Day Twenty One

WOW...three weeks have gone by already. It seems just like yesterday that I was writing about two weeks having gone by. I hope the days continue to fly by like this.

Not much to write about today. I was up working on my video until 5am, so I didn't get to bed until very late. For those that know me and editing, I don't like to quit once I get started. I had no plan to stay up and finish it, but didn't look at the clock and realize it was that late until around 4:30 or so. It brought back memories of the old days when I used to edit all the time. I used to work through the night, only to see everyone walk into the office the next morning sometimes. Of course, I didn't have to stay up all night doing this, but again, I didn't realize how late it was until it was too late. Oh well. I got alot done and it looks great.

I made it back to my room around 5:15 and after the seven and a half mile hike on the mission, and the four and half mile run I did afterwards, I was beat. My back was screaming and I felt the need to take some of my back medication for the first time. Unfortunately, it knocked me out for most of the day today. I got up late in the afternoon, which wasted most of the day. I didn't get to do much other than fine tune a few things with my video.

Tomorrow will be another interesting day as we might go back out on another mission. Hopefully our ANA's will be with us this time. I'm here to train them, not just go out and document and edit video myself. I could do that at home. We'll see what happens and maybe tomorrow I'll have much more to talk about.

Day Twenty

Well, today was an interesting day. Now that it's over, I can talk a little bit about the fact that I went on a mission outside the wire today. Obviously, there was only so much I could say prior to today, as it's not a good thing to talk about times, dates, and specifics of missions that go on around here. You've heard all that from me already. So, if you're mad that I went outside the wire and didn't tell you before I did...I apologize.

I got up at 0500 to get ready to go. I layered up with thermals, as it was very cold out this morning and I didn't want to freeze the whole way to where we were going. I got my uniform on and headed to the office so I could finish getting my gear on and grab all the stuff I needed. At the office, I put my magazine pouches on my vest and put the loaded M4 magazines inside. I strapped my 9mm pistol to my leg like I do every day, and made sure that I had a loaded magazine in the pouch for that too. I did. I had left myself a note on a yellow sticky to not forget the camera batteries and tripod, so I grabbed those and put them by the door. I loaded my backpack with some food and water I had on my desk, and finally put the camera and batteries in there. "I think that's it," I thought as I prepared to put on my vest and helmet. I unvelocred the waistband on the vest and threw it over my head. Then I strapped it tight and put on my helmet. I buttoned the strap on the helmet, grabbed my M4 and backpack and was out the door. Chris showed up and got ready too, so we both left the office and headed to the RCC hut where we were meeting the team to go out on the mission.

The mission was a unique one. I'm not the only one here "mentoring" the Afghan National Army. The U.S. Army Route Clearance Company (RCC) Team is embedded with the 209th ANA Corps, and mentoring their Afghan counterparts. This was the ANA's first time ever performing the RC mission outside the wire, and the first time any Afghan RCC team has done it in country. So, this was a HUGE first and I was glad to be the one there to document it all. We rolled out of our camp around 0630 to head over to the ANA camp motor pool to form a convoy with the ANA humvees. Of course, my ANA PA guys never showed up, so there was no training today. What a missed opportunity for them. It was the perfect chance to show them how to do things in a real-world environment. Oh well. I was simply a videographer today. I wasn't a Section Chief with nine Airmen, and I wasn't a Superintendent of a Public Affairs Advisory Team. I was just a videographer much like the one I was fourteen years ago as a Senior Airman...and I was going to enjoy it.

Rolling outside the gate was interesting. It was early, so there weren't many people outside. The dirt roads made travel difficult, but it was still cool to be a part of it. The mountains were beautiful off in the distance, as the sun shined brightly off the snow-capped mountain tops. There were sheep herders out with their sheep, and a few people up early to tend to their crops and dig ditches for water to flow through. It was quiet for the most part, and a pretty easy drive to where we were starting the mission.

There were about fifteen humvees in the convoy and I was probably the third humvee from the back. The U.S. Army guys were trying to stay out of the operation as much as possible and let the ANA soldiers perform the mission. Of course, a few of them were there to talk to the ANA RC Commander along the way to point out different things, but for the most part, the ANA soldiers did all the work. We stopped for the first time and I noticed that people were dismounting. Of course, where I was, I couldn't see anything. At this point, I had no idea what I was going to be allowed to do, or where I was going to be allowed to go. I mentioned out loud that I was in the wrong vehicle, and the Navy EOD guy in our truck asked if I wanted to go up to the front. "He took my hint," I thought, as I responded "yes" to his questioned and opened the door to start walking. He took me up there and then disappeared, letting me go pretty much where I wanted to go.

In the front of the convoy I saw Afghan soldiers providing front security, followed by guys with metal-detector looking machines used to detect explosive devices. They scanned the road for explosives like old men search for buried treasure in the sand. It was interesting to see. I never thought I'd ever be as close to them as I was, but I ended up walking right along side them and sometimes in front of them; between them and the security detail. The Afghan RCC Commander and Platoon Commander were up there also, so I never felt like I was in any danger. As I always say, I didn't get complacent by any means...but I felt safe nonetheless.

There were many facets to this operation, from the metal-detector guys to the Afghan EOD guy poking an prodding every bit of turned up dirt he saw. The Platoon Commander poked through piles of grass and turned them over only to find the bare road. As vehicles approached, the security team stopped them and had everyone get out of the cars for personnel searches. Soldiers ran through culverts and looked under bridges...these guys were very thorough doing their job. The U.S. Army guys did a good job training them, as was proven by what I saw today. Through the dark eyes of many of these Afghan soldiers, I saw confidence. I saw determination. I saw pride. I even saw some smiles. I feel very confident that these guys could do the job without any help. Again, our Army soldiers did a great job teaching them, and that's what this "mentoring" thing is all about.

We didn't find anything out of the ordinary today, and for that, I'm thankful. Most of the civilians that passed by us were pretty much oblivious to the obvious threat of unexploded ordinances, improvised explosive devices, and land mines that were around that area. Sheep herders moved in and along the streets into the fields, people on bikes rode by, a man in a stick-filled cart being pulled by a mule drove by, and many motorcycles, cars, and cabs drove by. If anything, it felt good to know they feel safe. It's because of all the work the U.S. military has done here that they're able to move so easily around this particular village.

The Blue Force Tracker said that we walked a grand total of seven and a half miles, which blew my mind. I knew my body was hurting wearing a vest and helmet and walking the whole time while carrying all my gear, but I didn't know it was THAT far. I guess I have a reason to whine a little bit. My shoulders are sore and my back hurts a little. Nothing too unbearable though. Chris and I talked about stopping and waiting for our humvees to catch up, but both agreed that we didn't want to miss anything should something happen. So, we kept going. We went as far as everyone else, until given the order to remount the vehicles to leave. We were headed back and Chris got one of the Army guys to take a photo of us. It turned out beautifully, and surely showed two worn out Airmen. I turned it into a black and white photo and put it on here. It's pretty badass if I do say so myself. Combat Camera in action.

The ride back to camp was fun. I got to see much of the Afghan life, to include mud huts, mud buildings, markets, people on camels and mules, and children running around giving us the "thumbs up." It was cute to see all the kids running around and made me miss my own. "This is the next generation and the future of Afghanistan...I hope we can help make a better life for them," I thought as I passed by and returned a "thumbs up" of my own.

I took a ton of photos to go along with about fifty minutes worth of video. I'm putting together a story to go out that will include interviews I did and all the footage I shot. Once I have the authority to release it, I'll post it if I can.

We got back to camp around 1330 and just in time to eat lunch. I was pretty anxious to sit and work on my video, so I did that for a while. I was able to digitize all the video and get it into the computer, and break it up how I wanted to. I listened to all the interviews again and was able to write a complete script for my voiceover to go with the interviews. Everything is in place for me to start editing tomorrow, once I record my voiceover tonight. It sure feels good to be back in the driver's seat again doing my editing thing. I love my Airmen and love managing my video section and taking care of them...but I can't help but miss just how much fun it is to actually be doing the job again. There's no job out there better than this.

After a seven and a half mile hike with full gear, I was in no mood to run tonight. However, after my lunch had settled, I decided I was going to do it anyway. I'm sitting at eight and a half miles total since we started our little competition in the office on the 27th, so I wanted to run at least enough to get into double digits. "Two miles today," I told Sandy as I walked out the door. My body was aching. I didn't let that stop me though, as I ended up doing four and a half more miles today and felt good about doing it. I don't know how I'm going to feel tomorrow, but I'm glad I did it anyway. Mind over matter, right?

The rest of the night was easy, as I went into the game room and played pool for a while. I'm starting to meet some of these Army guys around here, so it's not so bad anymore. I'm not hanging out every night with them or anything, but it's nice to be able to say "hey" to a familiar face every now and then during the course of the day.

An exciting day comes to an end. While I didn't get to train my ANA's, I did enjoy myself and did get a chance to do and see some cool things. I have to take advantages of the opportunities I have here, as this might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity I'll never have again. Sure, the chances are good that I'll be back here in eighteen months...but let's just not think that far ahead yet. I'm living for today, and today was good. I'm looking forward to working on my video tomorrow and showing my ANA guys what I expect THEM to be able to do. They may think it's impossible, but nothing's impossible...at least, not while I'm here.

Day Nineteen

Today's Friday and an off day. I got up when I wanted to get up, which was nice. It was cold this morning, and seems to be getting colder. I really can't wait for Spring to get here.

I came into the office today to an interesting surprise. The door was locked, but Sandy opened it, which I thought was strange initially. As I walked in, I noticed a small pillow and blanket in the old beach chair we have in the office. Sure, this isn't a very significant point to be making until I tell you that I noticed the blanket moving. About that time, Sandy said, "I have a new friend." I said, "yeah, I figured since I noticed movement over there under that blanket." We laughed and she unveiled a beautiful little female puppy she found in the market today. It was completely matted from head to toe and covered in the light brown moondust that is all over camp. Her poor little face peaked out from behind the blanket as if to say "thanks" for rescuing her. She was so cute. Sandy said she had a rope around her neck so tight that she couldn't even get her finger underneath it. Poor thing. All the Afghan people were just standing around and no one was doing anything for it. When Sandy cut it loose, they said, "Congratulations on your new dog." Real funny. Apparently, dogs aren't a priority over here at all. So, I guess we have a new PA mascot now. It looks kind of like a Chow, but who knows what it is. It's very cute though, and once Sandy and Ryan gave it a bath, it looked pretty good. Still a little matted, but cute. It was a funny site watching them give this dog a bath in a mop bucket filled with hose water, and them brewing hot water in coffee pot after coffee pot to pour it into the bucket to warm it up for the poor thing. Crazy...as Sandy would say. I don't know what the future holds for this puppy, but Lord knows it wouldn't have made it much longer if Sandy hadn't saved it. Maybe it will make it back to the states, who knows? If Sandy has her way...it will.

I didn't do much today but hang out in the office and around camp. I played pool a little bit, checked e-mails, and got my equipment out and prepared it all for the mission we have coming up soon. I quality-checked my cameras and microphones to ensure they all worked properly. I loaded up my bag with some tapes and batteries and got that all that ready to go. Went to a meeting with some Army guys to talk about some things that are going to be happening. Obviously, I can't get into specifics. I went back to the office after that and loaded up some ammo into my M-4 rifle magazines and got the laser sights put back on in the right place. I checked my kevlar vest and helmet to make sure everything was in order. I still have to put the ammo pouches on my vest and finish that. I'll be ready to go outside the wire whenever it's time to go. Again, I can't say too much on here. I'm just ready to go. Tonight, I ran another four miles on the treadmill and felt ok afterwards. I was shooting for six miles, but I accidentally pulled the emergency stop switch at thirty one minutes. Once I finally got the damn thing running again where I had it, I didn't have it in me to go the full hour. My knees were bothering me today anyway. I did nine more minutes to make it an even forty minutes (four miles), and called it good. I figure if I shoot for six miles per day and run only four (at a minimum), I'm doing pretty good, right? I never would've thought I'd be running four miles a day at this point anyway.

Thank goodness for my Intel and COMSEC/OPSEC friends following my blog. As a PA guy, I know what I can say and what I can't say. The releasing authority for public information in the Air Force is PA, so I have the liberty of knowing and releasing the information I tell. However, I'm not perfect, and sometimes I get so into this that I do say some things that are near what I probably shouldn't. I'm always aware of what I say, and I don't get too into specifics, but I'm reminded at times that certain "pieces" of what I say can be put together and become something valuable for someone to use. So I have to be cautious, and again, I thank my Air Force friends who are the experts in those fields for having my back and keeping an eye out for those things. If some of my information seems vague at times, it's for those reasons.

Well, another Friday has passed and the week begins again tomorrow. I'm looking forward to getting some valuable training done with my ANA partners, and watching them take what they've learned and implement it into their daily operations. Tomorrow is step one toward making that happen.

Day Eighteen

After posting my blog last night, I walked outside to see it snowing for the first time since we've been here. It's been beautiful and around sixty degrees most days, but has turned cold and snowy the past couple days. I thought once you cleared December and January this stuff wasn't supposed to happen? It's snowing outside now as we speak. Growing up in upstate New York, I have seen my fair share of snow. Spending sixteen years in Florida, South Carolina, and Okinawa will certainly get you used to tropical climates. I'm not ready for this crap. Bring on the SPRING!

Today the shelves were done for the editing suite I'm putting together, so I went to the office anticipating us getting that over to the ANA office and getting things setup. Sandy got a vehicle to take the shelves over and I went over to the office to get things going. The ANA guys were very happy with the shelves and anxious for me to get things setup. With today being Thursday and a half-day for them, I really had to move fast to get things where I wanted them if I was going to get it done today.

I started to look at things and really had to stop and get a good picture in my head of how things needed to be setup. They have been recording their tapes from the camera to VHS to send to the media (yes, VHS...remember, they didn't have any digital or DVD capabilities before I got here), so they insisted on the VHS machine still being setup with the equipment. "No problem," I thought as I went through the picture in my mind of how to include it with everything else I wanted to do. I'll eventually get them to phase out the VHS stuff, but until then, I can appease them and have it in the suite. They shoot on MiniDV tapes much like I do, and they had a nice Sony MiniDV source deck sitting in a box that I knew I could use. That would take care of that. They had a television sitting on the LtCol's desk, and I knew I could use that too. They had the VHS player, a DVD duplicator, and a DVD player in a box across the street in the depot that all had to be included. Think, think, think.

First thing I had to do was drill some holes in the back wall of the shelving unit, in order to run cords behind it and keep the desktop organized. I said I needed a drill and an attachment, so Sandy and Capt Gerst went back to our camp and brought me back a drill with an attachment to drill a good-sized hole in the back for the cords to go through. As luck would have it, the battery on the drill died as I attempted the third hole, and I couldn't get the drill through the wood. It was ok though. We really made enough holes for the cords we had anyway.

Once the holes were drilled, the next thing I had to do was examine the power situation. They had one power strip with enough space for six plugs. I knew that wasn't going to be enough. That was the first issue. I wanted to set this all up and not have them playing with cables and plugging and unplugging things all the time. I asked if they had any more power strips, and of course, they didn't. "No problem...I have one in our office I can bring over here," I thought. After that, I started wiring machines together. I hooked the Sony MiniDV deck into the VHS machine, then the VHS machine into the TV. This way, they could play a miniDV tape and watch it on the TV, they could play a VHS tape and watch it on the TV, and they could record from MiniDV to VHS still and even watch THAT on the TV. Perfect. That was easy.

I got the computer hooked up and opened the video editing program. There is no input on the television to hook the computer up to, so I was unable to make the television a program monitor for the computer. In other words, I couldn't take the video that was being edited and have that able to be watched at the same time. Not a big deal. I hooked up the miniDV player to the computer and it worked great still for digitizing video.

Things are starting to come together. The place looks much better already, and now it was starting to function like it is supposed to. They didn't have the DVD player itself yet, but I should have that to put in there on Saturday. I'll also have the rest of the cables I need, and an additional power strip for them to use then too. It's interesting how far we've come in a short period of time. Initially, the only capability they had was to record from dirty cameras to a VHS tape. Now, the cameras are clean, they can edit their videos, they can record to VHS, DVD, and MiniDV, they can record from MiniDV to VHS directly without the camera, they can make digital files, they can export files to DVD, and they can duplicate DVDs. How's THAT for modern technology smacking you in the face? These guys are ecstatic already, and we haven't even begun training them fully yet. And, the place looks so much better. There were people in and out of that office all day today, and the translator said that everyone is talking about the new "PA mentors." What a great feeling to make such a big difference...and have everyone noticing it. It's not all about me wanting recognition as much as it's about fostering a positive relationship with the Afghan Army and the Afghan people. They see that we're here to help, and that can do nothing but help us in the long run. Again, it's about the big picture. If people in this country see that we're here to help them be self-sufficient and live a better life, they'll be less likely to be angry and turn sides to the Taliban. Military leadership in this country is stressing the importance of fostering good relationships with the Afghan people for this reason, and we're doing our part. It's a small piece of the big puzzle that we're filling here...but it's a piece nonetheless.

I did as much as I could do there for today, as it was getting close to noon and the ANA's were ready to go home. I packed up, said my "Salam's" and went on my way feeling pretty good about what I did today. It's coming along nicely, and I can't wait to get back there to finish what I started.

Chris went out on a mission today with some medical people. I'm not sure what he did, but I'm glad he got to go do his own job for a change. I'm sure it's getting old just standing around doing stuff for me all the time. He's never complained and for that I'm thankful. I don't know how much I would've been able to do up to this point had he not been there to help, as I've said many times before. He came back with some interesting news; that we have the opportunity to go outside the wire to document an Afghan Army mission. I can't get into specifics obviously, but the U.S. Army guys are also mentoring their own ANA counterparts in various jobs, and this is the first time the Afghan Army will be going out to do one specific mission. We're planning to take our ANA's out to document the other ANA's doing their job. So, there's going to be "mentoring" going on everywhere. Now, I can't help but be a little on the hesitant side. Going outside the wire is one thing. Going outside the wire while soldiers are performing specific missions - ones I can't really mention - is quite another. However, it's my job to teach my guys how to do stuff like this, and they're going to have to go do it. I have to be right there with them to train them on real-world missions. Sure, we can walk around the safety of our camp shooting building signs all day. But this...this is what life over here is all about. This is the story they have to tell. The real story. I know I'll be scared, and no amount of years on this earth or years wearing this uniform will ever take that away. Many lives have been lost on missions outside the wire. It's what we have to do though. It's what we're here for.

After getting back from the ANA camp, I changed out of my uniform and into my PT gear. I ate lunch and hung around for a while. Thursday afternoons are slow, and we're off on Fridays, so this is kind of like our weekend. I played pool for a while and watched "The Blind Side," which I thought was a great movie. After that, I hopped on a treadmill and ran for 4.5 miles and felt great when I got done. I should've gone further. Sandy, Chris, and I have a chart in the office of total miles run. They started it a couple days ago, but today was the first day I've run since then. They have quite a little head start on me. Capt Gerst is on there too, but he's leaving us for Kabul soon and won't be "playing." Apparently, he's needed elsewhere and it will be sad to see him go. Our amazing team of four is now going to be reduced to three. Regardless, I'm hoping to keep up with Sandy and Chris on the runs. They're both runners, which I am not. So, keeping up will be difficult no matter how hard I try. But, I will try.

Tomorrow's an off day, so I'll be sleeping in. I downloaded a bunch of movies from Capt Gerst's computer, so I have a choice of about 300 to watch as I'm laying in bed tonight. It'll be nice to relax and not have to worry about getting up in the morning. It'll be an easy Friday like usual. Again, things are looking up and we're still moving in a positive direction. As we move past the "setup" phase and into the "training" phase, it should start to get really exciting. I can't wait.

Day Seventeen

It was a cold, blustery morning as I went through my normal routine. The temperature was a wintery 35 degrees, and the winds blew at around thirty miles per hour. This was quite a different feeling than the sixty degree days we've been getting, and I was forced to get out my Gortex jacket and gloves to wear to work today.

I got to work just after 0900. Chris had just left to go pick up Bari and bring him back to the office to translate more paperwork Sandy had left for him. With that being the case, I knew that we'd have to sit and play babysitter, as Bari isn't allowed to be left alone or allowed to run around camp by himself. So we sat around the office for a while, had a meeting talking about some issues within the ANA PA office, and then I decided I wanted to go over to their office to work on exporting video to DVD from my editing program.

Chris and I ventured off for the ANA office without an interpreter. Rohullah Amin and I are getting pretty good at carrying on decent conversations with what English I know he knows and using simple hand gestures. It's tough at times, but we get by. I get tired of having to sit around and wait for an interpreter all the time, so I'm trying to break down the language barrier as much as possible. It seems to be working so far. When we first got there, we drank some Chai and Chris taught Rohullan Amin some English stuff. Rohullah Amin is taking English classes, so he had a book with some stuff written in it to show us. He was so proud to be able to say "door" and "chair." It was funny. His problem is that he's trying to memorize the alphabet as opposed to learning it, so he doesn't know the letters when he tries to spell something. I told him to spell door, and he looked at the letter "D" and said "H." It's like that. He needs to learn it and not just try to memorize everything.

So, I got on the computer and started messing with the video editing program. When we left yesterday, we discovered that the CD drive was not working. Rohullah Amin said that it was broken, so Chris opened up the computer and unplugged it. The editing program was looking for the DVD in that drive, and it wasn't working. So today, my goal was to get the computer to talk to the DVD drive and export video straight from the editing program to DVD. Long story short...it worked. Sweet.

We sat around for a little while longer and LtCol Niem asked if we had eaten. We hadn't. Rohullah Amin took us over to the Afghan chow hall, where we were given trays of Palaw (Rice) and some sort of bean/Pea stew-like stuff and some nan bread. It was good. Now, you have to realize that we are in Afghanistan. I had to take that into consideration as I watched a sweaty, old, dirty man reach onto a huge plate of Palaw, grab a pile of it with his bare hands, and put it on my tray. I also had to take that into consideration when another man reached down into this huge bucket of nan bread pieces, swirling his hand and arm in it like a witch stirring her cauldron, until he found the perfect piece of bread for me. In America, there's no way. You see THIS in a restaurant and you're already two feet out the door to the Public Health inspector's office. Here, you deal with it. It is what it is. The only thing I DON'T do is drink the water. Rohullah Amin filled up a metal cup for me from a water cooler on the table, but I didn't drink it. We're not supposed to. It sat there full as I walked away, since the thought of being sick for three days from unhealthy water really didn't appeal to me. "Only drink the bottled water"...that's been drummed into our heads from day one.

We went back to the ANA office and didn't have much else to do there. I made a little graphic for Rohullah Amin in photoshop, and played around with the programs a little bit. LtCol Niem came in with a stack of new newspapers, so Chris and I looked through them. It's so strange having the paper open up on the left side, with the binding on the right. In Afghanistan, they read and write from right to left. So, it's like taking one of our books, flipping it to the back cover and starting to read backwards. It's odd. It's even more strange to watch the Afghan people write from right to left. I sat at LtCol Niem's desk watching him write today. I was just fascinated.

I started getting tired about thirty minutes after we got back from eating lunch. That plate full of rice really filled me up. We finally left, telling them that we would be delivering their shelves for the editing suite tomorrow. Since tomorrow is Thursday and a half-day for the Afghan people, we'll go over there early, try to set everything up, then start training on Saturday. Friday is an off day for the Afghans...if you haven't caught that in previous posts already. On our way out of the building, we noticed that the Afghan flag was being lowered, and it seemed as if they had their own little "retreat" ceremony going on. There were soldiers lined up saluting as one man lowered the flag. It was interesting to see yet another custom they have just like us. Amazing.

I came back to camp and took a nap around 3:30 and slept 'til 7:00. I probably shouldn't have done that, but I needed it. I'll be up until midnight like I always am probably anyway. I went to the dining facility and got some turkey lunch meat, lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles. I'm trying to watch what I eat a little better, as I've been slacking that area and in the gym. I need to get going on both of those things. It's not like I don't have the time.

So, another day comes to an end. The computer works and is able to export directly to DVD. The ANA PA soldiers are doing things they've been trying to do for years already. We're very close to getting them all set up and very close to beginning their official training. It's getting exciting here in Afghanistan as things are progressing forward.

Day Sixteen

The sound of my alarm clock bounced off the walls of my plywood "room," waking me up after a decent night's sleep. It was the first time in a while that I actually slept well. Between making DVDs for the ANA's well into the morning hours, and staying up for NFL football games, I haven't been getting to bed at a decent hour lately. It felt good to finally get a few hours of sleep in that I so desperately needed. I reached for the snooze button, only to knock over the bottles of Tylenol and allergy medication sitting on my wooden nightstand. "I really need to clean that thing off later," I thought, as I rolled out of bed and grabbed my personal bag and towel. It was off to the showers again before making my way to the office. This is becoming routine.

After my shower, I went back to my room to put on a new uniform and get ready for work. I caught myself standing there just looking around at my little 6x6 foot space in the world. It reminded me of a conversation I had with my 11-year old daughter Jordan last night. I showed her photos of where I was living, and she was surprised. Her response when she saw them was simply, "poor you." I just sat on my bed and laughed about that while putting on my boots. "It's not as bad as it looks honey," I thought.

I got to the office with hopes of going over to the ANA camp to work on equipment. I had heard last night that their computer was fixed, so I was anxious to get over there and get things started. As it turned out, I found that the ANA's were busy this morning, so Chris and I decided to go over to the self-help wood shop on our Camp to see about making the video editing suite shelves for the ANA's. We got there and inquired about how to go about making this wooden contraption we had neatly sketched out on paper. The Army guy there talked to us about what we wanted to do, changed a couple of the dimensions we had based on what they could do, then told us to come back tomorrow at 3pm to pick it up. "What?" I thought. Chris and I kind of looked at each other surprised as we walked out. We couldn't even make up work to do. We were so fully prepared to go there and make this thing ourselves, that we were very surprised to hear that this guy and his "team" were going to do it for us. I'm not complaining by any means, but it would've given us something to do this morning. Oh well. At least now I know it will be done right. It probably would've fallen apart if I had tried to build it anyway.

We got back to the office and hung out for a while. Sandy and I talked about some of the things going on, and how her meeting with the PAO went yesterday. Chris had mentioned something about going to eat lunch at the little Afghan restaurant in the market. We decided to do that and I was very glad we did.

The restaurant was small. I could barely get my knees under the table and I had one elbow on the wall and one elbow in Chris' face it seemed. The menu was very simple, but the items on the menu sounded very good. I ordered rice, chicken and beef kabobs, and some nan bread. It was all amazing. The chicken and beef were marinated in something amazing, and it tasted really good. For those in Binghamton, NY, you could almost say these were "Spiedies" the way they tasted. Amazing. A taste of Afghan culture much like what we have in America. I was pleasantly surprised and very full when we left. I'll be going back there again...soon.

After lunch, we decided to go over to the ANA camp to check on their computer. I was pretty anxious after hearing the computer was up and running. I grabbed the software and cables that I needed and Chris and I left. We trudged through the moon dust roads and through the gate like always. We loaded our 9mm pistols, signed out on the sign-out sheet, and made our way out. Bari, our interpreter, wasn't there yet, so we stood around and waited for a while. I was able to take some photos of Afghan men working on the walls to the camp, and of a German convoy on its way outside the wire. Everyone was just kind of doing their own thing - in many different ways - during the one moment in time that I took to look around and see it all. We're all experts in what we do...whether it's as a videographer, a linguist, a construction worker, or an infantryman. It's amazing sometimes how many things all go on at once that you don't even think about. Life really is just like one big, well-oiled machine.

Chris and I made it to the ANA camp and to the PA office. We greeted our friends and socialized for a short period of time. I think they knew I wanted to get my hands on that computer, as they ushered me right to it and made room on the couch for me to sit and work on it. It fired up beautifully, and I realized that this computer was very good...and very new. I was hoping that it wouldn't have a problem running my software, but I had to load it on there to see for myself. I put in the disk and loaded the code, and away it went. "The software is loading and there are 17 different programs in this Adobe Master Collection...and I'm loading them all," I told Bari the interpreter. Bari translated what I said to the ANA's and they all got big smiles on their faces. "Thank you friend," said LtCol Niem.

While the software was loading, my video guy Rollulah Amin (pronounced Roll'ameen) and I went outside. On the way out, he kept pointing to me and saying, "you brother...you and me brother." That made me feel good, as I didn't think these guys would take to us as quickly as they have. In all the briefings we had prior to coming here and even after, we were warned that the Afghans won't trust you much at first, and once they establish trust, they'll open up a little bit and be more friendly. They'll talk about family and all that with you at that point, but they won't talk about they're wives, show you photos of their wives, and we shouldn't ask about their wives. It's a different culture here as far as that goes. I say this because it was very interesting when Rollulah Amin and I got outside. He kept saying that we were brothers for a reason I think. He pulled out his cell phone and started flipping through it. Right before he clicked on a "video" folder he had on his phone, he looked at me and called me "brother" once again. After that, he clicked on a video and it showed a two minute clip of his family, to include his wife. He pointed out his children and talked about his wife. He made sure to point her out to me twice, and then pointed at himself...so as to say "that's mine." It wasn't in a possessive way though, it was in a "I want you to know my family" way. I couldn't help but be taken aback at first. I never expected this. All the talk about wives being off-limits, and here he is letting me into his world. It's hard to explain how I felt at the time. Unless you're here experiencing what we are, there are probably no words that could ever make you fully understand. It was an emotional moment for me, probably because I never expected that to happen at all in my six months here...let alone happen after only two weeks. Rollulah Amin is a great guy and very funny. We have a very unique bond already, as we're alot alike in many ways. That's a very cool thing. We'll be very good friends for a long time, and I'm happy about that. It's amazing to think that because of the little things I've done and said since I've been here, I've made a difference in their world. I haven't even begun to scratch the surface with the things I can show them, and they're so happy and so grateful. Once you prove that you'll do the things you say you'll do and establish that credibility I talk so much about, it changes everything. They perceive me so differently than they did the first couple days. They call me "very smart" and "the smart one" and "a mechanic" because I've been able to fix all their problems so far. Apparently, they've been told many things in the past and no one has ever followed through. I've done everything I said I was going to do so far, and will follow through with everything I've told them I will do while I'm here. They've been disappointed too many times...you can see it on their faces when they talk about it. It's not going to happen this time. Not on my watch.

Rollulah Amin and I went back into the office, where the software download was still working. The Afghan 209th Corps Command Sergeant Major came into the office and talked for a while. Before he left, I asked him if he minded taking a photo with me. He obliged, and I told him that I was going to send it to Chief Suttles, my own Command CMSgt at Scott Air Force Base. He smiled and thought that was cool. I'll have to send it off here sometime today. Chief Suttles is the type guy who I think would really get a kick out of that.

The software download finally finished and now it was time to see if things were going to work. I restarted the computer and brought up the video editing program. It opened perfectly. "OK, time for the real test," I thought, as I hooked up the small Sony video player via firewire cable...yes, the same one that wouldn't work on those stupid Mac computers. Rollulah Amin gave me a tape and I loaded it into the machine. Now, all this thing had to do was let me control the player with the computer program. If I could start and stop the player using the editing program on the computer, we would already be a step ahead of where we were two days ago. I tried it. It worked. SUCCESS! (Chris got a photo of me and Rollulah Amin at this point - I'm making a stupid face, but we were happy!) Finally, things were starting to look up. Now, I just had to see if I could log clips and digitize automatically. [NOTE: If you remember, I talked early on about not being able to digitize automatically because of PAL/NTSC conflicts - I had to digitize manually which is what caused me to have to work through the night that one night.] I created an "in" point and and "out" point for the video I wanted to digitize. I logged the clip and tried to do a "batch capture"...meaning, I wanted the computer to digitize all the selected clips automatically without me having to sit there and start and stop the record button every time. The tape rolled back beautifully to the "in" point I had marked, and digitized the clip perfectly! I clicked on the clip in the program and it was there. I couldn't have been happier. At that point, I unplugged the video player from the computer and then played the clip that I had just digitized in the program. Rollulah Amin looked at me like "how did you do that without the player plugged in?" I laughed at the look on his face and said, "it's all on the computer...you don't need the tape anymore." He was amazed. They all were amazed. What a huge accomplishment for us today. Again, I realize just how much I take advantage of things in my own life when I see reactions like that. This is what it's all about.

The rest of the day went like usual. I checked e-mail and facebook to see what all my friends and family were up to. I talked more with the team about things that were going on and what our plans are for things coming up. Sandy was with LtCol Niem today and he told her he has gotten more help from us in two weeks than anyone who's ever come through here. That feels very good to hear. Forging these strong, new relationships is what will help Afghanistan be able to stand on its own. Preparing the Afghan soldiers to be self-sufficient while providing a stable and free nation for the Afghan people is what we're here for. Success like today feels very good when you stand here in this country looking at the big picture. Trying to understand why we're here while sitting at home in America is difficult. But, if anything, take it from someone who's here now...there's a reason we're here. There's a reason why we're all put in harm's way. I have to believe it's for the greater good, and I do. I'm seeing it with my own eyes. It's not my place to question why I'm here, and I don't think I would if it was. We, as American soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines are making a difference. One day, Afghanistan will stand on its own and we'll read about how much of an impact we had on making that happen. I'm looking forward to that day. The road may be long, and unfortunately, many more sacrifices will probably be made along the way. But we'll get there...one day at a time. Today was a good day and a GIANT step in the right direction. Little things make a big difference to my ANA counterparts, and I will do anything I can for them. We have much more to do and plenty of time to do it, and as I've said before...they ain't seen nothing yet.