Homeward Bound....

Hello everyone. (this is all in my blog too, so you may get it twice)

 

It has been awhile since I wrote to everyone.  Been busy and the Internet isn't always in my favor.  Kevin and I talk and half our conversations are, can you hear me now? How about now? Etc....so very frustrating.

 

But, all of that is going to have to take a break.  I am coming home.  It may only 2 weeks of my life, but, they will be the best 2 weeks of my life!  The last 6 months have been tough, I have missed so much.  I have gotten so much support from so many people, so many friends from high school, friends from our tour in England, family-it has been amazing.  I am so blessed to be surrounded by so much love.  I have made some really good friends here and we help to get each other through the long days.  We find ways to find humor where we can.  Been doing a lot of running here, on another set of running shoes.  It is the only time I feel sane, albeit if it is 104 degrees or more out there.  We have created a movie night and that has helped out a lot.  The new Army folks have seemed to work out great proving not all Army folks are unprofessional, careless, selfish and disrespectful.  So that is helping to make the living environment better too.  The food is good.  We have a new Major on board who gets it.  He gets that I should be treated as the Senior NCO that I am and worked hard to achieve, he recognizes that the morale is important and to keep that up, recognizes that we are all here to teach the Afghan National Army to stand on their own two feet and to put them first, not do their job, not take credit for their achievements and recognizes we are not their boss.  Sees the importance of why we need to do our best to make sure our children and grandchildren don't have to come here.  It is a complete breathe of fresh air!!

 

Our ANA are doing great.  I say everyday I wish I scoop up this job and put it in the US so I could have my family with me.  They are making a lot of progress and make me proud on a daily basis.  I know I always wanted to be a teacher when I grew up and doing this job has shown just how rewarding that job can be.  It makes me so proud to see them take the initiative to improve their own environment, their own living accommodations, improving the path to their futures.  We have had one of the soldiers that worked with us go AWOL, it happens a lot, this was the first one I have known.  They tried to retire Satar (in an all volunteer force), but, he fought it and he got another 5 years.  He has been in for 30+ years, this is is life and he loves his job.  He loves Afghanistan and the direction it is going.  He doesn't hand out trust like candy and he gave me the keys to all of the containers-a first.  He has never done that with no other mentor and he is hesitant to even give them to his co-officers.  It was a huge step for him and makes him even more receptive to ideas and suggestions I give him.  For anything I do with/for him or the FSD I ask is this something they could do without me?  If the answer is no, then I find a way to show them how or how to get the resources to do it.  He sees me as his sister and I see him as my brother.  He is a good person who has worked so hard to get where he is.  He has one wife, not multiple like some do here.  They have been together for 27 years.  It wasn't an arranged marriage either.  They met and fell in love immediately-according to him.  They have had 13 children together.  All girls except 3.  He lost 3 children to all very unusual circumstances.  A 5 month old, 3 year old and 5 year old-it has been 6 years since his son, the 5 year old died.  The oldest is 23, the youngest is 2.  They are each 15 months apart with one set of twins-his boys.  He gets apple juice from the chow hall at lunch for his 2 year old.  She is quite demanding for it.  Would love to meet his family somehow, but, it just isn't safe for him to bring them to base and not safe for me to go see them.  They are all very proud of him.  He lost half of his hand from when he was a tanker, he used to be a tanker years ago.  His soldiers fear and respect him.  Wish I could show him America someday.  But, America will have a chance to see a little of him-I am working on coordinating an Armed Forces Network (AFN) commercial on them.  It will be after I get back.  I will share it with everyone.

 

Because the relationship I have established with ANA has been so successful, they have shown an outpouring of gifts to me.  I am only coming home then going back again, I think they worry I am not going back.  Satar gave me a very unique gift of a dress, it is red velvet-very heavy with gold embroidery-all hand sewn, for Cecilia-it is so pretty.  It is typically a dress a lady will wear the day before a wedding.  Kevin asked if that meant she was married off to one of his sons....no of course.  Nyozi my interpreter said he got it from Jalalabad and it is quite expensive looking.  It is simply gorgeous.  I am going to get pictures of her in it and bring them back for Satar and his family to see.  I was also given a gift from Col Mir today.  It is a hand woven blanket and pillow cases-two of them Satar pointed out.  Col Mir said that I have become a sister to everyone in the FSD and they are sad to see me go, if only for a couple weeks it will seem forever to them.  They are such giving open hearted people that I think so much of world has no idea about.  It is hard for them to get such nice things and they thought of me over so many other things they could spend their paychecks on-it touched my heart deeply.  I know that I am making a difference here in not just the job, but, their views on Western women and what a success female mentors can be.  So many feel that female mentors can't succeed-but, I am doing my best to dispel that belief!

 

Speaking of other female mentors, my friend Judith-she is in the Canadian Army/Air Force-she is sort of both.  She works with one of the units the FSD supports. She leaves soon, she has been here for a year.  She has been so very successful too.  We made very good friends.  We had a pretty significant weapons swap out with them.  The Canadian C7 was swapped out for M16s, 939 of them.  The Canadians have been trying to do this for 3 years and we finally got it done.  It was a huge success.  She was able to coordinate certificate of appreciations for all involved-it was great.  We got a chance to get some lunch with her on KAF-she bought Freddy and I TGIFridays, that was nice of her.  It was good to hear her story too.  She has been in for 23 years, she is a parachutist and on her 4th knee surgery.  She isn't married, no kids.  She was with this 'clown' for 13 years as she says.  She is funny.  We swapped emails and if I am in Canada I have a place to stay.  She is in Quebec.  She learned English shortly after she came in.  She invited Freddy and I  to a lunch they had, an Afghan lunch with their unit-huge group of folks.  It was a nice meal, the rice is so flavorful.  It was great to make new friends in new countries.

 

Coming home is all I have been thinking about for the last month.  I am so excited to come home.  I have been packed for 2 days, it has been some of the longest days the last few days.  I leave out of the base sometime on Wednesday-it will take me at least till Saturday to get home.  I will have as much patience as possible for the whole travel time because each step is getting me closer to getting home.  While I am home my plans are to spend as much of every day of every second with Kevin and the kids.  I know sleep deprivation may happen, but, it is all worth it to spend it with them.  I look forward to reconnecting with everyone.  I look forward to spending some grown up time with Kevin at our get away to Star Pass.  This deployment isn't definitely what he signed up for, but, he has been nothing short of amazing.  Just today I got my 182nd letter from him and he has kept Cecilia on track with pictures for me-which have filled up one wall and half of my ceiling.  When I get back for every one she sends me I will replace it with the one she sent.  I have pictures everywhere.  I have pictures from Matthew too which are great too. 

 

Here is how everyone is doing back home.

 

Cecilia made it through the 7th grade, she did very well.  For the 8th grade we are going to discuss her going to the school in the district Kevin's house is in since we will be moving in with him when I get back it will also make going to high school easier with going with her friends from the 8th grade.  There is a girl who lives down the street who is in the same grade and willing to help Cecilia get settled in.  It will take a lot of stress off of Kevin over the next 6 months of not going so early to take her to the other house.  His hours change to 0600 and the school start times have changed to 0900, so this will work out best for everyone involved.  We are going to talk it over with her.  He brought it up to her a couple weeks ago and she seemed receptive, but, we are going to talk to her together.  We are going to move the kitties over to his house when I am home-which is all helpful towards taking a lot of stress off of Kevin-plus it is good for the kitties.  The braces are going well.  They really seem to making progress and she is doing good with them.  Of course there is the struggle with cleaning her teeth and all of that is involved there.  She has been doing great with William and has been really helpful with Matthew.  She has really made some great achievements at home with making her dinner, doing her chores, keeping the attitude in check, trying to do things that she is quick to say I quit too.  Kevin is great in pushing her and motivating her so well.  It isn't always easy at all, but, she is doing great.  She has finally made it to 100 pounds.  Our goal is 120-the doc said 155 is appropriate for her height, but, I didn't see 155 until I was 22-so, we are aiming for a healthy 120.  She is going to Ed's after I leave for the summer. 

 

Matthew is doing well.  Pre-school has been going great.  He seems to really enjoy school and looks forward to it.  He has been taking swim lessons and getting so strong with it.  He has been doing really well with helping out with William too.  Kevin just moved the fire engine bed into his own room which is a big step for both Kevin and Matthew.  Cecilia and Matthew have been playing very well with each other.  They have made homemade ice cream together and they seemed to be getting along a lot better.  Kevin sends me lots of pictures of them flying kites together and playing.  I miss him so much.  William is doing well too.  He is teething right now, so that is kind of a rough time.  He has his cranky time in the day with Kevin, but, he is doing so good with him.  It is going to be exciting and weird to meet him for the first time.  I look forward to it though.  It will take some getting used to a baby in the house again.

 

Kevin has had a rough month and never ceases to amaze me.  He got bit by a dog, a great dane that was dazed, dehydrated and confused.  It bit him and didn't let go, so it was a tough bite. it bit his right lower arm which kept him from doing his job due to lack of mobility in his hand.  It made it difficult for him with doing the daily tasks of diapers, dinners, homework, laundry etc.  He sent me pictures, it looked so bad.  He was just getting over the pneumonia and the meds he had for that gave him upset his stomach, then he got bit by the dog and back on meds and it started all over again.  He got a tetanus shot in the other arm and found out today the dog didn't have rabies.  The dog had to get put down, he was in bad shape-not because of the bite, he was in such bad shape.  He is going in for some more tests for the pain in his side-they are going to try a nerve block to see if that helps him some.  I worry so much about him.  I worry about the stress of everything on him.  He is invincible in so many ways and I am so proud of him.  The day he got bit by the dog he still went to compassionate friends meeting and was a source to help out some other families there.  He has an inner strength unmatched by anyone out there.  The Army should tap into the strength he has, bottle it up and give it to soldiers to get through combat!!  He is being such a great single father to Cecilia and the boys.  He is amazing!  I am so lucky.

 

I have many stories to tell and can't wait until I can sit down with a cool glass of wine, some time on my hands and share them with you all.  My experience here has been a roller coaster of scary, look mom no hands to holding on with my dear life.  It has been a job full of rewards and a life of challenges.  My love for Kevin, the kids, family and friends has grown stronger.  I can't wait to come home.  I know getting back on the plane back is going to be tough, but, I know I made it this first half, the rest will be easy...right? 

 

Homeward bound....

17 Apr 2011

It is too difficult to try to remember everything for a nice and well developed posting, so I thought I would just do some little ones to keep on track.

Today was a busy day.  Picked up the new Major last night, Maj Macneil? I can't remember his name jsut yet.  He seems like a nice person.  Will see how he works out.

It is fighting season so everyone is getting all their ammo to sustain themselves through the season.  It is sad that there is a fighting season at all.  We have had a unit that has been getting ammo from us by the truck load-which is a good thing.  Good because less to count and deal with, but, bad because it is a lot of paperwork.  Mostly for Satar to deal with, not so much me.  I need to get all the numbers from him though so I can report the numbers up. We are also doing an inventory of all of the containers.  Not an easy feat at all.  Been working away at this for some time now, about 2 or 3 months.  Just not enough time to get it all done so quickly. So while Satar has been issuing out of some containers, we have been counting in others.  I told him it is good teamwork to do it this way. It is hard for us to get locked down in the ASP because of weapons issues or other objectives come up.  He is going to be gone tomorrow and has given the go ahead for us to inventory while he is gone.  That is a great giant step that he trusts me to do that.  I have offered on more then one occasion, but, this time he said yes.

Today I was bent all in an akward position trying to count some grenades that were hidden behind some other assets, they were in boxes of course.  But, I was in a really crazy position and I had told Nyozi to add up what I was calling out and to write it down.  So I get myself all contorted and in position and call out to Nyozi-where is he? He went to get some tea.  Really?  He said the way I was laying down my weapon was pointed straight at him and he didn't want it to go off and shoot him in the head.  Fine I guess...but, we got the container counted.

A funny thing happened with Terak, he is one of Satar's NCOs.  He is a good little dude, a hard worker and he makes us laugh a lot.  Well we have these chinese locks on the containers that just suck.  They rust badly, the keys bend easily and they are just a pain to get opened.  I am doing my best to cut and replace as many as I can.  Satar yelled at Terak for cutting one, but, we couldn't get it open or find the key so we cut it, which is fine with me.  So we got to another and we told Terak he had 3 tries to get it opened.  Again, I plan on replacing them all, you can get in with a rock if you bang the lock enough.  So for the first 2, no go.  Then it came to the last one and wow he contemplated, did some counting of the keys-none of them are marked-another on the project list....and then he went to open the lock.  Nope and he just laughed and shook his head-I was on my way to get a lock from the truck already.  Then we are cutting it off and Satar comes up with 3 other rings of chinese lock keys....it was so funny!

That is all for this posting for 17 Apr.  Computer stopped working and it has been 10 days since then....

In the last couple weeks

Hello everyone.  Sorry it has been awhile since my last update.  I have been kind of busy lately.  It can be so difficult to fit everything I want to do in one day off.  My day off consists of, setting my alarm to get up in time to get breakfast-lately an omelet, get on skype and magic jack to talk to Kevin-hope for a good connection-which lately there hasn't been one.  More on that later.  I get off of the computer with him then get my letters and cards together for Kevin and the kids, also letters to friends and family who have sent me boxes or who are in my thoughts-which is a lot of letter writing.  Then we all get together to meet up for "Fat Friday" where we go to KAF and get lunch and ice cream.  Then it is back home again.  Where we will spend some time to ourselves then meet up for dinner-which is steak night, usually too full from lunch so I get the steak for breakfast in the morning with eggs.  Then after dinner we meet up to play cards or dominoes.  Which we will play for a little while and break off for phone calls with our families, I talk to Kevin again either while he is at work or on his way to work. Then it is off to bed to start a new week all over again.

Events that have gone on:

Met Lt Gen Caldwell, shared with him my flat family and asked for a picture with him.  As I was telling him about the flat family, I told him that Kevin was looking after Cecilia for me and keeping track of the kids, house etc.  He asked what he does and I told him he was a police officer and he asked me if it was okay if he sent him a letter or email thanking him.  I said that would be great.  Kept it to myself because I wanted it to be a surprise to Kevin.  It was a surprise indeed because Kevin thought it was spam and almost deleted the email-but, he didn't and here is what it read:

Kevin -- just had the pleasure of meeting your fiancé, who is currently serving down in Kandahar. We all are sure proud of the work she's doing. Tried to complement her but she quickly changed the subject to how lucky she was to have you back home waiting for her and looking after Cecilia. Just wanted to extend a personal thanks to you - you've made it possible for Kristen to focus on the mission here and she's doing one incredible job. Appreciate all that you are doing too -- thanks much!

                               This is me with Lt Gen Caldwell

He also gave coins to some of our top ANA guys:

                                                              This is Yaseem

                                                      This is Maj Fareed (Crazy Eyes)

                                                                 This is Satar

                                                                This is Col Mir

Freddy had a birthday-we went to TGI Fridays, which was a good time-we decided to start Fat Fridays from then on. Here we are eating ice cream. Well I took the pic...

We got 3 new Army soldiers in.  All SSG, Ervin, Melendez and Williams-she is a girl.  They are all pretty good folks, they hang out with each other, so we don't know them all very well yet.

                                                                   Melendez

                                                                   Ervin

Williams

We received and issued 710 M16 Machine Gun Weapons.  Which lucky me-25 of the serial numbers were wrong on the paperwork-wow, it took 3 nights of homework to get it all straight.

We had a convoy we had to get out which took us deep into the night.  Fed the ANA snacks from what has been sent me.  I seem to get criticized for taking care of them-but, why wouldn't I?  They are soldiers beside me fighting the same fight-why wouldn't I? They take care of me...

We helped out some Army guys who had been on the road for 2 days with no sleep-we downloaded their trucks at night time because they couldn't get anyone to help them.  So, we did and they repaid us with some cool bracelets.

We celebrated the Afghan New Year-their year begins in March, on March 21st to be precise-this lines up with the Horoscopes-if you look at the translations of the months, they are the Zodiac signs-Pisces, Scorpio, Virgo etc.  They made us a lunch-that was delicious and gave us gifts. 

They gave us gifts for the American New Year so I thought it was appropriate to get them gifts for their New Year.  We bought the officers and NCOs knives.

I made some significant progress with Satar in the ASP.  We are finally starting to put magazine data cards-which basically identifies the type and quantity of the assets that are stored.  A huge step.

I got to see some new wildlife.  The Taliban Ants as I call them.  They will bite you and burrow their heads into your skin-like a tick.  They are huge-about an inch long.

I saw a giant beetle-that acted like a camel spider and ran at me.

The giant wasp things-I saw a "flock" of them and thought they were birds.

The bunnies out at the ASP-cute little things. 50-50 said if he isn't working in the ASP he will be out there with the bunnies.  Sadly, I think when they get bigger they may eat them.  But, they are cute while they last.  There is a mommy bunny too, she is black-she was hiding though. (An update-there are 3 new babies today-16 Apr)

The unfortunate dead porcupine-which I think it is a hedgehog-nobody believed he was a gonner-but, he was sadly.  Not the big one in the old ASP-it was smaller and the quills weren't as big as the ones we saw previously.  I will note that Rock still hid in the truck, just in case.

Still a couple kittens hanging in there. I feed them beef jerky and give them water when they are out and about. (Update, it took me a couple weeks to get this updated due to poor internet connections-all the kittens we had out there are no longer with us. Was very saddened to learn of it, but, there is only so much that can be done.)

Experienced my first dust storm here

More crazy trips to KAF-each one there is something new, some crazy picture-something to just make you shake your head in wonderment.

Nice Police car with bullet holes

This crazy small car, smaller then a gator

Why would you walk around with this on your face-no not the guy with the stache, the guy with the bandage.

Contractor we saw here.  Most contractors have to meet a BMI limit, this guy must not have that rule.

Ummm, what is the cat thing doing to the horse?

Is my hat too small for my head or is my head too big for my hat?

Another of the many "oops" we see along the way.

This is the identifier in the middle of nowhere on KAF where we have to go to get our laptops fixed.
Best part about going to KAF now-is I get to meet up with my good friend Tiffany Naylor-she is here for 6 months working Weapons Safety-she and I have agreed to call our Fridays-Friday therapy.  To have a friendly, familiar face from home, a hug and a good laugh is great.  Also having someone to share this experience-the highs and lows is good help too.

Had a couple projects along the way.  I found a box full of locks and keys-with no way to determine which goes to what.  It took several days to figure it out.  But, I managed to salvage 45 locks.

Counted out and separated ammo into baggies for how much goes in a magazine-tried to make Freddy an AMMO troop.

Taken to running in circles around the FOB.  The gym is too cramped and all the colds and crap going around-it is a breeding ground for illness lately.  So, one lap around the FOB is .6 kilometers, so about 2 1/2 laps is a mile.  The first time Hanks and I ran it was so muddy.  I ran the other night and got just as muddy-they water the roads to keep the dust down.  It is so messy.  I have been running 18 laps.  It is hard to keep track of the laps so I put rocks on one of the barriers and just knock them off for each lap completed.  So you don't have to do the math, 18 laps is almost 7 miles.

We took down a smelly tent that was loaned out to someone and Col Mir wanted it back, so we had to take it down-albeit sat on the ground for 3 weeks-it was top priority for us to take down on a Thursday afternoon...we had all made plans to go to KAF too.

I salvaged a table for Satar also-it was all bent up and in bad shape, but, thought his guys could use it.  He saw it as gold when we were done because I put his soldiers needs ahead of mine and for that he said I will have a long and peaceful life because of my good heart.  So kind.

I have one wall full of pictures that they have sent me.  It is so colorful.

The plant, Ruby, is doing well.  I had to bring her in for the night because of the windstorm.

The food is conducive to me losing weight-so that is going well.  Sadly I hear we have better food then KAF.  I came across this picture of me when I first got here-have a look at me then and then now.  Sort of dropped a couple pounds.

December

March

Moments have occurred over the last few weeks that have touched my heart or affected me in one way or another.  They don't really have a photo to go with them.  They are just moments that happen.

Malaria dreams.  The meds we take have a horrible side effect of giving you some intense dreams.  Some are just weird, all are very vivid.  Some are down right frightening that make you wake up in straight fear.  I have a cold sweat fear laden malaria dream about once every 2 weeks.  Amongst the dreams had:

Tornado in the home I grew up in-trapped in the laundry room holding onto each other for dear life as it went all around us.  Flooding of my house and the whole house collapsed to the ground and I couldn't get out. Trapped in a room with everything that scares me to pieces and I could see through a window to get help but, they wouldn't open the door.  Car racing towards me-was going to hit me, brakes squealing and I  couldn't move, I was trapped. Fire surrounding my truck and I couldn't get out. Following my dad out of an airplane with no parachute-then he handed me one to hold onto-just hold onto these straps, you will be okay. The worst to date-as if all of that wasn't bad enough, I was sitting with everyone at a table and a suicide bomber came up to us-we ran to get away and I was trapped-couldn't go anywhere as they started to ambush us with grenades and small arms fire.  They drug my interpreter Popal away at gun point-I fell to my knees in surrender and saw all I have and love just slip away.  They are truly horrible dreams that are so vivid they seem real.  The alternative though is getting malaria and I am not willing to take that chance. (An update-I started to take my meds at night and the dreams have seemed to let up thank God)

The kids are doing well.  Matthew got mail from me the other day and said he couldn't remember what I looked like.  Which makes me sad.  I talked to Cecilia last night and she said that she wasn't sure she remembered what I look like either.  I told her to look at all the photos of us and she will remember again.  We spoke for about 30 minutes and in that time she told me she missed me 11 times.  She said she misses my heart and my love.  I told her I will be home soon for a couple weeks and she said, but, you have been gone forever already and you will come home and be gone again forever and ever. She said she is having a hard time with me being gone and wants me home.  I told her to be strong and she will be okay.  It won't last much longer. I am usually much stronger in talking to her, but, the sadness in her voice really ripped at my heart. I was crying and trying to not let her know I was crying-you know how easy that always goes!  She asked if I had forgotten what she looks like and I said never.  I said you are imprinted on my heart and I will never forget what you look like even if I went blind one day, she is always on my mind and in my heart.  I wish this wasn't so hard for everyone.  Some days are better then others. 

Kevin is doing well.  A lot better then he was a month ago for obvious reasons.  He is doing so awesome with the kids.  I have asked so much of him to take care of everything and he doesn't complain.  I am so lucky and will never be able to express just how grateful I am of him being a part of our lives.  I think he has gotten into a routine now with the baby and the kids.  So, it just takes time to get in that flow of things.  I still worry about him every day.  He works so very hard and has so little time to himself to just breathe.  He started going to the YMCA with the kids, they have child care thing so he can work out for an hour without having to cause too much hassle with the kids.  Cecilia rides a bike or walks on a treadmill, so she is active too.  He is going to get her enrolled in a babysitting class there now that she is 13.  He has taught her to make dinner with the oven-she has been doing such a great job.  He knows how to motivate her, to encourage her, to guide her along.  He has so much patience and love for her.  It is such a beautiful thing.  She had to run the mile at school in PE.  In December she ran a 17.00, last Monday she ran a 11.25! So proud of her.

On the night we worked the convoy late we missed dinnertime.  I was saying to Jaweed that it was late and I was hungry.  Next thing I knew he brought me some bread-it was so kind. He got mad at me for sharing it though...I told him he knows I would and he smiled and nodded his head.

I had a night that was pretty scary when we were coming home from KAF.  It was dark out and normally we don't go through Walmart during darkness but we were at KAF celebrating the New Year with the Interpreters, it was important to Nyozi and Hydari.  But, the ANA were having a convoy that took up both lanes. It normally takes 2 minutes to get through there and it took us 45 with a ton of evasive driving, cutting people off, pulling some Hollywood moves to get out of there.  It was very scary and reminiscent of my malaria dreams.  We made it back okay-but, it was one heck of a night.  All of the ANA were loaded and were not happy with us being part of their convoy or the fact we were cutting them off or cutting across traffic.  When we got back I said to Freddy and Nyozi, I can feel my heart beating in my butt.  Funny thing though right before we were leaving Freddy asked if I was good to go for driving, I said, yeah no problem.  Famous last words.  No more Walmart at dark that is for damn sure.  I guess I could clarify what Walmart is...it isn't they giant chain of stores across the world.  It is a stretch of road where you can buy anything from, goats, socks, shampoo, underwear, carrots, motorcycle, an engine, a flat tire, rocks, tea, anything you can think of.  It is very slum like looking and the people are kind of scary.  They say that most of the people there are relatives of the ANA, but, so are some of the Taliban-so, I don't feel all too comfortable there.  We were in the the all up armored truck and we were loaded with weapons, but, it wasn't fun.  Important thing is we got home safe. I burnt up the clutch like no tomorrow trying to get that beast between a rock and a hard place-we just got it replaced too-oh well.  I handled it all okay until we got home-then I shook like a leaf and the tears started rolling when I got in my room.

There was a day a couple weeks ago where we had a validation team here to determine where the ANA are at in us transitioning out of here.  It was pretty stupid because they were using Army checklists that don't line up with the guidance in their doctrine, in their decrees. They were just here a couple months ago too, they said well this and that hasn't changed.  Well no kidding, it takes time...so stupid.  Well the soldiers out in the ASP asked me to eat lunch with them and I had to pass because I had the validation team with me-they didn't deserve to eat with the soldiers.  I would like to eat lunch with them one of these days though.  I thought it was so nice that they offered.  I try to look after them the best I can.  I bring them cases of water and snacks all the time.  I bring them Gatorade and sodas too.  But, again I get criticized for doing that.  Such shallow people.

I did laundry and for whatever reason something turned my undergarments and socks blue.

My shoelace broke on my boot, but, I fixed it...not quite normal, but, it works.  Got to use the line, I have the skills of a tactical mongoose so I can fix anything.  No idea why I used that, but, well it was funny today.

I have gotten sunburned almost daily-have an interesting neck tan line going on now.

I got EOD to blow up a blasting cap that was found in the vehicle yard, Hanks found me to tell me about it.  Went and looked at it and made it safe for when EOD could blow it up.  She got yelled at for telling me because her bosses should have been told-but, she did the right thing.  All is good now.

Got a box of goodies from Cohnnie Craig, Carol and Barry Karper, Kathy and Kevin.

Got lots of mail from Kevin and Cecilia and some cards from Kevin's parents.  I got a card from Chris Mahoney too, a thank you card-I sent her some money for her Missionary trip.

I got lots of sweet well wishers on Facebook.

Got a couple emails from my parents which is so very nice to get.

I helped out another ANA unit, they are actually part of the Afghanistan Air Force.  They want some AMMO from us, but, totally botched the paperwork up and seemed to not know the process.  So, I helped to educate them and Satar educated them too-so now they get it.  This has been going on for like 2 months.  The ANA with the Air Force just didn't believe their mentor, so it needed to be ANA to ANA-which is how it should have been in the first place.  So many times I have seen here that the coalition forces want to make it happen-like right now and not let the ANA learn how to do it and to have it ANA to ANA.  If we (coalition) keep doing it for them-how will we ever leave this country?  It drives me insane how many people try to push the system and then it falls apart-they ask why?  My boss is famous for that.  Leave it to them to do it-guide as needed.  Sigh.

Here is a fine example of how the ANA need to learn how to do it themselves and have us guide them along.  The Maj decided in his infinite wisdom to have these tool boxes issued out.  Knowing full and well that these tool boxes have been sitting in a couple of containers for a very very long time and that they haven't been opened or touched.  But, he had 20 tool boxes pulled from the container and put in the warehouse.  I use the word "tool boxes" loosely.  They are kits for plumbers, electricians, sheet metal, carpenter, engineer, mechanic.  In these 20 boxes was all of the tools needed for some of each of the aforementioned types.  They were all mixed up together and oh by the way there are 30 more boxes in the containers too.  The Maj chose for whatever reason (selfish) to have public affairs out to take pictures of him issuing out these tool boxes to the ANA.  Yes, him issuing them out.  Um, this is an ANA thing.  But, he couldn't because everything was all mixed up together.  Imagine if you have 5 puzzles and all the pieces are mixed up together and spread amongst 30 boxes and you have no idea what the picture is, but, it all needs to be sorted out. The Maj and Noori his interpreter were going one tool at a time and putting them in a box and checking it off of a list.  The public affairs people were taking a couple photos, only when the ANA got involved.  But, the Maj wasn't explaining anything he was just talking to Noori.  So, the ANA did what they do, they sat back and watched.  Freddy, Nyozi and I were standing there thinking, what the heck is going on?  This makes no sense.  So we asked the Major what was the deal?  He told us he needed to make these tool boxes complete and he was going tool by tool.  It was going to take forever.  So the sensible thing to do was pull all of the various tools out on the floor, match them all up then go down the list and build the kits that way.  As soon as I started to do that-I pulled the ANA soldiers together and told them what to do and guided them as needed.  That is when the real pictures started to happen.  This isn't how great can I look doing the ANAs job, it is teaching them to do this on their own and watch them do it and guide them when they lose focus or get confused.  Not to say this tool box thing was easy-it was a giant pain in the ass.  All of the tool lists were in English-no Dari.  So, we had to take the lead-but, have them look for the picture, the size of the tool and build the kits.  It took us 2 days and the Maj thought he could do it in 45 minutes.  Can't push a system when they are learning.  The next time they have this, they know how to best organize it, they know where to read the sizes, they know what the tools do, they know where they need to go.  That is doing it ANA to ANA way.

Here is a video of the tool issue we did.

So that about covers the last couple of weeks.  I promise my next posting will be sooner, it is hard to believe all that has happened in one month.

Hoping that in the next month our Internet connectivity improves.  We can't talk and see each other on skype at the same time.  I have a magic jack that acts like a phone line through the computer, but, half of our conversation is, "can you hear me now".  It is so frustrating.  Then there are people who come and sit in their vehicles outside our building and steal our bandwidth.  Just eating up our Internet speed-so dang annoying. I have a brand new computer and it will take 10 minutes to upload a video.  It is so annoying.  We can't watch tv shows or any videos really online-the buffering thing will take an hour just to watch a 5 minute video.  It took me two days to watch a video of Cecilia's band on you tube.  It took me 2 weeks to do this....

On Fridays in the morning it is good, I get up early so that I can get in good Internet speed time.  But, in the evening when it is easiest for Kevin to talk to me, it is at its worst.  Then you have vehicles that drive by with their signal blockers on and it knocks out everything, phone, Internet-MORALE!  Just need to be strong, will get there in the end and look back and laugh at this-right?  Until next time my friends...