We went over the the ANA camp this morning to see what was going on. LtCol Inglin wasn't leaving until the afternoon on a convoy out of Camp Spann, so we wanted him to be able to meet the ANA PA soldiers. He got to meet some of them and talk for a little while. Maj Ahmad and Said Mohammad were searching through boxes of MiniDV tapes looking for a tape of the U.S. Ambassador visit from a while ago. It was funny watching them load tape after tape into their little "clamshell" video player, knowing full well that I had already hooked up their Sony source deck, and they could both be looking at different tapes at the same time. We finally powered up the system for them and told them to use both decks in order to search faster. Apparently, they're so used to doing things the way they've been doing, it slipped their mind that they had another way to view the tapes. Either that or they just didn't know how to turn it on. (No really...that IS a possibility, trust me)
There is an exercise going on here, so LtCol Niem was over in the Command Post dealing with that stuff. We went over to see him and made sure he was doing ok. Sandy explained some things to him about how to split shifts up so he didn't have to work there all night long. He seemed to get it, but I think he just doesn't want to let go. While he's "friends" with his soldiers, I'm not sure he trusts them so much. He's been doing everything in that office for so long, that it's hard for him to rely on anyone else to do anything right. Sandy will get through to him, so I'm not worried. It will all make sense to them one day...hopefully.
We went back to the ANA PA office and Major Ahmad and Said were still going at it. I did a short interview with Major Ahmad about the graduation ceremony the other day, so I could put something together to send up to headquarters. Of course, they lost the tape I shot during the ceremony which has the main camera footage and the main audio on it though. So, I couldn't do anything else with the video today. They really have no accountability system for their tapes. They're everywhere. That's one of the things I need to educate them on. Now that I have their new hard drive setup in there, we're going to create a new digital video library for them. That way, when they get requests like the one they got today, they can just go into the computer, find the "U.S. Ambassador Visit" folder, click on the file and export it to DVD. It will dramatically reduce the amount of time they waste searching through hours of tapes. I should know. Long before the digital video and nonlinear editing days, things were alot tougher than they are now. So I've been there. The way I figure it, these soldiers are about fifteen to twenty years behind us as far as technology goes. My goal is to fast-forward them to the twenty-first century before I leave here. Six months to move them forward twenty years. That would be good, right?
We came back to camp for lunch and to see LtCol Inglin off. He's headed back to Kabul today. We had a good visit with him and again, it was nice to have the person we work for actually come see what we're dealing with, where we live, etc., etc. Sandy had a new office sign made for our building and the four of us got a photo of it before LtCol Inglin left. Good stuff.
At 1400, we went back to the ANA camp to talk to the Religious Cultural Advisor (RCA) about doing a "Day in the Life of an ANA Soldier" video. I got the rundown of what he wanted and it was very clear that this was going to be a very significant event. He said it will be the first-ever of its kind in the country of Afghanistan, and that the General will use it where ever he goes. They will also air it on the news and other places to get the word out about the ANA and what they do. The significance is that the Taliban message to civilians is that ANA soldiers aren't Muslim. That's their "attack" on getting civilians to be against the ANA. This video will be used to "counter" (so to speak) that message. As I've said in past posts, the "big picture" here is about getting the message out to the people. To get them to understand what is really going on here and understand truth. It's these false messages that produce bad things and bad people. You can bet your last dollar that I will do everything in my power to make this happen. The ANA RCA Colonel said, "I've want to do this when I was in RCA staff...I just need a producer." If only you could've seen my face. Hell, I WISH I could've seen my face. Can you see the sly grin and imagine the thought going through my head when he said that? Oh yeah. If he only knew. He has no idea how much I'm going to blow this video up. He has no idea...and it's going to be my pleasure to knock his socks off. You need a video producer? Really? Where ever will I find one? HAHAHA Can you see me smiling?
My knee was hurting a little bit this morning and throughout the day, but after eating so much yesterday and not running, I decided I was going to run today no matter what. I was dragging today and very tired, but had to force myself to get going. I'm glad I did. I ran for six miles, but felt so good during the last mile that I decided to go for two more. So, I ran for eight miles tonight. My knee held up good for the most part. The first couple miles were painful, but after that I think it just went numb and has been fine ever since. I hope I'm not making it worse. I just can't sit still for too long, and now that I'm actually getting so into this running thing, I don't want to stop. I narrowed the gap between Chris, Sandy, and I, so I'm getting there. I pray that God lets my knee hold up so I can continue going at it.
We got a little bit done today. Tomorrow we have a meeting early in the morning with the ANA guys and we'll get some training in then. Things are progressing, albeit slowly again. With that said, I think it's appropriate to end today's post with a quote from my PA brother Chris, as it really sums up today and most of the days we've been here so far:
"Having another less-than-productive day with our Afghan partners...to say something is done on Afghan time is not a compliment and everything we do is on Afghan time...sigh..."
I couldn't have said it better myself buddy.
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