"Infidel"

An interesting article from military.com asking why so many US troops embrace the label.

Here's why: the other side has used the term for centuries to describe us as "the other". We accept it, because "the other" is the side of dignity, individual worth, and honor far more often than not.

They, on the other hand, believe in enslavement, conformity, and degradation.

I've picked my side.

RIP, Herb Brav

"When the will is strong, everything is easy" - Herb Brav

A hell of a fine soldier, man, and mentor passed March 9th. Herb Brav, an icon in the Multinational Force and Observers, has passed. The linked article was written while I was deployed there, and had the pleasure of meeting him.

In short, the man was a stud. There's also a link to his Facebook page. The MFO has been helping keep the peace between Egypt and Israel for over 25 years now, and Herb was a major part of that. The MFO is diminished by his loss.

RIP Herb.

How's That Apology Working Out?

If, according to the president, we need to apologize to Muslims because we must accept that they have such an innate, extraordinary ardor for their religion that barbaric reactions to trivial slights are inevitable, then they should not be invited to enter a civilized country. At the very least, our immigration laws should exclude entry from Muslim-majority countries unless and until those countries expressly repeal repressive sharia laws (e.g., the death penalty for apostates) and adopt American standards of non-discrimination against, tolerance of, and protection for religious minorities.

If I could only write half so well about what I believe. There's nothing to be gained there anymore. Let them sink back into their paradise of hate, revenge, and brutishness. Our people are far too valuable to risk them for those who loathe us.

War Stories

Had a patient today who is a Viet Nam vet, being seen for acute pain radiating down his leg. He mentioned to our nurse that it actually hurt worse than being shot, which was passed along to me to pass along to the radiologist. Unfortunately, there was a delay before the physician could get there, leaving me to keep the patient occupied. Which I'm happy to do, as I don't like sitting in a room waiting with nothing to do when I'm a patient either.

Asking about his pain led to the shooting incident in prior service. After he learned I'd been deployed, I spent the next thirty minutes listening to what it's like policing up the remains of tortured civilians after taking back a VC held village, being one of two men in an LP/OP while a squad of VC try to kill you, attempting to stay conscious while bleeding like a stuck pig so that your buddy has someone to cover his back while he returns fire, and the joys of recovery that takes place over three different nations. Oh, and how a paperwork error can get you sent back to Viet Nam along with a guy who has a very similar name, on the same plane, instead of the plane that was supposed to fly you back to the US for extended recovery therapy.

The amazing thing about this was the good humor and humility in how it was related to me. No bitterness, no self-pity.

I always feel privileged to work with vets.

Practical Creativity

Reading this simply reinforces the pride in my tribe. Hooah Iowa Guard!

Have you ever wondered.....

what Jalalabad looks like from a helicopter? Neither have I, but here are some images anyway.


Looks rather average;

other than all the roofs being flat ( live in the northern US, and you'll understand why that seems odd to some of us);

not much activity down there at two in the afternoon, but I guess being 120 degrees will slow things down a bit;

Jackpot! The one and only open -air pool in eastern Afghanistan. No pools for the troops, but the chlorine content in the showers simulates it fairly well.

The Afghan Side of Bagram

Thankfully, the local Slurpee Mart is now totally safe from break-ins via the second floor:

Dried mud, the concrete of rural Afghanistan:

Scrounging; there's enough stuff thrown away by coalition forces that it's probably well worth the time:

It it goes up in flames, nobody's got the stuff to put it out:

Local village:

More Cowbell.........um, Kabul

Another, less developed part of Kabul:

A large traffic circle downtown:

The local version of Home Depot:



It’s the ice cream cart!



Taking the donkey out for a spin; the kids in this neighborhood a fully informed on a variety of hand gestures that would get them a swift kick in the ass from several ISAF contingents.



A vendor’s cart outside a living area.



A local neighborhood. Notice the open waste water ditch.



Individual gardening plots:

Transiting Kabul

A series of images taken from an MRAP in Kabul. Through a very dirty, thick window. These are the most modern buildings I’ve seen going through it.

Don’t know what this complex is, but it reminds me of some of the malls I’ve seen back in the US.

Apartments, I’d guess.

Wedding halls. According to one of the interpreters here, these are where the rich and stylish go.

Apparently there’s two parties: the engagement announcement, and the wedding. Several hundred guests are the bare minimum, although the ‘terp says 800 or more aren’t uncommon for wealthier families.

Road Trip

A series of photos taken in a pass in between Jalalabad and Kabul. Several factors made this an interesting ride:


The road is set for one direction of travel for a number of hours.


The guard rail is made of mortared stone at the edge of the road, and there isn’t a shoulder. Just a couple hundred meters of steep slope.

Occasionally people with AKs, DShKs, and RPGs enjoyed shooting down onto your vehicle. Watching for them keeps things interesting.

Sections of road and “guard rail” that have slid down the mountain.

Falling boulders.

Next!

Let’s see, on top of the usual aches and pains seen today: one case each of uncontrolled hypertension (180/120), facial wart cryoablation, week-old accidental self-inflicted stabbing that converted from a painful hematoma in the distal thigh at noon to a compartment syndrome helicopter medevac at 1700, extensive bilateral knee exam and documentation for persistent pain, grinding, and popping so the soldier can file a Line of Duty report for VA evaluation at home, lacerated finger care, and an interpreter with an eye infection, . With the last four patients all overlapping each other while my only other medic was unreachable and my sole provider having left the aid station to pack for a rapid redeployment home due to a family emergency. Got everybody out the door, and on the helo in the one case, to be followed by a phone call five minutes later from a warrant officer in Jalalabad wanting to know why I kept his helicopter on the landing pad for several minutes serving as an indirect fire target.

I think I earned my pay today.

And now, some images of the local version of Home Depot:

Images From The Road

A series of of images from the Mehtar Lam Area, shot from inside a transport. Not the sharpest images, as they're taken through very thick windows with a thick coating of road dust. These appeared to be mainly housing, except for a quick shot of what's probably and father with his kids standing in front of a local shot.





(Security Notice: This isn't where I am, it's where I've been.)

Welcome to the Office

Ok, since I’m back around internet (almost as good as dial up), we’ll do a little catching up on all things medical REMF. Starting with medical facilities. One of the things a lot of young troops or those deployed for the first find surprising is the level of care available here. As in, this isn’t your family doctor’s office. We can handle trauma quite well enough to get someone to a surgical facility as needed; we’ve some of the finest airlift capacity in the world.

But:

If you need labs or x-ray, you’re going to do some traveling. Either across post, or across country, depending on your location. Need an MRI? You’re going out of the country, or not getting one. Manage diabetes? Goodbye Afghanistan, hello Germany, and get ready to be a civilian again. And privacy, here, means we’ll try to not let anyone walk into the cubicle while your pants are around your ankles to the best of our ability.

So what does your typical REMF medic see on an average day? As most would anticipate, there's lots of sports, training, and work-related injuries such as sprains, strains, cuts, and bruises. And given our environment, plenty of stomach and bowel complaints. Then there's the stuff that's less pleasant: the warts (in lots of places, some of them not so enjoyable to work around), fungal infections, hemmerhoids, scabies, and just plain poor hygiene related problems.

Makes me appreciate how outstanding our normal healthcare standards are at home; I hope it makes the same impression on our younger troops who’ve never been exposed to anything else.

Libya

Here's a few brief thoughts from someone who's on his third deployment:

What's there that is worth risking our people? Oil? If we developed our own resources, and partnered more with stable western nations (think Canada), that wouldn't be a factor.

Protecting civilians from a murderous regime? Then we're a bit behind the curve, and best get to work on China, North Korea, Iran, Yemen, Sudan, ad infinitum.

Fostering representative government (I'll address "democracy" in a moment) with free citizens? Outside of Turkey, which is doing a fine job of moving towards theocracy, and Iraq/Afghanistan, where the vote is (poorly) ensured by western guns, Islamic nations generally replace one dictator for another. Whether the stage mask is Arab Nationalism or Islam, the repressive policies and police state are largely interchangeable.

Fostering "good will" in the Arab Street/Islamic World? How dense must one be to not understand that the ASIW will always despise anything different from their way? I would deeply appreciate any examples of long-term gratitude resulting from efforts on the ASIW's behalf that isn't tied to continuing donations to the local economy or political entity.

As to fostering "democratic governments": democracy, in the concept of one person, one vote, is merely a step above mob rule, where demagoguery, ignorance and impulsiveness meet. E.g., the fine results the California referendum system has produced in which the handouts of goodies has no relation in reality to their cost. At least representative government takes time and compromise, if the citizenry hasn't become overwhelmingly addicted to benefits based on borrowing, promises, and cynical manipulation of statistics (which brings us to our current looming disaster economically, but that's for another post).

The one great flaw the current administration committed before taking action now, was in not clearly stating that it was an internal matter. Period. No planes, no troops, no warships. Stand or fall, and seek aid elsewhere. If we were to send them crates of AKs and Chinese-built SAMs with deniability, fine by me. I'm in favor of Q's residence mysteriously being vaporized while he's in it, as we owe him payback several times over. But not at the cost of more pilots, aircrew, Soldiers, or Marines. Not for several more billions in operating costs followed by endless humanitarian aid paid for by increasingly worthless currency and debt leaving our citizens worse off in buying their food and paying their bills, while those we assist accuse us of war crimes, racism, and imperialism.


My family. My community. My nation. My priorities.

This Should Be Interesting

A Martini-Henry carbine I picked up in the bazaar at Camp Phoenix a couple months ago. This one was made by the Braendlin Armoury Co. in Birmingham, England. It's what appears to be called a "trade gun", in that it's not military issue, but available to volunteer units, or individuals who wished to purchase their own carbine in military furniture. Although at one time or another, one of the local vendors went to town with the faked stamps all over the metal. Which I'll post further pictures of in the near future.

But for the interesting part: Until 2009, antiques like this were simply allowed to be inspected by a US military customs unit, then allowed to be mailed if OK'd by them. Which, unfortunately, was apparently severely abused. Leading to the regional military command to restrict all antiques which fired center-fire and rimfire cartridges.

Except.

IF one gets a BATFE Form 6 (part II, for military personnel) approved, THEN one may send home the previously mentioned systems.

So. The form is filled, and I'll be getting some express envelopes at the post office hut next door tomorrow morning. I'm told it takes 4-6 to get the form back with a yea or nay. Let's see what happens.

Yard Ornaments

From the Russians to the Taliban to us.

That 37mm AA gun would look fine out in the begonia patch in the front yard.

The Holiday Spirit

A disassembled M4, the scent of CLP in the air, Freak On A Leash playing on the iPod, and lots of sneaky bastards on the other side of the concrete wall who'd love to kill me. It warms me shriveled little heart, it does.

A Day At The Range

Recently went to another post in the area to check zeros on the rifles. Of all the ranges I've been on, this one probably has the most impressive berm:

Somewher around 1600 feet of vertical rise from the range, I was told. But then it was time to get to business, which meant getting down in the talcum-like dirt that coated everything in short order.
After verifying zeros, we headed back out towards the gate. On the way, we passed by an armor graveyard from the Soviet-Afghan war:


Including this interesting piece, which is a T-34/85 if I remember my Soviet armor correctly.
Oh, to have the chance to haul that back home....