November 12, 2009

Well it has been three weeks since my last post, so I guess I should give all of you an update of whats going on over here. The last time I posted I had just completed a week long visit to Asadabad, and was on my way to Jalalabad. I am now here in Jalalabad and enjoying the work here as well as the people that I work with.



Our primary mission here in Jalalabad is building facilities for the Afghan National Army, Border Police, and local police forces. There are about $250,000,000 worth of contracts that our office is responsible for and it is a constant uphill battle here with local Contractors and the challenges that we are faced with. The culture here is much different than ours and it took me a while and a lot of frustration to realize that. An example of one that we face everyday, is the attempted extortion of our contractors from the Afghan authority figures who are gaining the facility. There was not a day that passed for a couple of weeks where I was ready to start the paperwork to try to cancel projects, because extortion is something that I will not stand for. Luckily, I had people in my office to reel me in and say lets see what we can do about that tomorrow. It's amazing what a nights sleep can do!!! To no fault of the Afghans, they had no idea that they were doing something wrong. Its part of the culture. Its part of being a man here. Apparently you have to show your manhood by getting more out of people, no matter if its money or stuff!!! It took me a couple of weeks to understand that!!! So now that I am learning more about the culture and getting more tolerant of it, my frustration has gone down significantly, and I am becoming more willing to try to work out these issues!!!



My mother tells me that lots of people at home have me on their prayer list and I see evidence of those prayers more and more as I continue to go on missions outside of the wire. The most recent event happened last week while I was on a site visit. I was up at a Forward Operating Base (FOB) north of a Jalalabad to do an inspection of a site that our office was getting ready to turn over to the local police. Our original plans were to fly up north, catch a convoy to the site, then come home. When we got off the helicopter we were informed that the unit we were going to ride with were hit by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) the night before an were going to spend the day recuperating and we would go out the next day. The IED killed a dog handler and its dog, so they were not going to go out. The convoy commander also made the decision, much to my dislike, that we would leave at 10:00 am instead of 8:00 the next day because they felt like they needed to change up their sequence and try to not be so predictable. When I am going to be out I like to get out early, do my work, and get home. On this convoy I was just a passenger and had no say in the matter, which ended up being a good thing. We were getting ready to leave the next day and were told that our mission had been changed because another unit that had left at 8:00 traveling our same route was hit with an IED and we were needed to provide security until the site could be cleared., which lasted all day. Its instances like those that show me how lucky I am and how much prayer really does work!!!



That is really all that is happening here, I am heading out to another site tomorrow and look forward to getting out a couple of times next week. Thanks to all those who read and I hope that I am giving you all a little insight as to life over here. Til next time...