A long year has finally come to an end. We are still spending our last days in Ali Al Salem AB, Kuwait waiting for the “Freedom Bird” to transport us to BWI Airport. Here we will say our goodbyes and each of us will take a different connecting flight back to our homes and to [...]
Filed under: Missions | Tagged: Afghan National Army, Afghanistan, Ali Al Salem AB, ANA, Bronze Star, Deployment, ETT, Kuwait, U.S. Air Force, war | 19 Comments »
Like an hourglass that has been turned upside down and the sand granules slowly deplete and amass on the bottom, so is the amount of time we have left on our deployment. But the time is measured in days instead of hours. Our ETT mission has officially ended and everyone is busy packing their bags [...]
Filed under: Mentoring ANA, Missions | Tagged: Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, Afghan rugs, Afghanistan, bazaar shopping, Deployment, ETT, humanitarian mission, Military, Pashmina, souvenirs, U.S. Army, war | 1 Comment »
Yesterday I mentioned that the ANA visited a village school and dropped off school supplies and Beanie Babies for the children. Today I had an opportunity to discuss the trip with Mir Wais, the interpreter who accompanied them and took these photos. Since there was so much stuff to transport, they piled everything into a [...]
Filed under: Mentoring ANA, Missions, School supplies project | Tagged: Afghan National Army, Afghanistan, ANA, ANP, Deployment, education, ETT, gender discrimination, humanitarian mission, nation building, war, women's rights | 2 Comments »
After delivering the school supplies, our convoy departed the school and returned back to camp. But my day was only half over and after lunch, I would have to prep the items for the ANA mission the next day. Keeping my promise, I divided the inventory in half and waited for the ANA to come [...]
Filed under: Mentoring ANA, Missions, School supplies project | Tagged: Afghan National Army, ANA, COIN, Deployment, education, ETT, humanitarian mission, war | 4 Comments »
Here is a link to this week’s chat with WUSF reporter Bobbie O’Brien. We talked about the latest school supplies delivery mission, the preparations for it and how the children reacted. To hear the story, click here. Also congratulations are in order for Bobbie and her editor Joshua Stewart; the pair has won a regional [...]
Filed under: Missions, Radio interviews, School supplies project | Tagged: Afghan National Army, Afghanistan, ANA, Deployment, education, Edward R. Murrow Award, ETT, humanitarian mission, news, RTNDA, U.S. Air Force, war, WUSF | Leave a Comment »
Now that we had a solution, it was time to implement an action plan. The next day, my teammates and G-Company, 186 BSB combined forces and loaded a Light Medium Tactical Vehicle (LMTV) with the boxes packed full of school supplies. Before loading them, we stacked them in the parking lot by type of item [...]
Filed under: Missions, School supplies project | Tagged: Afghan National Army, Afghanistan, ANA, convoy, Deployment, ETT, humanitarian mission, photography, U.S. Air Force, war | 6 Comments »
Now that our mission is over, I will reveal what I couldn’t yesterday about the potential of being the biggest blunder of my deployment. It took some real finesse and some sheer luck to resolve the situation. Some 173rd teammates and I joined forces with G Company, 186 BSB and our mission was to perform [...]
Filed under: Missions, School supplies project | Tagged: 173rd, 186 BSB, Afghan National Army, ANA, convoy, Deployment, education, ETT, G Company, humanitarian mission, school, U.S. Air Force, village elder, war | 8 Comments »
The past few days has been nonstop planning, coordinating, analyzing, and preparing for these missions. The first leg of the mission had the potential to be the greatest blunder of my deployment. For OPSEC reasons, I can’t provide any more detail or pictures until later on this week. I even penned a catchy headline entitled [...]
Filed under: Mentoring ANA, Missions | Tagged: Afghan National Army, Afghanistan, ANA, Darulaman Palace, Deployment, ETT, Kings Palace, U.S. Air Force, war | 2 Comments »
No Tom Foolery here! It was one more thing I could cross off “My Things to Do” list. Today I had a unique opportunity to interview two female ANA officers. Judging by their attire they were wearing, you would easily mistake them for a housewife or local citizen and never know they were proud officers [...]
Filed under: Mentoring ANA, Missions | Tagged: Afghan National Army, Afghanistan, ANA, ANP, Deployment, ETT, female soldiers, military spouse, wife | 3 Comments »
This week’s conversation with WUSF’s Bobbie O’Brien covered our mission to a girls school to drop off donated school supplies and President Obama’s visit to Afghanistan. The story aired Monday during NPR’s “All Things Considered” and will run again this morning in the Tampa Bay area during “Morning Edition.” Or you can click on a [...]
Filed under: Missions, School supplies project | Tagged: Afghanistan, charity, corruption, Deployment, education, ETT, humanitarian mission, Karzai, news, U.S. Air Force, war, WUSF | Leave a Comment »
