Well, I've had little time to devote to writing any sort of description of what I'm doing. But I'm gonna do that now...sort of.
I've started getting settled into my job a little more now and learning what's what and creating my contacts for getting stuff done. That's what supply officers do, they get stuff done by talking to the right people. However, I don't think I ever got the run around as much in the Navy as I have so far in the Army.
Largely, I'm reviewing, creating, renewing contracts, and getting the day to day stuff for the base. The COL also appointed me the Visit Officer, which means I get to baby sit the people that come visit us. That's kinda cool, but truthfully, I can see it being more of an annoyance when I have to get real work done, like, I don't know, making sure we get the building materials to construct housing? It's not hard though, just another small collateral.
If anyone has checked my Facebook account, I've posted tons of pics. I would love to post them here, but it takes forever to upload here (well, it takes forever to upload period in this country), so I'm just leaving them there.
Ok, so I've also started learning Dari, the major language here. You don't really NEED to learn it, but it certainly makes it easier to deal with the locals here, and they will often give you a better deal if you at least attempt to speak to them in their language. And all the ANA (Afghan National Army) are nice here, so it's not difficult to speak to them, assuming they know english of course. Yesterday, coming back from the chow hall, a truck full of ANA came driving at the three of us walking back to our base (we have to walk up the hill to eat, it's great for "appetite justification"). I mean, they were hauling tail comin up on us and fast. Then they hit the breaks real hard, swerved, and then waved at us while laughing! I actually found the whole episode pretty funny, and it goes to show that even though we're in a war zone, humor isn't lost on either side of the language barrier.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Some pictures....
I'm throwing some pics up here that I wanted to put in previous posts, but I figure it's easier to just look at them here than scrolling and navigating to find them. That's right, I'm thinking of you, gentle reader. Here goes...
There's a pic of me on a C-130 giving the thumbs up (because it's not a C-17 that wants me dead).
Speaking of the traitorous C-17, you can see it's murderous rage from the bus we took to Qatari Immigrations.
Some desert life; a fox and a mouse...this was two different countries, so no, the fox wasn't chasing the mouse.
Me and my HMMVV crew at the Udairi. We be rollin, they be hatin.
There's a pic of me on a C-130 giving the thumbs up (because it's not a C-17 that wants me dead).
Speaking of the traitorous C-17, you can see it's murderous rage from the bus we took to Qatari Immigrations.
Some desert life; a fox and a mouse...this was two different countries, so no, the fox wasn't chasing the mouse.
Me and my HMMVV crew at the Udairi. We be rollin, they be hatin.
Camp Julien
Got to my permanent duty station last night (well, permanent for one year). I'm already glad I'm here because it's small and relaxed. I like the people I'm working with so far. My room (that's right, MY room) is a decent size for me. I'm used to a 10' x 5' room for 3 people on the boat, so this place is luxury. I get to sleep on a mattress which is better than the cots I've been sleeping on for the past 3 weeks.
Basically, this is a schoolhouse for teaching counter-insurgency techniques. And despite what a large part of America probably believes, that doesn't necessarily involve hunting down terrorists. In fact, there is little of that from what small portion I've learned. The majority of the lesson to be taught is respect for the culture and understanding of the Afghan mind. There is a huge difference in conventional warfare and ending an insurgency, and I'm proud to be here and be part of the effort to truly understand these people instead of just kill terrorists. The United States is here to help rebuild this country in the AFGHAN image and to help the government do the business needed to make this place stable.
What will be the best part of my job, in my opinion, is interacting with the locals. I'll be a purchasing agent here (for the lack of a better term), and quite often I will be buying services and materials from local Afghans. In my mind this is just awesome. We are putting money into their economy through their labor, building a base that we'll be handing over to them eventually. These are a proud people and they have every right to be; they work hard and 98% of them want a country they can call their own.
I've begun reading a book called 'Afghanistan: A Military History from Alexander the Great to the Fall of the Taliban.' It's a great story to read, the history of invaders that have come into this country and departed, but not without leaving a little piece of themselves. I've been infused with a desire to learn about Massoud during my first convoy here. One of the intel guys was talking about him and said "He's a cool dude, check him out." If you aren't familiar with him, he was a very moderate Muslim that opposed Al-Queda and even warned of 9/11. In fact, he was killed 2 days before 9/11 because of his intentions to tell the world about it. I'll let you read about it.
Here's a picture of my room.
Basically, this is a schoolhouse for teaching counter-insurgency techniques. And despite what a large part of America probably believes, that doesn't necessarily involve hunting down terrorists. In fact, there is little of that from what small portion I've learned. The majority of the lesson to be taught is respect for the culture and understanding of the Afghan mind. There is a huge difference in conventional warfare and ending an insurgency, and I'm proud to be here and be part of the effort to truly understand these people instead of just kill terrorists. The United States is here to help rebuild this country in the AFGHAN image and to help the government do the business needed to make this place stable.
What will be the best part of my job, in my opinion, is interacting with the locals. I'll be a purchasing agent here (for the lack of a better term), and quite often I will be buying services and materials from local Afghans. In my mind this is just awesome. We are putting money into their economy through their labor, building a base that we'll be handing over to them eventually. These are a proud people and they have every right to be; they work hard and 98% of them want a country they can call their own.
I've begun reading a book called 'Afghanistan: A Military History from Alexander the Great to the Fall of the Taliban.' It's a great story to read, the history of invaders that have come into this country and departed, but not without leaving a little piece of themselves. I've been infused with a desire to learn about Massoud during my first convoy here. One of the intel guys was talking about him and said "He's a cool dude, check him out." If you aren't familiar with him, he was a very moderate Muslim that opposed Al-Queda and even warned of 9/11. In fact, he was killed 2 days before 9/11 because of his intentions to tell the world about it. I'll let you read about it.
Here's a picture of my room.
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