Veterans Day at the US Embassy

Some Marine who clearly needs to be on weight control at the head of the military formation.

(In my defense, I am wearing a sweatshirt underneath as well as a concealed 9mm pistol).

According to my friend John Piedmont (now back in VA, but here a year ago), he spotted me on the NBC TV news covering this event back in the States.

My 15 seconds of fame came and went and I didn't even know it.

Veterans Day at the US Embassy

At 0700 yesterday, visiting Senators McCain, Lieberman, Gillebrand, and Graham participated in the Embassy Veterans Day remembrance. Senator McCain gave a brief, but quite moving speech. It was the first time that I had heard that 2nd Lt Kelly, USMC, son of Lieutenant General Kelley, USMC, Commanding General of Marine Forces Reserve, had been killed in a roadside IED only two days before, serving with 3/5 in Helmand Province.

A hell of a way to reinforce the importance of both the birthday of the Marine Corps (10 November) and Veterans Day (11 November).

“It’s an honor to spend this Veteran’s Day in Afghanistan among what I believe to be the greatest generation of men and women serving in our military. Today we honor you. We are humbled by your example, and chastened in our pride that we, too, in our own way, have tried to give our country some good service. It may be true or it may not, but no matter how measurable others’ contributions to this blessed country, they are a poor imitation of yours. But they know the solemn and terrible sacrifice made by those who have not returned to the country you loved so well.

“We recently lost three brave young sons from Arizona, and Lt. General Kelly’s son who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of freedom.

“Our country doesn't depend on the heroism of every citizen. But all of us should be worthy of the sacrifices made on our behalf. We have to love our freedom, not just for the private opportunities it provides, but for the goodness it makes possible. We have to love it as much, even if not as heroically, as the brave Americans like you who defend us at the risk and often the cost of their lives. We must love it enough to argue about it, and to work together to serve its interests, in whatever way our abilities permit and our conscience requires, whether it calls us to arms or to altruism or to politics.

“If war has any glory, it is a hard pressed, bloody, and awful glory that no one who hasn’t experienced it can ever completely understand. It is the glory of knowing you withstood the savagery and cruelty and madness of war to do your duty to the country that sent you there, and you were not found wanting by the comrades who stood next to you.

“Today, Americans are fighting in faraway places, like many of you here in Afghanistan, a place that most Americans will never see. They suffer as you have suffered. They are brave as you have been brave. They, like you, will never be the same again. You know the world we live in is an uncertain one. It still holds dangers for us and for everyone for whom freedom is the habit of their heart. Man’s inhumanity to man is an evil that will never be entirely extinct. And no matter how long a peace endures, it is always temporary. Americans will always be asked again to bear burdens that only the brave can endure. That burden will be their duty, as it is yours now and likely will be again.

“History does not remember all of our brave veterans as individuals. We don’t even know where they all rest. But we must not forget what they have done. Their honor is eternal and will live in our country for so long as she remains worthy of their sacrifice. Our veterans were family and friends to some, heroes to all – who lived, fought and died for the safety and future of a great and good nation.

“God bless them. May God grant them perpetual peace. And may all of you, who are serving in their hallowed footsteps, return home safe one day, with honor.”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM KABUL

The Marine Security Detachment threw one of the best USMC Birthday Balls I have ever gone to last night. Pictured are myself, LtCol Ian Brasure (friend from my Phoenix days 15 years ago), and LTC Paul Riley (one of my compadres in the L/EMB office I work in. It turns out that the Birthday Ball is one of THE biggest social events going in Kabul, period. What is normally a chance for brother Marines and their significant others to celebrate the birthday of our beloved Corps morphed into Ambassadors, Generals, every Marine in town, and quite a few good looking ladies from the Embassy and the Kabul area. Fantastic ceremony with Major General Mills (CG, I MEF (Fwd)) as the guest of honor introduced by Ambassador Eikenberry, followed by a tremendous meal, and dancing - all in an enormous tent floored with Afghan rugs. Marines in cammies, Marines in cammies armed, the Marines of the MSG in Dress Blues like myself, and a couple of Marines in Mess Dress. A crazy Ball, but a hell of a lot of fun. I prefer my deployed birthdays like the one I celebrated in Ramadi, but this one was probably the best I ever attended, in spite of the location and being dry for us subject to GO #1, and in spite of going "stag" this year (again).

Combat lawyer in the attack

My friend Ian Brasure and I. Ian was going to Arizona State law school when I was stationed in Phoenix from 1993-1996. Now fast forward only 15 years or so, and he is one of the top military lawyers under Gen Petraeus, and I am... well, here too.

It is a big world, but a small Corps.

Final note: I was feeling every day of my 43 years as I went up this thing, but Ian damn near ran up it, God bless him. I think he was the first of our group of seven to get to the top.

Climbing the Gar

400 meters up. A great way to spend a morning with friends.

Will write more later, but wanted to let y'all know that I was back from my schoolin'.

Off the net for a couple of days

Sorry for not posting more lately. Have been very, very busy. Not a very good excuse, but the best I can offer.

Will be going to a five-day course on counterinsurgency here in Kabul, and will be staying out at that location. The silver lining is that I should be a bit isolated from e-mail, the internet, etc., and may be able to get some writing done. Will also be sure to take some more pics.

Oh yeah; submitted my request to extend to 01 July. The insurgents are really shaking in their boots now, I am sure.

Thanks for your patience...

Official pics from the visit to Parwan yesterday

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kabulpublicdiplomacy/sets/72157625146235332/?ref=nf

A beautiful mountain range with some guy blocking the view

Motorcycle? Pickup? Yes!

This could only be badder if it had Chuck Norris on it instead of Stallone.

Meeting at the Governor's compound

Well attended, lots of media, lots of questions to both Ambassadors and the Governor. A great event on a beautiful day.

The Past and the Future

From the Governor's compound today, portraits of President Karzai and Ahmad Shah Massoud, revered Northern Alliance leader assassinated two days before Sept 11, 2001. Saw an amazing National Geographic documentary about Massoud a week or so ago, filmed only a couple of months before his assassination. I highly recommend it.

"Ever taken a defensive driving course?"

And not the kind you get for a speeding ticket, but the kind where you learn to evade blocked and unblocked ambushes?

When I got that question a few days ago, I realized that today was going to be interesting. I and another Marine from the office were going to make a run with the General in charge of our section at the Embassy out to visit the Governor of Parwan, accompanying Ambassador Eikenberry and the Ambassador from the Republic of Korea. Initially, the other Marine and I were going to be driving the General in one of our own SUVs, but that changed at the last minute, and we went as riders, both to get a chance to get out of the "Ka-bubble" and see some of what is outside the Embassy compound, as well as to provide a little more firepower if necessary.

So off we went this morning, and had a great trip, start to finish. No shots were fired, although based on the lunch served by our hosts, some chicken, lamb, and cows were harmed in the making of this event. Following the meeting between the Ambassadors and Governor, and the Q&A with the press, we were all invited to a fantastic lunch of rice, kebabs served on three foot long metal skewers, some kind of spicy chicken soup, and locally baked flatbread. Truly, a superb meal. Once done, the Ambassador made a decision to take a walkabout down in a local market area blocks away from the Governor's compound, so off we went, surrounded by heavy security of Afghan police, Afghan army, some US military, the Korean protective security det (PSD) covering the Korean ambassador, and me with my 9mm in my pocket. When the security level appears to be acceptable, we are trying to reflect that level by modifying our own personal protective posture. In the compound for the brief, the Embassy personnel (including myself) grounded our flaks and long guns to send a message that they were, in fact, unnecessary (of course, "unnecessary" because of the protective bubble provided by some other folks WITH flaks and long guns). We probably spent only 20 or 30 minutes out in the 'ville, but it was a real eye-opener to me. It wasn't "normal" to anyone from the outside looking in, but to a guy who had been in Ramadi in 2005... this was a lot better than I had expected. Five years ago back with Team Drifter, we would never - ever - have even considered walking around downtown on a shopping trip, but it is in fact BETTER here than it had been there. I picked up on nothing weird in the "atmospherics" amongst the locals.

There is some serious fighting going on out in the Regional Commands (RCs), especially RC-South and South West, where the Marine Corps has established "Marine-istan" based around Camp Leatherneck, but the parts of Kabul we visited today are better than expected. In my opinion.

Once complete, we mounted up, and rolled out to a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) location for the Ambassador and General to get a tour of the progress being made there. There is a lot of really good work going on out there.

The drive back was uneventful and we returned just at dusk. I had a screaming headache by then, some from wearing that flak jacket and being crammed into the back of an armored SUV all day, but a lot from scanning out the window for any threats and just having sensory visual overload. The people, the poverty, the terrible roads, the heavy traffic observing absolutely NO LAWS, the mix of donkey carts and armored SUVs, the sheer level of activity, spanning medieval to modern. I will try to write more about this later, but it was a LOT to take in.

Enjoy the pics. More to follow.

Witness to a Fallen Hero

No pics of this one.

Was asked yesterday morning if I would be free to fly out to Bagram with other Embassy staff to attend what is called a Fallen Hero ceremony.

It is unfortunately exactly what you think it is: the beginning of the final trip home for a fallen American serviceman or woman, some father, son, wife, or sister escorted with incredible solemnity onto a military aircraft.

I and an Air Force officer from our shop showed up early at the landing zone, a soccer field which serves double duty as a helicopter LZ. While he started checking people off as they arrived for the lift, I jogged out on to the field to tell the two young male soccer coaches that they needed to clear the field. I was wearing my flak and helmet out of habit, even though we weren't required to do so. I can't remember the last time I flew on a helo without a flak and helmet. The two coaches didn't want to stop their team's practice (a girls team, which I thought was interesting), but when I pointed past them into the sky at the helicopters coming on, they shooed them off into the stands.

About 20 of us, half civilians dressed in black, men and women, half military, stood on the perimeter of the field as two old Soviet MI-8 helicopters - now civilian owned and contracted - swooped in, hover, and lightly touched down. I led one stick of 10 civilians out to the far helo, minding the tail boom, and within minutes, we were aloft, climbing out over the city.

Kabul could be a beautiful city, surrounded by high mountains, deep blue skies, the afternoon sunlight beginning to drop to the west. We lifted higher, skirting the rims of the beautiful and unbelievably rugged mountains. As usual, I was having trouble staying awake. For some reason, helicopters always put me to sleep. Loud, warm, rocking slightly. I kept nodding off to awake to to view of nothing but the hindu kush. Within 30 minutes, we were flaring to touch down at Bagram.

The two MI-8s set down just to the right of a line of three C-130s from the West Virginia National Guard. Near the hangars, a loose formation was beginning to form. Army soldiers and Navy sailors, Air Force airmen and Marines, the Embassy personnel who had flown in with us, all stood silently, waiting to see how this would go down. There was no laughing, no carrying on. We all knew why we were there.

Two lines of soldiers who had been briefed took their posts to either side of the cargo door of the middle C-130, about twenty soldiers per side. The soldiers making the bulk of the personnel fell into a formation to in front of the hanger. Taking their cue, we lined up to their left, on line, military and Embassy personnel, and came to attention. Four military working dogs and their handlers took the left most position, the dogs laying down quietly on the tarmac until their handlers signaled for them to sit at attentions as well.

A tan HUMMV, unarmored, open-backed with eight soldiers sitting in the back pulled slowly up from the right. It was the cleanest HUMMV I have ever seen. It's tires were washed clean as a car on a showroom floor, the soldiers at attention in the bed. Between their two ranks lay a silver container beneath an American flag.

The HUMMV stopped. The soldiers dismounted the vehicle as a precision drill movement, two out, pause, two out, pause, until they were all down. As the began to reverently remove the casket, the commander of the formation called "Present arms". The small band present began playing; I can't honestly recall what the song was, "America the Beautiful" perhaps. I was too focused on the care and solemnity of the rest of what was going on. Once the casket was out, the eight pall bearers began their slow walk to the rear of the aircraft. As the casket moved past the color guard, the unit colors dipped in respect while the American flag remained high, bearing witness to her fallen son. The airfield, noisy only minutes before, had become suddenly quiet. Even a pair of F-15 Strike Eagles that had come in for a landing during the ceremony seemed strangely silent as they touched down.

Once the casket was aboard, the chaplain, General Hood from the Embassy, the senior civilian representative, and members of the fallen soldier's unit crowded into the back of the aircraft as well. A small service was begun right there in the cargo bay, led by the chaplain.

The formation we were a part of was given the order to dismiss. While not in formation, we quietly awaited the completion of the service going on in the aircraft. Once complete, the General and senior rep from the Embassy joined us as we moved to the MI-8s and climbed aboard. As the rotors began to turn, I sat, strapped in to the seat, quietly watching the C-130 sitting alone, now attended only by the flight crew. The other helo taxied out onto the runway, and we fell in behind, slowly bouncing along as we rolled out, and suddenly lifted gently into the air. 30 minutes later, retracing our route back into Kabul, and we were down on the soccer field again. Mission complete.

God bless the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines out across this blighted land tonight. And God bless those kids we put into aluminum containers, gently load into a cargo aircraft, and send back home to their families and their nation.

Home Sweet Home

I kid you not. And yes, those are flowers.

Thank you, State Department!

Burkas burkas everywhere

Taken on the drive back. Friday is the big day off here - Saturday and Sunday not so much - and we hit BIG crowds of people out shopping coming back. I drove "dash two" coming back, so my boss took this shot.

For the Drifters and other OIF alumni, lots of people, lots of mopeds, lots of squirley dudes in dish-dashas with cell phones, and everyone driving like it was Mad Max.

Logically, I knew that all was OK, and there were no atmospherics about anything bad, but DAMN was it stressful. In Iraq, we would have rolled up half the MAMs we drove past.

I was glad to get off the street.

P.S. Uncle Barry: this pic reminded me of that flyer you made a few years back.

From inside...

A beautiful view, wrap around windows... Maybe the Queen used to look out at the mountains from here.

Now, there are sandbagged emplacements to either side, and a small city of foreign troops in the foothills.

A silent testament to better times...

Big brother again

The big f-ing balloon set against the damaged steel and stone of the Queen's Palace.

Big brother

There are a couple of "aerostats" positioned in Kabul, providing God knows what kinds of visual and electronic surveillance.

I was calling them "balloons", but the Air Force officers on the team corrected me. Turns out they're "aerostats". Interesting.

I still call them "balloons", though, mainly to get under their skin. We are on the same team, but Marines have a reputation for belligerence to uphold, and I am only doing my part.

The Queen's Palace

One upon a time, Afghanistan had a King and a Queen, and they each had their own beautiful palaces, facing each other from opposite hills on the outskirts of Kabul.

And then came war, and the Soviet Army, and then roving bands of criminals and murderers and then the Taliban, and then, nine years ago, the US followed by ISAF.

This place has taken a beating for 30+ years, but on the edges, you can still see signs of what Afghanistan used to be.

Like this once beautiful, and now bullet-scarred, looted, shell of a royal palace. Truly a crying shame.