Sometimes....

I question how does a month go by when it seems like a week has barely pasted?  I am currently on forced R&R leave.  I opted to go to Ireland.  before I left, SPC Archuleta sent out her weekly-ish email she has allowed me to share it again....I think I am going to have her make me write this one once a week as well.

"Hello from Mehtar Lam,

After returning from Kandahar things slowed down a little and I was tasked with getting the office organized…sound familiar?  We are currently all organized in binders, drawers, calendars and bulletin boards. All is good now (had to order some more Post-it’s though).  I have temporarily been the Interpreter Manager while SGT Lang is out on R&R.  I have spent the last three weeks scheduling the 10+ interpreters that work for the PRT and working on their payroll.  I have really enjoyed getting to know them and I ask them a daily cultural question; sometimes my questions start a long discussion (like their belief in ghosts – that one is still going!).  I am reading the Quran and we have discussions about having 4 wives and other interesting religious beliefs.  It is a neat group of guys and it’s been fun learning their culture. I feel like their mom trying to keep them out of trouble, where they are supposed to be and spending time with them but, thank God I do not have 10 boys to raise full time.

Upon my return, I had to prepare a slide show to brief the PRT about the Female Engagement Team training I attended. My Commander has tasked me with organizing a team here.  I have been meeting with the other team that is getting ready to leave Afghanistan and see how we can help keep their programs going.  I am meeting people like the Afghan Gender Director that works for the Director of Women’s Affairs and the eight departments under them.  I have decided to focus on economic improvement for the women in Laghman Province, especially widows and elderly.  As sad as it might sound, my goal is to in some way make them more valuable to the family….you have to start somewhere.  I will start going on missions that are focused on this goal when I return from my R&R in September.

 

One of the highlights to date - Major General Daniel Allyn, Commanding General of the First Cavalry Division and Combined Joint-Task Force 1, visited our FOB.  Five Soldiers were chosen (out of roughly 1000 people on the FOB) to be introduced to the General. I was the only female, the rest were guys - either mildly injured or Snipers. I was introduced by my Commander “as the only Civil Affairs Female in our PRT who just returned from Female Engagement Team training. “She was asked to stay an additional week by the (FET) creator for her knowledge and professionalism.” The Commander told the General that I was an outstanding Soldier and “an asset to not only our PRT, but the mission here in Afghanistan.” If I wasn’t standing at attention and so nervous I would have looked behind me to see who he was talking about; surely not me. As the General shook my hand I received an “Awarded for Excellence Coin”. It is my first coin and everyone around here teases me about the “coaster” I received because it is so big and heavy. The five of us then ate lunch with the General and spoke with him for a couple of hours. I talked about the 16 or so missions I have been on and what I hope to do with the female engagement team. It was a cool experience and honored that I was nominated by different people in my PRT.

I went with the Engineers on a quality control check mission in Qhargayee to visit the mosque being built.  It is always neat going up to the mosque, knowing how important it is to the locals and watch the progress. As seems to always happen, as soon as the local children realized I am a female I had a lot of them come and talk to me. The younger ones want to shake my hand or slap it. I think it’s their way of showing off to me, but they hit my hand pretty hard sometimes. We also went to a bridge on this trip and my job is to talk to the people wherever we go. We recently have had a problem with a kid that throws rocks at our vehicles. We have had to replace a very expensive window already and not sure what the issue is. This time we arranged with the convoy commander to stop and talk to the locals if it happened again. Good thing we did. The minute it actually did happen, I had to get out of the truck nearly as fast as the squad leader did to keep him from killing the kid. After I calmed the squad leader down I coached the conversation so we were talking about “disrespect”. We spoke to the men that were working in the area and we were told they were “just kids being kids”.  Disrespect is taken very serious here and it can have serious consequences. The rocks being thrown are huge boulders and cause a lot of damage and this time almost hit the gunner. The local men suggested we meet with the village Elder or Mullah to find out why the boy throws the rocks. Eventually, the local police came up and said they would help to keep it from happening again. The squad leader did tell me when he got back in the truck that he was glad I was there. I think it is funny sometimes what happens on missions and who I am really there for.

 I posted some pictures from the multi day dismounted Op we went on. I didn’t necessarily take to the idea of going out on a mission to look for Taliban and IED’s, but my job is to be part of the Civil Affairs element to talk to people, especially women that we may encounter. We left in the evening and walked through the village in the dark. It felt really odd walking through a village for about six hours; I found myself wondering if anyone was going to be out or what might happen. Thankfully there was moon light so you could see pretty well (we have night vision gear as well). We would stop every now and then and take a break. I was happy to stop and take my assault pack off and sit for a bit. We did not find too many people out, but we passed a mosque where a lot of men were praying. The leader stopped praying on the loudspeaker and you have to wonder what they are thinking as a very large group of soldiers march by in the dark. At one point we had to wait in a (dry) rice field to get other elements in place.  Somehow, I fell in an irrigation ditch and got only one boot muddy and wet.  As I sat in the middle of the field, listening to every noise, I watched the infantry guys move around the security position with my night vision gear. It isn’t really like camping because in the back of your mind you can’t help but think I really don’t want to get shot sitting here. We did not stay long and continued to walk through the village. Finally around 2 am we stopped for the night in an open area past some buildings. Unfortunately, at this time I got (what was) my first 1000 ml IV. I was able to fall asleep for a couple hours. When I woke up, it turned out we were in very large open area behind some schools.  And, just like everywhere else we go, we were “surrounded” by kids and men (curious I am sure) wondering why we were there. To complete the ‘camping trip’ every girl’s dream/fear – having to go to the bathroom.  We were quite fortunate to have some ‘facilities’ near us….well, kind of.  After ‘clearing’ (not joking) the stalls in a small building with a wall around it, and posting a guard (CPT Love) I experienced “squatting” over a tear-shaped small hole in the ground to … take care of business.  Add that to my Afghan experiences! After that, I was able to talk to a group of kids about the schools we were close to. They explained that school is out right now, but the buildings were a school for girls and a school for boys. They were very excited to tell me what grade or as they call it what “class” they were in and what subjects they liked best.  Most of them said religion was their favorite subject. They were practicing the English they have been learning in school, asking me questions in English and naming all the body parts.  I taught them a few new things and they did a great job at trying to pronounce “it’s very nice to meet you”. As always, the kids are great. They are really interested in why a girl is there and sometimes ask me funny questions or want to see how strong I am. They like to touch me or shake my hand and have me take their picture.  The Afghan Police and Afghan Army guys treated me really well too. They let me play with the RPG. (CPT Love told me I cannot trade my grenade launcher in for one) The Afghan Army guys showed me how to hold it and showed me the different rounds they have for it.  We then walked back into the village again. We continued to walk for several hours through villages, back yards, farm animals, and rice fields before taking up our predetermined position; quite the surreal experience. It was very warm and humid. During our time there, we heard shots fired from far away.  We sat for a while so it could be assessed where the shots were coming from.  It was strange sitting low on the ground and the rice plants being tall enough to hide me. It was the middle of the day and we ran out of water. I did not take the heat so well so I ended up getting an IV…..again (another 1000 ml). After a while we made our way back into the village and waited for the water to be delivered to us. (4 hours late) Adding to the adventure, we rested along a stream of water under some trees, and oddly enough, behind a cemetery. We had several kids follow us to this spot and they continued to talk to all of us.  Since we really didn’t have much choice, we opted to give them some empty water bottles to fill (we did insist and check it was well water). Blessed with a chance to recover, I was able to talk to a lot of the kids.  The highlight was talking to a young girl (10) who was actually asking to talk to me. While I was talking to her, the baby she was holding reached out to me and I was allowed to hold him.  He was a year old and had more eyeliner on than I wear. He was very quiet and just looked at me as I spoke to the young girl. Over all, the girls are very shy but some more came up and talked to me. They are very curious about why I am here.  As you can tell, I really enjoy hanging out with the kids. It is a blessing to hear them laugh and see them smile and joke like normal children without a care in the world. The young boys were trying to write English words for me in my notebook and show off. Water finally arrived, but CPT Love did not let me stay for the last night of the mission. He went back with me so I could be checked by the doc’s on the FOB.  I still wish he would have let me stay. I was well aware of what was left of the mission, and feel more water and some rest should have been enough and I am not a quitter. (He knows I am still mad at him)

Anyway, it was an interesting experience and hard to explain what goes through your mind as we walked through the villages, sleeping outside of the FOB (on the ground in the middle of nowhere), helicopters flying really low overhead, engaging the locals, being stared at everywhere we go etc… At times I feel safe and others I am nervous. We get reports of suicide bombers on bikes, motorcycles and as we walk through traffic you have to be very aware of your surroundings. The kids make it all worth it, but you can’t help but remind yourself that they are not all innocent little children. Some days all I can do is pray for every one of them that I touch and tell myself that God knows what their needs are. I can’t save them all, but I hope to be there to make them smile and laugh if only for a little while. This is the only life they know and we don’t realize how spoiled our kids in America really are till you see this for yourself.

My next mission was to the Mehtar Lam Hospital. As we walked through the multiple buildings on the property, we saw that they actually had a pretty good set up. The equipment is old and worn, but everything is clean and usable.  I was surprised to see the birthing room and hear that they deliver and average of 600 babies a month (675 last month!). We saw several newborn babies in incubators and saw the moms learning to feed them.  We met some midwives and a couple male doctors. The waiting room, for the men who are soon to be fathers, is actually a separate metal structure since they are not allowed in the women’s part of the hospital. Once we made it through that portion of the hospital on the top of the hill, we went outside and quickly became surrounded by women who would walk up and lift their burkas to talk to us. This is the first time I have seen so many women in one area. We explained that we were not doctors and could not help them with the medical concerns they were telling us they have through our interpreter. Some women would bring their babies to me and I began to touch them and pray for them. A few women caught on to what I was doing and would walk up and motion for me to do it again. I found myself surrounded by women in blue burkas watching me touch the foreheads or bodies of their little ones and close my eyes as I prayed for them. They would smile and touch my hand or bow and walk away. It breaks my heart to see these tiny children that are obviously malnourished and sick. I don’t know what the answer is to help Afghanistan and I can’t believe we have been here ten years and they are still in the condition they are in. There was a group of young girls that would follow me around and when I sat for a while they would sit really close to me and touch either my uniform or the rings I wear. They would giggle and tell me about school, their clothes and jewelry. A lot of the young girls were wearing clothes made of fancy and colorful material. Some wear makeup and jewelry and have their noses pierced. Most of the “dressed up” girls were around ten years old. I took some pictures and we took one with the group. We finished our tour of the emergency room and labs. As we left we had a lot of the kids trying to shake our hands one more time and waving. The doctors seemed glad to have us there, but of course asked us to help them with all kinds of things like equipment, security walls, and medication.

Well I have been here since June and I think I have a different experience and different emotion for every day I wake up. It is rewarding to be here and try to do the little things.  I am missing home very much, especially my boys. I stay busy and try very hard to keep a positive attitude. I got to shoot at the range the other day and that helped to blow off some stress. I am very excited to be leaving on Sept 3^rd for my R&R leave. I will be spending my birthday, Sept 8^th in Paris France.  My childhood dream of going to Paris is coming true and I can’t wait. I have tours, museums, Eiffel tower, catacombs, and so much more on the agenda for my 15 day stay in Paris. I will have so much to report for my next letter home.

My whole Civil Affairs team was just here on the FOB together for the first time since we got here. I still don’t think a lot of people know or understand what it is we do, but I think we are all doing the best we can under the circumstances."

She is really good at keeping track of everything she does every day....I need to go back to that.