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.