Almost Done
Saturday, January 20th, 2007Day 435
On a recent convoy, I was following pretty close to one of the HUMVEEs when it suddenly stopped and I barely managed to get my pile of armor stopped to avoid hitting it. Another hazard of Afghan roadways, women in burkhas. One of them walked across the street without seeing the convoy and nearly got mashed for her pains. I won’t say she didn’t look, but how well can you look when your only vision is through a little piece of lace doily across your face?
Construction on Bagram includes state side unions from the look of it. They poured a pad for a new building and then broke up 1/4 of it with picks and re-poured it. They still haven’t built anything on top of it, and now, there’s a concrete saw sitting out there………
The Commanding General returned from leave and came back into Afghanistan on a C-130. Accompanying him in the cargo hold, were two large “bomb lookin’ things” that carried stickers identifying them as liquid nitrogen and warning, “Do not load on passenger flight!” The CG’s question was, “What are we?” The answer passed back from the crew was, “Can’t be passengers, must be cargo!”
The weather is finally deciding to really start looking like winter. It still is getting up above freezing during the day, but in the mornings, BRRRRRRRRRR! We had a good solid snow storm on Thursday, which dumped around six inches and stayed through most of yesterday, but at least melted off the main road and sidewalk. It’s still pretty exciting to try to walk anywhere. We came back from driving somewhere on base yesterday and MAJ Pita got out of the driver’s seat and hit the pavement with no intermediate position. I don’t think he slipped though, because one foot was still inside the truck. and he was laughing before he hit the ground.
Traffic on the main street here is so heavy that MPs have to direct traffic at some peak times. I saw one civilian try to cross when the MP had cut off pedestrians, before the cars had started moving. He tried to rush and she pulled him up short with an upraised palm and a few choice words. Plus body language that spoke volumes. He skulked back to his starting point and waited with everyone else. Funny. They also have a very powerful safety program here, focused on the ‘reflective shield’ that everyone is required to wear after dark. These shields protect the wearers from Vehicles and all other dangers on the streets and sidewalks. Vehicles are required to stop for pedestrians no matter what.
I talked to one of the safety people and asked how many people had been saved from being hit by wearing their belts, and he told me that they had no way to know, because no one had ever been hit BEFORE they were required to wear the belts. I have talked to several people who’ve had close calls since the belts became mandatory, usually because they stop in the middle of the street to talk (since they’re ’safe’) and take drivers by surprise. They literally treat the dumb things like they’re shields that will protect them from their own stupidity. (I managed my entire time at Bagram without wearing one of the dumb things. Silly maybe, but everyone needs something to push back with.)
I’m getting pretty short here, so I was glad to be able to stop and visit some friends at one of the Afghan agencies on my last trip to Kabul. While I was there, several people came in to talk with the director. One of them works in security out at Kabul International Airport. He was telling us that they catch about 10-12 people a week trying to smuggle drugs out of the country. It’s usually heroin, in capsules; one guy last week had swallowed 120 of them. He says the smugglers are almost all from Africa, mostly from Nigeria.
One of the other visitors was a job seeker. He brought all the certificates he had earned from various schools and training courses. Certificates, letters of recommendation, or any other documentation are very important here, because it’s not easy to contact former employers, teachers or others. These things are laminated, carefully guarded and kept forever.
The agency I was visiting has had a rebirth in the last year. It was established several years ago, to help coordinate some of the reconstruction taking place in Afghanistan. It was perfectly situated for corruption, and the people took advantage of that. It became so corrupt that the UN and various other donors pulled their money. The UN NEVER pulls money out of ANY bad cause.
One of the management staff blew the whistle, then left the country for safety. The government investigated, (which took a long time) but finally cleaned house. An Afghan who had immigrated to the U.S. and become a citizen 20 years ago, returned to Afghanistan and ended up as the director. He’s got plenty of experience in managing projects, and he knows how to run a transparent operation. The whistle blower came back and ended up as his number two guy. They’re actually managing to do the work the organization was intended to accomplish, and it’s been becoming much more visible over the last couple of months. I had the opportunity to help with that by introducing them to another section of government, which started opening doors. Hopefully, that will be my contribution to helping this country, or at least, the one I can point to.
Anyway, I was fortunate to be able to stop by and tell them goodbye. I gave my two friends each a coin from my old Infantry regiment and they gave me a small plaque in the shape of Afghanistan as a remembrance. They also filled me up with sweet green chai and they took plenty of pictures, which they promise to e-mail to me. All in all, an excellent visit.
The drive up and back was beautiful, except for the sections of highway that hadn’t thawed out from the most recent snowstorm. When only one lane of pavement has thawed, traffic both directions tries to claim it for their own. A sane person (me!) doesn’t care to dispute it, just slow down and drive on the ice. With the vistas of snow covered plains and mountains softened a bit by the air pollution, the view for part of the way was surreal. It almost looked like it should be a Thomas Kinkaid painting, not quite real.
Also, to make it a perfect trip, I discovered my replacement had arrived in Kabul. So, I can start my handover and spend some time getting him up to speed. Also, It looks like I’d better start counting down the time I have left here, or I’ll run out of time before I can count.