Pretty dull here most days. Usually my day consists of waking up and going to breakfast at 5:30 AM, to work at 6:30 AM, off at 3:00 PM. Go to the gym and dinner, back to the safehouse and give Julie a wake-up call, then in bed by 9:00 PM or so.

We had a little break in the monotony--Monday was a national holiday so I got to sleep in. It was Ashura-when Muslims commemorate the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali in the 9th century. Some of the Shiites display their mourning by flailing themselves bloody with chains.

There are a myriad of military forces here. Besides the US Army, US Air Force, US Navy, and US Marines, I've seen soldiers from Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Egypt, France, Romania, and Turkey. The two oddest services (in my opinion) that I've seen are from Poland (they wear forest green jumpsuits and in addition to their sidearm wear a fighting knife on their belts) and Mongolia. The Mongolian soldiers didn't look any different, I just thought it interesting that soldiers from Mongolia would be deployed here. The ones I saw were here to repair AK-47s.

Camp Eggers has a monthly photo contest. I won 2nd place ($30 Wal-Mart gift certificate) for my photo of the kids in their traditional Afghan outfits.

I was recently thinking that I didn't have anything interesting to write about. I have a few ideas: Mr. Big Hands; Strawberry, our three-legged yard dog at the depot; the persistent kids always selling scarfs, gum, candy, or simply begging (my fellow loan officers & I could learn a few things about closing a deal from these kids); jingle trucks; the creative and widespread use of our conex boxes by the indigenous personnel--but those stories will have to wait for another day because yesterday turned out to be interesting.

Yesterday was my day off. Like I've said elsewhere, we follow the Islamic weekend which is Thursday noon through Friday. I didn't have much planned--there's not much to do. But I did sleep in--until 7:30 AM anyway. At 7:30 we were roused out of bed for a muster. When that happens, we're supposed to gather at the nearest bunker--in this case, the basement of our safehouse--fully clothed, equipped with our body armor and bug-out bag. A bug-out bag contains essentials like extra clothes, flashlight, knife, leatherman, chemlights, shaving kit, ID, passport, cash, etc. The idea being that this was a drill for in case we had to evacuate. At least that's what I thought (and what I later told Julie). But it turns out that it wasn't completely a drill. There was something--a mortar or rocket--fired at the embassy. We waited around for about an hour and were released, so we went to breakfast.

After breakfast, I walked back to the safehouse, took a shower, and walked back to Camp Egger. Got a haircut, went to the gym, ate lunch, went to the PX. Alex and I were just leaving the PX when we heard gunfire. Automatic weapons fire, and some screaming. Coincidently we were standing near where the armored HMMWVs for the reaction force are stationed. Soldiers scrambled to man the vehicles and load their weapons. I watched it take place and they were rolling in under a minute. Luckily I had my camera and there are a couple shots of the HMMWVs in my photobucket album. Turns out it was only the ANP (Afghan National Police) firing celebratory into the air for some reason.

Shopped at the weekly Friday bazaar on the way home. Franz Zichy, one of my fish buddies from the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets, wanted a Jezail. Jezails can be rifles but typically they are smooth-bore guns. They are unique to Afghanistan, primarily captured British muskets modified for firing over walls and/or from camel-back and highly decorated with Mother-of-Pearl or bone and brass fittings. I found a good one with a working lock and engraved with the West Indies Company stamp and "1811". There is also a pic of this rifle in the photobucket album. A little trivia: Dr. Watson, Sherlock Holmes' sidekick, was shot with a Jezail.

That's all the exciting stuff. Took a nap. Went to dinner. Friday night is steak night. I had steak, crab legs, corn-on-the-cob, and Pralines & Cream ice cream for desert. Walked back to the safehouse and watched "Stomp the Yard". Horrible movie.

Out.

Several people have asked me what I'm doing here in Afghanistan after spending the last five years working as a Mortgage Loan Officer. I served in the Marines for fifteen years, my last command being the S-4 (Logistics Officer) for the 8^th Marine Corps District in New Orleans, Louisiana. I left the USMC in 2000 and got my securities, insurance, real estate and mortgage licenses, and worked as a loan officer for Mercantile Mortgage in Plano, Texas until last month.

I like a little adventure from time to time, so I decided to take a year off from the mortgage business and go to work for MPRI in Afghanistan.

Let's see if I can explain what I’m doing here in Kabul.

I work for a company called MPRI. MPRI stands for Military Professional Resources, Inc. MPRI is an L-3 Communications company. It is considered by some to be a PMC, or Private Military Company. PMCs exist, in part, because of decades of reduced military budgets and troop numbers. As our politicians have reduced the number of uniformed military, the military has explored ways of coping. They started contracting out essential but non-combat related jobs. When I was in the Marines, I remember about ten years ago our dining facilities (chow halls) were run by Marine cooks, and augmented by Marines on temporary assignment. Remember the cartoon antics of Beetle Bailey peeling potatoes? But then we transitioned to civilian-operated dining halls. A civilian company was contracted to run the Marine Corps dining halls which freed more numbers of Marines for combat specialties. That worked so well that the services began looking at other areas in which civilian contractors could help. Using civilian contractors was also cost-efficient. Now companies like Halliburton-KBR build, operate, and maintain roads, buildings, dining facilities, etc., all over the world on military contracts. Companies like ITT run military communications. Companies like MPRI are training, augmenting, and recruiting military forces.

MPRI is here, in part, to support CSTC-A (Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan).

CSTC-A works with the government of Afghanistan and the international community to reconstruct the Afghan security and defense sectors. CSTC-A is reconstructing the Afghan National Army, and the Afghan defense sector by recruiting soldiers, training Afghan recruiters, organizing the Ministry of Defense and mentoring its senior leaders and the General Staff, acquiring weapons, uniforms and equipment, as well as developing the policies and processes needed by a modern army to establish viable acquisition, personnel and other systems required to establish a working military infrastructure.

Afghanistan has been at war for decades. As a result, their military was decimated. CSTC-A is here to help rebuild it. I work for the Logistics Branch of MPRI. One of the things we're doing is establishing the ANA (Afghan National Army) supply system and training their soldiers to run it. CoreIMS is a tool we're using to automate inventory management and control. My job, specifically, is to develop a Program of Instruction (POI) to train ANA soldiers to use a Supply/Inventory software program called CoreIMS. One of the challenges, of course, is that the lesson plans, training materials, exams, etc., must be translated into Dari, the Afghan language. I have two ITs (Interpreter-Translators) who work for me--Aimal and Abdullah. I am qualified to do this because of my prior fifteen years experience in the Marine Corps as a logistics officer and training analyst/curriculum developer.

Entry for January 18, 2007

Been sick for the last two days. During our in-brief, they told us it was only a matter of time before we got sick because everyone does. Mine came quickly. We didn't go into work yesterday because the roads were Condition Black, meaning only mission-essential vehicle travel allowed. But Black was upgraded to Yellow around noon so Log personnel at D-1 and D-2 (Supply Depot One, where I work; and Supply Depot Two, where Greg & Mark work) went into work. My supervisor, Dana Cook, realized I was sick and told me to stay in bed. I stayed in bed today also. Only missed a half day today though, since the Islam weekend started at noon. Greg came into my room when he got back from work to check on me and take me to lunch, since we have to travel in pairs. Greg is a good guy.

We first met in Alexandria, Virginia, when my group of new hires arrived at MPRI headquarters for orientation and processing. In his late forties, Greg Johnson is a retired Army Sergeant Major. He spent 26 years in the Army, 23 of those in 82nd Airborne. His wife is a school teacher in Atlanta. His first job after retiring from the Army was with KBR in Iraq. Not the first person I met who previously worked for KBR, he says MPRI is a much better company--better management, better pay and benefits, better working conditions. Although is is competent and professional, he makes me laugh with his constant complaining. Not true complaining so much, but the way he does it. His voice and mannerisms will suggest utmost pain, sorrow, & humiliation over the smallest thing.

For example, last night we walked to the Aid Station to get some cold medicine for me on the way to dinner. We arrived shortly after 1700 (5:00 PM) and opened the door just as the medical personnel were about to leave. They said they were closed and I'd have to come back in the morning. I was a little perturbed because it didn't seem like it would be too inconvenient or time consuming for them to reach into the cabinet and hand me some meds, but I wasn't too upset because I could buy some Robitussin and Vitamin C at the PX after dinner. (Has to be after dinner because we aren't allowed to bring bags of any sort into the DFAC--could be concealing IEDs ). But Greg talked about that for the rest of the night, and reminded me of it this afternoon.

Another example was today. After lunch and a successful visit to the Aid Station for the aforementioned medicines, we stopped at MPRI Admin because Greg was expecting a package from his wife. His package was there. She mailed his goodies in a printer box. While all of us are thrilled to receive packages from home, Greg complained the whole way because of the size of the box he had to carry: "Why did she have to send such a big box?"

Walking back to the Falcon House from Camp Eggers, Greg griping about his big box, we were greeted by the usual assortment of children trying to sell scarfs, phone cards, and gum. I liberated an orange from the DFAC earlier and I gave it to "Flipper". Flipper is a kid with deformed arms. Afterwards I felt bad--I wonder how he's going to peel it? Next time I'll get an apple...

Interesting day today, but let's start with yesterday. Early afternoon yesterday I was sitting at my desk reviewing some POIs when I heard a "boom" and felt the conex shake. (My office is in a converted conex box.) I ran outside and saw two ANA soldiers pointing to the sky above us. They said it was an RPG (rocket propelled grenade). Later I heard that it was an RPG fired at the nearby UN compound. A little excitement, but we all went back to work.

Today I am sitting in my office when we are informed that a vehicle with explosives was just discovered at the front gate to nearby Camp Phoenix. Now I can neither confirm nor deny the following part, but here's what I heard. Guards noticed an unfamiliar vehicle approaching. It appeared to be loaded down and only had one occupant--the driver. They trained their weapons on the driver and demanded that he stop. Now at Camp Phoenix there is an Afghan national that is a story himself. His nickname is Rambo and he lost his family to the Taliban. On a revenge crusade, he has taken it upon himself to assist in the protection of Camp Phoenix. He has a big stick and regularly chases off any loiterers or beggars outside the main entrance. Well, when this vehicle with explosives was stopped outside the gate, Rambo ran to it, pulled the driver through the side window, and began beating him mercilessly. The gate guards rescued the driver from Rambo (no word on how quickly they moved to assist). Upon inspection, they found explosives in the vehicle. Sometime later this afternoon I heard a loud boom that shook my conex box much more vigorously than yesterday. I heard that it was EOD (Explosives Ordnance Disposal) disposing of the aforementioned vehicle. We also heard that yesterday's RPG was in fact a negligent discharge (which means it was one of ours that went off by accident--right).

02/13/07 Edit: Talked to a Navy officer today and the subject of Rambo came up. He heard about him from the internet. I did a Google search for Rambo Afghanistan and sure enough, other bloggers and CNN have written about him. Interesting stuff...

We took off early today in order to take a different route home. Typically we go back down Jalalabad Road right past Camp Phoenix. We took some back roads and I saw some scenery I haven't seen before. People keep telling me there are some "nice" things about Kabul, but I haven't seen them yet. Looks more like prehistoric times to me.

On this new route we go by the airport. There are workers with pick axes and shovels, wearing protective body armor and helmets. Trucks and an ambulance are idling near the street. The workers are clearing an old Soviet minefield. I heard they were workers from India hired to clear the minefield. They are paid $3.75 per cleared mine. Incredible.

We get back to Falcon House without incident. Alex, Kurt & I go to the gym (assaulted by Nebula et al. en route), get some chow, shop the PX, and head back to the house. Another beautiful day in paradise.

Edit: March 9, 2007 - Another news story about Rambo - http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20070308/wl_csm/orambo_1

Today was my first real day off. We take off on the Islamic weekend, which is Thursday noon through sunrise Saturday. Got up and went to the gym with Kurt and Marty at 0700. There are two gyms on Camp Eggers, also in what were previously Afghan houses. One has weight machines on the first floor and aerobic machines on the second floor; the other is primarily free weights. We went to the former this morning. I did the elliptical for 30 minutes then lifted for 30 minutes. The aerobic work here is harder than I'm accustomed to because of the elevation. Kabul is 6,000 feet above sea level, making it one of the highest capital cities in the world. Then we went to breakfast in one of the two DFACs (Dining Facility Administration Center). I don't know why the Army added "Administration Center" to the dining facility. I had an omelet with cheese, onion, and mushrooms; bacon; French toast; grits; coffee; juice; and a cookie. I didn't finish the cookie.

Then we walked back to our house, called the Falcon House. All of MPRI's houses have names. I piddled around and straightened up my room a little and then went to the Bazaar. Every Friday local vendors set up shop just outside the main entrance to Camp Egger. They had old guns, mostly old inoperable Afghan rifles. Apparently it is legal to buy them and ship them home if they're manufactured prior to a specific date which makes them antiques. (Orders, anyone?) I thought it was interesting that there were also a few old British swords; WW II German helmets and bayonets; and more recent Russian bayonets and belts with buckles. There were also lots of rugs, jewelry, clothes, fur coats, and pirated DVDs. I bought "We Are Marshall", "Rocky Balboa", "Freedom Writers", "Blood Diamond", and "Night at the Museum" all for $10 US. I don't know yet about the quality, but according to the folks that have been here a while, they are acceptable. Besides, what can you expect for $2? I met Greg there and we had lunch. I had a cheeseburger, scalloped potatoes, peas & carrots, Gatorade, and a cookie. I finished the cookie this time.

Then Greg & I got a driver to take us to another joint camp here called Camp Phoenix. Camp Phoenix is about twenty minutes away on Jelalabad Road. MPRI has vehicles with drivers available all day. Whenever we leave the immediate Camp Egger area, like going to work or another military installation, we are required to travel in pairs and wear body armor. We heard the PX on Camp Phoenix had items that the PX here doesn't have so we went to check it out. I got a backpack, t-shirt, and some batteries. Then we went upstairs and had a cup of coffee at a contract coffee shop called the Green Bean. They also had a Dairy Queen, pizza place, & pool tables. On the way from the front gate to the PX we saw two German armored personnel carriers (APCs) pulling out and a UN convoy pulling in.We walked out the front gate to meet our ride and were immediately assaulted by Afghan kids demanding one dollar. There was a mix up with the drivers and we waited outside for about 30 minutes waiting. I gave two kids each $1 to try some Copenhagen. I thought that would make them go away but they just announced their good fortune to some other kids nearby who also joined in the assault. We were warned not to interact with the kids because they don't want them to be encouraged. At least the kids at Camp Eggers try to sell something, scarfs; magazines; candy--but these kids were simply begging. You could tell which ones go to school and which ones don't by the quality of their English. We were finally rescued by our driver and made it safely back to Falcon House where I am writing this, waiting patiently for dinner. On Fridays they have surf & turf: steak and lobster or shrimp. I am really going to have to start working out more or you won't recognize my fat self when I get home...

I added more pics to http://s131.photobucket.com/albums/p296/rlanicek/ .

I don't really need anything that I can't get here or order online, but I did think of something you could send if you were so inclined: children's clothes. Instead of donating those unusable items (Danny & Kim and Shane & Sam), box them up and send them to me. Most of the kids I see around here are from 8 to 14 years old, but being under-nourished they are smaller than American kids of the same age, and they have little siblings at home if the clothes are too small. It appears to me that they could all use shoes.

That's all for now. More later. Out.