Afghanistan My Last Tour

Although wake-up was set for 0500 hrs, the bright shining sun rose at 0430 hrs and awoke us.  The morning sun was pretty spectacular and I climbed up the hill side to take some additional shots of the landscape with my camera.

After all of our gear was loaded in the trucks we departed for a remote village in the lower Tagab Valley.  We weaved down through the mountains into the small town of Sarobi and crossed over a narrow metal and concrete bridge.

In the back of my mind I hoped the bridge would withstand the immense weight of our vehicles.  I can’t be certain, but when the bridge was originally constructed I wonder whether the engineers envisioned heavy armored vehicles trekking across it.  Every time I drive across a small bridge, I breathe a sigh of relief when we make it to the other side.

After the convoy crossed the bridge we traveled on the road that ran parallel to the hydroelectric dam.  Unlike previous trips and much to my surprise, the dirt road had been widened from one to two lanes.  I felt much safer traveling this section of the road since the sheer drop offs didn’t seem so prevalent this time.  We steadily climbed to the top keeping an eye on our engine temperature gauges.

We drove past a construction site and a roaming camel decided to join our convoy.  The camel inserted itself between the ANA vehicles at the end of the convoy.  It was rather humorous to see this awkward looking animal trotting down the highway in line with our convoy.  I joked on the radio and asked the convoy commander whether we should assign a call sign to it.  After following us for over a mile, the camel dropped out of formation and went on its merry way.

We continued our journey up the side of the mountain and eventually approached the outskirts of the village.  I was surprised to see that the villagers had small gardens and were raising corn and vegetables.   My country boy intuition says it was sweet corn instead of field corn.  But at a passing glance it’s hard to tell the difference.  I also caught a glimpse of some sickly looking cows chained next to a mud house.

I managed to take a photo of one as we inched through the village with the convoy.  It was also comforting to see the ANA had established Observation Posts (OP) on the hilltops to provide us additional security.

This was a rather large village of several hundred residents.  The children gathered at the side of the road and gazed at us as we passed through their town.
On top of a small hillside was a stone building painted orange and black with a metal roof.  This would be the facility where we would set up the temporary medical clinic for the day.

We parked our HMMVWs in tactical positions to provide security for the inner cordon and the ANA posted soldiers on the outer cordon.  There’s always a chance a sniper might take a lethal shot from the surrounding hill sides or inside the village.

But for the most part it seemed pretty secure and the villagers wouldn’t permit outsiders to disrupt their opportunity to be seen by medical personnel and be prescribed medicine.

While the clinic was being prepared for patients, I was asked to accompany another team for the village shura.  Normally the shura is held at the VMO location, but today we had to travel several kilometers to an isolated COP.  The sun was blistering hot and the mercury topped out at 110 degrees.  Fortunately the COP chose to hold the shura inside an air conditioned structure.
The ANA General would host the shura and speak to the tribal elders.

Woven mats were placed on the floor and before each elder went inside, they would remove their leather flip-flops or tennis shoes at the doorway.    The shura was initially delayed because some of the elders were at the medical clinic being diagnosed with their ailments.

During the delay I took pictures of my team members posed with the ANA Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) launcher.  A young Army 2nd Lt almost let the explosive round slip out from the launcher.  This could have been catastrophic.  Fortunately a sharp ANA soldier was cautiously watching as we handled his weapon of choice and tilted the launcher back on an angle.

After an hour or so delay approximately 40 village elders were present and the shura began.  The ANA General opened the session and spoke for about 45 minutes.  He discussed security, the Taliban and road construction projects.  Then it was the elders turn.

After a few minutes of debate two of the elders were in a fiery exchange with each other.  The discussion revolved around who was responsible for attacking the road construction crew.  One elder blamed a dispute between two villages while the other blamed the Taliban.  After 20-30 minutes of heated debate, the one elder conceded that the Taliban were responsible for the attacks.

There was one other paradox that really stood out to me.  Despite their poverty and meager living conditions, many of the elders were frequently checking messages on their cell phones.

The shura ended and each elder was given gifts consisting of floor rugs, radios, and other memorabilia.

We look forward to their cooperation in removing the insurgent threat along with planning some additional construction projects in the near future.  The elders departed the COP and returned to their village.  Meanwhile, the ANA general treated our small team to a traditional Afghan meal consisting of rice, Nan bread, lamb shanks, potatoes, vegetables and fresh watermelon for dessert.

Master Guns wanted me to sample a hot pepper, but judging by other people’s gestures, this pepper was way too spicy for me.  The portions of rice and potatoes were extremely generous too.  I had enough rice on my tray to feed a small family.  The watermelon was so juicy and delectable.  No one seemed to mind that the juices were running down our chins on to our dusty uniforms.

Before we departed the COP, I noticed they had several stray camp dogs.  One of them was hiding under the ANA Armored Track Vehicle and the other one was seeking shade under my HMMVW.

They seemed harmless enough, but I wasn’t going to take any chances and kept my distance.

The zoom feature on a camera is a great invention.  When I opened the door to my vehicle, the dog ran off looking for shelter elsewhere.
We returned to the village and the medical operation was still in full swing.  By now the heat was getting to me, so I crawled under my HMMVW and tried to rest.

I’m certain I drank enough water, but I was not replenishing my electrolytes at an acceptable level.  As a result I became weak and my head ached.  I was unable to take any more pictures at the village.  The medical pictures of the patients were taken by our PAO.  But I can report that no cases of leishmaniasis (sand fly disease) were diagnosed at this village.

Approximately 830 patients were treated for various ailments.  The children also tried to outsmart us in their attempt to get vitamins and any medicine that might be prescribed.  As they were seen, our team used a black magic marker and placed a mark on their hand.

This way, if they came back through the line the medical personnel would recognize the mark and see they were already treated.

It didn’t take the kids long to figure out our tactic and they boldly tried to erase the identifying mark.  One medic reported seeing the same child 5 different times.

While the medic personnel were seeing patients, some of my teammates wanted to experience being mobbed by the children for pens and candy.  They quickly found out that if you give one pen out, you better have 50 on hand because the children will flock to you.  They will even remove the pens you have stuck in your pockets or pen holders on the uniform.  The children chant “qalam” which means pen in Pashto language.  It’s necessary to learn both Pashto and Dari in this country.

Dari is the main language we use for mentoring the ANA officers and SNCOs.  But when you visit the villages, they all speak Pashto.  On a previous shura I attended a small faux paux occurred when the ANA Lieutenant Colonel spoke to the villagers in Dari and they couldn’t understand him.

Our translator realized the error and translated the messages into Pashto, the native tongue.
It was an extremely long and exhausting day.

I felt sorry for the ANA soldiers perched on the hilltops without any shade or cover.  Occasionally they would rotate and our team would provide them with bottled water.  At the end of the day, many of my teammates including me had red glowing faces.

We packed the vehicles and as we departed the village, the children lined up one last time hoping we would toss them a pen or a piece of candy.  Previously many soldiers did this as a kind gesture, but then it became a safety concern because the children would run towards every approaching military vehicle.

So now the practice is to stop and dismount before handing out anything.
A command decision was made to return to the Lake House for one more night of sleepover before returning to camp.  The night to follow would be a most memorable one.  To be continued…..

Filed under: Missions Tagged: | Afghanistan, Armored Track Vehicle, COP 42, Deployment, ETT, HMMVW, humanitarian mission, medical mission, Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) launcher, shura, Tagab Valley, Taliban, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, VMO, war