As we walked in front of the main entrance, I noticed white birds and asked Daud if they were doves. They were—get this—white pigeons and they are revered as part of the mosque experience. I explained to him and Asef that in the States, the pigeons are mostly grey and we refer to them as “flying rats.” I told them why. As we walked a little further, there was a large area on the well manicured grounds that was surrounded by a low picket-type fence. Inside were all kinds of ducks—mallards, wood ducks, little white ducks—and the people were feeding them. A woman walked by me carrying a little black lamb in her arms to be blessed. As we walked around the perimeter, I noticed that many of the people there were looking at me. I may have been the first Westerner they had seen that was not carrying guns. As we were leaving, I saw an old man with deformed legs who was sitting on the sidewalk with a small hand broom and sweeping the dirt away. I was compelled to do something and I gave him 100 Afghan dollars, about $2.00 US—he kissed my hand and I got a little choked up.
The rest of the time in Mazar, until I left Wednesday morning on December 23, I stayed at the safe house, except for one trip to the UNODC office to take care of some admin issues. I worked online doing research on a number of topics, learning about the farm programs being run by some of the other people staying there. Eveline, who is from Austria, works with orphans. Most of their parents were killed by the Taliban or other Anti-Coalition Militias. As she told me of these kids’ plight, it made me remember how the Oregon State Council of Vietnam Veterans of America had assisted an orphanage in Cambodia. The children there were from the Montagnard, Rhade and other native tribes of Vietnam and their parents, as well, had been murdered by a despotic, despicable government. I knew right then I was going to do something to help Eveline. These kids have no heat in the orphanage that is reliable and winter is fast approaching the Northern provinces. They need socks, underwear, thermal underwear, pants and shirts, winter coats, gloves, shoes and boots. You Vietnam guys will be hearing from me later about this after I learn more detail about the kids’ ages and sizes, as well as the number of boys and the number of girls.
On December 24, I moved to my permanent room at UNICA1. I was really lucky in this regard because rooms are scarce and there are waiting lists for all four safe locations. UNICA1 is the best because it is only 200 yards from the office, the restaurant (if you want to eat there) is superb, there is a gym, bar, free coffee, laundry service and lots of Gurkha security. Here’s the best part. First, my room is on the second floor, off the ground in case of an incoming attack. I am in the last room on the left in my hallway, but at the end of the hall are two double doors leading to a suite that belongs to the a Close Protection Team. These guys are armed to the teeth. They saw my EOD tattoo and were very happy to have me as a neighbor…you never know whose skills will come in handy. You can see in the picture that I have a window that gets good sun and it opens so I can get fresh air and air out my stinky cigarette smoke. My new TV had only rabbit ears the first night because the cable has to be turned on. I was watching soccer from England on an Indian station. What a trip. The sportscaster was yelling in Hindi and it was a riot. All the other stations are in various Afghan and Arabic languages.
On Christmas, the restaurant staff outdid themselves and it was quite amazing and wonderful. We had brunch at 11AM—omelets, bacon, sausage, potatoes, croissants and other rolls, fresh fruit and pineapple juice (mimosas for those who wanted it), all kinds of pastries and cheeses (I had some really ripe Gorgonzola). The dinner that night was even more incredible. It was probably the best holiday meal I have ever eaten, even better than the ones I have prepared. There was turkey, roast beef and lamb; mashed and roasted potatoes; steamed carrots, squash and cauliflower; all kinds of fresh rolls, cheeses, fruit, shrimp cocktail and a wonderful peppery gravy. The desserts were…well…unreal. There was a chocolate roll cake that had absolutely the best chocolate I have ever tasted. At the end of the meal, Pope (the food services manager) brought in his staff and we gave them a standing ovation.
Well, I guess that’s enough got this post. My associate, Daud, who took the pictures in Mazar, is not here today because it is a religious holiday. I will add them later. I hope that everyone had a great Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa. And if you see the Kwanzaa-Bot, tell him I said, “Hi.” That’s for all you Futurama fans.
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