The great military minds that are now taking over the mission have decided to move some of us around and take us away from the units we have been training with the last month. Myself, along with the other NY guys are all being moved to a new unit. The new address I have is:

Steward, William Troy
PRT Sharona ETT
APO AE 09354

Anything sent to me at the old address I should get before I leave here or will be forwarded to me.

Afghan Crud …. A name commonly given to a stomach bug that EVERYONE gets while they are here. They say that everyone gets it at least once. Well I got it and I hope that is the only time I get it. It hit me on Sunday AM about 5:30 AM after coming off an all night mission. We were up all night trying to catch bad guys on a road so naturally I had no sleep. We pulled out at first light and came back to the FOB. On the way back I was not feeling great, but thought it was just from being up all night. I came into my room, dropped all of my gear and crashed. A couple of hours later I woke with a bad feeling in my stomach. I hurled what little I had in my system ( I had no dinner the night before), and then rolled over and crashed. I awoke a couple of hours later and hurled again. This time I knew I had to try to get to the medics. One of the guys drove me there, but the medics were dealing with real-world critical patients so I decided to come back later. I woke up several hours later and hurled yet again. Of course after three times it was very painful with nothing left in me. Around 3PM I went back to the medics and got an IV and some medicine to calm my stomach. I went back to my room about 4PM and woke up about 9PM feeling a little better and somewhat hungry. One of the guys gave me some town-house crackers. I ate a few of them and a few chips, and then crashed back out until 8:30 this morning. So except for 1 hour being up to go to the medics and one hour up to eat some crackers I was asleep. I felt like Rumpelstilskin. At 8:30 this morning I forced myself up and went to take shower and have a bowl of cereal for breakfast. I walked to the TOC, checked email and walked back. After that walk, I was exhausted. I just had no energy and was wiped by the time I got back to my room. I crashed today for about 4 hours before waking up and eating some more crackers and other small items. This afternoon I watched a little bit of a movie and just relaxed. I got dressed in uniform and went to dinner and was able to eat a little bit more then. I am currently feeling quite a bit better, but not 100%. I think that by tomorrow morning I should be ok. Right now I feel wiped, but I have no choice as I think that I need to stay up and keep my body moving in order to get my energy back.

Needless to say my Father’s Day was a wash. Not that I would have had much of one here, but it would have been nice to talk to my boys on that day, rather than sleeping it all away. I guess the one good thing about it all is that if that was my only time to get the crud, at least it is behind me now. So I am talking to Christine now and listening to Hunter and Jordan fighting in the background. It is almost like I am there.

Troy

Well I have done pretty well so far getting along with my ANA unit and its leadership. It is a real challenge to work with these ANA for several reasons. The first is that they have learned from the Soviets in how an Army is run. The Soviet army had the officers run everything and the NCOs were nothing more than errand boys for the officers. There was no respect for the NCOs and if the officer was not around, then nothing would happen. This is what many of the older ANA guys have learned because they saw what the soviets did back in the 80s. This is a big downfall of the USSR army and why they are not as nearly as successful as we are. In our army, the officers are important in setting policy, tactics, etc. However the NCOs are referred to as the backbone of the army, because they are the ones that make things happen. They are the ones that manage the soldiers, that lead in combat and that keep this army strong. There is no argument about this and this is a key reason of why our army is so strong and successful.

So here we are trying to teach them that the NCO is something to be feared, respected and listened to. This is a challenge as the officers don’t like this concept and the NCOs have a hard time in asserting this concept. So this is the first reason. The second reason is because they truly do have the mentality of 3rd-6th graders. They are more worried about jingling up their trucks, gear and selves than what is really important. They are worried about competing with each other, looking better, standing out, shooting better than just worrying about themselves.

The third reason is that many of the officers are terribly corrupt. Most field grade officers have bought their position and have no concept of setting an example. The soldiers get new gear and the officers take it and sell it. They don’t put the soldiers in for deployment pay unless they know there is a way they can skim it off of the top. They take things like the TVs WE buy for the soldiers morale and put it in their rooms and not let the soldiers watch it. This corruption happens from the top down and is considered a benefit of most officers while it is loathed by the soldiers, NCOs and us of course.

Anyway, rather than having the soldiers sit in the back of Ford Ranger pickups bouncing up and down on these nasty roads (see ANA War truck in photos section), we decided to fund having some seats built for the back that are safer and better for them. We have had a local contractor building a prototype of these, we negotiated the price, warranty, etc. I had the CSM of the ANA Battalion serve as the rep from them to decide the design and approve it. We made several changes and had some to agree on with the final one being version 3 today. They made two of the prototypes and I along with the HHC 1SG agreed that we would put them in two trucks that are going on mission tomorrow, so the soldiers can give us feedback (kind of like a Beta test). As we were loading them up, the HHC Commander came over and had a fit. All of a sudden he wanted to be involved in the decision. He was going off about how much we were paying, the design, etc. My first reaction was that he should not worry about the cost, because it was us (the US ARMY) paying for it. I told him if he thinks he can get it cheaper that he should pay out of his pocket. That silenced that one for a while. He also wanted some changes, which were understandable and we had the contractor agree to them. I told all of the ANA that were there along with the contractor that we would still use these tomorrow to get feedback from the soldiers. All agreed, maybe not 100% but they agreed. I tried my best to explain the flippin concept of a prototype and that all the future ones would be made by the new design. That I was not going to have them re-work these just to get them made the new way when we could use them the next day on a real mission.

Anyway, about an hour later the contractor tried to take the 2 trucks downtown to have the seats bolted in the trucks and the HHC Commander called the front gate and told them not to let the trucks leave. He made the contractors turn around and then told them he did not want the seats at all and to remake them all the way he wanted.

This is about the time I lost it. I went down to the ANA and grabbed the CSM and told him that they are very, very close to losing all the seats and not have any for the year I am going to be here. I told him the cost was not their concern, because it was not their money, and that if the HHC commander kept it up I was going to trash those seats, still pay the contractor and that money would be shot and not available to spend on other things, and they would not ever see seats as long as I am there. I explained that the CDR’s arrogance is only going to hurt the soldiers and that is not what I am about. The Commander rides in the front, so he should let the soldiers determine what is good or not.

Anyway, it calmed down and we agreed on some things. I was more upset that they are so damn selfish and cannot appreciate something being done for them than anything else. The scary thing is that I just hit the one month mark today, and it is waaaay too early to be getting this upset at them already. Might make for a loooooooong year.

Troy

Well we went out and conducted a presence patrol the other day. We plan this ourselves and work the ANA to determine the village and the time. It is usually done with less than 24 hours notice so that our plans are not leaked. We went to a little “suburb”, if that is what you want to call it, of Orgun-E. We walked around with the ANA and talked with the elders, met with the schoolmaster and chatted with the kids. We typically ask about their safety, security and any bad people being around. We also look at their infrastructure and see if there is anything they are really desperate to get. Of course there is always stuff they want, but we look for real needs. Schools and clinics are always a priority and their school needs help. The kids sat in a open roof 3 sided mud-walled area. The shade was provided by poles and sticks. They had a few chalkboards on the ground that they use for teaching. After taking some photos of the school and letting them know we would share these with the reconstruction team, we moved on. Everyone feels safe here, which is not surprising since it is so close to our base. However there was one complaint.

As we were getting ready to leave, we had to wait on the ANA to change a tire on a truck. Once they were done, we started to pull out and saw that two of our lead trucks had emptied of men and they were talking to two guys that were on motorcycles. I went up to find out the situation and it seems that while we were there, some locals complained about drug runners and people doing drugs and drinking. So the ANA stopped this young 20-22 year old male and searched him. They found on him a little bag of hash and a bottle of vodka. The soldiers broke the neck off of the bottle and emptied it, and they turned the hash over to me. After some intense field questioning it was determined he was just a young guy that appeared to be a user and not a dealer. Of course we took his name and info, took his picture and gave him a stern warning to do it again and that if we catch him we will turn him over to the ANP. See we are not police, and it was not really a crime for him to have it. It is just against the Muslim faith to do drugs and drink. Well, it is a crime, but for such a small amount not one they go chasing after. However, had we brought him to the ANP, he would go to jail automatically for one year. So we confiscated it, gave him a warning and hopefully we scared him a little straight.

Overall it was a good mission. We did a little route recon of the area, met some of the locals, did not get shot at, and stopped a guy from doing drugs…at least for a little while.

Troy

I have not written anything in a while, but that is because I have been extremely busy. Prior to yesterday I had been on missions for the previous 5 days. Yesterday was my first day back at the FOB all day and that day was swamped catching up on paperwork issues and mentoring of the ANA CSM. Today I am on the FOB, but also swamped….but able to crank out some blog entries. Tomorrow I am on a mission again, so I better get them written today.

What I want to write about today is not a happy subject or one that will make you feel good….but one that is a cold reality of this country and culture. Yesterday, one of our team members, SFC F was at the Aid Station getting his back looked at. While he was in there a local small child was in there being attended to. See, our US Military aid station is very well equipped with surgeons and specialist. It is the best medical care that many local afghans would ever see. So if there are locals that need medical attention, we will care for them and even evac them if needed. Anyway this little kid was there and being treated for something, and while this was happening the Afghan doctor that works in his own little clinic next to the US Aid station came over. The father of this child saw the afghan doctor and asked for some cough medicine. While he was doing this, the child went critical, which caused every US medical person in that clinic to stop what they were doing and everyone focused on that child. The father was more concerned with himself than with his own child. He left the clinic and went next door to get cough medicine from the Afghan doctor. When he came back, he was smiling and talking with the doc. At this point, his child was clinically dead and the US medics and doctors were frantically trying everything they could do in order to bring the child back (CPR, etc.). They worked on this child until the point of no return. The whole time this was going on, the father acted like nothing was happening and just kept talking to other Afghans in the clinic. After the toddler-child was pronounced dead, they told the father who just responded with “Enshala”. Enshala means God’s Will, and is a term that is used a lot in this part of the world when accidents happen, people are late for a meeting, etc. They say enshala, shrug their shoulders and just don’t worry about it. That is one thing if you have a vehicle accident, it is something else when your 2-4 year old dies right in front of you.

So he said Enshala, they wrapped the child’s body and he left….smiling and saying goodbye to the Afghan doctor. No remorse, no sadness, no thanks to the US docs that tried to save his child. This is the crap that we see. This is the culture that regardless of how hard we try, we will never understand. SFC F has children, and it was everything he could do not to jack the guy. I must say he may have had more restraint than I would. I am not sure how I would respond either, but I know a large part of me would be wanting to kick some sense into that guy’s ass.

See this is the type of stuff you will never hear about in the news. You won’t hear about US soldiers that don’t know this child from any other, yet they are brought to tears when they lose this child in front of them regardless of what they tried. You won’t hear about fathers that have no care if their child lives or dies. You won’t hear about how US military medics will respond 24/7 whenever a sick or injured local comes to the front gate asking for help. In the last day, I have heard on the radio of a man shot in the back, a 60 year old woman having an asthma attack, and a child with shrapnel wounds that was in critical condition just this morning. This is just happening at this one FOB, one of many in the country that are helping people every day, while at the same time trying to kill all the bad ones we can.

The NY team adopted a phrase that included the term Enshala while we were training in Miss. We would say EMF anytime something did not happen our way. I wonder now how much more I will say that phrase now in a joking manner, now that I know how the locals use it for real.

Troy