Day Thirty Four

I woke up fairly early this morning, as the temperature had dropped significantly through the night and once again, my hut was extremely cold. It made it hard to sleep, and I hadn’t layered up quite as much as I had done on previous cold nights. I got up and trudged to the shower like normal and had just enough hot water to do what I had to do. It’s becoming a trend here, as hot water seems to now be becoming a luxury more than the norm.

Snow was falling as I walked to the office. .Once I got there, I grabbed my vest and helmet and my M4 out of its case. I strapped my M9 to my leg just like I do every day and made sure I had my loaded clips with me. We were headed out on a convoy this morning to the Afghan National Police camp at the Regional Training Center.

We walked to the motor pool, where we were given a pre-departure briefing - same stuff as usual - preparing us for the worst-case scenario. No big deal. We loaded up the MRAP’s and were on our way. The weather seemed to be getting progressively worse, but nothing that this monster vehicle couldn’t handle.

I’ve heard many stories about the Afghan National Police. If you look them up in Wikipedia, there’s a section just about “corruption.” Those are all the stories I’ve heard too. Police shaking down innocent civilians and taking their money, police shooting innocent people for no reason, etc., etc. Apparently, there are a good number of Taliban members throughout the ANP also, which didn’t do well for my frame of mind about going there to talk to the ANP General and offering help to the ANP Public Affairs office. To put it into perspective for you, we were told that once we get in the ANP compound, we were to have our weapons loaded and off safety with a round in the chamber. That says it all, doesn’t it? And to think…the Army guys were on their way to Marmal (Mazir-E-Sharif airport), and we were just hitching a ride. They dropped us off. I was a little uneasy not having all that combat experience sitting outside waiting for us in case something bad should happen. Oh well…I’ve been through thirty days of Combat Skills Training with the Army…I must be a trained killer by now. (Yes, that was sarcasm – anyone reading this who went through CST with me is laughing, trust me.)

As it turned out, the trip was rather uneventful. It was a meet-and-greet essentially. We went there and handed over the equipment to the Regional PAO and met the General of the ANP. [If you remember the story from a week or so ago, this was the same General that threatened to fire the provincial PAO if he didn’t give us our equipment back. We were there to give them the equipment and meet the General.] The visit was pleasant really. Walking into the office was much like walking into one of those old trailers that you might find at a run-down used car dealership. At least, until you walked into the General’s office. His office was decked out in leather couches, with nice carpets on the floor and crystal vases filled with treats on the nice, glass tables. He had weapons and nice photos hanging from the walls, with framed photos of him with Americans all over the place. Based on my experience and what I saw, this guy was legit. He got our equipment back in a heartbeat (albeit maybe for his own personal gain and/or self-promotion), and he seemed to be liked my many Americans. He was very thankful for us, and our willingness to help stand-up the ANP PA section. We drank Chai and talked for a while and that was that. It was a brief meeting, but good for all of us I think. It’s always nice to put a name with a face, regardless of who it is. The PA guy took photos of all of us with the General, so I got him to take some with my camera too (I can really see in these photos that all this running is making me lose weight). Now I have photos with most of the top guys in the region, and maybe two of the most corrupt. I'd like to think otherwise, but in this country I've discovered, sometimes things aren't really as they seem. I won't judge though...at least, not yet.

The convoy rolled back through to pick us up a couple hours later and we were on our way home. An Army officer rode back with us, and Chris had the amazing opportunity to ride in the seat right below where the gunner stands (see my Day One comments to learn more about this particular seat). It’s not comfortable by any means, and the mere thought of what the gunner might have eaten the night before rearing its ugly head was enough to make you hate it that much worse. Yes, in that seat, your face is conveniently located at “butt” level and only a couple inches might separate your nose from his back beltloops. Poor Chris.

We made it back to Camp Spann and it was nice to get out of the gear. I got back to the office and started researching some information for the “Day in the Life of an ANA Soldier” video that I’m going to be working on soon. I have to write a script for it, but really have no idea where to even begin. It would be easier if I understood more about what they do during the course of a day, but I really don’t. Oh well. I’ll figure it out. The video could be a vital tool in combating the Taliban in this country. I think I mentioned it before, but the Taliban often sends out messages to the Afghan civilians that Americans are trying to push Christianity on the Afghan soldiers, and the Taliban tries to make the civilians believe the ANA soldiers aren’t Muslim, so they will be against them. This just isn’t true. So, my video will be about the life of an ANA soldier, to include their religion, how and where they pray, and will show a truthful picture of what the ANA soldiers really do and believe. The video could really change things and have a monster global impact. I’m excited about being the guy to produce it for them. I’ll get it started someway…somehow. So I worked on research for a while and exported some of the videos I’ve done for Sandy, so she could post them on our new Facebook and YouTube sites. I actually felt productive today.

I went to the gym to run and do some work on my abs. I was sitting at fifty six miles, so I did a nice easy four miles to get me to sixty. It’s so nice to say that four miles is “easy.” After that, I did some ab work and then came back to eat dinner.

Not much else going on after that. It is bitter cold here right now, and I’m not looking forward to going back to my cold hut for the night. I will definitely be layered up before getting into bed. It’s the coldest that it’s been here so far, so we’ll see what happens. It’s supposed to warm up later in the week, so I’ll deal with it now while I have to. I can’t help but think about all the Afghan people out there who don’t even have any power to heat their homes. Some of them only have power for a few hours a day, and are limited to woodstoves…if they have them. So, I won’t complain too much. I know that there’s always someone out there who has it worse off than I do. Regardless, today was a halfway decent day and I got some things accomplished. My new training “plan” starts tomorrow and I’m excited about how I’m going to go about doing it. I hope the ANA guys are going to be excited about it too. Keep your fingers crossed!