I recently got this image from my buddy and fellow blogger, CJ Grisham and I just had to post it as the new Scott Kesterson Action Figure. This picture had me ROFLing that is for sure.

Kabul – A suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a busy market in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing himself and nine other people and injuring 27 more, a government spokesman said. The bomber targeted Baser Ahmad, a commander in the Afghan Campaign Forces that are allied with international troops in Gardez, the capital city of the south-eastern province of Paktia, Rohullah Samoon, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said.
“The bombing killed Baser Ahmad, two of his bodyguards, a border police officer and five civilians,” Samoon told the German Press Agency dpa.
One police officer and 26 civilians were injured in the blast, he said.
NATO in Kabul confirmed the attack in a statement and said its forces were helping evacuate the injured people to the provincial hospital.
“The insurgents have again proven that they are the enemy of the Afghan people,” Italian General Luigi Scollo said in the statement. “We strongly condemn these indiscriminate, cowardly acts of murder.”

In this podcast, which is actually #13 on this site (not #12 as I stated in the podcast), Scott, Mike and I talk about a variety of topics dealing with Afghanistan. We cover the use of National Guard and the important role they have played in the war, some of McChrystal’s policies and even the current hot topic of the photo by the AP of the dying Marine last Friday.

As you can imagine, the connectivity from Afghanistan is not always the best but Scott’s connections holds up well until the end of the podcast. I hope you can take some time to listen to the three of us talk about some of the current hot-topic and important issues with Afghanistan.

Bouhammer Roundtable with Troy, Mike and Scott

In an attempt to support the operations of the Academy, as well as the many soldiers that attend and instruct here, I have developed a “wish list” on Amazon.com of books in hopes of creating an Honorary Counterinsurgency Learning Library made up entirely of donations from our communities back home. The intent is to further expand the awareness of culture, methods and operations that promote the end goal of national unity, governance and security for the people of Afghanistan.

To find the list, all you need to do is log into Amazon.com, click on “Wish Lists” and then on the right side of the page in the search window for “Wish Lists” type in:
counterinsurgency.institute@gmail.com
The name of the wish list is: COIN Library – Kabul.

I am continually being asked about donations for soldiers and items of need. This list, though only in the initial phases of development, is something that will have a lasting use and impact on the soldiers here at the Academy and the students of the Academy who eventually take what is learned here and apply the concepts downrange. If the interest is there to support the soldiers by way of donations, I would encourage you become involved in this effort through Amazon.com. The shipping address is listed through the “Wish List.” If you wish to donate another book for the library not listed on the list, or wish to purchase a book from another source other than Amazon.com, the same mailing address applies. For reference, the mailing address here at the academy is listed below:

Scott Kesterson
COIN Academy
Camp Phoenix
APO AE  09320

Thank you all in advance.
Scott Kesterson.

Eight suicide bombers attacked Gardez today. Two detonated themselves, four were killed by Afghan forces before being able to detonate their suicide vests, and two escaped. The Afghan forces performed brilliantly. They received intel early in the day and were able to minimize the damage from the attacks. Unfortunately, four Afghan soldiers were killed in the process, but civilian casualties were minimal to none. Following the attacks, patrols were dispatched to attempt to find the two bombers that escaped.

The attack, by tactical considerations, was a failure for the Taliban. Their inability to effectively fight the Afghan and Coalition Forces has left them with tactics that try to instill fear in the populous. Three to four hours following the attacks, I drove through the markets with the 203rd Corp Afghan Army SGT. Major, and the markets were full and busy. This was a good day for the Afghan forces.

WARNING- GRAPHIC PICTURES BELOW

US Army forces patrolling downtown Gardez

Dead attacker outside of Paktia Province Governor’s Mansion (notice BLUE BURKA laying next to him)

Gardez Traffic Circle near Afghan National Police HQ

Dead Insurgent outside of Afghan National Police HQ

National Directorate of Security (Afghan FBI) building Guard Shack

Dead insurgent outside of National Directorate of Security compound

Gardez was one of 3 cities in eastern Afghanistan where Government buildings were simultaneously attacked.

“There were multiple bombs targeted at the NDS (National Security Directorate, Afghanistan’s NSA) the governor’s mansion and Afghan National Police headquarters in the district….”

Read the rest at the link below

http://trueslant.com/pjtobia/2009/07/21/live-report-taliban-launch-coordinated-attacks-in-e-afghanistan/

Employees from the Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center were invited to the Myer Center Auditorium on the afternoon of June 2 to view “At War,” a hard-hitting documentary that aims to expose the realities of the conflict in Afghanistan.

The film records, in gritty realism, the daily activities of U.S., Canadian and Afghan Soldiers – from the commonplace task of purchasing a cow for food to the horrifying affair of being fired upon at night by an unseen enemy.

The director, Scott Kesterson, created the film after quitting a successful construction job at age 41 to pursue his lifelong ambition of photojournalism. He managed to secure a mentorship with Pulitzer-Prize winning photojournalist David Leeson, and just six months after leaving his former employment, Kesterson found himself stationed in Afghanistan as an imbedded photojournalist, living his dream.

Kesterson felt very passionately about presenting a raw account of life in the combat zone, said 1^st Sgt. Troy Steward, a colleague of Kesterson’s in Afghanistan.

“He didn’t want the Soldiers’ stories to go untold,” said Steward.

Mike Tumminelli, who was deployed to Afghanistan from September 2007 to October 2008 as a National Guard staff sergeant serving as an imbedded training advisor, befriended Steward through a blog that reports on the happenings in Afghanistan as well as other military-related issues. Aware that Steward had been touring the U.S. with Kesterson, showing “At War” to different units and groups of civilians, Tumminelli convinced him to bring the film to Fort Monmouth and serve as a guest speaker.

Tumminelli and Steward believe that “At War” helps dispel some common misconceptions held by the public about the conflict because it is an unedited picture of the war in Afghanistan.

“I think people have been seeing Iraq in the mainstream media so much, and when they think of an army at war, they think of a lot of people in a unit moving left and right and the Soldiers having a lot of support – not two Soldiers in a small mud farmhouse, teaching Soldiers not to steal, teaching them basic ethics, trying to help stand up a government and trying to do all the things that have nothing to do with Soldiering,” said Steward.

“These Soldiers are doing their mission with very little support. As you see in the film, close air support is hours away and medical attention, helicopters or any aircraft is between four to six hours wait time, and I don’t think the general public really understands that aspect of this conflict: that we have very little, and we’re doing a lot,” said Tumminelli.

As a civilian, Guilange Fabien, an intern in CERDEC, felt that the film opened her eyes to the trials and tribulations of the Soldiers in Afghanistan.

“I think that the documentary gave me a good perspective of what Soldiers experience during war. While I was watching, I felt I was a part of the Soldiers’ experience as they interacted with Afghanis, drove in the Humvee and spent time with their comrades,” said Fabien. “It left an undeniable impression on me.”

Steward stressed that “At War” doesn’t contain any political agendas, but rather an accurate presentation of the conflict in Afghanistan intended to provide a window into the lives of Soldiers stationed there.

The film, which essentially projected Steward’s and Tumminelli’s experiences onto the movie screen, had an emotional resonance with both men.

“It’s that feeling of loneliness the film shows that was very compelling to me and most of the guys I know who have watched the film: the feeling of being left out there, in the middle of nowhere and not knowing how long it’s going to take your fellow American forces to get to you,” said Tumminelli.

“I was actually with Scott [Kesterson] at my house, and we watched it with a couple of guys that were on my team,” said Steward about his first time viewing the film. “It was very emotional to watch; it brought back a lot of memories not just for me, but also for my son, who just got back in January. It was a lot to take in; I sat pretty quiet afterwards.”

According to Tumminelli, “At War” puts forth a portrait of the war in Afghanistan that no glamorized Hollywood movie could ever offer.

“If you look at war movies like ‘Black Hawk Down,’ something like that doesn’t compare. There are no agendas in ‘At War.’ It’s crisp; it’s real. There are no scenes where everyone becomes a hero, and there’s no ‘last stand,’” said Tumminelli. “Believe it or not, war can be very boring. It’s ‘10 hours of boredom and 30 seconds of pure terror,’ as everyone says, and that’s what the film shows.”

It wasn’t a single moment that took me there. It was the entirety of it. There was so much of my experience in it. Scott Kesterson and his collaborators have captured the unique experience of what was like to be there, especially as an ETT or PMT. The only thing missing was the gritty taste of the Afghan dust and the distinct smell of cooking fires in the villages.

billandbobsadventure.blogspot.com/2009/05/at-war-stunning.html

The one thing I didn’t see at all were women showing up to the clinic.  Although I wasn’t surprised by the lack of adult female attendance as this was ultra-conservative Pashtun and Waziri tribal area, I knew that the women still needed medical care.  After a little coordination, a US Army Reserve female physician assistant (PA), was flown in for a few days to help out.

Even though we had made sure to spread the word, we had very few females show to the clinic.  On the PA’s last day, a local man approached with his wife and was very concerned.  Our interpreter informed us that he was concerned that there was something wrong with his wife because she had not produced him any children yet and he wanted the female PA to fix her.

After a brief private exam the PA called the husband back into the clinic while the rest of us waited outside.  After a few minutes the husband emerged from the clinic with a relieved expression on his face as he led his wife from the FOB.  After the clinic closed to the locals I asked the PA what she discovered that was wrong with the local’s wife.  She stated that she couldn’t find anything ”wrong” with his wife but after a few prodding questions she soon discovered that the wife was a virgin as the husband had only engaged her in anal sex.  That was when the PA had called the husband back into the clinic and gave him a crash course on sex education.  No wonder why the man left with a smile and a bit more spring in his step.

This is just another example of how uneducated the majority of this country really is.  It truly does need all the help it can get.

Live free or die trying!