World Cancer, June 13, 2010

Every Monday night they make us attend Professional Military Education for an hour. They have someone come in and lecture on various topics. Although a bother, because we have so much work to do, most of the time, it is pretty interesting. This week’s lecture was a round table discussion with a military intelligence agency that includes NATO (represented by the US military), the Pakistan military and the Afghanistan military. The Chief (the equivalent of a Colonel) of each agency spoke a little about why they are combining forces with the other two and sharing intelligence. The common goals are to build trust and increase transparency in operations.

The Afghanistan Colonel was wonderful. He said that they don’t get to go home, like we do, they are home. He said that they need the Coalition to let them be the ones to make the arrests, to pull the trigger, to make the decision to drop the bomb. He said there are too many civilian casualties. He said that they still need our assistance, and that of Pakistan, but they don’t want to be told what to do.

The Pakistan Chief was also very sharp. His words of wisdom we directed towards the fact that this is a counter insurgency operation, and the enemy hides among the people so you can’t just fire away. You have to lure the people away from the enemy by offering them the hope of a better life. And you can’t shoot the enemy until you do that because there will be civilian casualties.

Then, one of the Afghanistan team members spoke up. He was very passionate and very humble and said: I am just a Captain, but I’ve been on this team for 1 ½ years (note that is a longer time than EVERY American in the room has been in this country), and this is how I see it: terrorism is a cancer, and we must get rid of it. The world is a body, and cancer in Afghanistan will destroy the world. We can’t do it alone, we must do it together. We gave him applause for that. He also thanked General McCrystal for what his leadership, and thanked Obama for sending more troops. The American Colonel explained that this Captain’s main concern is that his children, including his girls, have a school to go to, and those are the kinds of things that they talk about on work breaks.

Our General (a two star), who SLEPT though most of it, actually asked them what they were going to do about corruption, and the Pakistani guy said, in a very nice way, you have corruption in your country; you just keep working on it. The Afghani guy said the problem is due to the way the coalition awards contracts for services—by the time the money gets to where it can do any good, it is gone because everyone takes their slice…and by the way, the “everyone” mentioned…are not Afghanis, they are foreign companies, which are flocking here. (As a side note, they are restructuring contracts…it is a major deal here).

I wanted so bad to ask if they have any women in their military, or when they expect to have women in their military but I realized that isn’t the point right now. The point is to establish a secure environment for the Afghanis, and that environment must be provided by their government. Once security is established and the right government is in place, the rest will come.

****

I get a lot of guys asking me to help them shop at the bizarre for their wives. I look at them like they are speaking Greek--I just don’t dig shopping, and they act surprised. They manage somehow, because I do marvel at the gifts they buy. They parade their purchases around to all the girls they know to show them off and proudly exclaim what a good husband they are. It’s always jewelry, paintings or rugs. The other day, I had one of the guys bring in unique gifts for his wife…a huge stone of jade, and one of lapis. These things were the size of a football, and they were gorgeous, so I said “can I shop with you”?

****

I got to go to the American Embassy the other day. It was beautiful. I got to spend a few hours hanging out with my friends Jen and Mary. I was coming out of my “funk” little by little but this trip yanked me right out of it! The embassy grounds are green, there is lots of grass, flowers and trees. There is a little sidewalk coffee shop, there is a pool, a couple of restaurants, etc. We went on our morning off, and went to a different bizarre…and yes, Mary helped me buy jewelry for my family and friends.

 Me and Mary kicking it at the embassy.

We found this in a little courtyard at the embassy, and couldn’t resist the urge to play around on it.  Mary is rotation out soon...we are going to miss her.

****

I loved the responses I got from my last update. Thanks so much for your love and support. My favorite comeback was: “What’s a little wheaties in your shit?”. Also, a very wise person reminded me that you must learn, unlearn and relearn. Once I read it, I realized that is exactly what was happening. I was going through a phase where things that were working were no longer working, so you must unlearn, and then relearn. That got me over the hump…once I recognized it is time to unlearn, and perhaps stop being stubborn, I could help the team move in the direction it was going. Also, I had to recognize and accept that different direction does not mean wrong direction.

****

I’ve been using the stationary bike for some exercise while my hamstring heals. Getting some exercise has also made a big difference in my attitude. I’m enjoying the bike. My hamstring is feeling so good, that I attempted my first run this morning. I walk/ran two laps. It didn’t feel right, but it didn’t exactly hurt. It’s a start.

On one of our prison laps…we take a few laps every day.