Deployment « Afghanistan My Last Tour

ANA On Their Own

Posted on 04/10/2010 by Rex Temple

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 »

Preparing for ANA School Supply Drop Mission

Posted on 04/10/2010 by Rex Temple

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 »

This week’s radio interview

Posted on 04/08/2010 by Rex Temple

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 »

Organized Chaos

Posted on 04/08/2010 by Rex Temple

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 »

Case of a Mistaken Village

Posted on 04/07/2010 by Rex Temple

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 »

Two Missions and a Surprise

Posted on 04/06/2010 by Rex Temple

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 »

Please vote for Rex’s blog in MILbloggies awards

Posted on 04/04/2010 by Rex Temple

From Liisa, SMSgt Temple’s wife: Rex is out on a mission and I am using this space to ask you for your continued support. A few days ago I asked that you help nominate Rex and his blog for MILbloggies awards as a special anniversary gift for Rex. You came through and now Rex has [...]

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Afghanistan, anniversary present, blogging, Deployment, ETT, family, military spouse, war, wife, writing | 1 Comment »

Eating With the Interpreters

Posted on 04/03/2010 by Rex Temple

Today was another opportunity to cross another item off my “Things To Do List.” Time is running out and the clock is rapidly ticking away, so I am steadily crossing items off this list. Omid, my interpreter, returned from his temporary duty at FOB Shank and I wasted no time putting him to work. Our [...]

Filed under: Mentoring ANA | Tagged: Afghan National Army, Afghanistan, ANA, Deployment, DFAC, ETT, ink cartridge, interpreter, U.S. Air Force, visa, war | 2 Comments »

An Interview With Female ANA soldiers

Posted on 04/02/2010 by Rex Temple

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 »

Help me give Rex an awesome anniversary present

Posted on 03/31/2010 by Rex Temple

From Liisa, SMSgt Temple’s wife: Rex has no Internet access today – our 4th wedding anniversary. So I’m using the space to ask for your help. I want to give him a special anniversary present and if you are a regular reader of this blog and like what you see, you can help me. I [...]

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Afghanistan, blogging, Deployment, ETT, media, MILBloggies, Military, military spouse, war, writing | 10 Comments »

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