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 »
It has been awhile since I have crawled up in the gunner’s turret and took on the responsibility of a gunner. On today’s mission, this was my position. Admittedly, I don’t favor being a gunner because of my height and size (and age) because it’s very demanding and your team relies on your keen sense [...]
Filed under: Missions | Tagged: Afghan National Army, Afghanistan, ANA, Deployment, ETT, M-240, MRAP, turret, U.S. Air Force, war | 3 Comments »
Over the past year, I have taken many photographs of sheep in Afghanistan. I never got very close to them. But on today’s mission, not only did I get close, but a baby lamb got quite “intimate” with me. A few weeks ago we received notice that our AF Group Commander, several squadron commanders and [...]
Filed under: Missions | Tagged: .50 cal machine gun, Afghanistan, Air Force, Beanie Babies, Deployment, ETT, gratitude, proud to serve, U.S. Air Force, war | 6 Comments »
From Liisa, SMSgt Temple’s wife: Rex is out on a mission and asked me to post this chat he had with WUSF Radio’s Bobbie O’Brien earlier this week – it was a time consuming production as they lost Internet service in the middle of it and had to conduct the rest of it on the [...]
Filed under: Radio interviews | Tagged: Afghan National Army, ANA, Deployment, ETT, news, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, WUSF | 1 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 »
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 »
Famous playwright and poet, William Butler Yeats said, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” Today I returned to the ANA literacy classroom for another interactive exchange of information. This time I was bearing gifts that included notebooks, pens, and pencils for the students. This immediately got the [...]
Filed under: Mentoring ANA | Tagged: Afghan National Army, Afghanistan, ANA, Deployment, education, ETT, Holy Quran, Muslim, Religious Officer, Taliban, U.S. Air Force, war | 1 Comment »
Note: My intent is not to offend my Muslim readers and the context below is based on my research and my memory of an intellectual and theological conversation with an ANA Mullah. It was another one of those unpredictable days, not knowing what was in store for me as I ventured over to ANA land. [...]
Filed under: Mentoring ANA | Tagged: ablution, Afghan National Army, Afghanistan, ANA, Deployment, ETT, infidel, Mullah, Quran, religious curriculum, Taliban, U.S. Air Force, war | 6 Comments »
