Big Guns and Lots of Fun

Teaching “My Peeps”

Last week, my physics faculty asked if I could teach them about a particular physics topic. It was the first time they had asked me about something specific. The particular topics were diffraction and interference of electromagnetic waves and Faraday’s and Lenz’s laws of induction. I won’t go into great details about these here, but these are some of my favorite topics that I teach at the Air Force Academy. Well, heck, maybe I’ll take this opportunity to teach you readers a thing or two. Here goes …

Faraday’s Law says that a changing magnetic flux can induce an electric current in a loop of wire. Magnetic flux is just the amount of magnetic field going through a surface. Picture a fishing net catching fish, or better yet, here’s what I showed the Afghan instructors. You can change the amount of field going through the surface by 1) changing the strength of the magnetic field (the amount of fish), 2) changing the surface (make the net bigger or smaller), or 3) changing the angle between the field and the surface (rotating the net). This last one is really just a variation of 2). If the surface (i.e., the net) happens to be a coil of wire, then a current (electricity) will be induced in the coil DURING THE CHANGE of the magnetic flux. The important thing is the current only flows when the change is occurring. When the flux is steady there is no current. So, this is used in many applications – one of which that affects all our lives is the use of transformers with power transmission lines. But a simple practical application is the Faraday Flashlight that some of you have probably seen advertised on TV. The Faraday Flashlight doesn’t need batteries to work. When you shake the Faraday Flashlight, a strong magnet goes up and down through a small coil of wire. When the magnet is moving, the magnetic flux (number of fish) going through the coil is changing and so a current flows through the coil. There happens to be a capacitor in the flashlight casing that can store this current (energy), much like a battery. If you shake the Faraday Flashlight for a couple of minutes, you can get 5-10 minutes of light.

It was really fun teaching them and they had lots of questions and Dr. Wali really earned his money that day. We spent about 3 hours going over the lesson and questions. Then we got on the subject of the earth’s magnetic field and how compasses work, and could the earth’s magnetic field be disturbed by exploding all the nuclear weapons in the world in one spot or at the earth’s core, and what Afghanistan had nuclear weapons, and … all very interesting. At the end of all the questions and pondering, I said to them that this was all good and that they should try to have these kinds of discussions with their students. I asked if they ever do have these sorts of discussion in class and their response was, “no, we don’t have time because we have to lecture and make sure all the students have all of the information.” But, at that moment I think they realized for the first time that discussions like we just had could convey much more information and conceptual understanding than just lecturing about the material. I think they realized this at that moment, because they began telling me that they learned more from our conversation on this subject, than they did while going to school and teaching this material themselves. That is quite satisfying …

Another small success I had with the Science Department this week, was that the Department Head, Col Raghi, agreed to change the syllabus for the two physics courses. Currently, there are 70 lessons (instructors teach 4 times a week) and there are a lot of topics that you wouldn’t find in any other general physics course in the world. So, I prepared new syllabi with what I thought were the most important topics, included lab periods, and added one day a week (of the four) where the teachers didn’t have to lesson prep, but were available during class time to only answer student questions. Right now, there is no vehicle for students to do homework or get help outside of class time and right now there is no class time to do practice problem solving. My proposed syllabi could help foster more effective class time and more effective learning. Also, it would give the teachers some teaching relief. Next semester, there will be 20 sections of physics which means each of the five instructors will have to teach 4 sections, 4 times a week. That’s a big load and if there is any hope for them to use any of these teaching techniques that I’ve been demonstrating, then they will need some additional time to prepare. And, there are no positions available to hire new instructors until this summer – maybe. So, the syllabi I proposed permits the instructors to prepare for just 3 lessons a week instead of four, fosters more effective teaching and learning, and solves the current manning problem. At least, that’s how I sold it to Col Raghi.

Also, this week, we finally got the Superintendent, General Sharif, to vacate the ANA (Afghanistan National Army) soldiers out of a small storage room near the physics lab room. This room, like many around NMAA, are “squatter-rights” rooms where the ANA soldiers sleep when they aren’t on duty (maybe sometimes when they’re on duty too). As you may recall from one of my first blog entries, right after I arrived a huge shipment of physics equipment showed up which my predecessor had ordered. We need a place to store this, so I can break it out and start teaching the instructors how to use it. Well, the soldiers were cleared out this past week and we were supplied with two small shelving units – completely insufficient for all the stuff. But, we got the room – it’s filthy and needs cleaned and we need many more shelves. After my Faraday lesson with them the other day, they wanted to show me the storage room – they were quite proud that it had been cleared of people and now “in their possession.” However, they were a bit embarrassed by it’s condition when they showed it too me and they were embarrassed that “Gen Sharif only authorized two sets of shelves and said we didn’t need any more.” I asked where we might get more shelves and I was ready to go march off and grab some from somewhere or go to Gen Sharif and ask, “Only two sets of shelves?” After Dr. Wali translated this, they said they were “working on Gen Sharif” to get more shelves and they would come from “the big tent” on campus where all the used office equipment resides. This was amazing – these guys who wouldn’t have thought to “work on Gen Sharif” for anything a few weeks ago, were completely in unison as a team and stepping up to make a request. But, more importantly, they were confident in doing this and said that the new shelves should be in place by the end of the week. What a thrill - baby steps.

“Gavareeteah paroosky?”

While I was setting up the physics lab the other day for my teaching lesson with the instructors, and ANA officer stopped in to ask what I was doing. He spoke a little English and we chatted for a minute about the demonstration I was setting up. He recognized a little of what I was doing and understood it a bit, because he said he had been a radar officer in the Afghanistan Air Force before the Taliban. We left the building together and then he asked me, “Chai, chai?” So, I said sure and we strolled (yes, strolled very slowly – he had his hands behind his back) over to his office which is in one of the brand new buildings on campus. Along the way, we struggled to communicate. His name is Sayed Ahrar. He was tall and then with short graying hair and he smiled constantly it seemed. After he served tea and almonds and white raisins he sat on one of the brand new couches in the office and I sat in the other. And so, we tried to talk again. He showed me his English language lesson homework book – he had impeccable handwriting. And so, he would ask me a question in English and I would try to answer in Dari-English – trying to utilize the very limited Dari vocabulary I have. This went on awkwardly for about 20 minutes and then he said, “you speak more Dari than you think.” And I answered, “choo, choo” which is funny because it’s Russian for just a little bit. I had accidentally blurted it out in Russian, but then corrected myself with the Dari equivalent of “kum, kum.” As I was correcting myself in Dari, he blurted out in English, “that is Russian not Dari.” So, in Russian, I asked him if he spoke Russian. He said, “Da” and that his mother and father were from Turkmenistan and that they and he spoke Russian, “gavareeteah paroosky?” So, we started talking in Russian which was much easier for me and him. After a few minutes, we both started to laugh and how funny it was that an American who was trying to speak Dari and an Afghan trying to speak English were now communicating in Russian in downtown Kabul. It’s funny, I feel so very rusty in my Russian language skills, but the few times I’ve used them here, a lot comes back to me and it just flows out. So, somewhere deep in the recesses of my brain, that Russian language sits – just needs to be exercised a bit I suppose. I asked Sayed why he wanted to learn English and he said it is necessary to work with the Americans and because it is the universal language. Then, and this is funny, he said that the real reason was because he wanted to be able to travel and go to restaurants and to travel and order food in nice restaurants, English was best. He said he was married and had three children (2 sons and one daughter). Then he felt compelled to tell me that he made about $15K/year and his boss made about $18K and that his house rent was $250/month. It seems he does quite well relatively speaking and he said that he was perfectly content with that much money and that he was very happy. He certainly and genuinely seemed to be happy. I had to get back, so I said my thank-yous and goodbyes and promised that I would come back for chai again sometime.

“C'est la vie!”

So, you may recall the French officer that is here now, Aspirant (2nd Lt) Marten Guyot. We call him Tin Tin which is a French nickname for Marten. Tin Tin is an extraordinary person. He is so very smart and so very clever and not at all afraid to ask questions. He’s also very quick at learning all the sarcasm that is thrown his way from everybody and the goating that he receives to ask out the Czech nurses, or one of the few French or Italian beauties at KAIA. He is the youngest (by far) NMAA team member, but he fits in quite well with us old-timers. He is so very young and confident and innocent at the same time. He has fun pointing out all the French words that we have stolen in the English language. He is very industrious and has already found his very own niche (hey isn’t that French?). He has been helping the French teacher (for which he gets harassed because she is a rather attractive Afghan woman apparently) tutor 7 Afghan cadets who have 3 weeks to prepare to take the entrance exam for St. Cyr – the French Military Academy from which Tin Tin just graduated. He meets with them a few times a week to discuss part of the exam. Of the 7 Afghan cadets, it is hoped that at least two of them will do well enough on the St. Cyr exam in order to become exchange cadets at the French Military Academy. Tin Tin is trying, but he said that only 3 weeks to prepare “itz krazee.”

A funny thing happened to Tin Tin at lunch the other day. We all decided to go to the Afghan lunch hall for lunch for the usual rice, meat-of-the-day, lentl soup and naan (bread). Tin Tin was sitting next to Lem’s “Michael Moore” Turkish officer math mentor. This Turk seems to have a short fuse and is just really intense. Recall that Lem has to go through two interpreters to talk to this Turk - English to Dari, Dari to Turkish. When Lem asks a question, the Turk will wave his hands around wildly and speak loudly with sweat dripping down his temples and go on and on in a very intense fashion. By the time the translation comes back to Lem, it turns out to be something like, “he says he agrees with you” or “the sun is bright today” or “ice cream is yummy.” So, Lem has resorted to writing daily progress reports and question/answer memos to the Turk in order to facilitate better communication. Lem writes a letter which is translated by the Turkish commander because he’s the best English-Turkish translator, then the Turk replies with his own letter which will include questions for Lem – back and forth.

So anyway, Tin Tin is sitting next to the Turk at the lunch and shortly into the 15 minute lunch (we eat very fast and then the Superintendent sits with his hands folded under his chin waiting for everyone to finish then he gets up and we follow him out.) Tin Tin decided to try and start a conversation with the Turk. So, Tin Tin turned to the Turk and said in English, “do you speak French?” Well, the intense Turk turned to Tin Tin and said, “No, of course not, do you speak Turkish?” Tin Tin said that he said it as if he were offended that he would assume that he spoke French, like French was so great or something. So, the two of them just turned from one another and finished their meal in silence and self-imposed international isolationism. Tin Tin was very worried that he might have said something offensive, but Lem assured him that it was probably some of the same communication and intense reactions that he has been experiencing from the Turk. Lem and I decided that we enjoy Tin Tin’s company so much because he is just like some of our most energetic students – he keeps us young because of his enthusiasm and opened-eye approach to the world around him.

Mark your calendars – the Afghan New Year begins on March 20. How do I know this? Well, that’s the day that the current contract for the interpreters changes over to a new contractor. Currently, the “terps” get paid very well and in my opinion – rightly so. They are doing a huge job and are an extremely valuable resource. I know that Dr. Wali doesn’t just interpret what I say, but he also conveys the deeper messages that I’m trying to send to the physics instructors and he is very well aware of all the things I and Lem are trying to accomplish. The teaching methods, the schedule of classes – everything. He also understands all the material we go over. They get paid very well and nearly all of them want to go to America to get further educated and nearly all of them want to come back to Afghanistan to make it better. The terps see themselves as valuable resources for us (which they are), but unfortunately, those sentiments are not returned. In fact, some would say and treat the terps as commodities that can come and go and that we have loads of translators waiting for such a job. And, apparently this is what the new contractor conveys as well. The terp salaries will be cut nearly in half on March 20 and their medical coverage will go away. The terps are nearly up in arms over this whole thing. The terps say they can make more money doing other things (working for the Taliban in some capacity?) and that some of them will do just that. The new contractors say that our terps can still make the same amount of money, but now you have to “go to the hazardous front lines.” Well, not surprisingly they don’t want to do that and say they won’t. The new contractor’s attitude is “go ahead, we’ll just hire someone else to take your place.” Well, for what we’re trying to do here, the terps have got to have some technical background – you can’t just hire any old terp that speaks a little English and expect them to do what these terps do and have been doing for years in this NMAA environment. But all the contract says is that the new contractor has to supply interpreters. So, not sure what will happen come March 20, but we’ll see …

Big Guns and Big Mountains

We visited the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) this week to watch the cadets learn to fire their artillery.The cadets were divided into small groups of 6-8 cadets and then they had to demonstrate the use of a particular artillery device. We stood around and observed several teams practicing and it was quite impressive and loud (they shook the ground) to see them actually fire the weapons at the burned-out Soviet T-62 tanks on the range. It was also great to see the massive mountains that surrounded range. What’s also interesting is that there were several villages located on the outskirts of the ranges, so we several groups of kids playing soccer on the hillsides near the range.
On one end of the range, there was a deep drop off into a valley and there was a village (Polichek) at the bottom. Across the valley where this village was located was a mountain range – on the other side of which, was Jalalabad which is “green” year-round.



As we left KMTC that day, we stopped by the Soviet tank graveyard to take a few “hero” pictures. Tin Tin insisted that we get a picture of him, me, and Lem in one of the T-62s. He now uses it as his background on his computer and says, “it’s the day that the French and Americans defeated the Soviet aggressors!”

On jumma (Friday), a group of us decided to go back to KMTC to hike Gharib Ghar (Poor Mountain) which is one of the more prominent points on KMTC. It has been wonderful weather (this is supposed to be the rainy season, but …) and jumma was no different. The trail was mostly loose rock and boulders that looked like petrified wood. The climb was fairly steep and there were several former mujahedeen stone structures along the way. As we neared the top you could begin to tell that the view was going to be amazing. Gharib Ghar was surrounded by huge open semi-flat open areas and then the large Afghanistan mountains rose in the distance in all directions. So, Gharib Ghar was like an island in a huge bowl where the mountains were the lip of the bowel. To get to the very top, we had to traverse some very sharp saw-tooth rocks. We had to use both hands and feet to traverse a 60-feet section at the top that had shear drops on either side. It was a little dicey and I have a slight fear of heights, but I pushed through it and made it to the top. We took more “hero” shots at the top and just gorged ourselves at the view. The pictures below really don’t do the view justice. What’s really amazing, is there wasn’t a speck of vegetation in any direction. We did see a bit on the hillside during our hike up, but as far as you could see – it was just dirt – a huge moonscape.







We hiked back to the bottom and took the final “hero” shot below. It was a great hike and great change from the workouts in the gym. My legs are still feeling a little rubbery today. It was a good day. Tin Tin had a good day too. On the way back to camp when there was a quiet lull in the truck, out of no where, Tin Tin told Lem and me, “I like being here with you.” He is precious!


Well, that’s all I can muster this week. Wish it could be more, but I’ll just have to keep my little post-it note pad handy so that someday I can try to remember it all and maybe share it with others. Thanks for reading.