Road Trip

Wow!! Two posts in one day - "when it rains it pours" I guess. Don't forget the one below this one ...

Was that "Who-ah!" or "Hoo-ah!?" Well, leave it to the Army - the guys spent a good half hour this morning talking about the origins of this phrase. C said that the phrase came from the infantry and now they were pissed because everyone seems to be using the infantry's fight phrase. H joked and said that the infantry was actually happy to influence others. H seems to be a treasure trove of all-things military - songs (this Army Lt Col can sing the Air Force song), sayings, jokes, history, and trivia (meaningless or otherwise). H said that the term "Who-ah!" came from WWII when a commanding officer ordered his men to "take the hill." The soldiers responded, "Who, us?" C explained that the official spelling is now "Hoo-ah!" No, really, these guys discussed this for about 30 minutes. Anyway, if you want to know the background behind this trivia (of the meaningless variety), then check out this site: Origins of Hooah

And on the democratic primary race ...:
H: "I think "Billary" should be our next president. At least then, nobody would dare to mess with the U.S. for 7-10 days out of every month!"

I guess you could call that form of foreign policy - "Menstrual Assured Destruction!"

This morning I played Army man. The Army guys needed to go to the Forward Operating Base (FOB) to check out accommodations for when all our new cadets headed there for basic training. So, we got our body armor (IAB) and convoyed out from NMAA. We had gone a couple of clicks when our tail vehicle hit a massive pothole and got a flat tire. So, we had to change the tire "outside the wire" just off the busy road. You can see the end of the gun I was holding in this picture. A couple of guys handled getting the flat fixed and a couple of us (including yours' truly) handled security. This meant, holding an M-16 and looking like a "bad ass" on the side of the road. It was very cold and it took about 30 minutes for the guys to get the tire changed and then we were off again. I have to admit, that I had a tad bit of anxiety standing there watching all the vehicles and people going by watching us. Around here it is believed that about 1/3 of the populace are happy about a democratic change and back the current government, 1/3 support and want the Taliban back, and the last 1/3 don't really care and just want to live. Yeah, I had anxiety for about 2 seconds, then I realized that I had that big gun in my hands (and I was too cold to worry about anything else.)

The FOB is located at the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) - it's where the Afghanistan National Army (ANA) is trained. When we arrived, there were groups of ANA soldiers doing trench tactics, physical exercise, marching, throwing grenades (they were rocks), taking hills, eating, and peeing on the side of the road. It was amazing to see all these soldiers being trained and the flurry of activity happening on the range. We parked and a couple of the guys went to talk to whoever it was they needed to and I headed to the porta-john. There was a row of about 30, and these were squatter porta-johns (no seats, just a hole) and were for the entire group of personnel training on the range. And, let's just say, they were practically overflowing and the most disgusting things I've ever seen (and smelled).

A short time later, the Army guys took me to the "bone-yard" where a bunch of old military vehicles were rusting away. It was pretty cool to see all that power (at one time) wasting away. H commented that KMTC was located on the Soviets' old training grounds. He said it's a good training area, but the Soviets' approach to conquering the Afghans was all wrong. After invading and conquering Afghanistan, the Soviets didn't train the Afghans or even try to educate them - Afghanistan was just a strategic stronghold for them. Their subjugation of the Afghans including feeding/paying the Afghans just enough to get by. The Taliban's approach was similar. I asked H if he thought our efforts in Afghanistan would meet the same fate as the Soviets' and Talibans'. He said, "maybe, but at least we're training them, educating them, improving infrastructure, and we have an exit plan where they take all that over from us at some point."

On our way out, we headed to Camp Alamo to eat lunch and Camp Phoenix to stop at the post exchange to pick up some supplies and get gas. After that, we headed to the "No-Lemon" lot. No-Lemon takes care of all the commercial verhicles that are used by the coalition forces. Get it, their vehicles aren't lemons. Anyway, they got started during the Kosovo crisis and here's a site you can check out for more information on No-Lemon. We had completely destroyed the rim, but No-Lemon gave us a brand new spare and we were on our way along the busy and crowded streets of Kabul. Here are the NMAA gate guards greeting us upon our return.









Here are some pics along the streets of Kabul. Check out the kids playing soccer, the makeshift vending booths (selling everything from meat, fruits, car parts, and phone cards), the "chain-gang" (in orange jump suits) cleaning the streets, and of course the burka-clad women.

Thanks for reading.

KAIA Incarceration

Here's a shot of the sunrise looking out the backdoor of our barracks.








Here are couple more good sites I just discovered on what's going on here as far as assisting the Afghans to rebuild.

Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan (CSTC-A)
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)

You may recall that Brian has had the nickname “The Terminator” bestowed upon him because of his apparent dismantling of the NMAA management department. There isn’t a day that goes by that something comes up and Brian bears the brunt of a reference to NMAA, not having (at least temporarily) and management major. Here are a couple of examples:

Brian is like the Taliban, he thwarts the prospect of education like the Taliban thwart basic human rights.

Remember Brian, it’s counterinsurgency, not insurgency.

It’s been several days since I last posted anything, so I’ll try to get you caught up. TAIT – thank Allah it’s Thursday. I think I’ve mentioned before that the “weekend” here starts on Thursday and ends on Friday. Saturday (shanba in Dari) is the first day of the week (our Monday). So, weekends are really only a day and a half, but it’s not bad. Friday, was “flight-suit Friday.” It was the day that the NMAA air force personnel decided that we would all wear our “bad-ass” desert flight suits. These are the suits (often called “bags”) that pilots wear. It’s a big one-piece suit that is quite comfy and we non-rated (non-pilot) types aren’t allowed to wear. We were issued these for the deployment because they are required for certain military functions, so we figured if we have them, we might as well wear them. Up to this point, I’ve only been wearing mine (like I am right now) as my evening leisure wear!

On Friday (jumma in Dari) morning, I slept and when I woke, I stepped on our new carpet in our room. Brian had gone to Camp Eggers the day before and we gave him some money so he would pick us up some carpet remnants for our room. They are 3’ x 5’ and three of them nearly cover the narrow walkway down the middle of my and Lem’s room. Before, we had a bare panel floor that seemed quite proficient at attracting the dust from our shoes and the “dust bunnies” from our clothes. It’s amazing how such a little thing can make such a big difference in our comfort level. After waking, I decided to work out and then take the rest of the day to do whatever I wanted. Well, the thing is, there really isn’t all that much to do around here because we can’t leave KAIA. So, Lem and I went and got some books from the makeshift second-hand library in the Red Barn of our borough. For lunch, we decided to try the Thai restaurant that is on KAIA. Lem and I met up with Brian and H and we headed over around noon. We were the first ones there for the lunch time rush, and I do mean rush – shortly after we arrived the place was packed with about 50 people. That had an extensive menu – even a whole page of vegetarian options. We ordered and listened to H tell his stories about being in the real military (i.e., the Army). He loves to tell a story and frankly we eat them up – he’s a good story teller. The food arrived and it was really delicious and a very welcomed change to the chow hall. Each of our meals cost about $10 each. Brian was quite excited because he was able to get a real banana split for dessert. After that, we shopped around a bit in the various post exchange (PX) stores and the permanent bazaar mall in KAIA. This one is different from the weekly bazaar on Saturday, in that it is always there. You can get some of the same stuff that shows up at the weekly bazaar, but the mall has higher quality (and higher priced) stuff. In addition, there is a barber and a sewing shop to take care of those things. I’m still amazed that we can get just about any electronic item (albeit at a price) like iPods or a tv or video games, or new DVDs and then right outside the wall of the KAIA compound, people can’t even get decent drinking water.

Didn’t buy anything, and then went back to the room to read a bit, then we watched a movie on the laptop – I don’t even remember which movie. We just lounged around most of the afternoon and then when it was starting to get dark, we decided to meander around our little camp called KAIA and see what we could see within the confines of our holding pen. So, here’s a quick little tour. If you recall, I mentioned that each little country borough has it’s own bar (or two). The Belgian bar “The Three Monkeys” is closest to our borough, then just down the road along one of the “shipping container rows” is the Czech House. The French have a relatively fancy place not far from the Czech House, called the French Corner. It houses an eatery and gym. The French Corner is actually located quite a way from the KAIA main street - off by it’s lonesome. Lem comments in his best French accent, “so like za French.” Across from the French Corners is the Czech field hospital – very simple and very M.A.S.H. 4077th like. Very primitive, but I guess that’s why it’s called a field hospital. The Czechs also have their own gym (the Marcel Gym), but compare theirs with the French Corner! We circled back around and took some pictures along the wall and tower of KAIA. Notice the beautiful mountains in the background and the light was quite nice and the sun started ducking behind. Here’s a sunset picture facing the French borough as well as some other pictures looking out over KAIA. With the wall and towers and gates, it really is kinda like a prison.

We then went to “Air Force One” which is a bar/café/club at the main building of KAIA. It has an internet café, gaming café, little movie theater, pool tables, and coffee bar. It reminded me again of the bar scene in the original Star Wars – so many different people, so many uniforms, loud music and videos, and loud stories and laughter. We had some hot chocolate to warm us up because it was so incredibly cold (~ 5 F) and then went back to the room and watched another movie.

On Saturday, it was off to work again – almost don’t mind the short weekend so we can at least get of the grounds here a bit. Our internet connection has been very intermittent, so that’s another reason why I haven’t been posting anything. Funny how spoiled we’ve become to being able to email and even call home practically whenever we want. So, when we lose that privilege, people really start to get grumpy! Saturday was pretty uneventful, and I didn’t do a whole lot at work because I forgot to take my little thumb drive with all my documents stored on it. I spent most of the day listening to the Army guys banter back and forth.

Lem: “Hey, R2, do you want some yogurt?”
R2: “No, thanks, I don’t do fresh-squeezed. Hey, how do you know when yogurt goes bad? They start putting fruit in the bottom. How do you know when cottage cheese goes bad? They call it yogurt.”

R1: “We got some analysis back on the drinking water samples that were collected from the well last week . It’s full of coci-o, uh, cochia-something bacterium, uh …” and before he could finish his sentence …
R2: “Just say, shit. The drinking water tastes like shit because it’s full of shit!”

H: "Brent, your predecessor decided that he was going to get in shape while he was here about two weeks before he left. I told him he shouldn't bother because he had furniture disease."
Brent: "O.K., I'll bite - what's furniture disease??
H: "His chest was falling in his drawers!"

R1: "Hey don't we have those FNGs coming in today."
H: "Yes, there is a full-bird and two majors."
Lem: "Shouldn't that be "New FNGs?"
Brent: "O.K., what are FNGs?"
H: "F***ing New Guys."

So, I guess we're not the newbies anymore - we the full-bird colonel is the new English-mentor and the two majors are civil engineering teacher-mentors - all from West Point. The Air Force contingent is getting a little sparse around here.
H: "You Air Force academic types are polluting the young minds of Afghanistan's future soldiers."
Lem: "Hey, what does an Army Lieutenant Colonel do here at NMAA - he drives the Air Force officers around."
Brent: "And, Army Lieutenant Colonels also wash the cars!" Here's a picture of H cleaning up one of our vehicles.

Apparently, at dangerously high levels – thank goodness we have gobs of bottled water. So, we started to make all kinds of jokes about the drinking water and all the chai (tea) we had been drinking with our Afghan hosts over the last couple of weeks. Those Afghans did seem awful generous with the tea – maybe it was a plot to try and get us sick. Someone said, “No, it’s all right, they boil the shit , literally, out of the water!”

Went to the bazaar on Saturday afternoon and got in an argument with a carpet vendor. He spoke pretty good English and was happy to offer chai (hmm, where did he get his water?) to us while we looked at his carpets. I told him right off the bat I wasn’t going to buy anything, I just wanted to see what he had. He showed me a couple of large rugs – Afghan rugs are typically made from camel wool while the more expensive Persian (i.e. Iranian) rugs were made from silk or “higher quality wool.” I really didn’t see anything that interested me much, but I’m a terrible shopper, and so we said thanks and started to leave. The way I shop is I know what I want and I go get it – the kids call this “Daddy shopping.” The vendor, of course, did not want to see us leave and he was quite persistent to sell me a rug. So, I asked him how much the Persian rug was and he said $1200. This was the starting point for the negotiating that he wanted to start. I wouldn’t bite. Well, I guess I bit a little. He asked me how much I would pay for the rug that day. I said $200 which I knew was a completely low ball. He laughed and then tried to hasten the negotiating by decreasing his price to $800, $700, $600. Now, I didn’t budge, I told him again and again, that I was not buying a rug today and besides I didn’t have any money. Well, he wouldn’t let us go – he then offered to let me take the rug and then I could pay him even up to a month later. No, thanks. He continued to hound us and when I said, what I thought was my final goodbye, he pulled out one more trick. He said, “O.K., why not you buy rug from me today? You make me mad and I don’t like you, and so, since I need the money, I will let you buy my rug for $200.” I said again, “thanks, but I said I’m not buying” and started leaving again. He then began halving the price over and over as we walked away until he got down to $12. Finally, I said, “you made me mad for not listening to me. I don’t want your rug, no matter how much it is.” Now, you might think this rather rude of me, but I think this is just the way things are done here. After I said that, he said “please shake my hand and you come back – right?” Right.

Sunday (Yak shanba in Dari – the first day after Saturday) was the day I would be meeting with my five physics faculty. I had come up with several class activities and project that they could use in class instead of just lecturing to their students. Dr. Wali had translated them for me and we were all to meet in the Physics lab room at 9:30 am. My plan was to show them these activities and some teaching techniques as if they, themselves were a class. We went through the activities and they really seemed to like them because they got them to think in ways they hadn’t before. Perfect – just what they needed and just what they needed to do in their own classrooms. The first activity was a simple measurements activity to get the students familiar with units, dimensions, area, volume, and mass. The activity instructed the students to measure the dimension of their physics text and then calculate the area and volume and mass (given the density of the paper). I even had a to-scale centimeter tape embedded on the handout. I asked them if they thought they (the instructors and their students) could do this problem and they said, “yes, pretty easy.” The next problem had the picture of me in front of the missile and they had to estimate the angle the missile made with the horizontal surface. Again, they said, “yes, pretty easy.” The next activity involved using the above activities along with the concept of vectors to plot and measure a course around the NMAA grounds. I printed an overhead shot of the campus and gave them some criteria to follow. They had to calculate the their total path distance from just the picture and then go outside and somehow measure it and compare the two and explain why they were different (if they were). I asked how might they measure the distances outside – “with a tape measure,” one said. I said, “What if you didn’t have a tape measure?” Another said, “then you could pace it out if you knew about how big your pace was.” Good. And so on – it may seem pretty simplistic, but I think it may be the first time that they’ve really thought about how there could be more than one way to solve a problem. This was evident on another problem where I showed them a video clip of a man trying to jump over a swimming pool. He didn’t make it, but I wanted them to tell me how we could figure out how long the pool was from the picture of the pool. They all started to talk about the equations they could use, and they were all very excited and I reassured them that yes, indeed they showed what great knowledge they had because they knew the right equation to use. After about 10 minutes of discussion, I said, “But, there is an easier way.” After Dr. Wali’s translation, they sat up ...

Just a quick note about Dr. Wali and the other interpretors. They are the smartest and most educated people in their country right now and they do an amazing job for us at NMAA. It is very difficult for them and they all work (translate) in areas outside of the limited education and backgrounds. Dr. Wali for instance doesn't know all the nomenclature or words to describe advanced concepts in math or science, but he has a pretty good understanding of the concepts and with a little help from me, we do a pretty good job. The interpretors are students too and learning so much from their work. At one point during my meeting with the physics faculty, they didn't get one of the points that Dr. Wali had translated. So, instead of Dr. Wali asking me, he grabbed a whiteboard pen and started explaining the concept to the "class" - it was great!

I...I took my left hand and put my thumb at the feet of the man’s standing image on the screen, then I put my index finger at the top of his head and with that indicated the height of the man. Then without a word, I turned my hand and held my finger-thumb combination horizontal and counted out 3 “man-lengths” across the pool. Then, I waited to see what they said, and it was a unanimous “yes, yes since man is about 1.5 meters, then the pool is …” I then said that although they chose the correct equation and the problem could be solved, that most problems could be solved more simply by just understanding the more clearly the information that was presented. They loved this. The total “class time” was about an hour and half and at the end, I gave them homework to do and they announced that they would like to meet every Wednesday and Saturday to discuss other teaching methodologies. Yes, very positive session and they all seemed very willing to do the homework and work at some new teaching techniques. Ah, some progress and hopefully we can sustain it – especially even when I leave. As we returned to our offices, the new cadets were outside doing some drills in their brand new uniforms.

Here's some additional pictures from around the KAIA compound. Notice the towers and walls of our little camp.









R2 feeds the cats every morning as we drive into NMAA - there are two black cats. Well, a new dog showed up two days ago and he won't let the cats near the food. I've seem him twice grab one of the cats in his mouth and shake the cat around like a rag doll. I guess the cats won't be eating for a while - not until something happens to the dog ...




Here's a picture of one of the cats near our barracks. He's the nicest cat I've found - happy to have a pat on the head. All the other cats are real alley cats and are just plain down-right mean if you approach them.

Well, that’s all I can stand to type right now – again, thanks for reading. It seems to me that most of this could only be interesting to me, but you get what you get. I'll leave you with this sunset picture from Sunday night. The picture doesn't do the scene justice. You can see that the picture is taken in front of the French borough.