Web access down & school supplies drive needs shipping $$

Posted on 03/10/2010 by afghanistanmylasttour

From Liisa, SMSgt Temple’s wife: So the Wi-Fi Internet service for the troops that allows Rex to use his laptop in his B-Hut cubicle went down AGAIN. Luckily Rex managed to get through on the telephone to WUSF’s Bobbie O’Brien after waiting for 1.5 hours; the line for the MRW computers was also another 1.5 hours so no blog entry from him tonight. But if you live in the Tampa Bay area you can hear him on the radio on 89.7 FM around 5:30 pm during “All Things Considered.” (The piece will repeat tomorrow morning during “Morning Edition.”

Marine Lt. Col. Brian Christmas listens as an interpreter translates the concerns of Marjah residents about opening a school. Local people fear the Taliban who have remained in the area, hidden among the population. Some residents have received "night letters" — notes from Taliban fighters threatening them with death if they deal with NATO or Afghan government troops. Photo by Corey Flintoff/NPR

Rex did want me to post this excellent piece titled “Fear Of Taliban Hinders U.S. Efforts In Marjah” by NPR’s Corey Flintoff.

(March 10, 2010) U.S. and Afghan troops are now in the second phase of an operation to hold the ground they gained last month in the former Taliban stronghold of Marjah in southern Afghanistan. The operation involves building relationships with the locals, who have lived under Taliban control for the past two years.

For the rest of the story and to listen to the audio,  click here.

Pilar takes Sam & Charlie for a run.

Meanwhile, the “boyz” and I have been busy. I’ve had an interesting month after a bad fall at the dog park and today was my first opportunity to take the “boyz” to the dog park by myself. An awesome dog sitter named Pilar Gonzalez has helped me ever since the accident in early February left me on bed rest and part of Pilar’s gift to us was teaching the “boyz” how to run next to a bicycle. (My warmest thanks to all of our great neighbors, all of our friends and especially to Suzy Bogdan and Joe Burns and many others at MacDill Air Force Base who have helped keep our house running while I recovered from my injuries. )

Back to the “boyz” and the trip to the dog park.  On the way there I drove by the UPS Store on Platt Street to send off the latest bunch of school supplies that have been dropped off at our house in the last few weeks. Majority of these supplies were donated by the members of  the

Can you see Sam & Charlie behind all the boxes?

Junior League of Tampa who gave at least 8 very large bags of supplies and one gigantic box full of brand new backpacks. Bug thanks to my dear friend Kristin Arnold Ruyle for getting the ball rolling with the League!

UT volunteers can barely be seen behind all the donations.

We’ve been incredibly blessed with amazing community support here in the Tampa Bay area as well as across the nation. A couple of weeks back volunteers from University of

Ready for the trip to Afghanistan.

Tampa came out to pack and ship more than 150 boxes of supplies; the same group of students from UT’s Peace Center is also doing an active collection at the dorms and around campus for us. I also got a call a few days ago from Broad and Cassel, a law firm in Tampa, telling us that they’ve also done a drive for us and are now ready to ship to Afghanistan. And later this week we will get supplies from Environmental Consulting & Technology, a Tampa company that started its drive for Rex back in September. Our warmest thanks to  Chelsie Vandaveer who started this drive after hearing Rex talk about it on WUSF Radio.

All this shipping takes money and we are pretty close to running out of donated funds. Those of you who read this blog regularly know that we accept tax deductible donations for the shipping fund under the Holland & Knight Charitable

Unloading all the boxes at the UPS Store.

Foundation, a licensed 501-c-3 charity. Each box we send gets the special military shipping rate: $12.50 per box. If you think you can help sponsor a box, you can donate online via credit card by clicking here. Just be sure to indicate you want your donation to go toward Afghan School Supplies (don’t donate to the general fund.)

Sam, our younger Goldendoodle, tries to make a run for the park ... no such luck.

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A Sunny Day For A Mission

Posted on 03/09/2010 by afghanistanmylasttour

Prepping the Max Pro for mission.

My dreaded alarm clock awoke me early this morning. I knew we had a long day planned and we had to load a trailer full of equipment before departing the camp. Now that all the inventories are completed, we are required to turn in or dispose of the items that nobody wants. We planned for a long day of paperwork, turmoil, and frustration since we had

My Gunner, an AF TSgt is ready for the mission.

to process the items through the Army Supply system.
We prepared our MRAPs and hitched up the trailer. I was driving today and my Captain would be the convoy commander. We would have to take it a little bit slower today with the trailer so it wouldn’t go airborne when we hit the deep potholes. Every day that goes by, the potholes in the road become larger and deeper. I guess the Afghan government doesn’t have any money to fix the roads.
As we traveled towards the city, the roads were rather congested with traffic and we saw a lot more children than normal. The local schools have opened their doors and the students are going back to school. One young Afghan boy gave us the thumbs up as we drove

Afghan boys gives us thumbs up.

past. Previously this was considered a vulgar gesture, but since the US forces arrived, it has become accepted as part of their culture.
We meandered our way through the capital city and it was apparent security has been added. The ANP were setting up random and strategic checkpoints along the way. These checkpoints cause bottlenecks and the traffic to back up.
The rest of the ride to Camp Phoenix was pretty smooth. As usual, bicycles, donkey carts, people dodging in and out of traffic, etc. The market was bustling and crowded with people. One problem the warmer weather causes is dust. When the soil dries out, passing vehicles create plumes of dust which is inhaled by us and the local populace. While on R&R in Germany, it took me 3 days before I could noticeably breathe easier. Perhaps this explains why they place a copy of the air sampling in our medical records. I looked at one briefly and it identified the harmful air particulates to include the heavy metals present in the air we breathe. Pollution is already a major problem in this city of 4 million inhabitants and it’s only going to get worse.
The sun, planets, and stars must have all been aligned because we were able to turn in all of our excess equipment and property with ease. I attribute this to my teammates who were bounced from building to building last time trying to get forms, documents, and stamps. Today we presented the documents and the property to the supply personnel for processing. We only had a few minor hiccups, but were able to process 90% of our items.

Fat baby mouse at Camp Phoenix.

While I waited for my teammates to process the equipment, one of the shops used a broom to sweep a mouse outside into the parking lot area. I’m not a mouse expert, but this is rather strange looking rodent. Much different than the ones I am accustomed to seeing and trapping in Florida. Mrs. “T” hates it when a mouse gets into our attic and I have the morbid task of catching these critters. But this mouse looks like a cross-breed between a mouse and a gerbil; I really don’t know what it is. But it was worthy of a picture … lol.

Fat baby mouse at Camp Phoenix.

Since it was rather toasty outside, my teammates and I ate our lunch outside under the big umbrellas. This area is adjacent to the BBQ house and today they had grilled chicken breasts along with the usual hamburgers and hot dogs. This is a great place to visit instead of going to the DFAC and they make a delicious barbeque sauce too.

Old Afghan man watches as we pass by.

Our trip back to camp was uneventful. While driving, I took some pictures of the local people. Note: I don’t recommend taking pictures and driving to anyone. It’s something I

Is this a man or woman in a burqa?

do and have taken over a thousand pictures using this method. Now I am beginning to recognize some familiar faces. The children were actively begging for money from passing cars while under the watchful eye of this old man in the picture. If only I had a chance to stop and interview him, I can only imagine the stories he might tell. The other picture is a woman or perhaps a man in a burqa. It’s really hard to tell their gender under this garment. But for a woman, she seems to have very large hands, knees, and arms. The last picture is a man who just left the market carrying oranges in a bag and dozens of eggs on his head. Only in Afghanistan ……

Man carrying eggs on his head.

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Count, Recount, and Recount

Posted on 03/08/2010 by afghanistanmylasttour

My private internet connectivity is working again.  I had no access for 24 hours.  Even when I am connected, the bandwidth is about the speed of drying paint, especially when it comes to uploading photographs.  As a backup, I visit the MWR building when I have no connectivity.  But last night it was slow too.  It took me 40 minutes to log into my email.  We are allowed 30 minutes, but if nobody is waiting, then we can stay on the computers longer.

Conducting inventories on MRAP's BII.

The past few days my team has been inventorying our property book items.  These are equipment items, radios, weapons, vehicles, etc. that are accountable and listed on what the Army terms a Property Book.  Our property book happens to be 12 pages long.  Our ETT leader initially signed for the items when the last Air Force team departed and

AF Major and MSgt tying down tarp.

prior to that, they signed from an Army team.  Well guess what?  All along we have maintained pretty strict accountability and could account for everything on the property book.  Good so far.  Now an ugly term enters the picture.  The Army acronym is (BII) or Basic Initial Issue or something like that.  Nobody told us about BII in reference to the

Army SFC looks over BII.

property book until we started transferring our items to our Army teammates.  Then all of sudden Technical Manuals (TMs) came into play and we were scrambling to find these additional items.  These included all the screwdrivers, jacks, chains, hoses, mounts, etc. that come with a vehicle.  It also included power supplies, cords, etc that accompany radios.

Ok, now after finding most everything, we had to draft up a shortage annex for the items we couldn’t find.  We opened sealed boxes and discovered the complete BII was not there.  Previously we signed for a brand new MRAP only to find out the BII was shorted.  So two of my teammates drafted up more shortage annexes.  Then the real fun started.  We had to lay everything out so our Army teammates could conduct an inventory.  After the inventory, the items were returned to storage areas.  But then a special team was flown here from another FOB and we do it all over again.  This is starting to get old.  But it didn’t end there, this team was inventorying for the property book signer and we had to do it all over again.  This is truly unique and must be categorized and filed under “Armyism”.

AF Major sporting new look.

Around the Camp:  The weather lately has been sunny and the temperatures have surged back into the 50’s.  Camp personnel are back to wearing shorts while jogging and visiting the gym.  I still have Florida blood flowing through me and haven’t braved the warmer temperatures with my shorts yet.  I am waiting for a sunny day so I can get some sun on my legs first so I don’t blind my campmates with my white legs.  Before long we should be able to play volleyball again.

The Air Force Major in the picture is a teammate from Fort Riley, but was tasked with a different mission when he arrived in country.  But since moving here, we get to see him on a daily basis and still consider him one of the original

New Zealand contractors play guitar outside.

teammates.  Not only does he sport his PT shorts, but he dons his protective gear with it.  Truly a Kodak moment.

My neighbors next door were also taking advantage of the warmer weather and strumming on their guitars.  They are a long way from home.  These contractors who are retired military originated from New Zealand.  Previously they participated in Operation Desert Storm in Iraq and now are training the ANA soldiers.

Runt Runt is a boy.

I had another surprise today.  If you recall we recently discovered Bonnie was a boy.  Well guess what.  Runt Runt is also a boy!  The entire litter, Fat Boy, Bonnie, and Runt Runt are all boys.  The gate guard changed Bonnie’s name to Broke Leg, but I didn’t think that was too appropriate especially since he is doing rather well.  I think the leg was dislocated and has popped back into place.  When you see these puppies play and wrestle, you would never know he had a bum leg.

Today was “suit day” too.  We have an off post tailor who visits the camp and makes custom made suits for $60-$70.  Where else are you going to get a suit made for that price?  The quality is very good and he also makes tuxedos,

Perfect fit.

blazers, jackets, ties, and just about anything made of material.  One of my teammates had over a dozen suits and jackets made.  He is planning on retiring after this deployment and is making preparations for the transition.  I couldn’t resist these low prices and plan on doing the same thing.  So I ordered two suits too.  Just hope Mrs. T. will approve of the colors …. lol!

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What Happened To The Brakes?

Posted on 03/06/2010 by afghanistanmylasttour

Left side is new brake rotor and pads. Right side is what was on ANA HMMVW.

After our morning meeting I went to see my ANA PBO.  I am starting to think he is purposely avoiding me.  So I used this opportunity to visit the vehicle maintenance compound.  Some of our US soldiers are conducting additional mechanics courses and for good reason.  First, I am not a trained mechanic, but I am able to discern when something looks broken or worn out.  Look at the first picture with the brake rotors and pads.  Notice how scarred the rotor drum (pictured on the right) is.  The brake pads are missing too.  These items allegedly came off of an ANA HMMVW that killed 3 innocent pedestrians because the driver had no brakes.  Not only did he have no brakes, there was no brake fluid in the reservoir.  The Afghan government will probably make a condolence payment of $2,000 or $3,000 dollars to the deceased family members for the accident.  The driver of the vehicle abandoned it and hasn’t been seen since.  But the real tragedy is the ANA mechanics frequently inspect and repair these vehicles.  How could they not seen how worn out these brakes were, the brake pads are completely gone?  Now here is the real shocker, our soldiers caught the mechanics reinstalling the same rotor and what is left of the pad back on the vehicle!  Although they acknowledged the rotors should be replaced or ground down and new pads installed, they claimed they couldn’t get the parts.

Notice how tire is helping to support weight of up-armored HMMVW.

We pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for spare vehicle parts and the ANA is still unable to get them through the supply system or the parts are allegedly being stolen and resold in the bazaar.  But there is more to this tragedy.  We pay even more money to a US contractor who trains these mechanics so the ANA will have the organic capability to repair their own vehicles.  If you have been a regular reader, recall my observations of engine oil being placed in the power steering reservoir or substituted for hydraulic fluid.  Now here is the real kick in the teeth.  The contractor is also responsible for training these mechanics so eventually the contractor’s services won’t be required anymore. In the military, we call this “train the trainer”.  The new person being trained will train others and as a result the contractor is no longer needed.  Admittedly, this is good in theory.  Coincidentally, after an ANA soldier completes the year long class, they are hired by this same contractor who doubles or triples their current salary and pays approximately $700 a month.  Or the trained mechanic will leave the ANA and work for a

ANA mechanics receiving mentoring and training.

local garage for the same amount of money.  I don’t even want to guess how much they are charging the US taxpayer.  Because of this “coincidence”, the ANA has few qualified mechanics.  As a result, the contractor gets a lot of the repair jobs too and orders supplies through their logistic system, which I am sure costs US taxpayers another pretty penny.  Oh, I might also point out this contractor really didn’t work itself out of a job, because the ANA still has a shortage of trained mechanics and their contract was extended for a nice tidy sum.  I suppose from a business perspective in maximizing profits, this is a great business model.  I must have slept through or not attended these college sessions when they taught business courses on ripping off the taxpayers, because surely I would remember this.  Yet I have seen so much of it here, it’s no longer shocking.  Maybe I am completely wrong and it’s all coincidental or isolated.  Take a look at the half shaft that was recently removed from a vehicle.  Yup, coincidence!

Left side is good half shaft and right side is bad one.

The next part of my day was spent with the Religious Officer Assistant (ROA) and the ANA Mullah was present too.  We always have lively discussions or should I say interesting discussions.  I was purposely going to refrain from asking any intimidating questions, so not to scare him off.  The Mullah looked a bit dejected today.  He wants to have a second wife, but he doesn’t have the finances to afford her.  According to him, Muslims are permitted to have 4 wives.  He was quick to point out that he is a devout Muslim and hasn’t siphoned off so much as 5 gallons of diesel fuel to resale in the bazaar, nor has he or the RAO stolen anything from the ANA.  Because of their integrity, they both remain poor and struggle to support their families…Inshallah..(God Willing).  After my observation at the garage, I wasn’t in a mood to discuss corruption.  But something the RAO said caught my attention.  He referred to the 32 provinces of Afghanistan, even though I know there are 34.  But in the ANA and I have seen it published in the local newspapers as 32 provinces.  I haven’t had a chance to research the validity of this, but by their explanation, these other provinces were created out of established provinces.  One of the newest ones is Nurestan, which was derived from Badakhshan and has something to do with President Karzai.  The other province is Daykundi which originated from the Bamyan province.  I was also surprised to learn before the Taliban era, there were even fewer provinces.  They joked if they were a warlord, they would also create their own province, similar to the way infamous warlord Massoud created the Panjshir province which was carved from the Parwan province.

We sipped our tea and discussed a bit more about polygamy in the US along with some other topics. They informed me about 2 ANA officers who served as Mujahedeen under the warlord Massoud.  I am hoping to get an interview with both of them as I continue my historical studies of the Soviet-Taliban era.  I was also invited back to the ANA literacy class for the graduation ceremony.  Perhaps they will give me an opportunity to speak and motivate the ANA troops again.

Note:  The schools in Afghanistan have reopened their doors for business.  Before long, I hope to put some smiles on children faces when they receive some new school supplies that were generously donated by US donors.

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More help with the school supplies drive

Posted on 03/05/2010 by afghanistanmylasttour

From Liisa, SMSgt Temple’s wife: This came from Rex’s mom Maxine and his sister Jill – it was in the local paper back home in Somerset County, PA this week

Friedens Elementary teacher Rubyellen Berkebile with her students packing the donated supplies.

Friedens students help Afghan children

Each year in conjunction with the 100th day of school, Friedens Elementary tries to support a worthy cause. This year it decided to support Air Force SMSgt. Rex Temple, a native of Rockwood, with his fight to stop the War on Terror by providing school supplies for Afghan children. By educating tomorrow’s leaders in Afghanistan, they are supporting our troops today. The goal was to collect 100 school items by the 100th day of school. Monetary donations were also accepted. The students surpassed that goal collecting much more than 100 items. The Stoystown Lioness organization agreed to team up with the school to help send the items to Afghanistan. Shown packing the school supplies are from back to front: Austin Heitzer, Rubyellen Berkebile (teacher and Stoystown Lioness member), Catherine Bereider, Riley Zylstra, Avery Heiple, Mckay Ross, Reagan Lynch, Dominic Odom and Shane Roberts. (Text and photo courtesy of Daily American.)

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Carpets of Afghanistan

Posted on 03/05/2010 by afghanistanmylasttour

Since my arrival, I have periodically visited the bazaar areas looking at carpets.  Our “boyz” Charlie and Sam while going through their puppy teething stages managed to remove the fringes or chewed holes in the carpets at our house.  But now they are out of this stage or at least I hope so.  While here on deployment, I have been conducting research on carpets and have perused through dozens of carpet shops looking for the perfect carpet.  Trying to find the right color, size, texture, and blend has been a yearlong challenge.  Similar to my experiences in Korea, the buyer has to beware.  To the untrained eye or those who lack knowledge about carpets, they might be sold a cheap

Rex's favorite for the dining area; Mrs "T" - not so much ...

Chinese machine-made imitation carpet or a low quality Iranian produced one instead of a high quality one from Afghanistan.  I guess if you never ask the question, then the seller isn’t obligated to divulge the originality of the carpet.  The majority of the carpets sold at the camp bazaars and large FOBs are Chinese made and very inexpensive.

Mrs. T likes this one!

But some of them display expensive carpets priced over $5,000.

I have also found that if I want something purchased locally, it’s so much better to let my interpreter negotiate the price than me.  When the merchants see us, the price almost doubles.  So when I see soldiers bragging about the deal they got on their carpet and how they talked the merchant down, I chuckle inside because my interpreter can beat that price by another third and get much better quality.  But not everyone is assigned an interpreter and they don’t have the advantage I do.

The popularity of Afghan carpets is starting to spread internationally.

Mrs. "T" likes this one too!

Historically prior to the Soviet invasion, carpets ranked fifth among the country’s exports.  Shortly after the Soviets invaded, there were a mass exodus (3 million) people who sought refuge in Pakistan, Iran, and other neighboring countries.  As a result, the carpet weaving industry faltered because inexperienced weavers looking for employment took over and the quality of the carpets diminished.  Since the removal of the Taliban, the carpet industry is trying to regain its reputation.  Over 3 percent of the country is employed in the carpet industry and carpet makers who fled during the war are returning to their home country.  Due to lack of established exporting markets, many of

This is Mrs. T's favorite!

the Afghan carpets are sent to Pakistan where they are cut, washed, finished, and then a “Made in Pakistan” label is attached to them for resale.

This would be perfect for someone who is Univ. of Florida Gators' fan with the orange and blue.

But in the past few years, Afghan carpet makers have introduced their carpets to the international community at carpet fairs and immediately sold out of their product.  So before demand becomes too great, thus increasing their price, Mrs. Temple and I plan to refurbish the house and replace the dog chewed ones.  Don’t worry Honey, I haven’t found any with big lions or tigers on them …. lol.

What makes Afghan carpets unique is the type of wool and dyes used in the process.  Of the eight breeds of sheep raised in Afghanistan, only the wool from five of them is used to make carpets.  The most common wool comes from the Karuqal sheep in the Northern provinces.  Two types of wool grow simultaneously on these sheep.  The outer wool has the longer fibers

This was a "no" also.

and the inner wool is the softer of the two.   These sheep are raised in the higher elevations and in a range of temperatures from -30 degrees to 48 degrees Celsius.  After the wool is hand sorted, it is spun and then pre-soaked.  The yarn is pre-soaked in a bathing solution of alum, copper sulfate, ferrous sulfate, tin or urine.  Yep, that is not a misprint.  Urine is used by some tribes in the pre-soaking stage.  Not sure how popular that method is, but apparently it works.  After the pre-soaking, the yarn is then dyed.  Due to modernization, many carpet makers employ synthetic dyes, but the expensive handmade carpets are still produced using dyes from plants, vegetables, roots, dried bodies of certain insects and tree bark.

This is ended up in the "no" pile, too.

Other natural dyes are extracted from walnut or pomegranate peel and wheat straw.  All this time I have been shucking my walnut shells and it could have been used for making carpet dye.

The root of the Madder plant is responsible for creating the bright red hues, orange and even purple colors.  The thickness of the root determines the shade of red.  Historically, this same root has been used in dye making since 1500 BC and in the 17th and 18th century it was used as a key component in creating artists’ paints.

Another point of interest is the looms used and the weaving process.  Afghan weavers traditionally use a horizontal loom to make their carpets.  This type

We both voted "no" on this one.

of loom is used by the traveling nomads because it is easily dismantled and transported.   The carpet width determines how many weavers are needed.  The infamous Turcoman carpet designs are woven from memory.  Their “Chobi” rugs have a range of 120 -250 knots per square inch.  These rugs are hand spun, hand knotted, and the dyes are 100% natural.  An authentic Chobi rug is very durable and should last for generations.  In case you are wondering, the less expensive carpets have less than 90 knots per square inch.

Well Honey, what do you think?  I have attached my favorites to this blog entry.  The rugs pictured are a wool and silk blend.  I didn’t want to sell my aluminum can collection to buy an expensive handmade Chogi, so we might have to settle for a synthetic dyed one.  Just don’t tell the neighbors, they won’t know the difference … lol.

For more Afghan rugs click on this link:

http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/photos/2010/01/afghanistan-carpet-making.html

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Need More Ink Cartridges

Posted on 03/04/2010 by afghanistanmylasttour

Yesterday I spent the day inside the Joint Tactical Command Post and was unable to mentor or do much of anything.  It was deathly quiet and I used this opportunity to finish reading Doug Stanton’s book, “Horse Soldiers.”  This book details the riveting account of a small group of Special Forces soldiers who secretly entered Afghanistan following 9/11.  To travel around the countryside, they painstakingly rode horses through some perilous mountains.  Seldom will you ever find testimonials about the “Quiet Professionals”, but this one was very revealing.  For me, it filled in some of the historical void about the competing Afghan warlords and provided more insight to the atrocities committed by the Taliban even as they retreated.  It also gave a detailed account about CIA agent Mike Spann’s tragic death and more about US Muslim terrorist John Walker Lindh’s capture at the Qala-i-Janghi Fortress.  Due to some of the adult language used in the book, I don’t recommend this to young readers.

The dreaded ink cartridges.

This morning I played Santa Claus and delivered more printer ink cartridges to my ANA counterparts.  Our Task Force wants information, reports, etc., but my ANA counterparts have no ink cartridges or paper to produce these reports.  I really sense their aggravation with the ANA supply system.  Even when they fill out the paperwork correctly and get the ANA General’s signature and approval, they still can’t get the supplies they need.  As mentors, we have tried to intervene by working with other mentors to no avail.  The supply depots have the items sitting in the shelf, but getting the right approvals and paperwork has become so cumbersome, many of the ANA have just given up.  Even at our morning meetings, the ANA General advises his commanders to ask their mentors for items and assistance.  Paper is so thinly rationed; each office gets a dozen sheets.  This explains why they write on the back of paper and I never see paper being thrown away.   This made me recall a conversation I had with an ANA logistician at my former camp.  He said the Minister of Defense personnel told them to get whatever they can from the US mentors.  It’s almost like they don’t want to spend the MOD money to support their soldiers, other than fuel, food, firewood, etc.   Yet our government gives them millions of dollars for this purpose.  I have been here 10 months battling and trying to understand this supply system, but now I am feeling my counterpart’s frustrations.  Surely after eight years, there has to be a better solution.

Bonnie, the camp puppy, is actually a boy.

I also had another surprise when I returned to camp.  The camp puppies were playing and Runt Runt rolled Bonnie over on her back.  Upon closer examination, Bonnie is not a girl but a boy!  Since we are not allowed to touch the puppies, I never saw underneath Bonnie and took the word of the gate guard that the puppies were both females.  I think he is rather embarrassed now at this revelation …. lol.  So until he comes up with another name, I will still call him Bonnie.  His dislocated leg seems to be improving too and he is able to walk around much easier now.

Local news:

KABUL – A US general in charge of negotiating with the Afghan Taliban has estimated that there are nearly 36,000 insurgents in Afghanistan. “There are probably 900 in the leadership, counting very junior to very senior, and there are between 25,000 and 36,000 people who would call themselves fighters,” The Times quoted Major-General Richard Barrons, as saying. “Some are ideological full-time jihadis, some are linked to the insurgency for localized reasons, local grievances; some because it’s a way to make a living; some because they like to fight; some because their communities are hedging their bets between the Government and the insurgency,” he added. Pointing out those finding jobs for insurgents was the key to ending the Afghanistan war, General Barrons said that the Karzai Government had done little to earn the trust of its people, while the Taliban had in some cases provided better basic governance. “People have found the local representatives predatory, corrupt and incapable of improving their lives,” he said. Instead of simply fighting the Taliban, General Barrons runs a NATO “reintegration cell” trying to understand what motivates the militants to fight and using that information to help Afghan officials to tempt them to swap sides. The incentives for peace is expected to cost about 1 billion dollars over the next five years, and it includes jobs, money, training and sustainable development. Despite 17 billion dollars spent on aid since 2001, Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries on earth, with 850 children under 5 dying every day, according to Save the Children. Literacy and unemployment run at roughly 30 per cent. (ANI)

LONDON – Nearly 70 per cent of Afghan police recruits drop out during training, the top US army officer in charge of shaping the new Afghan security forces said. Lieutenant General William Caldwell said the 67-per cent “attrition rate” among police recruits was “far too high” and revamping the way the police works to avoid burn-out was one of his main priorities. The high drop-out rate meant that in order to grow the Afghan police and army from their current level of about 200,000 to 300,000, far more than 100,000 recruits would be required because many would fall by the wayside. Caldwell, the Commander of the Nato Training Mission and Combined Security Transition Command in Afghanistan, told an audience in London that building a new police force was the biggest challenge his team faced. The task involved with the police was “significantly greater” than for the Afghan army, he told the Royal United Services Institute defense think-tank. Many Afghans are deeply distrustful of the police which they accuse of being driven by corruption, but Caldwell blamed the fact that until recently just 30 percent of recruits received any training at all. “How can you expect people to do a job you have never trained them to do?” he asked. He said he hoped the introduction of new working methods for police recruits to allow them more leave after what was now “extremely intensive” training would prevent so many dropping out. He admitted that when he saw the unforgiving training and working schedule the police had faced before his appointment, he was not surprised so many were failing to complete the course. “If you did to my army what we are doing to them, you would break it too,” he said. But Caldwell said he was encouraged by a surge in the number of recruits.

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Visiting with Independent Day School

Posted on 03/03/2010 by afghanistanmylasttour

Independent Day School students and teachers with 38 boxes of supplies.

From Liisa, SMSgt Temple’s wife: Rex is having problems with electricity, which is going on and off at his camp tonight. So I am using the space instead to give credit to some of our amazing school supplies drive volunteers …

*****

What do you get when you mix a mountain of school supplies, a determined teacher and 18 students? A beehive of fervent activity resulting in 38 shipping boxes ready for mailing to Afghanistan.

Ever since Rex started his school supplies drive in July of last year, we have both been incredibly touched by the generosity of total strangers. Thanks to the Internet, the word has spread and we’ve had people send school supplies directly to Afghanistan from at least 12 states. And the Holland & Knight Charitable Foundation continues to get checks that are earmarked for the Afghan School Supplies Fund. (If you would like to sponsor the shipping of a box full of supplies, the cost is $12.50. It’s tax deductible through the Holland & Knight Charitable Foundation; make sure to mark your donation for Afghan School Supplies more here).

Cat Quin, lead teacher for the Afghan school supplies drive at Independent Day School

One of the most industrious helpers with the school supplies project to date has been Kat Quin, a teacher at Independent Day School here in Tampa. She first contacted us in early September last year and since then has run a full school supplies drive with her students and their parents resulting in

Donated items waiting to be packed at SS American Victory's storage area.

hundreds of donated items. She also brought her students to a packing party at our main storage and collection facility at the SS American Victory museum ship in October; at that event her students helped pack 30 boxes full of donated supplies.  And just a few weeks ago she volunteered her students again for another massive task – the sorting and packing of all the remaining lose items at the ship.

IDS students get started with the packing job.

Since the storage area where donated supplies are kept before shipping is not heated, Kat generously offered to host the packing party at the Independent Day School in Carrollwood.  With her family in tow she picked up all the supplies, packing boxes, tape and

More donations to be sorted.

address labels on a weekend in preparation for the school day packing event.

On the day of the event she organized the kids in teams and they worked like a well-oiled machine. They taped the boxes and carefully packed four different kinds of items

Rex on Skype video feed talking to IDS students and teachers.

per box so that it would be easier to fill out all the customs forms. Those with the neatest handwriting were in charge of the customs forms.

I arrived at the school around 9 with my laptop so that the students could speak to Rex live via a Skype video

Students wait their turn to ask Rex a question during the video feed.

feed. Around 9:30 am we were all set and the students crowed around the laptop for the conversation half way around the world. Rex started off with a heartfelt thank you to the students, their parents and their teachers for all the hard work and all the donations. And then for the next 30 minutes the

Finished boxes are starting to pile up.

students peppered him with questions about Afghanistan and Rex’s work there.  Time flew by quickly and then all too soon Rex’s time was up and he had to go.

After the video conference we all went back to work. I sat on the floor with couple of students and helped check the boxes before they were taped up and the customs forms finalized. By 11:30 am all the supplies were packed. We had filled 38 boxes and even finished all the customs forms. The students even made a special poster for Rex and his team. After posing for one last group photo, the students carried all the boxes to my car; now all I need to do is to drive them to the post office!

Students' special banner for Rex and his team.

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This week’s radio interview

Posted on 03/03/2010 by afghanistanmylasttour

Here is this week’s conversation with WUSF Radio’s reporter Bobbie O’Brien, which aired yesterday during “All Things Considered” and will air again today during “Morning Edition“; the conversation focused on more corruption with the ANA and the lack of consequences for it. 3-2 MLT Bad Water Flows

If you want to read the transcript of the entire radio presentation, click on this link

My Last Tour: An Old Dari Proverb

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Bad Water Flows From The Spring

Posted on 03/02/2010 by afghanistanmylasttour

ANA soldier with NATO M-249 machine gun.

Today during my mentoring session, the topic of corruption surfaced again.  An ANA officer who I don’t mentor summed it up with an Afghan proverb, “Bad water flows from the spring”.  He was inferring that corruption starts at the very top and then flows down through the various levels.  This officer used to be an inspector or auditor ensuring the ANA soldiers got paid.   Previously the commanders would receive the pay for the soldiers assigned to their units.  Quite frequently soldiers would go AWOL and not return, but the soldier’s name was not removed from the pay roster.  Instead the commanders would allegedly pocket this money.  This officer (who seemed to have integrity) complained to the Minister of Defense.  He found out this was a common practice and his complaint was ignored.  Not wanting to have any part of this corruption, he resigned from this duty and took another position.

ANA soldier with NATO M-16 rifle.

Now the pay system has been replaced with an automated bank card.  It takes several weeks to accomplish the paperwork, but each ANA soldier is given a bank card after filling out a request form.  The other day I looked at the Kabul Bank form.  It was in English.  According to my interpreter translating, the bank does not give out forms in Dari or Pashto.  Considering the high illiteracy rate in this country, this really shocked me.  The soldiers blindly sign their name to the form and affix their thumbprint to validate it.  But after closer inspection, I noticed the currency block was marked to be paid in US dollars.  When I inquired further, they explained the bank then converts the dollars to Afghanis and then they can receive their money.  So now I have grown suspicious since reading a local article about Kabul Bank doing something fishy with their exchange rate.  The difference in the exchange is about 9 cents to the dollar.  So if I am correct in my assumption, the bank is making quite a penny off the ANA and ANP multi-million dollar payroll.   This is also the same bank that the bank manager is signing his name for the million dollar properties in Dubai for the Karzai family, Vice-President, and other powerful people.  I found it interesting on the Kabul bank’s web site; they talked about their bank services.  The first one was entitled “deposit schemes”.  I’m not sure they are aware of the bad translation or perhaps they are advertising their bank strategy of making money.

Team prayer before mission.

The officer then turned to me and asked my opinion about the corruption in relation to ANA.  This was an opportunity I had been waiting on for a long time to reveal some information.   I have been quiet too long and let them know we are aware of the ANA stealing firewood, gasoline, etc and selling it at the bazaar.  I also explained my awareness of how after missions; the ANA trucks pull off at the bazaar area and siphon out the remaining fuel from the mission while our convoys return to camp.  This is no coincidence.  During one of our missions, the ANA truck driver bragged to my interpreter about having 120 liters left in fuel and the extra money he was going to make.  Diesel fuel is about 90 cents a liter here.  So this would put over a hundred dollars or 1/3 of a month’s salary into his pocket.  At my last camp, these same bazaar gas stations were coincidentally owned by the ANA generals or family members.

When asked for additional opinion, I made a point to say if I was in charge, I wouldn’t allow the ANA vehicles to be taken home at night by the officers.  Even in the United States, very few officers are allowed to take their vehicles home.  Here it is a nightly practice and for officers assigned several vehicles, they allegedly let their family members drive them too.  But as usual, the blame is also directed at my government for not having checks and balances with the millions and billions of dollars flowing into this country.  I read a local newspaper article recently discussing the future budget and one government official was demanding from the donors to allow the Afghans to spend the money their way.

He's back!!

My team is out on a mission as I decided to stay behind and catch up on some administrative paperwork.  One of our original teammates has returned to join the team.  He spent the past 5 months training the ANA soldiers at FOB Maiwand.  The AF Captain recently returned from leave and is now the proud father of a little baby girl.  He has a great sense of humor and always keeps us in stitches.

While at ANA land, I took some pictures of ANA soldiers practicing their tactics with NATO weapons.  Most of the soldiers I saw were armed with NATO M-16 rifles, while some members in the platoon were carrying M-249 machine guns.  The soldiers are also being trained and issued .50 caliber and

ANA soldiers transporting large wooden container.

M-240 machine guns to be mounted on their up-armored vehicles.  Note:  these are the same caliber weapons we use.

I also saw something rather funny.  An ANA Ford Ranger was being used to transport a wooden container.  It might be an old guard shack, but I’m unsure.  An ANA soldier was hanging off the truck on each side trying to balance it and keep it from falling out of the truck.

When I returned to camp, Runt Runt and Bonnie were taking puppy naps.  Fat Boy has found a new home with a contractor.  The puppies no longer have to sleep in a cardboard box.  Instead they like to sleep on the steps of the guard shack.  Runt Runt often likes to hide under a piece of plywood that provides her shade.  Bonnie, the one with the bad leg, enjoys sunning herself.  They don’t venture far either and have a voracious appetite for beef jerky.  Apparently the beef jerky has a tendency of falling out of the bag in the vicinity of the hungry puppies and soy milk mysteriously appears in their saucers …. lol.  I don’t know if these mysteries will ever be resolved.

Runt Runt and Bonnie taking a nap.

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