Today, Spring solstice, is also the first day of the Afghanistan calendar. I cannot remember exactly, but I think this is year 1359 for them. Anyway, today was a holiday for the Afghan people and it was quiet. We expected there to be celebratory firing, or something like that but there was none. Ironically what they do on their New Years is what we typically do on memorial day weekend….plant something. Since it is the first day of Spring, the farmers go out on New Years and start tilling their fields and getting them ready. I learned something new today. They don’t party hard, our sit around all day hungover like we do, they go and plant crops. I am not sure what people in the city of Kabul do, maybe plant flowers. If they do, they are not that good at it, because I sure have never seen any.

For me, I took my truck to the PRT FOB to get some software in the some of the electronic devices in my truck updated. Our days mentoring the ANP now are quiet anyway. They are not there that often, there is no funding really for anything, and the cart was put before the horse on kick-starting this mission. So there is not a lot for us to do. I will be over there with them tomorrow working through some things, but for today I saw none of them. This is fine since my head and the heads of the other guys with me that are leaving with me are not really in this game right now. We are scheduled to leave right around the corner, so it is not like we are putting 100% into this new mission. We just want to make it out of here alive and back home. The eagerness, excitement, enthusiasm, and initiative wore off several IEDs and bloody bodies back.

The weather was good today, and actually yesterday was too. So maybe mullah nature is paying attention to it being the first day of spring, so maybe the rain and snow will finally stop. Some decent sunny, but not overly-hot weather will be nice our last few weeks here. It seems to be tradition for people that are about to leave here to just relax their last week. Every rotation has done the same thing here, they sit around in civvy clothes or PT uniform all day, smoking cigars, BSing, and smiling all the time because they know they are about to leave. I have no doubt our group will do the same.

For now shit-barrel cooking will have to do. We are sick and tired of the same old food here, or the lack of imagination put into what food they have and we just cook ourselves. We have a barrel that was cut down and we use it as a fire-pit. We spent many a night during the winter sitting around it and talking. I think Puss found a grate and we made it into a grill. Since it is the same size of the barrels that are used in burn-latrines, we call it our shit-barrel. We have done everything from steaks, to pizza, to polish sausages on it. We cook on it about 3-4 nights a week, depending on what is happening. The crowd that comes over for some seems to be growing, so no doubt we are not the only ones getting tired of the same old thing.

Picture of me grilling at the shit-barrel

So that was New Years here in the Muslim year of 1359, farming, vehicle maintenance and shit-barrel steak. It could always be worse…we could have gotten shot at today.

A new video is available in the photos section. This one was created by Smoke before he left country to return home at the end of his tour here. This video offers a different perspective from some of mine in that he was the Artillery company mentor, so it has more of a Artillery focus. He also spent some time at the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) at the start of his tour, so he has seen some of that which we haven’t. His choice of music is great and it goes well with the content.

You can access it by clicking on the Afghanistan Mission Photos on the left, or directly at www.bouhammer.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=20

I am sure you will enjoy this one.

This is a time of reflections for some of us. Of course 4 years ago the war started in Iraq which would have a profound impact on many of us. Four years ago I had just flown back from Hawaii, spent 6 hours packing my stuff at home and then flying to NYC to get settled in at the LaGuardia airport where we would work out of for the next 30 days supplementing security there, JFK and the LIRR. Of course there were a thousand other soldiers spread throughout NYC securing many other sites too.

One year ago I was at Camp Shelby doing some needless training that had no impact on this place or would prepare us for this in any shape or fashion. Pretty much the training there was a waste and 95% of it had nothing to do with here or what we would be doing here. Unfortunately it has not gotten any better according to the newest people to come over here. They are still doing the same things, and making the same mistakes.

I have been mobilized for 13 months now and over that time a lot of stuff has happened. This is my second war, so the “excitement” of being shot had its time 16 years ago. However that does not change the fact that “time standing still” moments of trucks blowing up, bodies being shredded, or shots being fired at you still causes the adrenaline to pump and the senses to be on over-drive. Those times are still branded into my psyche and probably always will be.

There are other things that I will never forget over the last year. The bonds between friends that were forged like steel with heat and pressure. The looks on children’s faces when we handed them a simple “dollar-store” stuffed animal or a 5 cent piece of tootsie roll. The hateful stares of men and some boys as we roll through their villages or walk by their houses. The one curious eye of a woman peering around a head-wrap as they watch us. The smell of dust (yes it has a smell). The weird weather that goes from snow to a 30 degree rise in temp and sun.

I have changed like anyone else would when they spend a year in combat. There are things back home that would be considered small and insignificant, that are now very important to me. I have a even higher appreciation of how much our country has, my family has and what I have. There are reminders of this every time I go to a 3rd world country, but even more so when I spend a year in the 3rd poorest country in the world.

So as I spend some time reflecting over the last year today, I know there will be even more once I get back. I still have a little bit of time left here and who knows what unforeseen events lay out there for me and my team.

I wanted to post a short note to let everyone know that 1 April is the cut-off date for mailing anything over here to me and my team. If anyone reading this was wanting to send us anything, I would advise sending it as soon as you can. April 1 is cutting it close, especially because actual departure dates out of here can shift left or right by a little.

Thanks
Troy

I have been spending a lot of hours over the last weeks putting together movies of still pictures and videos I have shot here and putting them to the appropriate music.

I have made several so far and will be posting them over the next couple of weeks. I have one up now which is actually the 3rd one I made, so it is called Volume III. I plan on releasing Volume I, II and the others later.

The one that is posted now is about 15mb, so it may take a while to download. It is put to the by Flogging Molly called If I ever Leave this World Alive.

The pictures are random ones, some of which are on my website and some that have never been seen before. Some pictures are from combat operations, life on the FOB, scenery from Afghanistan, and other things that give a brief snapshot of life here. There is also some video of convoys and kids.

You can access it by clicking on the Afghanistan Mission Photos on the left, or directly at www.bouhammer.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=20

I hope you like what you see.

I am taking a moment to not talk about Afghanistan, but something very important to me, the military and military-support community.

I picked up this article off of one of the blogs I read. I have never really liked this guy, his show or anything about it. I am just not a big day-time talk show type of person. However, this makes it personal. It is one thing not to like a type of show or not have time to watch it. It is something else to have a personal hatred for someone. Which now I do. Below is a snippet from the blog which was written by someone that was asked to be a guest on the show. Because of that I am considering this valid, and not a rumor. I encourage all that read this blog to please go to the link below and read the whole thing.

Many people stood up against the mat dealer that would not ship the mats to the SGT in Iraq. I wrote about this incident a while back. I think it is time for another grass-roots movement here. Let him and anyone else that supports him know that he cannot do this to the brave families of our military. It is one thing to have freedom of expression, of which our military sacrifices for in order to preserve. However, you don’t do that at the cost of the families, who make just as much sacrifice as the military members themselves. I hear that he used to be a Marine, but this time I don’t think the saying “Once a Marine, always a Marine” applies. In fact, something like this should get him ex-communicated from the Marine brotherhood.

Montel was using this episode to discuss the debilitating illnesses some military members have suffered from anthrax inoculations. Using footage with the flag and men in uniform, Montel referred several times to military members being “guinea pigs”,……

…..Montel Williams chose to use this subject to ambush a military group (which included women whose husbands were currently deployed to Iraq). The sudden ambushing of such an emotionally charged subject, combined with the portrayal of our military members as total victims (which included Montel’s assertion that the military was being treated so terribly that no one would volunteer again and the draft would have to be reinstated) was an emotional manipulation and degradation of the very military members that were supposedly being lifted up.

The whole blog story, written by airforcewife herself is at www.spousebuzz.com/blog/2007/03/another_reason_.html

The other day when I was in Kabul, I got to meet someone who I have admired for a while and hold a lot of respect for. I know his son and consider him a good friend. I was glad just to run into his son while I was there, and never expected ole’ Dad would end up in country too.

The man I am referring to is LTG Blum, who is the Chief of the National Guard Bureau. Christine has met him a couple of times at two different National Conferences for state family readiness groups, and of course I know his son well. I have read a lot about the way LTG Blum thinks and envisions how the National Guard fits into the overall scheme of defense. He has always seemed like a no-nonsense guy that speaks from the heart, and his bio will show anyone that he is a true soldier’s soldier.

He flew into Camp Phoenix with the Oklahoma Governor to visit with the troops from Oklahoma that are on this mission. The OKNG lost a guy two weeks ago that was the first loss for that state’s National Guard since the Korean war. They are also spinning up the brigade from that state for some stuff in the future, so the Governor wanted to come talk to the guys personally.

Puss had been going to chow earlier that morning and ran into “little” Blum (his son) in front of the chow hall. Little Blum grabbed Puss and brought him over to meet his dad. See we mobilized with Little Blum and knew him well from Camp Shelby, and I guess he told his Dad some of the stories from there. It was a Friday, which means it was bazaar day on the camp and that is where I ran into the LTG. I was checking out the bazaar and saw LTG Blum, little Blum and the entourage he had with him shopping through the bazaar while I was there looking around. I was actually trying to get between the vendors and around them when up popped Scott Kesterson again, who grabbed me. He said “hold on” and then called out to little Blum who saw me. Little Blum told his Dad there was someone else he wanted him to meet and dragged his Dad over to me. LTG Blum is as down to earth and no-nonsense guy as I thought he would be. We chatted for a few minutes, and at one point he grabbed little Blum and I both around the neck and gave us a big old neck hug. I spent about 5 minutes talking with him and could see why I like Little Blum so much. He has all the same traits as his Dad and is every bit a professional soldier as his Dad is.

I will probably never get a chance to meet him again, but will never forget those few minutes that I did. To actually spend a few minutes talking with such a high-ranking officer as candid as we did is a rarity. Usually meeting generals is a nothing more than a meet-n-greet.

Until Next Time…