smily31's Xanga

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 17:03:22 GMT

So the last few weeks has been a complete whirlwind. Once the Holidays were over, my relief showed up so went to go collect him and begin turnover where our headquarters is located and where he will base himself out of. He is older but not in Officer years. He will do fine I am sure. Once he learns how to sell the program and himself he will be killing them just like I did. So the night before I was to head to where our HQ is I was sitting in my buddies room when an im request came in. It was from a guy in the British Army I had met two years ago while in Baghdad, Iraq. It just so happened that he was on his way to the same city as me, back from leave but not with the British Army this time, but a private security company. He was as shocked to hear from me as i was him. So we agreed to try to meet up at the coffee shop near the airport, were my HQ is. I get settled in and the reliefs get here and we try to get a ride out to the airport but no one is going to Dave and I miss each other for coffee. Luckily we have each others cell phone. The next day my relief and indeed to fly out and start the turnover process which includes a meet and great of everyone I do business with. So we get to the airport, check in and we have an hour and a half until take off. I am not one to sit still long and I needed to show him around anyway so when the French soldier walked off who was keeping an eye on all of us for the flight back we ducked out. Enroute to meet the guys at the airport who would eventually be helping my guy like they helped me I decided to show him the coffee shop. I ordered up two cappucinos and as walked out, who was sitting at the table ten feet away, my home boy Dave Brisco. I could not believe my eyes, he just happened to be having aa coffee with his mates at the same place and same time. Unbelievable!

Not to be out done, a few months back around the last week of November when I was on travel last at the same airport, stuck for the night, I was inline to get some dinner when a guy aproached me and said, Tim , it me Max, I Max! It was my buddy Max Buzzoni I had met and become friends with him in Djibouti last year. He was one of several Italian helicopter pilots stationed aboard the ITS Granetiere. Their ship frequently pulled into Djibouti and I being the people person I am would go and see if I could do anything for them, and if they needed to get rid of some cappuchino, I could help with that as well. It did not stop there, we ended up having dinner that night and catching up over several missed months and some of the people we both knew, to include Luca Roseano, who was kinda the ring leader of the helo pilots on the ship. He was funny, his english was great and he was married to a US Navy helicopter pilot, and both were stationed in Italy. As a side note Luca and Michelle had just had a baby recently and he sent me the Christmas card/picture via email just days before I ran into Max. That night after dinner, we went back to the Italian compound and searched for another member of the Granetiere crew, Andrea Martino. Of course we could not find him. Since he slept so much whenever we could not find him we always assumed he was sleeping. The next day while still waiting for a flight, I was on my way to the gym and who walks up behind me and yells my name? Andrea himself! We were standing there in the middle of the parking lot and not believing what our eyes are seeing! Can I run into anyone else in this place? So with the invitation to join the Italian command for a pasta dinner, my relief and I departed.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 04:32:00 GMT

How about running into a guy in Kabul International Airport that you met in Baghdad two years ago. Life is full of surprises!

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Tue, 02 Jan 2007 09:48:45 GMT

The top pic is of a small boy and girl at the front gate waiting for their father to conclude his business at the camp. I had some coloring books and crayons in the humvee that had been sent by my mom. So I retrieved them each a coloing book and one box of crayons to share. Superman for him (of course) and the animals of the forest for her and a box of crayons. At first she was very shy and would not walk over to me. Thanfully the interpreters hang out in the vacininty so one cam eover and asked the man if it was okay to give his kids the items. The manof course said yes and the terp started elling the little girl what I was blabbing in my best english. She eventually wamred up to me as most kids do and before you could turn around she was babbling on and showing me how to color. So she and I colored some lions and come to find out she knew what to do without my assistance. The boy on the other hand just stared at me like I was trying to lift his wallet. Eventually I got him to color a litle bit of the Superman even though everytime he would get close to coloring his siter would hop down off the

Christmas Day Bon fire, chestnuts anyone?

Me and Gonzo after laboring all day to help stack wood palletts in prepartion for the nights festivities. Just kidding! We were just walking by and stopped or the pic.

The first pic was taken at a civil affairs project we did at the school for the blind. We gave each family that is supported by the school a ten pound bag of rice, a gallon of olive oil sna dwhatever clothing we had to distribute. The next pic is an awesome little Afghan girl who was at the school for the blind the day we passed out the supplies. She herself was not blind but a sister to some one who is. So the school suplies in the pics below that were sent to me by my mother went to her and a few of the other girls who could use them. She had a great big smile and bright eyes. Her mannerisms were shy, yet she was a very sweet little girl. A big differenc efrom what you see as a whole throughout the country some times.

Poker night. I lost, but did make the camp newsletter for this funny face! Notice the opiece of paper next to me, that helps me recall what beats what.

Posing in front of the legally aquired Afghansitan Christmas Tree. The flag at the top was placed by a good friend of mine. I saw safety asessmnet written all over this evolution. But he made it down and the COL did not see anything!

Hanging wiht Capt Luciani, 1LT Gemma, Sgt Loi and WO2 Tolldore at the FSB.

Christmas Gift Night in the Navy Hooch!

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 09:17:27 GMT

Funny gift from Jon's folks. Ink pens that box, clever. Not as clever as silly string, but clever.

There I am opening up my first gift. Thanks mom, of course with no letter the contents of the box were left up to my deductive reasoning. The bubbles I thought cute but likely unusable.

Then came the rice crispy treat, fun for the whole family. I knew what to do with those.

Then I got deeper and deeper into the box (so to speak) and discovered several coloring books, boxes of crayon, pencils, pens (which I kept), socks (which I initially kept as well, but then noticed they were size 6 youth, obviously for someone else) and various other school supplies for children. Then it hit me. My mom had sent school supplies for the less fortunate children of Afghanistan. More importantly I will be the one to give these these supplies out and will give them to an all girls school. For some reason this country views girls as inferior or second class for the most part. Well, I may not be able to change the whole country or culture between now an March but I through my moms kindness I will help out a few school aged girls with some supplies where the boys usually get first pick.

Jon pictured here with a shipload of teas his folks sent in his Christmas present. Little does he know I will be liberating him of most of them just like the fake Indians at the Boston Tea Party baby! Where is my war bonnet?

The final and probably coolest gift for any true "red neck". Whether far from home or on the front porch of the single wide, moon pies are a welcome addition. Right up there with white tank tops, NASCAR, and natty light.

Thanks for the hat mom!

Pics Around Afganistan

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 17:26:22 GMT

Shaved head, ready for anything, but really I was just looking for a place to relieve myself on the trip home.

A pic of a local guy and his wife on an ass. Surprising number of Asses out here.

Gonzo and I on the way to Kabul. Once again looking for a porta John. We found one and almost got left. Luckily I made friends with the pilot. And I probably would have shot it down had they left us!

A pretty good picture of a local kid tending his flock with his pet horse, I mean dogs. They are big as me, no lie.

Czech Republic Shocka! Representin'

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 15:47:13 GMT

Everyday, even out here, God smiles down on occassion. Are we there yet?

Our Hooya video

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 14:38:21 GMT

Merry Christmas from Afghanistan

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 08:49:39 GMT

Here are the first installment of the Christmas pictures. You'll shoot your eye out rings out clear from all corners of the camp so the Holiday season must be upon us. The smell of wood burning emanates since that is still the primary source of heat and cooking in this country.

I am sure there will be a few more pictures to come. I will likely get to spend Christmas with a few of my guys in another area in this country. After that we are truly on the downhill side of this bad boy!

I'll see your non-offensive, good for business, minority running the majority, decision for the 43 people that don't celebrate Christmas and wish you a Happy Holidays. Then I will stand up and raise you a Merry Christmas and Feliz Cumpleanos, Hacuna Matata, and Buenos Aires for the rest of us!!

Get some!

Our modest Christmas tree in the stoop between our hooch and the one next to ours. Lovingly known as the focsle we watch movies in here occasionally when the weather is good and on the odd occasion I have some time to myself I like to read in the hammock. Then of course there is always an opportunity to cheese it up. Whaz up foo?

Pictured above are two of my shipmates John and Chris.

Another good look at the Christmas stoop.

Thanksgiving in Afghanistan

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 08:15:43 GMT

The pics above are from Thanksgiving in Bagram. It could not spend it at home but at least got to spend it with a few of my bros. Happy Holidays!

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 06:13:02 GMT

Another good day for your little brussel sprout. I am afraid no pics will follow this entry due to the sensitivity of it. With that being said I can write all I want about it.

So a last minute tasker came in Tuesday night based on some timely info from a "source". The guys I am staying with put together a plan and moved on it early this morning. I did not get to go on this one although I did ask. There was some thought that there might be some shooting so of course no tourist allowed. So the guys left and came back around breakfast time, successful, capturing a large cache of munitions do be destroyed here sometime later int he day. This helps keep them off the streets, literally. So as I am sitting in the main office sifting through a few emails I get the run down of how the op went and I overheard someone talk about the prisoners. I did not remember this being a snatch so I listened a little more closely. Apparently, as well as stumbling onto the medium sized cache they also freed a 10 year old boy and an adult male (20's) who had been in captivity in this village for four months. They were both in pretty numb to the whole thing once I laid eyes on them. They had were both quite skinny but had been getting fed and seemed mistreated. They both smelled terrible and had mange. I found this all out when Doc asked for my help since I was free and just kind of around at the time. This whole time they were sitting right in the other office where the Doc has his clinic. He needed me to help him remove the packing tape from the boys head. It had been put there by his captors for God knows why. When the guys first rescued him they removed duct tape from around his eyes. I was not there of course but imagine it to be unpleasant at best. The tape I helped remove was wrapped all the way around around his head to include his hair and was pinning both his ears forward. I put on some rubber gloves and we got to work cutting the packing tape off the boy. His ears were pretty oddly shaped because of the tape and he had blood and dirt crusted all around them. Since we could not get a real assessment of the kid we called in our favorite translator, we will call him "Joseph", to help get across what we wanted to take place next.

A few quick words about "Joseph", he's a 60 year old man from California's central coast, not too many miles from where I live when I am not over here. He weighs in at about 70 lbs and as you might guess is quite short. He is well respected and is revered as the team Grandfather. While many here make jokes at his expense it is always good natured (in an, "aww how cute", way) and he gets respect from everyone here. Being Afghan in heritage when he speaks, as do most here, he does a kind of half bow, head nod, right hand over his heart gesture. As if to say "whatever it is I am saying in response to you I say with the utmost respect and courtesy and throw in a "my friend" for good measure". I almost don't want to talk to him much because he is so appreciative. But when I do I commonly ask him if he has been working out and try to compliment him on his health as is my nature especially with those older. He is just as thankful as if you gave a starving man and steak dinner. He has the biggest smile and I bet his heart is a close second.

So now that you know all about "Joseph", Doc got some high powered, donkey punchin, light that trash on fire, anti-mange shampoo and mixed it like a cocktail with some head and shoulders. We then told "Joseph" to tell the man to wash himself with soap and to wash his hair including his huge black beard twice with this mixture. Since the adult male spoke Dari Joseph translated what we wanted to him. The kid only spoke Pashtu, so Joseph translated from English to Dari for a second translator who only spoke Dari and Pastu. He then passed it on to the kid. Luckily it all worked out and the two translators took our two newly liberated guys to the showers after explaining exactly what we wanted from them. As they were walking out I told "Joseph" that Doc and I had all day and if they came back dirty like many kids do when told to go and get themselves clean that we would send them back to insure that they washed until we were satisfied. Joseph being a Grandfather in real life new exactly what to do so they grabbed the magic shampoo and a few towels and were off to take care of some business. While all this was going on the Team Chaplain who had been in town for a few days as scheduled religious time worked his way into the clinic and was quietly observing. He looks about 20 but is likely in his 28's. Once our shower guys were off doing there thing we went the other direction to try and find them some clothes since the ones they had on were in poor shape and no telling what was crawling around on them. Sadly, Doc could only find a pair of tennis shoes, but I found something else that came in handy. I found a whole box of kids back packs. Nothing fancy but cool to a kid nonetheless. Inside the backpack was three paper tablets to write on, (they had cool pictures of animals and stuff like that) a pack of regular pencils, a pack of colored pencils with a picture of goofy on it, a pencil shapener, an eraser, and a few other misc items. Inside the storage unit I also found a box of chalk and a puzzle of Afghanistan so I put them in there as well. As I heard Doc and the Chaplain walking towards were I was from outside the storage unit I found something else of value. An entire box full of plastic grocery bag prepacked hygiene packs. Chaching! Scoreboard baby! So Doc walked in with the Chaplain and the shoes and we all walked out carrying the items I had found. We got back and were just sitting around waiting for our guys to return when someone walked through the clinic and said, "why are the folks we sent to the showers just sitting around behind the building"? A fair question. So Doc and I headed to the door of the clinic were the guy who proposed the question was walking with a handful of candy from a care package. When the door swung open there they were sitting down talking to some of the workers that were there doing construction around the compound. Included in the group were two other 10 year old kids. Talking and smiling. with our new friend. So we immediately motion them back in and to sit back on the cot we had them on before. Doc and I looked them over and could not find anything physically wrong with them. The adult complained about an upset stomach so he was given some pepto. Then Doc decided that at the very least, assuming that their diets had not been very good for the last four months, that the kid should be given a multivitamin. What do you think we had on hand, Flintstones chewables of course. Of course the adult wanted some too and who can blame him, they're delicious. So while Doc was handing them out it dawned on me that we should show them how to open the child proof caps on the chewables. Turned out to be a great idea, neither of them could figure out how to open them at first. So Doc and I demonstrated it a few times and all was well. Doc handed the boy his shoes and motioned that they were for him, no translation needed for that. One of the translators began lacing up one of the shoes and I grabbed the other. I am not sure what kind of shoe lacing this other translator had but you could not have laced them up more strangely. Of course he finished his first and the kid put it on right away. Not a lot of smiles yet just the same kind of hollow dark brown eyes. I finished mine and without trying to one up the translator I loosened up the awkwardly laced shoe and relaced it showing the boy how to do it and make the laces even, all using hand signals and very simple English. Of course in the background everyone else had become very quite and the translator was basically repeating every word I said to the child who shook his head in understanding. Once I gave him the one I had done and then redid the other it was time for a lesson in tying. I asked him if he knew how and he fumbled through it so I just assumed he didn't and began the demo. Again using very simple words and hand signals I showed the boy how to tie his shoes. Very rewarding I must say. After I showed him twice I untied one and motioned for him to do it and with only the slightest of adjustments he did it by himself and I finally had my smile. I want my twelve steps cookie! So I looked up at the Doc and then over to the translator who were a bit choked up by the whole thing and then motioned me to keep going referencing the backpack and hygiene bag. So I did and why not I was on a role. So I grabbed the back pack and went through it one by one the whole time my translator mocking me in the near distance. I showed him all the items and asked if he knew what they were or what to do with them and he was a little unsure at the eraser and pencil sharpener but with a quick demo he was good to go. He especially liked the goofy colored pencils because I had to do the voice and make the face that goes with it. Yeah, so anyway next it was on to the hygiene bag. Recalling an earlier trip to Eritrea where we did a MEDCAP and the kids who were giving toothpaste were eating it the minute they left the clinic I decided to go through the whole bag to make shure he knew what to do. I tossed one bag to the adult hoping he would pay attention to the demo I was about to give to the kid. Then I grabbed the bar of soap, in the package of course, and "washed myself" then the shampoo, followed by the toothbrush and toothpaste, then the towel and washcloth and whatever else was in there. When I cam across the shaving cream and razors I gave those items form the boys bag to the adult, it just made sense. So I packed all the items away in the boys backpack and he mustered up a few more smiles. No thank you no gratefulness but rather callused and hollow in nature. It is hard to know what a boy of 10 could possible be going through being imprisoned for 4 months and duct taped for most of the time. I thank God I had good parents and was a part of a society where at least that kind of stuff is looked down on.

At the first lull in the conversation and with examinations complete, the adult said quite frankly, can we go now? Doc and I looked at each other just trying to make sure we did not miss anything that was completely obvious, then Doc said sure. They were escorted to the front gate where the boys Aunt and Uncle were waiting to pick him up. The adult simply walked out the front gate and left. So the ending was a tad suspicious but today the guys rescued and boy and an adult male from being hostages in this village. I am going to count this one. The rest of the day a few of the guys and I had a chance to talk a bit. Even the most hardened team member told me that it really hurt them to see things like this being done to kids. I could not agree more.