My View; Our Mission

Kuwait

2010-10-28T13:01:00.000-04:00

It's been a year since my last entry from Kuwait. This time I'm heading home through Navy's Warrior Transition Program (WTP). Lot's of downtime...and I haven't heard anything but good things about this place before I came. The Navy gets this one right.

The building I'm in now is the Keith Springle Memorial Transition Tent. I entered with a moment of pause as Keith was the Navy MSC who was murdered in Iraq in which I assisted with the Lejeune Chiefs on CACO duty. A tough time for us all in many ways. Geez, that was over 18 months ago.

Didn't do much today except turn in the weapons after a thorough cleaning. It's good to get rid of the M9/M4. I know they are good to have and brought me comfort at times, but I'm looking forward to walking into a hospital unarmed. Also, went for a good run today. Tomorrow will be the same as we actually begin the WTP program on Saturday, which includes giving all the Army stuff back to Army. a small yippee.

Peace,
Tim

Mission Complete. Time to go home

2010-10-21T07:40:00.002-04:00

Last mission today. Went to the Ministry of Interior and briefed the results of the PAI biometrics, drug testing and personnel inventory to the International Police Commission Board (mid-level Embassy Reps). The PAI is one of the projects I started with and now ended with.

We did our convoys and now we are done. All Wookies got our blue stones to represent the effort of achieving a certain number of missions.

The team will take the next couple of days for checkout, pack and then start our journey home. Thoughts on mission and more pics to follow sometime in near future.

Peace,
Tim

My last month in Afghanistan

2010-10-01T13:04:00.001-04:00

Hey, it's 1 October. Yippee. Last planned month in Afghanistan. Of course, we continue to do what we do but there is a new pace in the office with the finish line in sight. Sure beats the summer duldrums.

My "pace" continues as the Tashkil (manpower requirements) process is upon the Ministry of Interior again and some how I'm in the middle of it again. No doubt it is my own doing. I suspect if I go back 10-11 months in my blog I would find I was doing similar work. However, this time around the Surgeon General's staff has the lead (a very good thing) and he will be defending his requests. I'll 2nd chair him on Monday but the outcome, good or bad, will be based on his efforts This is transition in my book...and it's the manpower inch we were looking for.

Here's another interesting read that I found on the Tolo News sight (news channel in Kabul that is translated). The responses to this blog are interesting as well.

Peace,
Tim

Interesting Read

2010-09-25T07:09:00.000-04:00

Included in this post is a link to an interesting article I found on line. What I like, beyond the content, is that Lt Gen Rodriquez is using relatively junior officers to think out of the box.

Peace,
Tim

PB&J's...yum

2010-09-17T14:23:00.000-04:00

This post is just an observation I had of my recent eating habits...after over a year of dining hall food I truely think I've succumbed to eating like I'm 5 years old...lol! Really into PB&J for lunch with a side of jello (particularly if the jello has fruit in it...yumbo) and fruit juice or milk boxed drinks.

I sneer at the veggies and am tired of the chicken...and way past the weekly steak and lobster. Now, fully understand that the food here is not bad at all, relatively speaking, since it is shipped in frozen - how bad can it be. There is variety of every meal (see steak and lobster), but even the lobster, which I have a problem eating unless I'm in Maine, seems a bit of character for Afghanistan or Army cuisine.

Looking forward to Beth's home cooking.

peace,
tim

Sept 11 - My immediate thoughts

2010-09-11T10:13:00.000-04:00

Eggers is holding a memorial service today for 9/11 victims. Staff from every nation here are standing tall throughout the day near the flag poles which fly flags from each NATO country and Afghanistan. I walked by the ceremony on my way back from the gym and then turned on the news that is replaying the horrific events of this morning 9 years ago. I remember that morning well...2nd floor conference room of National Naval Medical Center...and the long days that followed.

Beyond the lives lost I can only think of how the world has changed. In DC we went from schock, to rebuilding under the United We Stand banners, to barriers around every monument, and now there is a well landscaped barrier that you can't see around the Washington Monument.

The "longwar" continues. People continue to argue about religions with less and less tolerance and the news just becomes tiresome. I don't know what peace should look like but I think we need more of it.

Tim

Good opening statement from LTC Caldwell

2010-09-10T03:11:00.000-04:00

My earlier post included 2 articles on future strategies in Afghanistan and corruption. Here's another good link from the 3-star general at NTM-A/CSTC-A (my boss), LTC Caldwell.

Peace,
Tim

Geez, September in Kabul already…

2010-09-10T03:04:00.000-04:00

Time has flown by since I returned from R&R. Okay, maybe this wasn’t entirely true as I believe there were 59 days in August. Nonetheless, we made it through July and August and are now in our second week of September. Ramazan in over, the Eid (small) holiday is here and next week are the parliamentary elections. In the meantime, Team Wookie has begun all the necessary paperwork required to ship out of here. Things like evaluations, awards, release from theater letters, are all in the works. If nothing else, we will not be denied exit from here because our paperwork was not submitted on time.

So, it’s good to look forward and see the glimpses of a turnover coming. In the meantime, we still have over a month of mission to complete. This means a couple of things:

Meetings for Tim. New MOI leadership (btw, the new minister moved 21 generals around) and new NTM-A/CSTC-A police leadership means new ways of thinking on how to approach problems…and it means another round of new and improved meeting sets. Of course, I fully understand as new leaders they have the prerogative and I would expect nothing less. What I find interesting is that I now have some perspective on what has been done before. Honestly, it can be frustrating to watch someone new come up with the great “new” idea that was tried before.

Planning for the future mission. The ANP medical mission continues to occupy a small slice of this whole mentoring mission. We, happily, continue to be outsiders to the larger ANA medical mentoring mission and, while I attend police development meetings with our police mentor, I’m the “doc” so there little impact on the larger police mission which is more appropriately concerned about logistics, personnel, facilities, etc. (This is not much different than any other DOD service where medical is very much in a supporting role.) Being the small slice of the mentoring pie has allowed us to craft our own goals while providing mostly good news stories along the way. I think, for the most part, we’ve been successful. The next question is what the follow-on steps are. Ultimately, this will be up to the next team chief but I have a few thoughts. First, it means turning off mentoring where it no longer is needed and then working with the Surgeon General on where new mentoring is required. Over the next month we will begin this process in order to assist the new team. I’d like to think that some future mentoring efforts can be concentrated on the younger medical officers. Second, the time for “stove-pipe” mentoring is over. I think there needs to be more focus on mentoring teams by bringing multiple players together to solve problems. This seems to be the next step in the development of true managers and leaders. Third, and related to two, is the need to provide program management skills to the leaders of the ANP medical system so they can think systematically through a problem. Discussions have already begun on this issue within NTM-A/CSTC-A for MOI leadership. The ANP medical mentors need to latch on to this in a big way.

Finishing up where we started. Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be going over the medical Ministerial Development Plan (MDP) (remember that thing…with ratings for tasks) with the Surgeon General. This will help me present the MDP status to the police leadership on base, but will also help focus the next team’s efforts. Honestly, I’d like to think the Surgeon General uses the MDP as is playbook, but I highly doubt it since we didn’t force him to. (Probably good advice for my successor). Nonetheless, the MDP successes are how things are graded on around here so it’s important.

Before I start writing as if this is my final week (which it is not) there is much going on in the news that bears mentioning. First, Afghan elections. Election posters are everywhere. Of course, I’d like to be able to read them but at least in Kabul they are all over. We are hoping for a relatively peaceful election cycle. Second, a few reports on Afghanistan came out recently They are interesting reads and I’ll let you make your decisions. Here is a link to the one on possible future Afghan strategies and another link on corruption.

So, as of 10 September the end is now on the horizon, but there is no let up in mission, safety, and meetings. We will continue to roll on and “Wookie Up” until the end.

Peace,

Tim

home is always better

2010-07-31T22:46:00.000-04:00

A few things from my R&R travels

1. Geez, I knew I sweat a lot, but then there is Kuwait (see weather map of Kuwait).
2. You can see 5 movies on your plane ride between Kuwait and Atlanta.
3. Camp Lejeune is a wonderful place to live. You can't beat coming home on R&R and have the USMC/UK Commando's doing a full scale exercise in your "back yard", including the complimentary perimeter security of the beach head as you drive by.
4. Leipzig Germany milair terminal...not so much.
5. The young men and women (18-25 years old) of our Armed Forces our hero's. They see way too much over here.
6. It's great to see family and friends...in person or through Skpe.
7. Remember, work to get a side seat on C-17. Was successful coming back.
8. The women of the Atlanta USO are wonderful. Thanks for volunteering.
9. Beth...thank you. MG

Hope to be back in Kabul tomorrow. Just need to get over a mountain range.

Peace,
Tim

Not really in the publishing business but...

2010-07-05T12:52:00.000-04:00

All,

By happenstance the article on ANP came out yesterday (see yesterday's blog entry) and then my blog posting on the DoD site about mentoring. The blog posting is part of DoD's "Medical Monday" web series and I was asked to write something by my boss. Frankly, this blog entry was written after I had got my thoughts in order from writing my blog entry on this site on 25 June.

I think DoD was kind to use my submission since I suspect they were looking for something more concrete related to medical issues...but that's not my line of business. I'm the advisor. I hope some day they'll ask an Afghan to write something.

Peace,
Tim

Link to NTM-A website article on MOI Drug Use

2010-07-05T00:14:00.000-04:00

Who knew that I'd be quoted in a story about ANP drug use? See the following link: MOI Takes On Drug Use in Police Force

Hope everyone had a Happy 4th.

Peace,
Tim

7+ Months in Afghanistan...some random thoughts.

2010-06-25T13:01:00.004-04:00

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been collecting tidbits of information on paper and in my brain for some sort of retrospective review of this deployment experience so far. There are so many possibilities to cover, including the time away from Beth and family/friends, the mission and its every changing priorities by leadership, the heat/dust in Kabul, the politics of Afghanistan, the constant pressure on this command to produce, the continuous 6 hour news cycle that I’ve talked about before, etc. Because of the myriad of topics I’m just going to start writing. I’m curious to see how it ends…join me.

Col Chester, the departing ANP Surgeon General Advisor, who has led our advising effort over the last year has been our guide on how to do this mission right. Col Chester constantly reminds the team that the Afghans must learn how to do for themselves, the advisors must allow the Afghans to fail (we can be there as a backstop), and we must plan to go home. These 3 fundamentals of advising continue on our team, but I grow more frustrated as I see others continuing to do Afghan work. I know when these concepts fail when an another advisor approaches our team to help with Afghan medical training, acquisition of drug test kits, solving medical training, etc because the Wookies (our team) are the ANP medical advisors. The good news is I have a very simple answer for them – have your senior Afghan advisee call the ANP Surgeon General. Here is his cell number….” I fully understand that I’m putting more pressure on the Surgeon General but I also know he and his staff will come up with a far better solution to the problem than a bunch of US Navy medical advisors would. Plus, the more I’m here the more I’m convinced that while we (coalition advisors) think we run the Ministry of Interior (who the Surgeon General works for) the more I’m convinced that the best solution is an Afghan solution for they own the subsystems that make the personnel move around the country, they own the manpower documents, they own the logistical system, the own the political power base to get thing down. Plus (x2), it is clear to me that the most improved Afghan departments, and I would include the Surgeon General in that group – largely due to Col Chester’s philosophy, are those that have advisers who step away. This is not to say that these successful departments don’t get significant adviser or resource help but it does tell me that the right thing to do is push the Afghans to act.

Having said all the above, there are still problems within the ANP medical system and there is still much work to be done. I can provide a long list of basic things that need to be improved (pick up your garbage on the other side of wall, improve infection control, don’t think that only once person can use a copier, work together as a team – not in silos – to solve a problem, learn the science behind why you are doing something medically, etc, etc) and get frustrated that things aren’t moving fast enough. But, in moments of reflection my frustration is calmed because of the following reasons:

1. MOI is a mess and this leads to many problems. For example, the aforementioned garbage problem. The ANP SG has requested numerous times for MOI to have garbage pickup since the city says it’s an MOI problem. MOI says no. Now, why would they do that for their own hospital?! I can’t blame the SG’s staff. They try.

2. Here’s a great quote I heard today, “The Afghans can add, but they don’t know how to subtract.” Of course, they know math but the system, which frankly I think history of having little is at fault, doesn’t know how to say I have enough stuff or that let’s get rid of this or that.

3. No one is teaching Afghan leadership on the basic principles of business, management and strategic planning 101, or how to use Microsoft Office. Frankly, I blame the mentoring mission for this. We, mentors, want the Afghans to move at the “speed of (Western) business.” But, how can this be done when the mentoring mission forgets that the Afghan general officers in power today were never taught Westernized business thought. They are still operating in mid 20^th century management theory or old school Soviet management theory- they use what they know and I can't fault them for that. When I remember this idea it makes sense to me that eyes glaze over when an intricate power point slide depicting a 2 year strategic plan with cross-functional offices are all responsible to another team in developing a widget. Further, we have to remember that most Afghan senior officers, while they have computers on their desk – thank you very much mentors, do not know how to use much passed basic MS Word. Inputting a formula into a basic spreadsheet is just foreign to them. But then again, it was foreign to most of us 20 years ago.

4. There are moments of great discovery for our team. We had a couple this past week. First, it turns out the ANP SG does send teams out to assess regional/provincial clinics. After 7 plus months here we found this lieutenant at the hospital who is the planning officer and he coordinates these things. This is something that probably every team who’s ever done this mission has worked on in one form or another. Probably time for the mentors to stop doing this or accompany the Afghans on their trips…not the other way around. (Note: I was very excited when we discovered this, but still frustrated that I wish the Afghan SG would have told us. Maybe he didn’t think it was important...maybe it's not to him.) Second, the same lieutenant mentioned previously collects workload stats for the hospital and is starting to track all ANP patients in the country. Not by computer or sent in reports but by call, via cell, various units. Both examples show there is progress being made. Maybe all this mentoring is rubbing off and there is a shyness to showing progress? Who knows?

Given above, I thought you might be interested in a standard question that Col Chester asks pretty much every Afghan leader he meets. This is what he wrote in an email to our team this week.

When was the last time you asked your Afghan counterparts (or any Afghan for that matter) if they are ready for July 2011 (White House timetable for the beginning of withdrawal)? This week I put that question to BG Qhandahr, ANP Surgeon General. Here's the exchange.

Col Chester: "Gen Qhandahr, what are your thoughts as the planned withdrawal date of July 2011 approaches?"
Gen Qhandahr: "If you leave, it will be a big problem for Afghanistan."
Col Chester: "But isn't the growth of the ANA and ANP to over 300K (police and Army personnel) enough to secure Afghanistan?"
Gen Qhandahr: "Yes, but they also need to be educated."
Col Chester: "As you know, sir, there are efforts underway to raise the ANA and ANP education level to the 3rd grade. Is that adequate?"
Gen Qhandahr: "Yes, but there must also be support that will allow Afghanistan to begin to take care of itself."
Col Chester: "Sir, it has been widely reported that the governments supporting Afghanistan plan to provide assistance for up to 20 years in order to get the economy on track. Should that be sufficient?"
Gen Qhandahr: Long pause..."Yes."

We must ask such difficult questions so that our Afghan friends begin to understand we will not be here for "100 years," which is what another Afghan said that's how long we should stay.

Asking such direct questions is difficult but it must be done. I don’t think enough people are asking such questions. An interesting blog posting related to the above can be found at here

Given above, one would think that the code is cracked and more of this type of advising would be done. However, the facts, or at least my perception, of the situation make this a murky proposition specifically given that the pressure to see success quickly is so high. This is manifested in our 3-star general’s top “mid/long” priorities. Any guess on how mid/long range is defined…..tick, tock…..the answer is 60+ days. This tells me that pressure is mounting by the Coalition to get things done, now! (Or, maybe I'm just not a good war planner) But, how do you get things done when you need time for the Afghans to fail? Unfortunately, in my opinion there is little overlap here. So, you end up seeing Coalition advisers being told to take charge, accomplish X, Y, and Z, and then teach the Afghans latter. I see this time and time again on Camp Eggers.

The pressure to see success is not all bad – I get that. In fact, the sooner success is achieved the sooner we can bring everyone home. But, I just wonder what the endgame will be….blocks checked or sustainable systems in place?

Wookies still on a roll…

Above and below are some pictures of a recent trip to the MOI Tech Center Clinic in Kabul. (The Tech Center is where the ANP truck fleet is disbursed from.) The mission for the day was to get the doc there to get his rear end over to the medical depot and get the supplies he needs. Frankly, he’s a smart guy that is very busy but we’ve told him before he just needs to submit the right Afghan acquisition form and the depot folks will issue him his stuff. While this was occurring by some of my staff the others (including myself) were hanging at our humvees. The first picture is of me and this random Afghan who wanted to get pictures with us. The second picture of the day is enroute to the Clinic. I call this picture, “No Ass Zone.” Poor little donkey.

Here is more Afghan humor…below is a slide that someone at Camp Eggers. A little background…the Tashkil is the manpower and equipping authorization document for a unit. This document allows for units to be stood up, manned and provided weapons. If you will notice, the picture has red circles around the hands of some of these high-speed police guys. Apparently, they are missing something…we manpower pukes have to wonder if the Afghans forgot to put the weapon requirement on the Tashkil?

Comparison of the Police and Army medical systems…

The Army medical system is much bigger, has one of the largest hospitals in the country, more residency programs, more mentors and more money. But, I see the police system moving much faster in being self-sustaining. Something good happens every day (whether we, ANP medical mentors see it or not) and I am proud to boast about it. Army…I never hear goodness. I'm sure it is there...but, I don't hear it. I think this is largely because of our team’s attitude and the teamwork between the ANP medical leadership and our team. I give the ANP SG credit because he a) thanks the advisers often and b) reinforces that we are one team. So, I think our team continues to do what we do…advise, keep a low profile within the larger Camp Eggers medical directorate, and continue to allow the ANP medical system succeed.

So, these are some of thoughts for the day.
Peace,
Tim

McCrystal

2010-06-23T14:20:00.000-04:00

While I have many thoughts on this change of leadership I will offer two here:

The action by the President was firm, fair, and very Presidential. I feel the President's statement was very well done and provided appropriate insight into his decision making process.
Fortunately, the President has General Patreaus to head back over here.

Peace,
Tim

Happy Father's Day and funny things one sees in Afghanistan

2010-06-20T14:18:00.000-04:00

For all the Fathers out there. Happy Father's day. As I write this bog entry the day in Kabul is ending and I can tell you the day turned out great!

A couple of funny things happened today. First, as we were driving back from the hospital we saw another Tim first (Reminder, my exclusive list of first over the last couple of months include 1) first sighting of lawnmower, 2) first sighting of working traffic light, 3) first sighting of asphalt truck repairing road). This time we not only saw a man, who was rather large, riding on top of a Toyota Corolla yellow cab (this is not acutally a first...it's a third time I've seen this) but the amazing thing was that the sheep were in the back seat of the same car. Unfortunately, we were moving to fast to capture this but believe me...man on top of cab with sheep in car. You just don't see that everyday and it still cracks me up. Second, I saw someone in the dining hall put a large serving of tuna into his chili. Never seen that combo before...and frankly once is enough.

We did have a good day at the hospital. It's amazing what we don't know about this place. A little background...for generations of advisors I suspect we've been looking for long-term healthcare facility use/demand data. Turns out that the Planning Officer, LT Muhummad - who we don't mentor currently and I just recently met, has been collected weekly data for EIGHT years - a gold mine of information. And now he's collecting injury data on all ANP personnel by calling all there units. Bingo!

Have fun Fathers...and everyone else.
Peace,
Tim

And the political fall out continues

2010-06-06T13:55:00.000-04:00

MOI and NDS Ministers Resign...Oops

So Pres Karzai had the jirga. A few rockets got fired...oops. Hiding as a man in a burka...oldest trick in town! The linked article describes the fallout of these rockets, including Minister Atmar (Minister of Interior) resignation. This is the Ministry I work under. Will be interesting to see who else rolls by the wayside.

Honestly, I know the article says the US is supportive of Atmar (Kings English and all) but new blood is definately needed. Personnally, I think we got too close (from my very low level perception) and lost the "Afghan Do, We Advise" motto.

Peace,
tim

A great day

2010-06-04T13:07:00.000-04:00

Today (Friday) ends the Jirga and time will tell how successful it will be. Curious to see what the Afghan populace thinks of the outcome...I suspect not much. Since the Jirga security has been very tight (a good thing!) we've been confined to the base. We're ready to get back to our advising mission.

Today the weather was great - sunny, blue sky and mid/high 80's - and got a good run it. Would have been great to get a round of golf in. To top it off several of our enlisted get promoted today! The team's own Petty Officer Second Class Reyes got to put on First Class. Fantastic and we are all very excited for him and his family.

Peace,
tim

Peace Jirga...I'm not so sure.

2010-06-02T11:09:00.000-04:00

http://quqnoos.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4379&Itemid=48

All,
It's been a while since I've written. All is well.

Just wanted to get a quick note off that the Afghan Peace Jirga is going off now. Karzai's in a tenous political position which I can't see how he wins. He has an international force planing an operation (oops, we don't call it that here. we call it "hamkari" with is cooperation) and then the Taliban wants all foreign forces out. Oh yea, they fire rockets at the President today. Come on folks!

Anyways, all is well here. We're staying on base for the length of the Jirga, but my thoughts are with the ANP Hospital staff on standby next door to the Jirga.

Peace,
tim

That was strange weather!

2010-05-16T06:44:00.001-04:00

16 May. Morning started promising...sunny, warm, very Spring-like. By noon, when we were leaving the hospital, the skies were dark and gloomy. I mentioned to someone that we are going to get a down pour of rain. We got in the 1151's and 5 minutes later we were about to turn on the main road and....bam. A wall of dust and sand made the skies and air brown and our visibility went down to about 3 feet (think Michigan blizzard with sand). We realized we were in first sand storm. Our trucks went about 50 more feet on the main road and we pulled in our gunners and, along with all other traffic, came to a quick halt as we waited it out for 15 minutes.

After the 15 minutes the storm had passed and we went on our way. The rain followed (I've never seen it rain brown sand as the rain was "catching" the sand on the way down) for a another 20 minutes. By the time we got back to Eggers and heading to lunch...sunny, warm, and very Spring-like.

That was fun.
Peace.
Tim

Good reading

2010-05-11T21:13:00.002-04:00

All,
One of the many news things I have explored while in Afghanistan is the blogosphere. Really some tremendous writing out there. Of course, I've been checking out Afghan related blogs but have found others as well. The other thing I'm amazed at is all the online newspapers that gather articles through their own affiliation of reporters or bring in news feeds.

I've added a few blogs on the right you might find interesting. One is from Sean Maroney. A couple of good articles about this area recently. Also, my brother connected me with Seth Godin's blog. Seth discusses ideas in marketing and how ideas are spread. Good stuff to think about on a daily basis.

Peace.
Tim

Q&A's and other newss

2010-05-07T03:46:00.000-04:00

Thank you to all of you who submitted questions from my last post. Below are the questions and my responses.

Q1. This might be a silly question but...I know that you have met with Afghan men -but hearing how women are thought of and treated generally in the Afghan world, have you met any women at the hospitals, etc.?

A1. I have met several Afghan women in my travels, though it is not natural in this culture as a male to introduce yourself to a women. There are Afghan Police officers, nurses, doctors, pharmacists, interpreters, etc. (My mentoree’s, General Qandahar, daughter just got into medical school). Granted, this is still a male-dominated society driven by a Faith which I still don’t know enough about. Frankly, our team learns most of our Afghan cultural from our interpreters, good or bad, who are educated 25-30 year old males. So here is what I know. First, not all women wear burkas. Many do but not everyone. It really is a matter of beliefs I suspect. For those who don’t wear burkas, most of them do wear essentially a shaw over their head. Concerning burkas, one can’t assume that they are doing this because they are persecuted in some way. I did ask the question yesterday about whether the color of a burka meant anything (most in blue, some in black). My interpreter relayed that it is a style thing. 15 years ago most women wore brown burkas, now in Kabul they are blue. In other parts of the country they wear black and brown.

Here’s another observation about women’s rights in Afghanistan. This is a very, very conservative culture where men continue to control the actions of most, but not all, women. Until recently, women were not allowed to be on TV singing or dancing, for instance. This is now allowed but even most of our young male interpreters, who watch the TV with women singing and dancing, wouldn’t want their sisters or daughters to do the same.

Q2. How many times a week do you get "out" and is there anything that is awarded to the person that gets the most points, like Starwood points for travel?
A2. In general, we advise between 0-5 times a week. Due to operational security I’d rather not go into specifics. This will be a story I relay when I get home. Concerning Starwood Points…we have been giving a small blue Afghan stone (I forget the name) out to those who have gone over a certain number of missions. Because we had a Penn State grad on our team who reminding me that Joe Paterno always tells his players to act like you’ve been to the endzone before…upon receiving this blue stone the team member is promptly told “Go back to work.”

Q3. How’s the traffic, getting better?

A3. Traffic is not getting better, but the roads are. The city is really shaping up, relatively speaking, as most of the major roads are being paved.

Q4. What guilty pleasure do you miss the most?

A4. Running in the woods. Not sure if this is a guilty pleasure or not but I do miss it. Along the same lines I miss not being able to move around unencumbered.

Q5. And now that you're almost half way through, what do you wish they would have told you more about before you got there? Culture? Scope of mission?

A5. There were so many things that would have been nice to know. Things like…where is Fort Polk, LA and what is the actual mission over here. To ensure this doesn’t happen to the folks who follow us I use a couple of means to get the information out. First, this blog has been useful in describing most of what we do here. Also, all the Q&As that I get from my replacements I have compiled and sent out to all.

Beyond the above, I think one just has to experience this place to understand what is occurring here culturally, politically, militarily, etc. Fort Polk gave us the basic skills but you don’t know until you know and that it takes living over here to figure it out.

Q6. Would you describe your average work day, sun up to sun down?

A6. Get up around 0530/0600 and read the news via computer. Get to breakfast and usually in the office by 0715’ish. Make lunch and dinner at normal times and then catch up on emails usually until 21/2200. Walk back to me room, read, sleep and do it again. Pending the day we advise or do other missions around town. We also have an office movie night at least once a week and then on Thursday nights there is usually a game of Catan (board game) going. Oh yea, I also try to get a workout in there most days (though haven’t been too successful on that lately)

Q7. What do you do on your day off?

A7. Most Friday mornings (our ½ day off) I clean the room and then catch up on personal correspondence or my blog writing.

Q8. Do you always wear a uniform?

A8. Yes. I either wear my Army-provided uniform or my Navy work out gear. It’s under some regulation that I do this. Kind of boring but makes life simple.

Q9. You are halfway home. Do you feel that the mission you set out to accomplish will be accomplished in the next six months before you come home? (Hurray for the coming home part!)]

A9. Our team’s advising goal, even before we knew what the mission was, was to move the mission forward an inch. Granted, low expectations but then again we didn’t know what we were going to encounter. Are we going to accomplish this…I believe so. But, as I have learned the mission goal was stated wrong. The better question is really whether or not the Afghans have moved forward and accomplished their goals via our assistance and mentoring? I still believe the answer is yes. The Surgeon General’s staff have done great things over the last couple of months and this is very positive. I wonder though is this because of our efforts or because they are getting the resources they need, they’re “more” motivated…who knows. In the end, I feel strongly that there is an end in sight to my particular mission. We don’t need to be here for another 5 years. Ultimately though it will be up to those who follow us to make the call on when this ends.

Well that’s all the Q&A I have for now. As usual, thanks to the readers for asking great questions and getting me to think about things from a broader perspective.

In others news…

Related to Q9 above, I will be presenting on Monday to senior staff here a slide that hopefully will move us from a CM3 to a CM2 level. (See previous articles on CM ratings). This means that globally the Surgeon General’s organization only receives minimal assistance (us) from accomplishing its mission. Of course, there is still work to be done but getting to CM2 is big step forward.

LtCol Julia Stoshak, our AF nurse, started her trip back to Idaho yesterday. Julia was a great teammate for 6 months who fit just right into the Wookie culture. It is noted that Julia could not only superbly mentor the hospital’s director of nursing service but also drove a humvee like a pro. We’ll miss her but I know she’ll do great things as she moves to Keesler Air Force Base this summer.

Finally, I've posted another blog site on the right of the screen. The blog is named "Healing those you Provide Our Freedom". This blog from a John, a nurse at Camp Lejeune, is chronically his experiences in Afghanistan as well. As you will read our experiences are much different from mine as he is a nurse at a forward operating base that takes care of casualties. To John....see you back at Camp Swampy soon.

All the best.

Peace,

Tim

Questions from the audience

2010-04-26T10:10:00.000-04:00

Random thought here...I thought I would "spice" up the blog by taking random questions from the audience about the mission, Afghanistan, etc. So, if you got a question please send it my way and I'll give you my 2 cents through this blog (Sorry, no door prizes).

More Good News

2010-04-24T09:50:00.000-04:00

Just found out that my super-nurse sister in Sacramento go into Sonoma State's Masters of Nursing/Family Nurse Practioner program. Way to go M!

St Patty's Day (a little late)

2010-04-23T01:19:00.000-04:00

A couple of Posts ago I said I would upload a picture of our St Patty's day outing where we put on St Patty's day attire and lined up our trucks like a parade. Well, we got a few pics of that and here is the team after the parade photo shoot. Silly Wookies!

Moving in the Right Direction

2010-04-23T01:12:00.000-04:00

This Juma (Friday) morning I got up earlier than I planned (typical on a day off isn’t it?) and went next door to thrown in some laundry. Most of the time I send my laundry out but it was 0545 and fortunately for me there was some washers open to use. While I waited for the washers to finish I came back to my room and turned on the TV. AFN’s movie of the night/morning was Ground Hog Day with Bill Murray. I had to laugh for a couple of reasons. First, it’s about the 10^th time since I’ve been here that I’ve watched some of this movie (a bit ironic) and second, someone mentioned to me yesterday that their deployment felt like ground hog day…the same over and over.

Certainly, a deployment like this, or any other job for that matter, could easily become “ground hog day’ish” and frankly I’ve had weeks like that. Nothing really changes, you get up at the same time, face the same issues, and go to bed…waiting to do it all over again. But, this week, even with small trials and tribulations, we had some small, and more importantly, different victories which I’ll definitely take.

Small victory #1. Really a set of things have emerged this week that tells me that the more days we spend here the shorter the deployment is becoming. First, as I’ve mentioned before R&R is coming up in May for several folks - this is a good thing and tells me that we are transitioning to the back half of this deployment. My own leave papers are being signed for July and Beth and I are talking about just hanging out in Camp Lejeune. Looking very much forward to that. Second, the Navy is starting to slate people as our team’s replacement…love that. As such, I’ve been providing the few you have been selected already to continue this mission with information about Fort Polk, Camp Eggers, and the mission. Coming into this deployment I know I, as well as my teammates, were clueless about Fort Polk and the mission over here. Our team promises to do better. Third, it’s hard to believe but I’m beginning to talk with my mentors about what is next for Tim after Camp Lejeune. Probably a little early but this Fall will be telling of whether or not I get picked up this time to be an Executive Officer or the Navy provides me with another option for a couple of years.

Small victory #2. An Air Force teammate, LtCol Greg C, left this week for home. The AF sends most folks over for 6 month orders and Greg’s time was up to move back and see his family in Virginia. Greg, who went to Fort Polk with the Navy team, is one of the nicest and smartest guys I know. We will miss his classic dry humor and his willingness to do whatever it takes to get the job done, including acting as “Mayor of Kabul” since he greeted each Afghan on our travels with kind words. The only failing of Greg’s was that while he was in Kandahar for a site visit he “let” one of the electrical panel lights go out near our office! Note: this is a completely inside joke but the background is that there are 3 electrical panels outside our office for the big generators. Each panel has a set of lights and every night Greg would ensure that each panel’s lights were on and we would nod in agreement and appreciation for Greg checking on this, fully knowing none of us had control over any of this. When one of the lights went off during his travels we dutifully informed him when he returned that he needed to fix this. Well, the light is still out...

Small victory #3. As most of you know, the big mission for this command is to field and train the Afghan Police and the Army. I’ve previously posted that the Police are now taking center stage as they are the key to counter the bad guy’s insurgency. Most critical is getting the police’s ANCOP units (para-military police) ready to “hold” ground won by the Afghan Army in Helmund and soon-to-be Kandahar. (Yes, ANCOP are the same units where attrition has historically been 50-70%). The mission of my command is to get them ready for the mission and reduce attrition. To this end, NTM-A (the command I work for) is pouring huge assets and manpower to accomplish both. Frankly, sometimes I personally think we are going overboard on the “gift-bag” approach (hey, let’s give them X,Y,Z and they’ll stay!). Nonetheless, if the gift bag approach works then our mission ends quicker…which is a good thing and who am I to argue. The medical play in all of this has been a team effort with the ANP Surgeon General. Over the last week we ensured ANCOP’s ambulance were distributed and equipped, an ANCOP battalion that is deploying received additional medical supplies, first aid kits and 20 ANCOP personnel were trained in CLS (Combat Life Saving) skills. Much of the training was done by the SPECOPS guys but they wanted help with IV/saline lock instruction. The medical folks on our team jumped right in, along with the ANP Hospital staff, and taught a several hour class yesterday. I was told yesterday that the students were excited and motivated and that the hospital staff did a great job. I had my doubts how well they would do, but they can clearly run this course by themselves the next time. Add this to the list of things we (mentors) can step out of. We also had a good meeting between the ANP SG and the Deputy Commander, ANCOP. Granted, it took the mentors to set this up (must be a Soviet management style thing but I do find it interesting that top Afghan leaders don’t often pick up the phone and solve problems by just talking). But once the meeting started both leaders were enthusiastic about the possibility to help the ANCOP personnel. The best news for me was when the ANP SG said he wanted to have a similar meeting with the Police’s Border Patrol leadership. Small victory.

Other good news and notes…the volcano cloud didn’t interrupt travels some of my family had planned for London. Looking at a long wait in the airport trying to get into Hethrow they decided to go to Cabo, Mexico instead. Awesome. Also awesome is that my brother-in-law got into the Yale School of Architecture’s Master of Environmental Design program. Pretty impressive dude!

Finally, thanks to all you continue to drop me emails or notes in the mail. All very much appreciated as we continue to move in the right direction. Have a great rest of the day and week. I’ll look to do the same.

Peace.

Tim

Revolution...and other Random Thoughts

2010-04-10T07:25:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago my new boss, who has been on station for a little over a 6 weeks, held a meeting with his Team Chiefs, including myself, and provided his philosophical insights and thoughts on the way head. His vision for our mentoring mission is not new: improve leadership, create sustainable systems and go home. Of course, easier said than done but always good to hear, particularly from a guy you understands 4^th world medicine as he has spent lots of time working African medical issues. But what caught my ear is something else he mentioned and that is the need for revolutionary thought and actions. No more of this gradual, progressive change that keeps us in this country or that allows us to have a 10-year timeline for improvement. (I’ve seen these timelines and think…you have to be kidding me!)

With this thought of “revolution” in my mind I offer the following observations where a “revolution” in thought would be helpful. Please keep in mind revolution in this context is not a massive, political revolt (there is enough of that in the world) but rather a fundamental change in how something is accomplished.

Healthcare system delivery. There are at least 5 major groups providing healthcare in this country: Army, Police, Public Health, Private, and NGOs. Certainly the private hospitals and NGOs are sustainable on their own, but why are there 3 federal systems (Army, Police, Public Health) in such a poor country.

Someone commented to me several weeks ago that if any other Western country had the medical mission here, besides the US military, the federal medical systems would have been pushed to look a lot more like the Western European model where there is one system that sees all patients…including military and most definitely police. Interesting fact, there are over 1700 public health clinics, hospitals, etc. in this country, the Police are building towards 100 and the Army has a tertiary care hospital and at least 4 50-bed regional hospitals. Talk about something being unsustainable! What happens when NATO funding goes away? Are not all three federal systems going after the same resources and providers? These questions are not to the medical advisors on the ground here but to the government itself. The kicker will be to see political will on the part of some Afghan leadership commit to give something up in return for a stronger system. I’m confident that this very thorny issue will be raised again. I’m not hopeful that the Afghans will move from current state.

Recycling. Here’s a revolutionary thought…how about skipping a generation of garbage technology and move right into recycling, including wood, metal, paper products, etc.? Frankly, there is a lot of garbage in this city and I have no idea where it goes (my problem not theirs). How garbage gets picked up is a couple of guys (they have orange coveralls so I assume they are municipal employees) and a large-bed pickup truck (no trash compacting drugs here) go down the streets and pitch fork trash into the back of the truck. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone funded a revolutionary idea like this to improve the environment of this war-torn town? I wonder if someone is mentoring the Afghans in waste management?

Safety/air quality. It’s costly but how about catalytic converters for all the 2^nd hand Toyotas in Afghanistan? The air quality in Kabul is not good and I suspect only gets worse as the population increases.

Literacy. Here is a truly revolutionary idea…that is already working. I attended a brief presented by an NGO/Afghan organization that uses scaled down tough book computers that have kid-friendly colors which use kid-friendly learning exercises/games to reinforce the Ministry of Education’s educational objectives. There are no moving parts (DVD, etc) in these machines and can be powered by an electrical plug, flexible solar panels or peddle power. BTW, only needs 1/3 of power normally required. Even can connect to a server, etc. These computers are being used now and are improving the knowledge of kids by giving them more time to learn. I saw the brief as an innocent bystander in a group of police educators who may adapt to police literacy education. In a world of logbooks…revolutionary.

Other random stuff…

Who’s the speech writer for President Karzai? I get the adage, “all politics are local” but dude….don’t say, even privately, you’ll join the Taliban. That so diminishes the billions of dollars from the US taxpayer you are getting.

5 months boots on ground in theater. 7 more. Things are moving along. Team is looking to start taking R&R next month. This is a good thing. It’s time for people to take a break. I look forward to see my bride in July.

Tiger-mania. I saw his Master’s press conference. Of course, I have no say in his private life…but I’m satisfied (like he should care). 2 rounds through and he’s only a couple of shots back. Did you really expect anything else?

Spring time in Kabul. The city continues to get greener by the day (of course, it’s all relative here) and the temps are rising. Not really excited about wearing body armor and driving in a Humvee during the summer. Of course, I’m not a Marine hauling 50+ pounds on my back in Southern Afghanistan either. Remember, it always could be worse and keep all the warfighters in your prayers (Coalition and Afghan) alike as they move into Kandahar

There is lots going on over here and the police continue to be the focus in Afghanistan as they, not the Army, will ultimately be the stabilizing force in the villages and towns.

Finally, thank you for your thoughts, prayers, cards and emails. All very much appreciated.

Peace,

Tim

March: Change of Seasons and other cool stuff in Kabul

2010-03-21T13:46:00.001-04:00

The month of March has seen a metamorphosis of weather in Kabul. Of course not having lived through the seasons here before the weather is always new. If fact, I wonder if the citizens of Kabul talk like I do, being a good Midwesterner, about the weather. Or, do they talk about traffic like they do in LA since the weather is always the same there (thanks Dave for that comment). But I digress from my younger days driving in LA traffic.

The month of March began with rain and snow and now the trees our flowering and the temps have reached well into the 60’s/low 70’s on a consistent basis. Of course, Spring in Kabul means little for those dressed in uniform…so to all fashionistas out there…no change in wardrobe. Army green still provides a 4-season approach to clothing! LOL

For your viewing pleasure I’ve posted 2 pictures below showing the dichotomy of weather this month. The first shot shows our “great” snow of 2010. Okay it amounted to less than a half inch on the patio outside my room…but there was snow. Unfortunately for the water starved Afghanistan it was definitely not enough to help the drought. The second shot is me looking up at the tree blooming outside my building where my room is (someone very smart once told me to look up and see what you see…you’ll be amazed.)

With Spring of course comes one of greatest holiday’s…St Patty’s Day. A day were everyone is Irish! Was able to have a little Spring fun with my staff by throwing the 1st Annual Tactical St Patty’s Day Parade (thanks Marnie for the inspiration). Granted, we staged the whole thing before we went out advising (and we actually didn’t leave the parking lot, or drive for that matter). Great picture of the team will be forthcoming...and Erin Go Braugh!

In other news…21 March is the Afghan New Year, or Nowruz. New Year’s Day is a national holiday so we stayed around base for the weekend. It was a nice break but I think the team is ready to get back to work. For Afghans, Nowruz is a time for families and friends to gather and celebrate. From what I’ve heard it is much more a celebration of the new year versus a religious holiday. Below are some interesting tidbits from various websites (wiki, etc) about Nowruz.

Nowruz, a Persian word meaning “a new day,” is an ancient Persian tradition. It marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the new year on a solar calendar, and is celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox, which is typically lands on March 21. New Years also brings the celebration of Farmer’s Day and in Kabul there is a very large open air market and the livestock are all dressed up.

Etymology: 'Nowruz' comes from two words, now (or a similar term, such as 'nau' or 'nav', with the sounds 'n' and 'v' or 'w'), meaning new in Persian, Kurdish, Avestan, and Sanskrit and several other related Indo-European languages. In fact, the English 'new', the German 'neu', the French 'nouveau', the Romanian 'nou', are intimately related to the Indo-Iranian now', and roz or ruz or rozh, meaning day in Middle Persian and Persian languages.

So up north in the major city of Mazari Sharif (MeS) there are 2 celebrations. The first is the Guli Surkh festival which literally means Red (for Red Tulips) Flower Festival is an old festival celebrated only in MeS during the first 40 days of the year when the Tulip flowers grow. As someone who lived in Holland, Michigan growing up (the land to tulips) I wonder if a trading route got tulips to Afghanistan a long time ago. Hmmmm.

People travel from different parts of the country to MeS in order to attend the festival. It is celebrated along with the Jahenda Bālā ceremony which is a specific religious ceremony performed in the holy blue mosque of Mazar that is believed (mostly by Sunnite Afghans) to be the site of the tomb of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth caliph of Islam.

Given that it has been a relatively slow news week allow me to offer you some good links that I’ve accumulated from others over the last month.

Farmer's Day Story - 2008
National Geographic Afghanistan
Afghan Magazine - Rockin Kabul! (thanks Tracy for checking out the Kabul scene for us here in town)

Finally, as in all stories of theatrical drama, and yes I believe the rebuilding of Afghanistan, could be called a theatrical drama, there are highs and lows. While I firmly believe that NATO is moving in the right direction there is still a great divide between where the country is and where it needs to be. This divide depends on security of one’s house, village, district, province, and country. Ultimately, it will be up to the ANP Police to ensure this occurs. In Kabul, where I suspect the best policeman are (and there are lots of them – we see them on the roads every day) I’m pretty darn confident in the local cops. From a personal perspective, they have been courteous, friendly and useful to our team and I believe they have performed very well when called up during the recent explosions. However, I don’t think you can say the say about the ANP nationwide. And, to this point…here is a link to a NEWSWEEK story on the ANP: NEWSWEEK ANP. Endgame...there is more work to do.

And finally #2…March Madness is ongoing and the Irish took it in the shorts. Ouch to those who had Notre Dame past the first round. It was a good run the last 10 games of the season and there is always next year.

Irish had their run

2010-03-13T03:32:00.000-05:00

To be fair in reporting...the Irish lost to West Virginia today in Big East Tourney. Almost got the win but to no avail. The good news is that the Irish should make the NCAA tourney with their effort as of late.
Have fun and Peace.

Tracking New Blog

2010-03-12T08:42:00.000-05:00

Check out the new blog on my list on right...it's called Afghan Police Development. It was just set up at the direction of Brigadier General MacDonald, the senior Police Advisor here at Eggers and my big boss on the Police side, to highlight the good work of the various police advisoring teams. Teams include JAGs, Budget, Engineering, Medical, etc.

View from My Window

2010-03-12T08:07:00.001-05:00

This week I had the “opportunity” to people watch from the front of a Humvee at an Afghan federal government office complex for the Afghan police. The opportunity presented itself when the person I drove with went into a meeting and there were not enough seats for me to sit in. (Picture yourself waiting in your car while your spouse, family member or friend runs into the grocery store and you’re left in the car. What do you do? Watch people around you, of course. ) The “uniqueness” of this opportunity was that I sat in the humvee for several hours, because there wasn’t much to do besides read my book and catch the view from the window.

This is the string of my observations over a 30 minute or so time period….

Young patrolman with his standard issue AK-47 guarding entrance to building, checking IDs.
NATO advisors, some military/some not walking and talking with their hired Afghan interpreters. Uniforms from all different countries. I see US, Canada, British, Polish, Italian.
Afghan officers walking in the compound, wishing acquaintances well with a handshake and a kiss on the cheek, papers and logbooks in hand moving to the next meeting or to their offices.
Professionally dressed women doing the same (I notice 1 women for about every 20-30 men…of course, totally unscientific)
Men of all ages in civilian clothes who are walking to work or to accomplish some business with the government.
Much older men sitting on their haunches 30 feet away from me. Appearing to do the same thing as I’m doing…watching people and probably me.
A group of Generals walk by, officers and patrolman saluting, and then the Generals stop to wish the junior staff well and shake their hands. I hear good morning Sir in Dari.
Three women are walking and are dressed with brightly colored and sequined shawls on their heads.
A crowd of policemen are talking directly in front of me. There are at least 3 different types of uniforms, signifying what type of policemen they are. Interpreters and several officers from NATO countries join them. They seem to know each other.
A man who is may be 30-40, but looks 60 with a scruffy beard and eyes that say he’s had a tough life, meanders by.
2 Afghan officers are asking for directions. They are clearly not stationed here as they looked confused on where they should go. One of the two asks the young guard with the AK-47 for directions. The young guard points at a specific building and the two officers head off in that direction.
An Afghan interpreter I know walks quickly passed my vehicle. I’m wondering if he is late for the meeting I can’t get into. Hmmmm.
I see a friend of mine and get out of the truck to talk with him. My friend’s interpreter (a friend as well) says hi and shakes my hand. We exchange pleasantries.

BREAK IN ACTION…young patrol approaches me and my two friends and relays, in Dari, that I need to move my humvee based on orders of his boss. Fortunately, my interpreter friend is there to interpret. No problem I say and I move the humvee. Got a new spot but still watch the people.

Another first sighting…a lawn mower in Afghanistan. (Other firsts in Kabul I’ve previously noted…4 stoplights that a) work and b) people pay attention to on one road and a worker filling in potholes with real asphalt.) One of the groundskeeper is pushing this nice lawn mower that has a grass catcher. Who knew? Now he just needs a weed wacker and edger and the 10 x 10 foot piece of grass in front of the building I’m looking at will be all set for Spring.
Seeing lots of different vehicles. Here’s my list: Unarmoured SUV – mostly NATO advisors drive these; Green Ford pickups/SUVs driven by ANP police, and 1 parked fire truck. I sit in the only humvee.
Three Afghan contractors. The oldest of the three looks to be the boss…nice suit with tie and portfolio for papers. Trailing him are two guys carrying extension cords and tools.
See the many faces of Afghanistan….features and skin tone that look Persian, Asian, Italian, Greek, dark skin and light skin tones.
Young guard yawns….me to. Another day goes by at a federal building complex.

I go back to reading.

Irish continue to roll

2010-03-12T00:35:00.000-05:00

Woke up this morning and found out that Notre Dame is now in the semi-finals of the Big East Tournament. They continue to win with their new defensive-minded approach to the game. Can't imagine anyone expected this a month ago. Go Irish!!

Most of Team Wookie

2010-03-04T22:43:00.001-05:00

As many of you know, we call our team the "Wookies". Started back as a call-sign in training. Well, someone sent us the below photo and a team mate included some of our names on the photo (most, but not all). Kind of funny. And yes, I'm in the top right since I have the most gray hair on the team!

It's March already...pretty cool.

2010-03-04T22:37:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's March already. Spring, I'm hoping, is right around the corner for Kabul...though I must admit I see little snow flurries on the weather forecast pictures on my iGoogle page.

The last week of February 2010 went off without a hitch. Personally, I largely spent it in the office doing paperwork and going to meetings. The team continued to visit the hospital and a few clinics. I am looking forward to next week as my boss will be back so he can have some of his duties back and the Surgeon General will be back in town so the team can meet with him on several large projects that need to move forward.

The biggest thing I've been working on surrounds the Afghan National Police (ANP) Drug Rehab Facility. This facility, which I believe I have talked about before, was conceived from the notion that since the ANP started drug testing there needed a place to send those who need help. Originally, the rehab facility was going to be a joint function with the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) but MOPH leadership dropped out for whatever reason. The ANP Surgeon General picked up the ball and found a very decent location near the ANP hospital. At capacity it will house 126 patients and even though there is no official positions for staffing yet, the Surgeon General has cut a deal with one of the MOPH physicians to help him staff it. Other staffing is coming from the ANP Hospital. A few issues we are "advising" the Ministry of Interior (MOI - who oversees medical) on concerning the rehab facility:
- An underground water-pipe is broken.
- They need to add a generator.
- The Surgeon General is completing an admissions policy to ensure that the facility receives the right patients (those addicted to meth, coke, or opiates). THC...not so concerned about.

For those interested....you might find it surprising that the number of policeman that are testing positive for drugs is rather low (in my uneducated mind). For instance, currently about 11% are testing positive but 9.5% are for THC and the remainder are testing positive for opiates, meth or coke. These number continue to decline as more testing occurs around the country. (Note: culturally THC gets you a slap on the wrist and shouldn't land you in rehab).

Here are some other things that occupied my time this week:
- Notre Dame beats UCONN and Maryland beats Duke in hoops! So I woke up Thursday morning and saw on the TV they were showing the Irish whip up on UConn and then the Maryland 'Terps were playing. If only I could have watched the whole Maryland came, but had a morning meeting. However, I knew that Charlie S., Mr. Maryland Hoops, was covering me on that one (Hi Charlie and Debbie). Several hours later in the morning I saw the score on the web - a huge win for Maryland - Congrats Charlie!

- Reading. I started Neal Stephensen's Quicksilver (Vol one of the Baroque Cycle). Each volume is about 800-900 pages long so I hope to finish before I leave Afghanistan since my reading usually occurs for about 20 minutes before I go to bed. Great book so far and I thank my brother for sending.

- Working out. Well, the slug (me) starting running (albeit slowly) again. Very happy about this and it does make you feel better. Of course, the body doesn't bounce back like it used to so slow and short mileage to start. I do usually go to the gym and run on the treadmill but if the weather is good I'll run outside. Running outside consists of running around Camp Eggers which kind of has a loop of a little less than a half mile. When you run you just have to be careful of not running into people, tactical vehicles or the ever-present sewage trunks. No problem!

- Eating. Food continues to be decent and the ice cream continues to cold!

Well, that's about it for this week. Rather uninspiring but your emails, cards and prayers help every day.

All the best. Peace.

Tim

Lessons re-learned.

2010-02-26T02:26:00.001-05:00

Over the last couple of weeks since my last post I’ve had the opportunity to re-learn some lessons that people have told me during this deployment. As you will read the first two lessons are positive, the third, re-taught to this morning, is not.

Lesson #1. This is not my country.

I was asked to provide several thousand Afghan First Aid Kits (AFAK), similar to what I wear on my vest, by a Coalition team who wanted to provide to ANP personnel downrange. We have plenty in our medical warehouse so I was confident this wouldn’t be a problem. (Kits include bandage, tourniquet, and airway tube.) I said, “No problem; we (Americans) got plenty.” I figured that a) this will help the downrange policeman, after they get the necessary training on kit items and b) clears some space in our (American funded) warehouse. Seemingly, a no-brainer! After 10 days of trying to work the Afghan system (finding the RIGHT Afghan Quartermaster/Regional supply guy) I grew inpatient and told the receiver of the goods just to pick the AFAKs up and we would worry about the silly Afghan paperwork later. To prep for this pick up I called the American mentor at the warehouse and told him to make it happen. The problem came when the truck pulled up to the warehouse and the Afghan warehouse Colonel refused to release the kits because the right paperwork wasn’t done. (He literally locked the doors of the warehouse). Upon hearing this I frustratingly called the ANP Surgeon General and asked him to release the kits. He did.

Two days after Surgeon General released the kits I was in his office and he half-jokingly asked for an apology from me because I circumvented his (not mine) warehouse system. I apologized…and you know what….he was absolutely right for asking for one. After my apology he explained that the warehouse is under his control, not mine (true); that the Minister of Interior Inspector General will ping him, not me, for not following the right procedures (true); and that if asked 10 days ago he would have released them and worried about the paperwork later because he will always provide assistance to police and worry about the bureaucracy later.

Lesson re-learned: Afghanistan is NOT owned by the U.S./Coalition/NATO. Regardless of funding for the Afghan government by entities just mentioned, this country is owned by the people of Afghanistan because it is a democracy. And, those who work for the people of Afghanistan in the government are entrusted to be the stewards of Afghan resources, not unlike any government official in any other country. Through the Surgeon General I re-learned that we (Americans) do not own this country, the Afghans do. And, in doing so the Afghans want this country to succeed using their way…not mine. I can buy that.

Lesson #2: I’m sure you all know the lesson that says something you will get better results when a team member is provided the opportunity to contribute, engage and have ownership of the widget.

This story begins by reintroducing the Management Development Plan (MDP) (see 4 Jan 10 entry about “How do you know if you have successful?”) In the January piece I provided an overview that we rank the Afghan process (for me the ANP medical system) with a 1 through 4 chart based on set of objectives. These objectives are in a “joint” Afghan-US/Coalition Advisor written document called the MDP. The Surgeon General and our team have one as well as all other ANP teams. Like most documents of this type both sides read and agreed with the document. Of course, the advisor (us) side of the equation wrote 99.9% of it and then we asked the Surgeon General if he agreed – he did of course.

As time passed over the last month I’ve been growing concerned that we (advisors) spent a lot of time on this, killed a few trees to make pretty copies and that it would ultimately end up as a door stop. My concern grew from the fact that this document was not getting any traction with our Afghan counterparts, so we advisors could do our specific, gradable work (because we like that stuff…we’re in the military), with the Surgeon General or his staff.

Well, an amazing thing happened one day. The Surgeon General, who was tasked with coming up with his own MDP from his Afghan boss, got together with his senior staff and added very important objectives to the MDP that will move their system forward. I gladly took this input (in Dari), got it translated and was fascinated and reassured once I saw the translation. The objectives were right on the mark and vividly showed me that strategic planning is part of the business model in the ANP healthcare system! As such, I’m hopeful that once my team sits down with the Surgeon General and his team that we can now work together as a single unit, with common causes, moving this organization forward…because the MDP is no longer a U.S. advisor document; the document is owned by both parties who want to make the ANP medical system better. A small ray of sunshine during a week of clouds and rain (literally clouds and rain, no metaphor intended).

Lesson #3. There are still bad guys trying to destroy this country.

By now I’m sure you’ve heard the news that there was another explosion in Kabul’s city-center today. Woke Camp Eggers up at 0630 (occurred on a Friday which is our weekend due to Friday’s being the Islamic Sabbath). Everyone took muster and then we waited in our offices. As the boom was several km away the Camp is fine. However, I just hate to re-learn the lesson that bad guys are out there. I'm feel bad for this country.

Forgetting about lesson #3 for now and fully supporting lessons #1 and #2…I continue to be bullish on the ANP medical system. The kicker is that success must be defined in the Afghan way and not my way.

In other news…
- Olympics. My favorite sporting event of all time (summer or winter). Turns out our office now only has one channel – CTV (Canadian TV) because of some cable failure which I’m sure will be fixed after the Olympics no doubt. Anyways, what a different perspective on things and I’ve truly enjoyed it. I also enjoyed a little US butt-kicking of the Canadians in hockey in the men’s qualifying rounds. We'll see what happens in the medal rounds.
- Weather. Last week was Spring-like with warm afternoons. This week, like I mentioned earlier, has been early Spring-like with rain and clouds.
- Small victories. Mom/Dad sent me some L-shaped shelving brackets a few weeks ago. Due to very busy schedule since then I finally went over to the self-help shack and picked up some screws and power screwdriver. They are now up and today my room is a bit more organized. Of course, I cannot predict what the Laws of Thermodynamics (order/disorder) will do in a few days!

And finally, I offer the following quote which my lovely bride sent to me. The quote is from Albert Pike (an interesting fellow in his own right):

What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us: what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.
~Albert Pike~

All the best to everyone and thanks for keeping in touch.
Peace,
Tim

Green Log Books, Orange Oranges, and Kabul Travel

2010-02-12T00:06:00.000-05:00

Do you ever have those weeks when you really don’t have time to think for more than 2 minutes…you get up, eat, work, eat and go to bed? I’m sure you have and I had one this past week. On the positive side of things the week goes by extremely fast. On the downside you (or at least I) get frustrated because you (me) miss thinking 4 minutes, a week or even two weeks (for me that’s “strategic thinking” in Kabul) ahead. In this very week there is lots of stuff I could describe but allow me to focus on some highlights.

Green Log Books.
A US Navy Surgeon General several years ago had a focus to remove green log books from military hospitals and move administrative/patient sign-in sheets, etc into the computer age. (Green log books are US Government issued green, hard-covered small or large notebooks that people would use as steno pads or so people could sign into a que. I still see people carrying them around today as steno pads.) As such, there was a push to ensure there were no green log books around, particularly when he came to your office/hospitals. Pretty successful effort as the military health care system does have a pretty high-tech IM/IT systems in place.

The reason I bring this all up is to give you a comparison to the ANP Hospital where we spend most of our mentoring time. The Head of Patient Administration, an ANP Colonel, was so happy on Tuesday that he received recently printed Blue-covered log books to keep track of patient and ambulance movement. As there is no high-tech IM/IT system in place, the Afghans use log books. But, the look of satisfaction on the Colonel face was simply tremendous and I thought on the ride home….ah ha, this is one of those things that I can share when comparing our system with theirs. The Afghan system is happy when they get new log books; we continue to work towards linking the integrated electronic medical record with the patient from home, the provider and inpatient efforts together. How many years difference is this? Who knows?

Orange Oranges and Kabul Travel
Quick, where do the oranges come from that people eat in Kabul? (Jeopardy music has begun). No answer. Well, turns out that they come from within Afghanistan (East in the Jalabad District, Nangahar Province) and Pakistan. Didn’t realize there were orange groves in Afghanistan. All this leads to an overview of our travels this week.

Beyond going to the hospital we also visited 4 police HQ buildings and several Police District stations around the city. We did this to confirm drug testing was going on as prescribed by the Ministry of Interior (part of PAI effort - see earlier blog entry). When traveling to each location we would be on some main thoroughfare and see what we would think would be largest outdoor market in Kabul (selling lots of very orange oranges, fruit, clothing, etc), but then we would be in another part of town and see another market which was bigger. Usually we would be doing this right before lunch and we so wished we could step out and grab some food. Of course, and a bit sadly we can’t for security and safety reasons. Sometimes we wish we could put on a pair of jeans and walk around these markets…but that will never happen. I do know when we travel next to these markets and we have a gunner in the turret (who can have snip-it conversations with the locals) the locals are friendly, smile and respond back to comments like, “How are you doing?” I’d like to think, even though we are in heavily-armored Humvees that we still can do some COIN (Counter-insurgency) work as General McCrystal wants us to.
Back to drug testing overwatch…the endgame was that yes, in fact, the Afghans were doing the work of Afghanistan everywhere we went. Each location had a system in place, knew who to report to everyday and had a physician at each location. All this was coordinated through the Ministry of Interior’s Personnel Department, the ANP Surgeon General and other senior police medical officials. I fully realize that it was our job to verify (trust but verify), but I believe that at some point we just need to trust.

Weather…and tragedy in Afghanistan
Well, the good news is that we didn’t get slammed with snow like the States has. However, we did get a dusting of snow several days ago and the cold temperatures continue. It’s hovering around 25-30 F. The sad news this week, related to weather, was the terrible avalanche that occurred North of Kabul in the mountains. There is lots of snow in the mountains I can see. Specifically, the avalanche occurred in the Salange Pass, a high-altitude road connecting Kabul with the northern city of Mazer-e Sharif. At least 167 people died. I know the Afghan Police and Army medical systems, the new Afghan Air Corps, area hospitals, and coalition forces all came to rescue. A very bad tragedy indeed. You can easily Google the story if you haven’t seen.

More uplifting news
I’ve added a couple of new links to the website.
On the right is now a list of a few blogs I’m following.
- Thanks to John W. there is a really cool blog called 30 Days in Afghanistan
- I found one called Foodie in a Warzone. Got my attention with the cool title.
- I’ve also added my brother’s corporate blog, Legal Spend Management. If you’re in this business…check it out.

I’ve also added a section for people to follow the blog. Fully realize that many of you sign up for the email delivery…and that’s fine. I’ve also added a new website on the bottom called, NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan. This is our command’s new website and has good info and blogs from senior folks attached to this command.

That’s it for now. Have fun and peace.
Tim

Happy 50th to Kevin

2010-02-04T11:54:00.000-05:00

Kevin,
Happy 50th (abit late) from Kabul. All the best.
Tim

Sorry to regular, non-family readers who don't know Kevin. He's family.

Written 4 Feb 10

2010-02-04T11:40:00.002-05:00

My efforts to post continued to languish this past month. Must have been busy. The great news is that in a few days the 15 month deployment/being away is 6 months over. Hard to believe. Definitely not counting days here, but month counting is okay.

As mentioned above the last month has been busy, and throw in a cold/virus thing, needless to say it went quick. Lots of good news stories going on and I remain bullish on the ANP (Afghan National Police) medical system. Below are a couple of highlights…

- Personnel Accountability Inventory (PAI). Over the last 6 months or so my command, working with the Ministry of Interior (MOI) have implemented the PAI that essentially is a headcount of over 90K policemen. PAI includes 3 phases: 1) Accountability: essentially getting name/rank/serial number, 2) Identification through biometrics (iris scan and finger prints), and 3) drug testing. The first phase concentrated on the dozen or so most important provinces. We are now entering the second phase that will capture the remaining slightly under 30 provinces. This is a major muscle movement for the MOI (they own the police) and ANP advisors. How my team is involved is that we get the drug test kits ordered and picked up. For instance, we just shipped over 60K worth of drug test kits out to the regions. We also track the number of positive drug test results (we primarily track coke, meth, etc.) Pot/THC is tracked but there is little enforcement against it. While there are many benefits to the PAI, one of the big ones is that you can fight corruption concerning payment of salary issues. One person will get one pay check. From a medical perspective, the MOI is able to identify who is truly addicted to hard drugs and get into rehab (with permission of superiors). Numbers of non-THC positive tests are in mid-single digits. As I’ve posted before there is a drug rehab center in Kabul, but the MOI is beginning their own just for police. The ANP Surgeon General has worked very hard for this to come to fruition. He’s found a location, worked a deal with Ministry of Public Health to get counselors until he gets his own and has done this really within 1 month. I visited this facility yesterday and is relatively nice. Has 7 residential buildings on the compound and electricity. Now we just need to ensure MOI gets the heating generator in place before patients arrive.

- Our team is working hard with our Afghan counterparts on some longer-range projects. Projects include planning on what to put in a 50% complete renovated inpatient building behind the current hospital (BTW, the funding for this renovation is coming from a 3rd party country). We have the blueprints and expect that next week we will sit down with our team/Afghan hospital senior leadership to begin to solidify were departments, etc will go. The next step after that will be to ensure the right equipment is ordered as the country that donated the building…only donated the renovation costs and not the outfitting costs. The interesting thing from a planning perspective is that everything here is pretty linear. Do A first then move to B then move to C. Very little multi-tasking from a strategic sense. I guess it will be our job to get the ANP Surgeon General’s staff to think at multiple levels…with us only coaching them through the process.

- Myself and another teammate spend a larger part of a week working the ANP hospital manpower (# of positions) document. In the end, the ANP Surgeon General, who did a great job several months ago developing his long-term requirements, had to be told that he wasn’t getting everything he ask for. (Hey, this sounds a lot like what I did in the Pentagon and dealing with the Navy Surgeon General….proving once again that Kabul, Afghanistan is not too different than working in the Pentagon!)

- And, speaking of the DC Beltway, I continue to write point papers, build weekly briefs…again similar to being a Beltway staff officer. The really only difference, besides being in a war zone, is that information has a half-life of less than 24 hours until you have to update someone. Actually quiet fascinating to me. Frustrating at times, but fascinating.

In other news from the last couple of weeks…

- We watched Avatar in our office (okay, I admit we have a nice flat screen). Granted, it was a bootleg copy from some Eastern Block country (or so I think given some of the subtitles) so we didn’t get the full technicolor effect but got the very good story line. Given this, I look forward to seeing the real copy back in the states.

- Being bullish on the ANP medical system. Every week I find out that they already do that. “That” being something I thought we’d have to teach them. For instance, without any solid email system they get a report every morning from MOI concerning casualties from throughout the country. The head of patient administration consolidates the report and sends to the Surgeon General. We could not of set up a better system. Of course, not everything is perfect but they do more than I think.

- Hey, I actually someone fixing potholes in the street for the first time…with real asphalt.

Finally, I discussed the Solar Year concept in an earlier blog. With my ever vigilant readers (thanks Dad) I’ve included several links in the links section at the bottom of the page that discuss the Persian Calendar system.

Finally #2, all the best to whoever reads this.
Peace,
Tim

Written 29 Jan 2010

2010-02-04T11:19:00.000-05:00

Happy 29 January to you all! Well, lots of things going on concerning Afghanistan this week and the team continue to do great things. Let’s start with BIG things and work our way down.

In the news this week is the London Conference on Afghanistan. Quoting from a Voice of America.com article, “Major world powers pledged support for reconciliation in Afghanistan to include members of the Taliban and mapped out a strategy for handing over increasing security responsibilities to Afghan forces. The decisions were announced as ministers and delegates from more than 70 countries and organizations met in London.

After a day of talks, consensus emerged on two main issues; try to bring at least some members of the Taliban into the Afghan government fold, and strengthen efforts to get the Afghans to take over responsibility for their own security.”

This is good news in my eyes. Inevitably, the “solution” in Afghanistan has to be a political one and getting the “swing vote” Taliban (understand that there are some Taliban and foreign fighters who aren’t part of this) on our side can’t be a made thing.

Because of the above, the real bad guys are trying to show the world that Afghanistan is still unsafe. As such, they launched an attack on downtown Kabul earlier. From my perspective, the Afghan security forces won the day. (Of course, I’d love to hear the Afghan news commentary on this.) The bad guys were contained by Afghan forces, as far as I can tell, without any US/Coalition assistance.

Beyond big Afghan politics here is some “local” news from my viewpoint.
- The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) came and visited Camp Eggers a week or two ago. The CNO, Admiral Gary Roughead, is the 4-star in charge of the Navy. While we were getting our picture taken with him I talked to him about training at Fort Polk as I heard the Navy may have their own training. I relayed that the Army knows how to train for this mission and they're pretty good at it. And, while the training was long...the Navy should continue to send folks here. He didn't disagree and I guess I gave Fort Polk another plug. (Just remind me never to go back.)
- We (Afghan National Police (ANP) and Army teams) briefed the leadership at Camp Eggers on the status of our programs. Very well received. I wish I could send you the full brief but I won’t bore you with the military speak. However, I did want to highlight the educational programs that have put in place by the medical team here to educate doctors, nurses, and medics. But, before I begin I should state that the programs started largely to support the more advanced Afghan National Army (ANA) medical system. The police medical system is rightly latching on to the below programs.
- Combat medic training: For the ANA an 8 week combat medic course was developed and graduates 600 graduates per year. The program started in Kabul and is being regionalized throughout the country. The ANP has a similar program called Trauma Assistance Personnel (TAP) course. The great thing about this course is that a) literacy has increased significantly and b) the course instructors are now Afghans. The US/Coalition involved in largely now oversight. This is the type of thing we need to do…we taught and now the Afghans do.
- Nursing school: As all of know…it’s the nurses who can make or break your healthcare system. Afghanistan, like so many other countries, has a severe shortage of nurses in both numbers and education. While there are multiple Afghan nursing programs in this country, including a 4 year nursing school in Kabul, a great program supported by the US/Coalition is a 1-yr program that provides more of a highly educated nursing assistant. Using US help the curriculum has been reviewed and there are Western teachers.
- Physician training: There is a medical school in Kabul called the Kabul Medical University. Medical school is a 7-year program (undergrad and medical school). The US/Coalition support is working on curriculum development and ensuring they have the necessary facilities. Past medical school one usually heads to a residency program. In Afghanistan there are no true residency programs, but that is changing with various US mentors for Eggers. Grand Rounds are also beginning to occur at the large ANA hospital in Kabul for continuing education purposes.

All in all the 3 three main educational programs are making this country stronger and while there is much work to be done the healthcare workers in this country will be more educated and better providers (from the battlefield to the hospitals) because of these programs. Good news indeed.

Thoughts of Goodness To You

2010-01-18T09:48:00.003-05:00

I’m certainly overdue for an entry. It’s been very busy here in Kabul. But rather than update you on my happenings (I'll do that in a few days) I thought I would copy some words that various people have sent me which serve as regular inspiration. There is smattering of religious, management, and poetry. While they were sent to me...I send them out to you. Frankly, given the devastation in Haiti and other bad things in the world please use the below as positive reinforcement for goodness.

"Be shepards of God's flock, the believers who are under your care. Serve as their leaders. Don't serve them because you have to. Instead, do it because you want to. That's what God wants you to do. Don't do it because you want to get more and more money. Do it because you really want to serve. Don't act as if you were a ruler over those who are under your care. Instead, be examples to the flock."

1 Peter 5:2-3

Prayer for Purpose

Just think, you’re not here by chance, but by God’s choosing.

His hand formed you and made you the person you are.

He compares you to no one else you are one of a kind.

You lack nothing that His grace can’t give you.

He has allowed you to be here at this time in history to fulfill His special purpose for this generation.

~ by Roy Lessin From Prayer NDU

For great managers and leaders, the path toward engaging employees and keeping them engaged begins with asking them what they want and what is important in order to be effective in their roles. The following is a summary of what workers responding to the Gallup Q12 survey say they want from their managers:

• Focus me

• Equip me

• Know me

• Help me see my value

• Care about me

• Help me grow

• Hear me

• Help me see my importance

• Help me feel proud

• Help me build mutual trust

• Help me review my contributions

• Challenge me

for each new morning with its light
for rest and shelter of the night
for food and health,
love, family and friends
and everything they goodness sends,
god in heaven, we thank thee.
- ralph waldo emerson (with a few tweaks by sender)

New link at bottom of page

2010-01-04T20:51:00.002-05:00

I've added a weblink to the bottom of the page that you may find interesting. The link is for the Office of the President, Afghanistan.

New Years, Advising, and Politics

2010-01-04T20:49:00.000-05:00

Well it is official…we are now in 2010. My New Year’s eve was uneventful (went to the onbase Thai restaurant with office mates) and then was fast asleep by the time it struck mid-night local time. Such a fuddy-duddy but when I think about it staying up until midnight is getting harder and harder wherever I am. Of course, it is also a bit weird that we (Westerners) are celebrating New Years in a country that has its New Years in March. The Afghans go on what is called the Solar Year. Further, it isn’t 2010 here. The year is actually 1388. And, I’m currently learning about the 1389 budget and manpower documents for next year (hey, it’s kind of like working in the Pentagon again as a budget-weenie) for the ANP Surgeon General. And, yes…they have shortfalls too.

Before I get too far along I want to thank everyone for sending me notes, boxes, etc. A simple note really does brighten the day (and keeps the calories off). If it takes me a while to write back…be patient with me please.

Weather update: Wow, what great days Christmas and New Year Day were. Both sunny and mid-40’s. I’m must admit I’m waiting for the snow, though I really don’t want to actually drive in it. Today was very cold in the morning (brrr…) but got sunny again.

So my thoughts for the week are on advising….

Let’s revisit the year thing above. As we have been here for almost 2 months now and no longer the new guy I think I can make some general statements about things.

First, I (as an American) am only a visitor to a country that has had many “visitors” over the years. Some good; some bad. I have to remind myself that, in the big scheme of things, the mission is not about building my country or getting positive words on an evaluation. Rather, the mission is to see this country succeed, using their calendar (not ours) and provide long-term stability and security so that kids can go to school and play outside. Of course this happens now but not anywhere near it should be.

Second, to achieve the greater mission I find myself as an “advisor”, after all Fort Polk gave me “Combat Advisor” skills, struggling between my Western ways and the ways of the Afghans. Should I change something that has been operating for years without me? Do my Judeo-Christian, Western education, D.C. Beltway-honed thoughts and skills matter to the advisee? What is the right path for me…and the ones that I advise? All interesting intellectual thoughts. The fact is that my “consulting”/advising services are being paid for by the US government and that there is tremendous geo-political pressure to ensure there is stability and security in the near-term. These pressures include standing up a credible Afghan Army and Police. To meet this end, the US/NATO/others have committed tremendous resources (military and non-military) to ensure Afghanistan moves forward. Given this fact, I advise with the hope that what I do is synthesized into the collective ANP healthcare system knowledge base (geez, I sound like a consultant now) and used when I leave. Our team is trying hard not to be just another set of Americans you come in, buy cool toys, and then leave. As I have written before the goal here is to ensure the Afghans learn/use their systems now so we can leave in the future.

Given above, a logical next question would be, “Tim, how do you know you have been successful? What’s the metric of success?” Good questions. Of course we use metrics! We’re the military so everything is measured. There are the standards “Stop-light” charts (red, yellow, and green) but there are also charts that mix it up a bit using a 4 through 1 scale. 4 being the worse (the Afghan organization couldn’t function if you left) and 1 being the best (the Afghan organization is running the entire operation and why I am still here). Our team predominately uses the 4 through 1 scale for measurable objectives that both my boss and the Surgeon General have agreed up. The role of our team’s advisors is to assist the advisee, who works for the Surgeon General, to meet the objectives. For instance, there may be an objective to be able to manage all current and future medical equipments needs within the ANP healthcare system. This requires an Afghan equipment manager who knows what is on hand, what needs to be fixed or bought, and provide future requirements to the Afghan budget and contracting officer. Easier said than done. Our view of this task to get to Level 1 is that the clinician knows who the equipment manager is, the equipment manager, logistician, and budget officer all work together to get the equipment order (and maintained), and the equipment manager has priorities of what is required in the future. The worst case scenario is that the US advisors do it all. I think we are very much moving in this direction. Admittedly, some of our Advisors are further along than others, but I believe that most Afghans do welcome our advice to make their country better.

Well enough about advising for this entry. Certainly more to follow. Now, onto to politics. So it turns out that there is a C-SPAN like TV station in Afghanistan. 2 days ago I was at the hospital and saw Parliament reject 17 of Pres Karzai’s ministerial nominations. My first thought was…ouch! My second thought was…hey, this is democracy in action, regardless of reason for the thumbs down vote. Of course, I would like to think there are valid and good reasons (corruption, political affiliation, etc). However, it’s tough to say when I don’t speak the language or understand who’s who in the political landscape. Judicial nominations in the US Senate don’t do any better, regardless of the Administration. It will be very interesting to see what Karzai’s next steps are.

Keep warm wherever you are.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T01:52:00.002-05:00

I’m beginning to write the entry at 0815 on Christmas morning. Got up a few hours ago, watched a couple episodes of “Burn Notice” (love the show) and went to breakfast. One of the DFAC (Dining Facilities) is right next door to where I live so my commute is short. As one might imagine the DFAC had few people in it as today is a very low battle rhythm day. From the DFAC I walked to my office (all of 4 minutes). On this walk I crossed the “major” road on base (actually a wide sidewalk almost) and looked North to see the mountains covered with snow. What a beautiful site they are in the brisk, clear morning air. All it takes is a glimpse to the mountains every morning to realize that there is beauty in this country.

Once I got to my office I opened my email and found multiple emails of Merry Christmas wishes from family and friends, both here in country and in the states. You know who you are…thanks. Your notes are very appreciated. A special gift I opened yesterday was from the Director for Admin staff at Camp Lejeune, Naval Hospital. They surprised me with all sorts of goodies and a DVD they made with our CIO reading their own version of “A Night Before Christmas”. It was great to actually see the DFA team! Certainly there is no finer group of military and civilian leaders making it happen every day.

As it being Christmas I also checked Norad’s Santa tracker this morning. His job is done in the East and he is moving West. So, those in the States…he’s coming.

The past week was a busy one. A very bright spot was visiting one of the few, if only, “inpatient” drug rehab facility. Below is a picture of the outside of the building and you now know why I put quotes around the word inpatient. The facility is run by a Afghan physician who I describe as evangelical in his mission. Amazingly, his success rate for 1^st time drug (opium and meth) rehab visitors is 30%. He doesn’t use any drugs to assist as it is all based on self-motivation and using sports. Within the building…on the first floor is a homeless shelter for men who are waiting to get into the program. Once they are in they move to the 2^nd they begin treatment and on the 2^nd and 3^rd floors are group, family, and individual counseling rooms. The 4^th floor is not used for patients, only for laundry. I did get to see the kitchen as well. Wow…what tremendous smells from the kettle! I’ve never smelled such wonderful rice.

The story behind this building is that this building was the office headquarters of the largest manufacturing plant (they made engines) in Afghanistan…until the Mujahedeen blew it up. Below is a picture from behind the main building. Unfortunately, lots of scrape mental now. BTW, the reason we’re interested in this physician’s program is that as the Afghan policy continue to do drug testing of their force there will need to be rehab services somewhere (note: THC use is not a big deal here so really looking to rehab opium/meth users). I’m sure over the next year a decision, hopefully, will be made in reference to what direction the country will take on this issue.

The rest of day includes church services and getting caught up on correspondence. I’m also looking forward to a run today, maybe even outside as it appears to be getting a warmer, and then our team will be having dinner together this evening. I’ve already seen the DFAC cooks preparing the turkeys so I’m sure it will be feast.

And finally, Merry Christmas to my love Beth, family, and many friends. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Tim

Office Pics and Lots of Cookies

2009-12-18T00:26:00.000-05:00

Took a couple of photos from our office. The top picture is 1/3 of our office. Our office is U shaped and this is one side. My chair is the one on the upper left-side. Needless to say the office gets crowded when the full team is in there. The second pic is where we put all the goodies we get from the care packages. This was pretty much 2 days of mailings. As you can see...we have to watch are caloric intake!

Pictures from the Road

2009-12-18T00:19:00.000-05:00

Here are more pics of weekly travels. In this instance...our medical warehouse. I apologize a head of time for the mix up in order of the pics but I'll point things out to you...

Pic 1, 6, 7 are on various roads to the warehouse. Forgive the very dirty windows as you don't actually want to open your vehicle windows when you ride...plus there was lots of mud the day before when it rained). Pic 1 and 6 are along a major road (ney, a 4 lane boulevard...or that is how it was built anyways). This particular road has plenty of business...lots of cement and wood businesses. Pic 7 is a smaller road with many market shacks (this particular road as the largest pothole I've ever seen.) From the road that Pic 7 is we turn onto a "road" that the warehouse is on. Pic 3 shows that road from the warehouse. There are many warehouses on this road...and also many kids who I hope belong to someone. When we come to the warehouse we bring candy or food and hand it out. These pictures can be replicated in most countries of the world...and it's just sad. Pic 2 is my shot at humor for the day. So this relatively new (within 10 yrs) mercedes sits within the warehouse yard. It has to be one of the few actual mercedes in the country. We've seen a few Lexus, lots of Land Rovers...but no mercedes. Maybe someone is waiting for the right time for a refurbishment job!

Pictures from ANA National Military Hospital

2009-12-17T23:48:00.000-05:00

Here are some pics from the Soviet-ear (1960s) Afghan National Army hospital. Pic 1 is the front of the hospital. Pretty typical 60s architecture (thought I refer to brother-in-law Dave who is the architect). Pic 2 and 3 are from the seventh floor where the senior people of the hospital, and I suspect the government, can come and eat and see the city. Not bad at all. Pic 4...Outside of this floor-wide suite is a 360 degree terrace that you can walk around (B, kind of like the Kennedy Center terrace...of course there is no view of the Potomac, Georgetown, or the Washington Mall). From this terrace you get to see in the background some actual office or condo development (top of picture). I've driven by these building and they are quite nice actually.

Pic 5 is a shot from the terrace of the front grounds of the hospital. In the center of the pic there is a long and dry canal or pool that certainly hasn't been filled in years and the grounds to the right, again, I'm sure were quite nice when money was flowing. Now...it's nice semi-green space. Pic 5 is to the right of Pic 4. It looks from Southwest and the prominent white building is the Women/Children hospital (in fact, this area is were multiple hospitals are. The Women/Children hospital is overseen by some NGO. Beyond you get to see the cityscape of the nicer part of Kabul.

BTW, you can see the cloudiness in the outdoor photos. This is dust, pollution, etc. that comes out mid-day and doesn't clear up until morning. Imagine lots of cars (no catalytic converters here), lots of burning wood for heat...most nights you can smell the air of burning wood.

Camp Eggers...everyone wants to be here (at least TV news shows)

2009-12-11T20:42:00.000-05:00

Well for those who watch the morning shows we had the TODAY show visit Eggers and Kabul this week. Matt Lauer and Al Roker were here and while I tried a little to get on TV (some of my teammates did) I decided it was too cold and rainy out so I bailed. Sorry. For those Matt Lauer fans you would be happy to know that I touched a teammate who shook Matt’s hand! Close enough.

Well, it’s been several weeks since I last wrote. Fortunately, the weeks have passed along uneventfully. For creature comforts …got into a permanent room with and Air Force roommate who is leaving in January after a year. He’s a pilot rebuilding the Afghan Air Force. Who knew there was such a thing. Ahh, but remember the Soviets were here (more about the Soviets later.) The room kind of reminds me of my freshmen year dorm room at ND…though slightly bigger. We got a fridge, TV, and heat. All good things. My room is a 3^rd floor walkup in an old house and there is a small hallway out to the building’s roof/patio. Can we say margarita parties in the summer! (Actually no but we can drink non-alcoholic Becks)

From a team perspective…most of the prior team has redeployed home so the office now has a Navy flair – though we have a few Air Force folks on the team. Of course, the big Army-Navy game is this weekend at midnight and there is sure to be a big crowd watching. The team remains very positive about the mission, though I must admit we are learning every day that the advising business with Afghans is not as easy as one might seem. I agree with the President’s idea of getting out of Afghanistan in a couple of years (though I highly suspect the money and some won’t) and our mission is designed to that. But, the more I see the more I hope that the Afghans do for the Afghans rather than the Coalition forces do for the Afghans. To be fair this is not all the Afghan’s fault.

In my travels over the last couple of weeks we have done the following:

- Starting to do a survey of all the ANP clinics in Kabul. We’re trying to do an assessment of every clinic that currently exists so we can plan for the coming growth of the police department. One would think there would be such a repository or info….ah, no. Of course, such a survey gets you around town…which is always fun and interesting.

- As I promised earlier…the Soviets. One of the short trips we made was to the ANA (Afghan National Army) main hospital. This hospital was build in the 60’s by the Soviets. Looking at the grounds one could imagine how pretty is may have been. Huge old rose gardens and a real big pool in the front that I’m sure hasn’t been used in decades. I will post some pictures in my next posting. The capabilities of the hospital are great by Afghan standards…~8 ICU beds and many specialties. However, the nurses still have to be reminded to take vitals when needed so that tells you something. Though I must admit this 7 story building has much more going for it than our Police hospital. The mentors who work there also live next door so frankly they don’t get out and see Kabul…I’m learning this is unfortunate. I’d much rather get off base a few times a week and see the sights…as they are. One of the very interesting parts of the tour was to go to the top floor that is a whole floor lounge area for VIPs and senior Army staff. Check the pictures out that I’ll post.

I thought I’d bring a guest writer for this blog. It’s abit long but here’s the background. Below is written by our senior Navy Family Practice doctor, Chris, on our team to his staff at home. He runs a residency program in a state-side Naval hospital and gave the following thoughts to his staff and young doctors. Chris and I agree on all of the below but he gives great insight from the eyes of a primary care physician.

The following is from Chris: I know that you have been wondering what I’ve doing. Probably tops your daily thoughts, doesn't it? Well it should, because it seems that we (military medicine) will be doing this sort of job for the near future (defined as likely the next 3 - 5 yrs to indefinitely). Remember the key phrase from the President's speech - combat troops will begin drawing down in 2011, combat
advisors/mentors are likely here to stay for much longer* You need to look no further (than your shipmates you are deployed).

So if you are not deployed in support of the Fleet or Marines, your job here is to train/advise/mentor the Afghan National Security Forces in developing their medical systems. You will be just one part
(the best part) of the NATO Training Mission - Afghanistan which is working to stand up all
phases/parts of the Army and Police. The scope of this mission is daunting and overwhelming - the devastation of nearly 30 years of conflict has destroyed most public institutions and erased any public health infrastructure. You need no further evidence than a few key stats:

- 1 in 5 afghan children will NOT live past the age of 5.

- The infant mortality rate is 151/1000 live births (3rd worst in the
world - compared to 6.2/1000 in the US)

- The maternal mortality rate is 1600/100000 (2nd worst in the world - compared to 12/100000 in the US)

- Primary care within the military system is nonexistent and primary care within the public care system is mostly done by nongovernment organizations (NGOs).

- Infectious diseases (i.e. malaria and TB) are still a significant cause of mortality here

- The average life expectancy of a Afghan currently: 49 (unbelievable number in the 21st century)

- Nursing care (as we know it) is nonexistent

- The literacy rate is around 30-50% for men and less than 5% for women.

There is has been one bright spot in the 8 years since 2001 - with all the dollars and aid pouring into Afghanistan - the immunization rates for most children in urban centers runs 70-80 percent (still very poor in the most rural villages.)

I could go on, but you get the picture. They need help, in a big way - add in the geopolitical situation and you soon begin to realize that we are the best most capable force on the planet to help these people (i.e. the mission is just). By the way, building medical care not only improves the health of the Afghans but helps on the security front as well - who wants to be a bad guy/insurgent if you get free health care
from your loving, caring government (universal health care for all Afghans is specified in their constitution)? So - how do you rebuild an entire system in a 4th world country (it is worse than 3rd world)? My specific team (mixed Air Force and Navy) is working with the Police - who, sadly, are the least developed. Our team is working on a national level to build infrastructure and training doctors, nurses and medics. Now why the 4th poorest nation in the world has decided that it needs 3 separate health care systems - Public, Army and Police - when they can't afford one, is one of the political mysteries significantly above my pay grade that I will likely never understand. We are also helping develop a medevac system so that they can get their injured to the National Hospital in Kabul and a
logistics system to get supplies out to the clinics. The Surgeon General and Hospital staff are very surgically focused, which makes sense given that the police have 3-4 times the casualties that the Army has. Down the road, I am hoping that once the security situation improves (such an optimist I am) that we can begin the discussion of basic primary care for the policemen and their families.
Currently they say that they want to take care of family members, but they are not quite there yet. I am sure that this will be one of the main issues for future advising/mentoring teams. They can join us in
our goal of preparing the National Police Hospital for Joint Commission 2050 (Tim here…inside joke for hospital types). By the way - mentoring and advising mean just that - while we do have the power of the purse strings currently, it is the Afghans country, which means that most of the time, we can "recommend" improvements, but whether they adopt them or not, is up to them - it is a very different culture that we must adapt too, to be successful – this project is a marathon, not a sprint - hence our choice for the year 2050!

The above asterisk is related to the following from Chris (and me for that matter): *Opinions expressed in this email do not necessarily reflect the views of the US Government, the US Navy, the Islamic Government of Afghanistan, Office of the Surgeon General for the Afghan National Police, NATO Training Command or my directorate here at Camp Eggers or for that matter anyone else on my team.

As Chris send the above around he got some great observations by another senior Navy physician who worked here during a previous tour. Below are the observations:

Four cultural things to help explain a lot of weird things that you will see. 1) an elder or senior has MUCH greater influence and authority than someone under them (Tim’s comment…remember the Soviets! Soviet management is based on the senior person always knows best. This leadership theory still very much exists). This also results in difficulty teaching younger Afghan doctors things that their supervisors do not support. 2) Saving face is very important. This makes it hard for one Afghan to merge his organization with another. It also makes delegation of authority to a lower level much harder to achieve. 3) The culture is much more "we" based rather than the US "I" based culture. Including
yourself as a part of the we is very helpful. 4) Afghans prefer security to freedom. We frequently think "of course they want freedom." If they pursue this only to find that they are now on the wrong side of
whoever is ultimately in control, it ends up going poorly for them.

So that’s what I got for the day today. I do want to thank the cards for my birthday, the emails, Skyping with the family and the Christmas boxes that are starting to arrive (Thanks Starnes family and Mr. and Mrs. Starnes!)

Love to all.

Tim

NBC at Eggers

2009-11-27T09:23:00.001-05:00

Click on the Title of this blog, "NBC at Eggers". The link is to a NBC piece that was done here yesterday. I was out and didn't see them but go ahead and view the clip. I haven't seen it yet because streaming video is difficult with my level of wi-fi. Enjoy.
Tim

Morning Hike

2009-11-27T03:00:00.000-05:00

Who knew that there was a small mountain that one could hike outside Kabul? Well, several of us found it this morning. The hike is secure (only reason I'm carrying my weapons is so I have positive control over them...) and is on a Afghan National Army Boot camp base. Start at 6000 ft and go to 7300 ft. Took about an hour and when you are done you get to see big mountain ranges surrounding the city. Really just breath taking. By the time we were done there probably 100 different folks hiking (Canadians, French, etc.)

By the way...love the smart wool socks. Worked like a charm.
By the way #2....Sammy Webs would have loved this hike. I'm sure I'll be doing this one again.
By the way #2....I woke up this a.m. to find the Lions had already lost to Green Bay. Oh how Thanksgiving traditions continue.

2009-11-26T07:02:00.000-05:00

Here are some more pictures.
Pic 1: Ahhh the real Afghanistan. So this is a picture of a ANP Clinic at the Ministry of Interior (MOI). MOI is the federal gov't department that owns all police, adminstration, etc. So, less than 6 months ago the US redoes this small clinic. The sub contractor finished it (very nicely) but used the wrong paint in the bathrooms/showers. It mildews and peels. Now, you would think someone would come in and fix it...like the sub contractor. Well, sub contractor is out of business and the MOI never actually accepted the project because the US did it directly so they don't own the problem. This is a classic of example of doing something for the right intentions but not having Afghanistan MOI ownership. Needless to say, this will get fixed but the ANP Surgeon General wants to make sure that in the future that when there is a new clinic that MOI Facilities is part of the building/ownership process so he can beat up on them when something goes bad. We totally agree! This is how the Afghans will develop their own country and we will leave. BTW, this small example is seen every day.

Pic 2: This little feast was put on by the senior nurse at the ANP hospital. The senior nurse is the male at the end of the table (right side in lab coat). The meal honored the outgoing US nurse seen in picture on far right. Wonderful meal of lamb, rice, bread, french fries (very common) and other great treats. Speaking of food...this week I've had a great week of tasting food. We've gone to a French base where their cafeteria had great cheeses, breads, fish, etc. We definately will be back! The base also has a Turkish restaurant and a bar! Of course, as much as I'd like to drink some vino...it's off limits to US troops. Also had some Thai food on base. On base at Camp Eggers there are 2 restaurants...Thai and Pizza. The Thai was yummy. Pizza was fair but I'm sure will taste great down the road. I should add that our cafetaria (or DFAC - Defense Dining Facility) is pretty darn good. Fresh salads, fruits and usually pretty good meats.

Pic 3: Not really in order here but this is a pic of a room at the MOI clinic. The clinic is outpatient only and this is where patients would go for IV's, etc.

Pic 4: Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Our team was invited to the ANP hospital (see pictures on previous post) for Thanksgiving turkey by the ANP Surgeon General. 6 of us went and included 2 interpreters, and 3 other ANP hospital staff members. We ate in the Surgeon General's office. As you can see we at rice, bread, turkey, lamb and fried colliflower. All very delicious. The Surgeon General expressed his gratitude and wanted to ensure that our families appreciated our efforts...being so far away. It was a very nice touch.

Pictures from Kabul

2009-11-26T06:41:00.000-05:00

Dear Family and Friends,
This entry provides some pictures of my last week. The narrative to my first few days will be posted today or tomorrow but I wanted to show you some pics.

Pic 1: This is the front of the Afghan National Police (ANP) Hospital where I will be several times a week. It originally was outpatient only but now includes inpatient beds. There are plans for a new inpatient building behind this one (they are redoing a building that was bombed out by the Mujahaideen. My role her will be to mentor the Commander of the hospital in western management 101 (yes, it is good to have a regular meeting with your staff to address concerns, etc.) The ANP Surgeon General and his staff are also here, but hopefully will move into their own building soon.

Pic 2: this photo is of the hill behind the hospital.
Pic 3: photo looking out from the front of the hospital. The hill is on the otherside of the city. I'm live between.
Pic 4: You ask how we get to work when we travel. Here our chariots parked in front of the hospital.

New Boss...New Command

2009-11-21T12:12:00.000-05:00

CSTC-A in the news today....
I spent an hour or so this a.m. at the change of command of CSTC-A. General Formica (my old boss at CSTC-A) turned this command over to General Caldwell. At the same time CSTC-A became a full-fledged NATO command called NATO Training Mission - Afghanistan (NMT-A). We now fly a NATO flag. Here's the Reuters Story: http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSSP319679 Presiding over the ceremony was General McChrystal (the big guy). I'm sure there is a good reason for all of this but I'll have to get back to you on that. :)

All is well here though it continues to get chillier as the days go by. I really hope that the snow stays away!

Have fun,
Tim

Welcome to Kabul

2009-11-17T21:27:00.002-05:00

The trip here…

Well the trip over started on 2 Nov and after spending 5 days at Fort Polk, 6 days in Kuwait and 3 days at Bagram I made it down to Kabul this past Monday. Needless to say patience was a necessary virtue.

Here are my semi-random thoughts about what I’ve seen of Afghanistan so far:

- Bagram. We flew from Kuwait to Bagram in a C17 in 3.5 hours. Not a bad flight really. Once we landed we unloaded our stuff and moved into transient quarters (a tent with 100 guys on cots) to get some sleep. We got a 0200 wakeup call to be bused back to the terminal so we could catch a flight to Kabul but apparently we were flying Space A so not everyone made it on the plane. The bad news was that 20 of us remained in Bagram for the day; the good news was that by that evening we had definitive plans for travel the next day at 1400 so we could actually get some sleep the evening before. Having the day off allowed us to walk around Bagram and see how huge the base was. The first place we hung out was the Pat Tillman (ex football player in died in Afghanistan) USO which is right across from the terminal. This is a wonderful building with wonderful staff and besides having leather chairs, TVs and phones it also actually had a regular bathroom (porta johns were getting old in Kuwait). Ahh…small things. Bagram also has a nice exchange near the base which we checked out.

- How to describe Bagram itself…located in a valley surrounded by mountains (I’ll load some pics at a later date), very industrial looking with many, many countries represented either in uniform or building something. For instance, in 1 block you may see an Eygptian hospital, a UN building, US Forces barracks, and LN or TCN (local nationals or third country nationals (non Afghans)) doing construction work. As many of you world travelers know a constant chore is basic I/O (input and output) for us all. As such, bottles of water are everywhere and are always being delivered somewhere as well as the sewage trucks which pump the porta johns or bathrooms.

- How’s the weather there? Glad you asked. Very, very dry. Geez, my skin is dry. You drink bottles of water everyone (hence the I/O comment above). Whereas Kuwait was just desert, Bagram was at 4500 ft and is like high desert. Lots of sun and the temp wasn’t that bad.

- Getting to Kabul. So, our first surprise of the trip was that our guaranteed trip was actually not a flight but a convoy south to Kabul. Yippee. We loaded into 3 MRAPs (Google MRAP) vehicles driven but some Army and Marines and made the 2 hour drive South. (A personal comment to Master Chief: I know you told me to fly everywhere but couldn’t help this one). Fortunately, the drive was uneventful and we did get to see some of the country. My 3 take-aways from the trip down are this. First, welcome to the 4th poorest country in the world. Second, there actually was a lot of building going on. Nice houses (of course next to the poverty) were going up left and right. Third, Kabul itself has lots of traffic circles.

- So after a couple hour drive, with lots of traffic, we arrived at Camp Eggers where I call home on Monday afternoon. Eggers is the home of NATO headquarters for all mentoring in country. A bit about mentoring. Essentially NATO forces are here doing 3 things. First, the warfighters are fighting the war and getting the bad guys. For instance, the Marines from Lejeune are doing heavy lifting (along with many Corpsman) in Southern Afghanistan. Second, you have military forces provided support services (NATO hospitals, infrastructure – my original orders that got canx were of this variety). Third, you have mentoring teams. Mentoring teams are the key to the counter-insurgency effort here (see earlier Fort Polk blogs). The goal is to help the Afghans run their own country. There are all sorts of mentors…medical, logistics, police, army, etc., etc… from many different NATO countries. On this base alone there are Italians, Swedes, Germans, Brits, Canadians, etc. and of course the US Army, AF, and Navy.

- Let me try to describe Eggers as best as I can. Note: all descriptions will be very general for security purposes so bear with me. Eggers is one of several compounds in the area and has very high walls for obvious reasons. Here is the website for CSTC-A: http://www.cstc-a.com/ which is the headquarters for all mentoring and is located on Eggers. Per the website, Eggers is a collection of safe houses, which was once a small neighborhood where now there are offices, housing, dining facilities. The base is small but offers everything you need…including 2 gyms and wifi. Eventually, I’ll move into permanent housing but probably won’t get that for a couple of weeks. Currently, I’m in a very nicely heated tent with 6 other guys…with matteress!. It was either that or a basement to a house and I chose this. It’s not so bad and there is hot water right around the corner. Since I’ve arrived I’ve really just been checking in and getting acclimated to the place.

- My job will be several fold. First, I’m the Deputy for the Afghan National Police (ANP) Medical mentoring team. The team, consisting of about 16 folks mentor the ANP Surgeon General, his staff, and his staff at their small hospital. The team consists of Navy and Air Force folks. As Deputy I’ll be overseeing the day to day ops of the team. Second, I’ll be mentoring the head of the ANP hospital here. What all this means…who know? Will fill you in as I go. Nonetheless, the team seems to be a good one and my boss is committed to getting the ANP medical folks to stand on their own in a short period of time (less than 5 years.)

Well, that’s what I got for now. I do want to thank all of you who send me emails and comments. Each one is very much appreciated. Much more to follow….

All the best,

Tim

Bagram...and more Bagram

2009-11-15T06:10:00.000-05:00

All,
A quick note...
The latest leg of this journey has brought me to Bagram Air Base. Bagram is a massive air base with multiple camps, US and Coalition HQ/operational elements and has countless nationalities in uniform and not. It's pretty fascinating. Bagram geographically is North of Kabul on the other side of a mountain and I and 3 other teammates) are waiting for a flight over.

And speaking of waiting...we were fortunate to get half our team to Kabul this a.m. (first attempt at 0200 didn't work but got lucky a few hours later). We remain hopefull for something in the next day or so. (Nope, we don't have any control over this as essentially we fly Space A).

Took a couple of pics today of surrounding mountains (Bagram is surrounded by them) and will upload when I get a chance in Kabul.

All the best and have fun.
Tim

November in Kuwait...reload

2009-11-08T12:48:00.001-05:00

Hello from Kuwait.

First, let me thank the Marine detachment that recently left Camp Virginia where I'm at now as they left there wi-fi tour open and it gives great internet access. Now I don't have to wait in line to either get a compouter at the USO or battle for wi-fi space at Starbucks during peak hours. Hoorah Marines!

After 35ish hours of travel we made it to Camp Virginia outside of Kuwait City. Shockingly, the 35 hours didn’t include any unnecessary delays and we actually arrived ahead of schedule. This isn’t the norm for any type of flying but was very much welcomed. Here’s a breakdown of our travels:

- Left Fort Polk at 2000 on Thursday and arrived at Gulfport (Air Force National Guard base) 5 hours later. We then hung around the hanger which they provided us for 6 hours – probably the worst part of the trip actually as it was a bit chilly...but it kept us awake and that wasn't a bad thing.

- Boarded a contracted civilian airline (North American Air flying a 767) with about 80 other folks from Camp Shelby. The folks from Shelby are going to be doing detainee operations (prison duty) in Bagram. We flew 2 hours and landed in Topeka (another AF National Guard base) were we had a 1.5 hr layover and got another 30 Army folks from Fort Riley which is a about an hour from Topkea I hear. Fortunately, this base actually had a terminal were we could hang out.

- Once we reboarded our plane we then flew to Leipzig Germany. Leipzig Germany is in Eastern Germany (I put a wiki link at the end of the blog for those who want to know what's there) and we landed at the commercial airport that also has a large US military terminal. The trip over was about 8 hours. I forget the exact timeline but I know it included at least 3 movies and 3 meals. Of course, I’m not sure which meal was breakfast, lunch or dinner due to a) the various timezones and b) all 3 meals had a chicken or beef option. Fortunately, the plane wasn’t entirely filled so I got an aisle seat with an empty seat next to me…not bad at all.

- Once we got to Leipzig we had another 2 hour layover to refuel and then reboarded for a 6 hour flight to Kuwait City’s airport. Another flight that started and landed on time. I think we had another couple of meals (this time one meal was breakfast because I had an apple crepe – yummee...love the German caterer for this flight) and there was a couple of movies. I stopped watching movies when they showed IceAge. Just couldn’t do it again.

- In Kuwait we unloaded the plane then bused over to Camp Virginia which is the inprocessing base for all those going into Iraq and Afghanistan. We got here around 1600 on Saturday and then got chow in before the galley closed.

Camp Virginia’s main mission is to allow our bodies to catch up on sleep/timezones and to set up our theater pay. As such, not a bad place to be at all. Heck, this place beats Fort Polk hands down with amenities! I've posted previously a link with a couple of pictures from my first 24 hours here.

Here's the story about how I got a picture (previous link) with "Justice", an American Gladiator.ackground…about twice a week this USO gets some “celebrity” in to shake hands. Today, 3 American Gladiators from the show from the same name were here. I remember watching this years ago but I’ve been told it started up again a year or so (God Bless cable I guess). So, I’m in the USO with a teammate and here these 3 are coming in…the excited builds (kind of) and they walk in and sit down at a couple of tables. My teammate and I happen to be in the area were the line is forming to get autographs and we were told, “you’re up”. The gentleman who said this assumed we were standing in line so....we got a couple photos and autographs from the following Gladiators named “Militia”, “Justice”, and “Siren”. The picture in the previous blog is with me and "Justice". Needless to say the man is very large!

Moving forward…tomorrow (Monday) we get a brief and set up theater pay and then on Tuesday we do some simulations drills (MRAP rollover. We did the same with a humvee at Fort Polk.) I suspect we’ll fly to Bagram either Tuesday night or Wed a.m.

BTW, temp in Kuwait is a very gentle 75-80 degrees during the day. Could be alot worse...like 120.

In closing, all my best to everyone. Will likely check in when I get to Bagram if we have a few days of layover. If no, we'll get up and running in Kabul.

Love to all,

Tim

Kuwait in November...a lovely time to visit.

2009-11-08T12:34:00.001-05:00

Photos from Trip to Kuwait

2009-11-08T12:25:00.000-05:00

Pic 1: our bedroom the first night in Topeka. Nice and clean hanger. Flag is nice touch.
Pic 2: Our barracks for 50 guys. Cots are just swell. Love the Army sleeping bags and the air conditioner!
Pic 3: Even in Kuwait there is a Starbucks, McDonalds, etc.
Pic 4: Me and "Justice". See earlier blog.

MOVE OUT!

2009-11-04T16:23:00.000-05:00

Family and friends,

Had a wonderfully long week on leave last week with Beth and was so fortunate to have my parents and John to come down. Could not have been better.

As John Wayne would say....MOVE OUT! (oh not yet...but tomorrow)

We know have a flight itinerary to get to Kuwait. As such this will likely be my last post until I land somewhere where I can log on. Here's the plan:
- Drive to Gulfport, MS tomorrow evening.
- Fly from Gulfport, MS around 0500 Friday a.m. to somewhere in KS (likely Fort Riley) and pick up several hundred more Army and Navy folks. The good news is that it sounds like we are in 767 airframe so no jump seats!
- Fly out of KS over to Germany starting Friday p.m.
- Gas up in Germany and then head to Kuwait. We should be in Kuwait Saturday or Sunday. In Kuwait I'll be able to check in with everyone.
- I suspect we will hang out in Kuwait at least through Tuesday and then into Bagram we're will catch a flight into Kabul.

Given above, if anyone had more than 5 days to get from Fort Polk to Kabul...looks like you win!

Regardless of the timing we all know that this gig is a really long run like a marathon. As such, you gotta warm up (done that here) and start slow and steady. Certainly I am ready to do this. Tomorrow we just put our toes on the line and wait for the starter.

All the best and I look forward to keeping everyone up to speed on this adventure. I'm hopeful that we will be able to do some good and I'll be able to share our successes with you.

Love to all,
Tim

new features - email subscription

2009-10-27T19:51:00.000-04:00

to the right of this typing is an email subscription widget. if you select you will get an email confirmation and then a link to confirm you want daily updates when there is new content. try it and let me know how it works.
tim

Step 1...Check!

2009-10-25T13:46:00.000-04:00

Step 1 is now complete and checked. The first class of Combat Advisors, which I'm a part of, at Fort Polk is now graduated. This past Friday we had a small "graduation" that included a little Army pomp and circumstance, singing Anchors Aweigh, and the placement of the Army 162nd patch on our sleeves. The 162nd is the unit the training brigade overseew our training at Fort Polk. The 162nd was decomissioned after Vietnam but was reconstituted for the Fort Polk mission. With some pride we will wear the padges on our uniforms when we deploy into theater.

Leading up to graduation my team had a pretty uneventful last few days...packing, cleaning, and a few beers. Concerning the packing...my gear for the next year is in 3 seabags, 1 rucksack (big backpack), 1 weapons carrier and a regular backpack. I suspect that half of the stuff will never make it out the bags...but that's okay except that I'll be dragging it around until I turn it back in at Kuwait in a year.

Today we all made it to the Alexandria, LA airport to begin 8 days of leave. We all will return to Fort Polk way to soon on 2 Nov with a tentative fly-out date of 4 Nov. As of this moment we believe we will take a bus from Fort Polk to Mississippi in order to catch a flight to Fort Jackson in Columbia, SC. From their we will take a flight to Kuwait with unknown number of fuel stops. I believe we'll spend 2 days in Kuwait and then head to Bagram Air Base north of Kabul in order to await a flight into Kabul. My best case is that we are in Kabul in 5 days from the time we leave Fort Polk. Certainly, all of this is still TBD.

But...before the above I have a wonderful week to spend with Beth and then Mom/Dad and John are coming down for a short visit. Have a great week.
Love,
Tim

Bright Lights and Big City,

2009-10-18T17:34:00.000-04:00

Last night we (the boys below from my team) hit the "town" last night by going to the Japanese steakhouse (Hannah's...abit of Irish in the blood apparently). Here are some pictures:

1. Michael Jackson is back. LT Jeremy Pyles is coerced into wearing the shirt. He decides to go with the MJ/Flashdance look. Fortunately, he rolled down his pants before we went out.
2. Our transportation off base.

3. The Japanese Steakhouse. BTW, it was homecoming dance night. Lots of sequins out last night

4. The Wagon Master steakhouse we went to get some beers at after Hannah's!

"Motivational Posters"

2009-10-18T17:11:00.002-04:00

A couple of very funny "motivational" posters....showing that our training company's XO has way too much time on his hands.

First poster called "Army Training". This picture is our first day of firing our M4 rifles as we got our sites set. The kid on his knees is Petty Officer Longa trying to adjust his sites. Longa, who was eventually sent home for various reasons, was struggling this day. The guy with the megaphone, our XO - 2nd Lieutenant Wade, wasn't actually saying anything...he just posed for the picture since one of the Sergents was taking photos. What cracks us up was that Wade made this on Tuesday...Navy's 234th Birthday (we were founded in 1775.

Second poster is a recapture of the Rambo photo I uploaded earlier. Again, Wade having too much time on this hands. He's a very funny man.

By the way...the online software to make such posters Automotivator.

Mounted Combat Patrol

2009-10-18T16:48:00.001-04:00

Happy Sunday all,

Last weekend saw our team looking at alot of time in the "Box" doing various training and exercises and the Army didn't disappoint.

After we had Monday off we started Tuesday in the classroom and learned about graduated response, counter sniper and Traffic Control Points. Here was they mean...
- Graduate Response...let's say you are driving down the street in your car (oh yea, your car has a turret with a big weapon on top) and another car with road rage is getting too close. Your gunner in the turret notices this road rage guy at 100m and Shouts (stage 1 of graduate response) STOP (Estad Sho in Dari). Not listening to your gunner the road rage guy keeps on getting closer. Your gunner then goes to stage 2 of graduate response and points his weapon at road rage guy to get his attention. Unfortunately, this apparently isn't working so you go to stage 3 which is Show/Shock. Here, your gunner may charge his weapon and/or you, the driver, may charge forward toward the car abit to show road rage guy you are really series. If this still doesn't work your gunner may want to Shoot (stage 4). The Shooting portion may be to the ground, the grill or to the guy. Of course, depending on the situation/timeliness of actions you may have to skip some steps or not get to all of them.

- Counter Sniper. Basically in our case this is keep our heads down...particularly in the turret and go really fast. It also means never keep you or your vehicle in any one place very long.

- Traffic Control Points. All gates in and out of somewhere are Traffic Control Points (TCP). We learned out to set one up and then advise a host nation element on it, including searching cars and people.

Tueday afternoon we had a field exercise were we drove to a TCP and advised the local army how to improve their TCP. We did a pretty good job as our external security thwarted a "sniper" in the woods.

On Wednesday we started our 2 day course on Mounted Combat Patrol (MCP)/Convoy training. Each team spend a half day in a Army simulator (think XBox for 10 people with headsets). During this exercise we got to work out some of our SOPs. Unfortunately for me...I think our team was too successful so the game master hit me while I was out of my vehicle with an imaginery truck. I literally didn't see it coming...and neither did anyone else! Oh well...it was fun and good learning. On Thursday we got back on the real road and did a 3 hour MCP that included both blank and live fire for our gunners. We encountered some "bad guys" (pop up guys with a few pyrotechnics to "shoot"), a few road bombs (which we found), and a TCP. We also practiced our emergency procedues (towing and medevac). Of course, our gunners liked when they got to shoot the big guns!

Friday had us back in the box with urban operations on how to clear a house room-to-room. This exercise was a great learning experience and the day ended was each of us on a 4 man team had to clear 2 buildings with bad guys in them using paintball guns. We all survived. It is a lot harder than it looks on TV and I give kudos to the Army and Marines who do this everyday...a job I would never want to do. On Saturday we continued urban ops by learning how to search a house/building and question those inside.

Probably the best news for our team this week was that yesterday (Saturday) was our last field exercise in the box. This coming week my team is in a classroom for the first 3 days. We get a full country intel brief and then some medical folks from DC are coming in for 2 days to give us an overview of Afghan healthcare and we hope to learn more about what we will be doing (in general mission terms). These DC folks are the same folks that gave me the slides that I sent the Weber family before I left. On Thursday we pretty much have a free day so we are going to use it to clean weapons and have an hour of radio training on our vehicles. We'll start to pack in interest on Thursday p.m. On Friday we graduate and clean our vehicles that we turn in on Saturday. On Sunday we leave Fort Polk for 8 days before we have to report back.

In other news....here is the link a to the base newspaper that I got quoted in about the training (I'm part of Class 81). Must admit not the greatest quotes in the world...oh well it is still good PR for this training I guess.

Next blog entry today will be...Michael Jackson appears again....Yikes!

M4 Range Pictures

2009-10-14T10:41:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone. Got some "rambo" photos. These photos were taken last week when I was at the M4 range last week. Our company XO took the photos. The first photo gives a view of my Army haircut and have my body armor on. When I'm out in the field I'll also were a vest that has ammo pouches on it.

The second photo is abit more staged with my bandana on that I wear under my helmet. The helmut feels better and it keeps the sweat out of my eyes.

Well...there is now less than 2 weeks at Fort Polk...yea! We have a busy week lined up here with lots of various outdoor exercises. Yesterday, we set up a traffic control checkpoint (search vehicles and people) and mentored our "Afghan" counterparts on how to do the same. In this case, our "Afghan" counterparts were role players from the real Leesville outside the gate...they are definately not from Afghanistan. We similar excercises the rest of the week. Then we get Sunday off. Our final week is focused on our capstone exercise...incorporating many of skills we've learned over the last couple of months.

Once we are done with the above and I get to leave on 25 Oct to see Beth...which I can't wait.

Wampus Cats and Michael Jackson

2009-10-10T08:41:00.003-04:00

So last week my roommates went out to Walmart to check out the latest in Leesville/Fort Polk fashion. They came back with a couple of t-shirts. The first was a t-shirt from Leesville H.S. Their mascot is a Wampus Cat...Go Leesville HS Wampus Cats! If you've never heard of a Wampus Cat check out this website from wikipedia. Who knew? Unfortunately, there was only 1 shirt left! Ugh.

Now, the second shirt they picked up was a not so classic black tshirt with a representation of Michael Jackson's face on it with "This is it" written across the top. Well, they bought it last week and no one wanted to wear it until last night. Last night several of us went out for some mexican food and then watch the Yankees game at a sports bar. I decided to wear the shirt. Frankly, I was a bit self conscious when a waitress came up to me and relayed that her 12 year old daughter would love the shirt. My coolness points went down drastically at that point and we've decided the shirt's destiny is cleaning weapons! Sorry Michael

small victories

2009-10-09T06:53:00.000-04:00

good news...i retook the m4 qualification test yesterda and past with much room to spare (as did the other 4 team members). though i hated to retake the whole 2 day course i'm glad i did as i'm much more confident with the weapon and hit the 300m target probably 80 percent of the time this round. looks like i'm traveling to afghanistan afterall.

we start the long weekend this p.m. and i'm looking to sleeping, running, and some reading.

love to all,
tim

move, shoot, communicate...really

2009-10-04T18:16:00.000-04:00

Friends and Family,

Well I missed a week in providing an update last week so let me provide you a recap of life at Fort Polk over the last couple of weeks.

In general and as promised, we started putting together all previous individual skills together in different realms. We first started last week shooting our m9 and m4 (essentially NATO version of m16 rifle). We got through day and night training. This past week we got to shoot some big guns such as the 50 cal machine gun and the 240 and a 249 rifles. I took out a non-moving tank at 800 meters with the trusty 240....Sweet! These weapons are CREWSERV weapons and can be used in a turret or carried by 1-2 people. Needless to say, they bring some fire power to the dance. So, that day was cool, though we were up until 0200 cleaning weapons.

We ended the week yesterday with each of the 3 teams doing a mounted (in vehicle) and dismounted (out of vehicle) combat patrol. My team of 10 folks/3 HMMVVs convoyed an hour away and we did the exercise on a 3 mile long road to practice our "find the IED" skills.  The IED lane (or road) included role players who acted as if they were local good forces and we ended the lane exercise with a little village that we went through. Before the village we found 4 of 5 IEDs using our team SOPs. We were able to practice calling in reports to higher authority, etc. The last exercise was in the village were I had to take my "counterpart" within the good forces and meet the "team elder" to determine what security, water, etc. assistance he needed. Needless to say, our team learned abit about keeping a secuity perimeter in this village as someone got through unknowingly.  Needless to say we learned alot about security and not rushing to meet the "village elder/mayor" in a town. The good news is that we did, or so the instructors told us, much better than the other teams. The Army Captain running the show gave our team a great compliment saying that if he had to travel with any team on the range yesterday it would have been us due to our communication and use of our own combat advisor SOPs that we developed over the last week.

As this past week was a particularly long one we got some pizza and beer for dinner last night at about 2300 (11 p.m.) and stayed out on the picnic tables after we put our weapons in the armory (no cleaning last night as we actually didn't shoot anything) and did our preventive maintence on our vehicles. Beer tasted great and great commraderie.

Coming up this week we shoot our m4 and m9 again in short-range marksmanship this Monday (tomorrow). (This exercise requires another early morning to prep vehicles, draw weapons, etc. as we role out at 0730.) Essentially, we'll be going to a range and be shooting popups that are 5 to 25 meters away using both weapons. Unfortunately, I've already been told that there will be no Starsky and Hutch combat roles over the fence! Ugh. The rest of week has us in the classroom for more cultural/advisor stuff and I'll go an qual on the m4 range with a few others. Friday afternoon will get off for a 3-day weekend, and I'm looking forward to getting board. We will then only have 2 more weeks left until graduation.

In other news....
- I was selected to do an interview with the base newspaper, The Guardian, to discuss the training. The article should be out this week and I'll attached the link when it is. I'm also doing an interview with some military magazine on the same topic this week. The Army and Air Force will also have reps doing the same. Obviously, this training evolution is pushing a PR campaign.

- I know some of you are reading up on Afghanistan, etc. Here's a couple of good books for you to look at:
     - The War for Muslim Minds by Gilles Kepel. I just read this and gives a great overview of the Muslim societies over the last couple of decades and why we have Al Queda, Taliban, etc.
     - Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife by John Nagl. My next book to read about counter-insurgency.
     - The Other Side of the Mountain by Ali Ahmad Jalali and Lester Grau. This book depicts Mujahideen Tactics (US supported Afghans) against a much robost Soviet Army in Afghanistan. I haven't read this one yet but is very much for the Soldier or Marine to learn tactics and is written as such. Looks interesting as it uses personal vignettes to go through the Soviet-Afghan War.

Beyond the above...we have 3 more weeks of Fort Polk which I can't wait to leave here, but with leaving we're a step closer to deployment. Good news is that it looks like I'll be home for 10 plus days with Beth. Beth, as usual, is doing great things at Lejeune were she continues to amaze me with her schedule (okay, the last couple of weeks may have been abit too busy) at work, at church, with school, and helping those out who need her guidance and time.

Have a great week and best to all.

Tim

Move, Shoot, Communicate

2009-09-20T12:11:00.000-04:00

Good morning everyone. Well another week down and this week we continued to focus less on the Advisor piece of Combat Advisor and more on the Combat...move, shoot, communicate portion of things. We started with another day of radio/communications and determined that our team needs more time on them so we'll do that later in the next couple of weeks.

This week we also did Indirect Fire Support (how to call in the mortars and air support to take out the enemy). Lots of map reading and providing coordinates from a map. This included using a simulator (think of a big computer game on a wall).

On Wednesday and Thursday we went to "drivers ed" for Humvees. First up we had to get in a simulator that essentially was the inside of a Humvee and they turned us over 180 degrees and we had to get out. Really only lasted about 8 seconds but was necessary to learn how to get out of our seatbelts and open the door. Not quite like a Disney ride but all most! With this check in the block we got drive the Humvee during day and night. Unfortunately, our driving was on the roads around base because the obstacle course was so mudding from all the rain that it got closed after the Army team here got 3 vehicles stuck. Nonetheless, we drove around. The night driving was a little more exciting as we drove with our night vision goggles on. Just like in the movies...they work, things are green, but you get limited peripheral vision. We'll be driving a lot more in the future when each team gets their own vehicles as we go to more exercises in a couple of weeks.

The week wrapped up with our teams being divided into 3 groups. The clinical medical folks did more trauma training, some folks went to more communications stuff and myself and 2 others went to a short course on logistics...how to get stuff. This course also included motorpool stuff like fixing a broken down humvee on the fly. What do you need? Pretty much duct tape, bailing wire, and some quick set epoxy. I also plugged my first tire. Call me Mr. Goodrench!

This week (Friday after dinner) we also had another "leadership engagement" session with our Afghan role players. These sessions last about 45 minutes and include the interpeter. These are always very informative and the role players critique the pos/neg of how their US counterparts (we had 3 of my team "act" this week) did. The nice thing about my team is that they are all professionals in their own right and very good at these things...giving me alot of confidence that if I'm not available in the future they can fill in quite nicely.

When the courses were done on Saturday a few of us went to the bowling alley to watch some college football and then took a taxi out to a steak/rib joint as it was Lieutenant (LT) Morales' birthday. I got to see the last 5 minutes of the ND game...boy o' boy did the Irish sneak a win out of that one. A win is a win though! The Beth and Tim Weber household also had Clemson win so we were 2-0 this week. If only the Redskins and Lions win today... BTW, with Mom's help I am now getting DVD's of the ND games about a week after they play on Saturday. Pretty cool though I must admit I haven't watch the Michigan game yet.

In other news...additional classes are coming in including some Navy Medicine folks who we are just starting to meet. Of course, being the "senior" class, with all of 4 weeks of experience, we are offering them assistance with things.

Coming up this week the big thing will be qualifying on our M9 (pistol) and M4 (think M-16 rifle). Believe we do M4 simulator on Friday and then day and night M4 qualifying on Saturday (will be a very long day). Next Monday we will do simular with M9.

From the homefront...Beth worked a couple of times this week and started co-teaching Sunday school today. As she says she is the color commentator as Denise Dinkens (good friend of ours) is the primary teacher - who has a degree in theology. Beth also graciously volunteered to coordinate a retirement ceremony for one of the nurses at the hospital in a couple of weeks and getting help from some of my staff and the nurses who she works with. Master Chief Mark Starnes, the Master Chief who I worked with at the hospital and who is also my deployment sponsor, helped as well and checks in with me on a regular basis - which I very much appreciate. Oh yea, she's also still teaching and working on summarizing the research she is doing for best-friend George. All-in-all...I think Beth is busier than I am!

Well, that's what I got for today. Please let me know if you want me to invite anyone else to read this blog. I just need an email address that you can forward directly to me.

Love to all,
Tim

Boy Scout Camp begins...on Steroids

2009-09-13T11:37:00.001-04:00

Week 3 of Combat Advisor training school...

It's been pretty much like Boy Scout camp...but on steriods! This week we focused on the following "badges": medical and commo (communications). Also got some pictures for you at the end.

The week started out with 3 days of Combat Life Saving (CLS) class. In this class we learned tacticial combat casualty care (TCCC) for non-medical folks. Pretty much everyone who deploys gets this class. I know all Navy Corpsman have to take this and I learned everyone in the Army gets this multiple times over a career. Things I learned at CLS this week:
- Firepower first. If you are injured but still can provide cover fire you must. If someone else is injured in a firefight you need firepower to get to them.
- Tourniquet. These days you can apply for over 8 hours without losing a limb. Use them first to stop most arm/leg bleeding. Their fast and effective.
- Multiple other ways to stop bleeding.
- Nasal tube insert
- What to do with a collapsed lung...that's a long needle!
- Started my first IV this week with minimal harm to my "patient"...who is a nurse on my team.
- Cold/Hot weather injury prevention and treatment and other preventative medicine stuff. Even got an army manual on how to dig latrines (cheez, I feel so lucky! :))
At the end of the this class (Thurs) we had an excercise where each team to care of casualties. Here's the setting: in warehouse with no lights except blinking strobs, lots of noise and obstacles. Each team had to enter building and find 4 casualties, who were moulaged (Sp?) up, provide necessary treatment in 3-5 minutes, transport to back of building, and then call in necessary transportation based on injuries. Oh yea, we were in full "battle rattle" (means helmet, body armor, etc). This whole evolution took all of 13 minutes. Needless to say this was a great mass casualty training exercise for us all and I would say we earned our "badge" on that on.

On Friday and Saturday (to continue on Monday) we learned about commo (communications). In the Army there is a saying that you need to Move, Shoot, and Communicate. We'll learn all 3 eventually. This commo short-course takes about 4 weeks of training and puts it into 3 days...covering 4 different radios. The bad thing about commo training...it's like VCR-programming from hell! The good thing is that they are pretty much all the same. The better thing is that we/I just need a familiarization now. Don't need to be an expert...the Army, Navy, and Air Force have those guys. I do suspect that one does become proficient on them the more you use them...every time you go outside the wire. In other words, you can't leave base until everything (frequencies, channels, etc) are all set up.

Let's see other fun things this week....
- Got a couple of good runs in this week; played a couple of "spirited" flag football games (no major injuries) on Thurs morning with Army and Air Force; and went on another couple mile march with full battle rattle on with Air Force. Getting us all acclimated to the stuff. Here are some pics for you:

Picture on left is some of my team after our little walk in the morning. On the right is a team pic after Saturday's commo class. Using the pic on the right...here are my teammates:
Kneeling: LT Pyles (Medical Service Corp (MSC) Hlth Care Admin (HCA) from Key West), Chief Hospital Corpsman Caldwell (from Bethesda).
Standing: Hospital Corpsman Second Class Reyes (Rx Tech from 29 Palms, CA), me on phone, LT Morales (MSC Industrial Hygienist from San Diego), LCDR Arfsten (PhD in bio-chemistry who is an XO of a Navy drug lag but is deploying as an MSC HCA), CDR Chris Quarles (Family Practice doc/Director of Medicine from Naval Hospital Jacksonville, FL), LCDR Kleemen (MSC HCA from 29 Palms), LT Logger (MSC HCA from Naval Medical Clinic Charleston, SC), and CDR Joyner (OR Nurse from Naval Medical Center Portsmouth). Certainly, over the next year you will hear about these folks so this gives you a frame of reference. It's nice that Chris and I are very much at the same point in our careers and are becoming good friends.

The final picture is of me (took off my battle rattle glasses - balistic resistance for picture. Eventually will have more cool stuff to put on vest...as part of Move, Shoot, Communicate but for now it's enough.

Beyond the above...of course this week the Irish took it in the chin by Michigan. Of course, didn't see it but John was giving my text updates during my commo class - very much appreciated! There is always next week. And speaking of next week...we get more commo, humvee driving (even get in a roll-over simulator...pretty cool) for day and night, and then how to call in fire support. BTW, lest you think I've actually joined the Army with talk of humvee's, fire support, etc...remember my earlier blog in so much we started the Advising portion of the training 2 weeks ago (more important in my upcoming job), but the Combat portion of Combat Advisory is critical if needed.

Finally, thanks for all your notes, emails, and cards. Much appreciated. Beth appreciates as well as she continues to stay busy with work at the hospital and teaching. She also unloaded our big storage bin in the backyard as the garage and porch are now completed. (Yea Beth!)

Have fun,

Tim

Abit of an overview

2009-09-06T17:25:00.000-04:00

To all,

As promised, below is my overview of the class that I am currently in and little bit about what my mission is.

First, Fort Polk and why and am I here. I am in Class 81 of the Army-run Combat Advisory (CA) school that until last month was run out of Fort Riley in Manhattan Kansas for the last 2-3 years. The Army determined that they were going to consolidate the CA training functions at Fort Polk and have put about $180M into the training center here to replace the Fort Riley mission. Beyond the warfight in Afghanistatan and Iraq, this is the top priority for the Army. This $180M complex includes barracks, chow halls, etc for about over 500 people to be in training at any one time (classes start every 2 weeks). The complex also includes the “box”. The box is a huge parcel of land where the kinetic side of warfare (convoy, ranges, etc) training is included, as well as several “villages” where the training is put into practice. For realism there are role players, props, etc. that fully replicate various scenarios. Frankly, when I ran past their storage area I thought of a backlot of a Hollywood studio. The box is also a major training site for Army units in their work up to deployment phases. While the kinetic side of things are important and critical and cover the Combat side of CA the more important element of CA, for me anywasy, is Advisory (a form of non-kinetic engagement). Hence, I have several weeks of learning the advisory role for it is clear that the way out of Afghanistan is a political solution that must be lead by Afghans and not the US or Coalition forces – we are only there to guide and teach so that they can stand on their own. But, to do this effectively one must understand the culture, sites and sounds, the language, and the people. Over the last week my classroom time has been spent learning this lesson through history (good and bad) and has crystallized in my mind the necessity of the training.

Of course, not all folks going to Afghanistan go through this training. For those on the medical side of things (combat casualty care) there is a shorter course in Fort Jackson, SC that I suspect focuses much less on the advisory role as they will deploy as a medical team providing care (my original deployment that got cancelled.) What did surprise me however is that the training group here does gives traveling road shows of this cultural, etc training to to all deploying Army troops going into combat. They will covering over 50% of major Army units (82nd Airborne, etc) over the next 6-9 months).

Second, so what does one do with this training. Well, it depends and before I can answer that question I need to let you know there are all sorts of people going over to Afghanistan. There are the pure warfighters (USMC and Army) and there are all sorts of CA teams. CA teams for the police, army, boarder patrol, medical, etc. In my class there are 4 major types of teams. There is a National Guard team that will deploy to northern Afghanistan. This team will work with the ANA (Afghan National Army) and advise/mentor them in security practices. For instance, if a house needs to be cleared the National Guard team will assist in planning but the Afghans will be the ones opening up the door…and if need be kicking down the door first. There is also an Army intel team here that will work in Iraq. There is a group of Air Force folks who will likely with air operations, a Navy team working at the Coalition Counter-Insurgency School in Kabul and then my medical team. My medical team obviously will focus much more on the advising part of things (if we medical folks are kicking doors down…we are all in trouble! ). I know have made contact with the guy who I think is our boss, Colonel Chester, US Air Force. Col Chester is a Medical Service Corps (MSC) guy (there are actually 2 Air Force guys here who are MSCs like me and know Col Chester) . I’ve confirmed that our base will be out of Camp Eggers and that we commute/convoy to work a few miles into the ANP Clinic/hospital 4-6 times a week. The clinic is about 3-5 years behind where the ANA hospital in Kabul is at. There is obviously much work to be done and apparently Col Chester requested additional staff (apparently us) sometime ago and he seems happy to know that we are coming. Next month I will be emailing him more about the mission. What is clear that the medical work is part of that non-kinetic effort to allow the ANP clinic to ultimately be a stand-alone entity run by the ANP as healthcare is very poor in most of this country that is one of the poorest country in the world.. Of course, progress is slow and moving the ball forward, regardless of distance, is the objective.

What does one do at Fort Polk? Heck of a question…go to school. The good news is that we can have a cold beer (the Navy teams had a picnic Saturday with fried chicken and cold beer) . Unfortunately, this will end when we head in-country. During the week we PT at 0600 and start class at 0830 and that usually goes to 1700 or so. Eat by 1900 and lights out usually by 2200. Of course, if you want to get crazy you do laundry (yippee!). During the weekends we PT, laundry, play football (okay I played once with the young guys on Friday afternoon and I’m still feeling it!), eat and generally hang out. While this weekend is a long weekend next weekend we just have Sunday off. We start back to school on Tuesday after the long weekend but I need to study my very basic Dari before then. The positive side of things is that this base has a bowling alley with a bar and big screen TVs. So, while I didn't watch the Irish yesterday I did see the games last night. As the bowling alley is about 7 miles away on the main-side of the base the training unit provides an hourly shuttle. Trust me...beyond the bowling alley there ain't much happening here.

How many pushups does one have to do on this Army base? The good news is that the Navy folks work out together in the morning, unless the Army has something special planned for us. For example, last Tuesday we got to put on our body armor, helmets, boots, etc and walked 4 miles. Talk about working up a big sweat! Clearly this will take some time getting used to so the Navy folks will put in a few runs this week but we will begin weekly “walks” with the body armor on to become more acclimated. As the Army says….Hoorh! Getting back to the pushups…the more the better I guess.

Reference Links:

There are a few articles at this link about the new combat training at Fort Polk (this weeks edition):

http://www.fortpolkguardian.com/

Here is a link to the T.E. Lawrence’s 27 articles on how to best advise the Bedu in the early 1900’s. While there certainly is a “Britishness” to his writing, the principles are still used today in the role of advising:

http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/The_27_Articles_of_T.E._Lawrence

My favorite Army phrase: “Embrace the Suck.” Thank goodness I joined the Navy!

Love to all,

Tim

new to this blogger thing

2009-09-03T22:06:00.000-04:00

family,
i sent you a link to this blog. still working out the kinks and capabilities so please be patient.
thanks and love...
IT Support Staff (me)

Directorate of Culture/Language and Counterinsurgency

2009-09-03T21:32:00.003-04:00

It's Thursday evening and we just finished our 2nd of 10 "leader engagement" meetings with the Afghan nationals who are role players within the DCC (Directorate of Culture/Langauage and Counterinsurgency) here at the school. This engagement was an Afghan dinner for the class with lots of Q&A on customs and traditions of the Afghan people. The remaining leader engagements will build upon a scenario where all the team leaders (I'm one) have to befriend and work with a role player who's character is a senior Afghan military officer. We had our first one on Monday...pretty fascinating as this was the first time I got to practice with having a conversation through another role player who played the role of interpreter.

All in all a very fascinating week as we've had class with the DCC staff all week. Each morning we start with our Dari lessons (just to get by) and then get taught by an array of military and civilian staff who have lived the advisor role in Afghanistan, Iraq, etc in previous tours. I will provide you a much better overview of my week this weekend. I will also work to get copies of some fascinating articles that I've read about the role of advisors, counterinsurgency, the Taliban, etc. Most interesting is the article written by T.E. Lawrence (sound familiar...Lawrence of Arabia) who's original paper on advising (circa 1915) is still very relevent today.

As the school keeps us busy during the day, along with morning PT (physical training), I've been remise in passing along some of the culture highlights that my Navy and Air Force brethen are experiencing on this Army base! I'll pass along some of these as well this weekend. However, I would be remiss if I didn't mention this mornings full Brigade run with the senior general this morning. Frankly, we (Navy folks) determined it had a feeling between Indian Jones (think 500 people waiting for the "god" to come out of the temple) and Apocalypse Now. Before the 4 mile run with my 50 class mates and 300ish motivated Army trainers/support staff, at 0530 this a.m. in the dark...gathering on a field, there was AC/DC playing, Army sergents were trying to yell to lead stretches, lights from trucks to light the field, etc. Motivating? maybe. 100% Army...absolutely.

Beyond the culture shock of the Army, the training this week is superb. Again, will fill everyone this weekend with a new post (I have Sat, Sun, and Monday off).

All my best to you as I think of you all often.

Week 1 Complete

2009-08-29T21:27:00.007-04:00

What I learned at my first week of Army camp:
- USMC says hoo-rah; Army says hoorh.
- Yes, this is a new mission for Fort Polk and we apologize for getting the schedule messed up. (I heard this about 100 times this week.)
- I can walk in body armor...who knew?
- Navy "heads" are Army "latrines".
- There are about 20 forms to fill out when you load up an Army vehicle with stuff...or so it seemed after 3 hours of briefings. Thank goodness we got out of that course early!
- There is humidity...and then there is Lousianna humidity!
- It's comforting to have a doc and pharmacy tech on your team to give advice to our young Sailors.
- There is a bowling alley on base...which means a bar...which means cold beer and HD TVs.

Things I haven't learned yet...
- Army marching cadence songs (still relearning Navy and Marine Corps)
- I'm sure there are more forms to fill out for loading out a vehicle.

So the week went well for us. My team includes the following personnel:
- 1 Commander physician
- 1 Commander nurse
- 4 Medical Service Corps Officers (admin and industrial hygienist)
- 1 senior enlisted Chief
- 1 enlisted pharmacy tech

All good folks and we are forming up as a team pretty well. In my class there are about 10 other non-medical Navy personnel, 10 Air Force, and a few Army folks.

After a week of inprocessing we began the actual training today (Saturday). The training is to be Combat Advisor/mentor for those going to do mentoring in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our first week will include cultural/language and counter-insurgency lessons, including interacting with foreign nationals. Ultimately, we will get 2 weeks of this stuff and then learn the kinetic portion of being in country (military stuff like convoy training, shooting, etc.) Ultimately, the Navy folks will be going through a full immersion 2-3 day exercise out in the field. I'm pretty confident we are getting the best training the U.S. has to offer on this stuff. This is a major effort by the Army and they are taking it very seriously as the ultimate way out of Afghanistan is not shooting but teaching the country to do things on their own, including having a medical capability.

I have gotten in touch with the Air Force Colonel who my team will be working force. He is stationed out of Camp Eggers in Kabul. Here's the link: http://www.cstc-a.com/ CSTC oversees all mentoring programs. If you go to the Newcombers page you can get some info on where I'll be based out of for the next year. All in all...not bad at!

First impression of Army Life at Fort Polk

2009-08-22T18:54:00.002-04:00

We (7 of us) left Norfolk at 0610 on Saturday morning for Dallas/Fort Worth and then onto Alexandria, LA. All went well until we got to the airport and found that our seabags never made it. Apparently, 2 of our guys actually saw our seabags on the runaway as the plane was backing out in Dallas. Oops. Hope to see them tonight.

So this is what I know of Louisianna (LA)....it's swampy, lots of scrub trees like eastern NC and sweaty...kinda of like Camp Lejeune. The base (http://www.jrtc-polk.army.mil/) is about a 45 minute drive from Alexandria, LA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandria,_Louisiana) Our concern was raised that as our drive was going in a old Army bus, with some Air Force folks, there was no cell signal. Fortunately, this improved when we can through an apparent back gate of the base and then drove to where our barracks and most of training will be. In general, as far as I can tell we are about 10 miles from the mainside of base. I'll certainly take pictures and post tomorrow but their is good news and bad news...
- Good news...our living quarters (6/per room) our new. New matteress, sheets, etc. since we are the first group through this training at Fort Polk (until last week the training was at Fort Riley, KS.)
- Bad news...they are still working to finish everything else. Galley is done but gym and MWR building (TVs, etc) won't be done until probably early/mid September. In fact, in our rooms apparently we are suppose to have a few chairs...not in yet. Suppose to have wired interent capability...not done yet. TV is located 100 yards away in a Pizza Hut to watch ESPN since MWR...not done yet. Paved sidewalks...not done yet. Best we do is laugh about it since we are in this together to work on the kinks for the next group after us. :)!

Given above I think tomorrow I'll be buying several books to read because there isn't much else to do. Of course, to get to the exchange you have to get a bus that drops people off for lunch mid-day...walk about 1 mile to exchanage...walk back and catch dinner bus. No worries. Need the exercise.

Anyways, all is good. Certainly more to follow as time goes on. Nice folks I'm with and an Air Force Medical Service Corps (manpower) guy from Bolling AFB in D.C. is here with us. He'll be going to Afghanistan for the first 6 months with us.

Love to all and most love to my B.

tim

Packing Out for Fort Polk

2009-08-21T17:26:00.006-04:00

Well...the week at NMPS has wrapped up and we got our new Army Combat Uniforms (ACU). Frankly, they are really comfortable. (I know now why my Army buddies wear these around to work in the Pentagon). I've uploaded some pictures I took of me in my ACUs.

Coming with 4 sets of ACUs include a seabag full of summer and winter boots and other goodies. Once we get to Fort Polk I think we get 3 other seabags of stuff. Lots of stuff for the winter I suspect that I hear is pretty good. I'll be taking my seabag and my backpack to Fort Polk as I have shipped other things home.

The only other news of the day is that we got our Flight Info for travel tomorrow. 0610 departure time...ouch! The good news is that there are about 6 of us going so we'll be the gaggle traveling to Alexandria, LA and then take a shuttle from there.

Best to all,

In-Processing

2009-08-20T07:09:00.004-04:00

It's Thursday and pretty much all in-processing is complete. My in-processing class was pretty small (about 25) versus last week were they had over 200. The majority of last week's class was for the Role III mission to take over the Kandahar hospital- same place my first mission was suppose to go. (Note: "Role" is the NATO equivalent of what we (DOD Medicine) would call a Level III hospital. Think in terms of echelon of care...Role I: battlefield medicine; Role II: stabilization at small medical/trauma unit near battelfield; Role III: an actual hospital that can do large scale surgery and then if need be ship them to Role IV in Landstuhl). Naval Hospital, Camp Lejeune had about 8 folks in last week's class.

Back to my class...the breakdown includes about 8 going on my mission and to Fort Polk, some going to HOA (Horn of Africa), a F/A-18 pilot going to Germany to be in European Command's watch center (lucky dude!), a few going to Kuwait, and a few other places in the US as recalled reservists working at an operational command headquarters. Because my class was small and the command that runs this week has it scheduled based on a large class there was a lot of downtime. In general, you get looked over from a medical, dental, legal, orders, etc. point of view. They really are careful these days not to send someone over with issues because if someone falls out downrange due to some issue then a replacement has to be found very late in the game. The good news is that I passed and we're all set up go. We also got some indoctrination about the Army. No better or worse than the Navy culture...just different. I always explain this cultural difference by reminding people that the Navy is underway force that based on its history has to be independent (think ship in the middle of an ocean with no backup) and as such the Sailors and organization are that way...because you have to be. The Army on the other hand is a land-based garrsion force that if there is a problem you call your buddy (on land) to help. This breads a dramatically different Sailor. A classic example is the Navy Hospital Corpsman versus the Army Medicine. The Corpsman, underway on a ship or with the Marines, is the "doc" because that's all they have...a 20 something kid with really good training that can save lifes independently. The Army medic, again on land, has skills based on they have a back up system (on land).

Downtime...wow, there is lots of it because of the small class. The nice thing is that I actually get to have my own room in the transient personnel barracks - think Motel 6 essentially. This will probably be the last time I get my own room for the duration. Pretty sure that when I get to Fort Polk we'll be sleeping in 6-man rooms and I know when I get to Kabul I'll at least have 1 roommate...hence the earplugs that I brought along with me (they're just not for the shooting range!)

Where am I now? I'm at the Naval Station Norfolk. It is the largest Navy base we have and currently there are at least 3 carriers in port with a whole bunch of other ships. Pretty impressive. While it is nice being part of the Navy again I do miss Camp Lejeune as there is much more of operational tempo to it....then again it probably is the same here if I was actually on one of the ships.

So what's next...well since I got my haircut today already I'm off to get my laundry done and determine what I will send home. As the Army is providing me all my clothing for the next year I pretty much only need my running shoes, my computer, a pair of jeans and a golf shirt. Beyond that it is all being sent home.

Best to all.

D -1

2009-08-16T12:47:00.001-04:00

My journey has begun. Beth dropped me off at the airport this a.m. and after saying goodbye to B I boarded a plane out of Jacksonville, NC to Charlotte, NC where I am now. From Charlotte I fly to Norfolk, VA and then take a cab to the Naval Station to check-in and find out where I"ll be spending my week. As always, the Charlotte airport is as comfy as you can make a airport. Love the big white rocking chairs!

D -2

2009-08-14T22:18:00.000-04:00

It's Friday night, Aug 14, and I have created this blog to begin chronicling my journey to the other side of the world. As suggested in this blog's title I envision for this tool to be for me to document/share my view concerning my very small piece of the larger US OEF (Operation Enduring Freedom) in Afghanistan.

BTW, it was sure luck that as I was playing around with adding content to this blog that when I added a photo I chose the Statue of Liberty. A good omen. This picture was taken from Lower Manhattan's Ritz where B and I stayed for a pre-deployment vacation this past Spring.