Shortly approaching 11 months of deployment, we are starting to wind down. In fact, we received notice our tours may be cut short by a couple of weeks. The mission we had has changed and the Army is implementing the partnership concept. This means they will work much closer with the ANA counterparts and they [...]
Filed under: Mentoring ANA | Tagged: Afghan National Army, Afghanistan, ANA, Deployment, ETT, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, war | Leave a Comment »
I woke up energized and motivated for today’s tasking. We have been planning for weeks to open up a new library for the ANA soldiers and relocate the literacy room to a larger room. I attended our morning meeting and the Sergeant Major unveiled a large chocolate cake. Not sure if he was planning on [...]
Filed under: Mentoring ANA | Tagged: Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, Afghanistan, ammunition, ANA, ANP, contractor, Deployment, ETT, inventory, library, literacy, Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO), war, XE (formerly Blackwater) | Leave a Comment »
Here is this week’s radio interview with WUSF’s Bobbie O’Brien; we talked about a literacy program and a new library our team is providing to the Afghan National Army soldiers to help fight the estimated 80% illiteracy rate among the new recruits. This piece aired yesterday during the station’s afternoon fundraising drive and it will [...]
Filed under: Mentoring ANA | Tagged: Afghan National Army, Afghanistan, ANA, Bagram, Deployment, education, ETT, humanitarian mission, literacy, news, war, WUSF | Leave a Comment »
After watching the teams assemble the weapons, my interpreter Omid and I started the hike back down the hill. The 173rd Airborne’s joint teams found it much easier going down the mountain and proceeded into a run to their next event. Their next tasking would evaluate their land navigation skills. They were provided a map [...]
Filed under: Mentoring ANA | Tagged: 173rd Airborne Brigade Support Battalion, Afghan National Army, Afghanistan, Alpha Company, ANA, Bravo Company, Camp Phoenix bazaar, Deployment, ETT, FOB Shank, MRAP, MRE, U.S. Air Force, war | Leave a Comment »
I don’t know if the winter is over, but it seems like everyone is taking advantage of the warmer weather. ANA land seems to be bursting at the seams with new recruits being trained to become ANA soldiers. Today I took some pictures of them conducting push-ups. Most of these recruits didn’t know what a [...]
Filed under: Mentoring ANA | Tagged: 173rd Airborne Brigade Support Battalion, Afghan National Army, AK-47 rifle, ANA, Deployment, ETT, FOB Shank, M-240 and M-249 machine gun, M-4 rifle, M-9 pistol, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, war | 1 Comment »
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 [...]
Filed under: Mentoring ANA | Tagged: Afghan National Army, Afghanistan, ANA, ANA HMMVW, brake fluid, break pads, corruption, Deployment, ETT, fatality, faulty breaks, mechanics, pedestrian, US contractor, war | 2 Comments »
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 [...]
Filed under: Mentoring ANA | Tagged: Afghan National Army, Afghanistan, ANA, camp puppies, Deployment, ETT, ink cartridge, mentor, news, supply system, war | 7 Comments »
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 [...]
Filed under: Mentoring ANA, Radio interviews | Tagged: Afghan National Army, Afghanistan, ANA, corruption, Deployment, ETT, news, war, WUSF | 2 Comments »
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 [...]
Filed under: Mentoring ANA | Tagged: Afghan National Army, Afghanistan, ANA, ANP, corruption, Deployment, ETT, Kabul Bank, M-16 rifle, M-249 machine gun, U.S. Air Force, war | 1 Comment »
My conversation with the ANA soldiers continued. I relayed a conversation I had yesterday with the ANA Mullah about Taliban Mullahs; the ANA Mullah had told me the Taliban Mullahs are not really Mullahs and use this title to their advantage to control the uneducated followers and villagers. As such, out of fear and respect [...]
Filed under: Mentoring ANA, Radio interviews | Tagged: Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, Afghanistan, ANA, ANP, camp puppies, Deployment, education, ETT, IED, Mullah, news, Religious Officer, Taliban, U.S. Air Force, war, WUSF | 10 Comments »
