Adventure in Afghanistan

Weasel Driving

2011-03-20T07:31:00.000-07:00

I had a chance to drive a German weasel! It was awesome. It is essentially a mini-tank. . . .

Dani at a Dingo - different German vehicle.

My wonderful Weasel driving instructor - Rosey.

Rosey showing Dani and Björn the in's and out's.

Dani getting additional instructions on how to drive.

Dani waiting for Jan, Björn and Rosey to be ready for their turn to drive. This gives some perspective with regards to the size of the weasel. It's just so cute.

The weasel gang - Dani, Björn, Jan, Rosey and Brad.

Portland Adventures

2010-11-24T08:35:00.001-08:00

I made a trip to Portland to visit college friends for the weekend. It was a wonderful time!

Erica and I ensuring that Maddie is thoroughly brainwashed by the age of 1. This was the cutest little kid story we found at Costco.

Maddie was busy cheering for the Beavs - they won that weekend.

Again, just too adorable to pass up!

Tim and Ilana got a puppy! She's good training for the real thing. . .

And so well behaved in a park, no fence, no leash! Blue will need some lessons . . .

Heidi and Dwight Summers' Wedding

2010-11-24T08:13:00.001-08:00

Love Story: Heidi Baldwin married Dwight Summers. . . . Beautiful.

The flowers were amazing - Katrina does such great work!

The ladies - don't ask what drink number that was for any of us!

Project Management

2010-09-11T07:26:00.000-07:00

A man in a hot air balloon realized he was lost. He lowered his altitude and spotted a fisherman in a boat below. He shouted to him, 'Excuse me, can You help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am.'

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, 'You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.9720 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.'

The balloonist rolled his eyes and said, 'You must be a Contracting Officer.'

'I am,' replied the man. 'How did you know?'

'Well,' answered the balloonist, 'everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me.'

The man smiled and responded, 'You must be a Program Manager.'

'I am,' replied the balloonist. 'How did you know?'

'Well,' said the man, 'you don't know where you are or where you're going. You've risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise that you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but, somehow, now it's my fault.'

Logar . . . .In the winter!

2010-09-10T20:32:00.000-07:00

Random photos that are just too gorgeous to not share . . . . These are from the Logar province!

Dani's Going Away

2010-09-09T18:56:00.000-07:00

After a year at Qalaa House as an ANP project manager, we had a party to say goodbye. Little did I know, less than 2 months later I would return - but this time to Kunduz. :-)

Chief's Visit to Shank Area Office

2010-09-03T03:31:00.000-07:00

WOW! I'm really far behind on getting blogs out there. . . Since these photos were already loaded into the system, I figured I would post this blog officially.

Dani and the Chief of Engineers, Lieutenant General Van Antwerp.

Lt. Gen. Van Antwerp during our flight. So calm and relaxed.

During our trip we had an amazing lunch at one of the contractor's camps.

Focused.

The flight - the Contractor gave COL Magness a cloak. Thought I'd try it on over the body armor :-)

The feast!

COL Magness and the contractor - notice the cloak!

New offices at FOB Shank. Luxury!

Great ceremony to dedicate the new FOB Shank USACE facilities, but also to present the medals (including the purple heart) to several soldiers.

Presentation of Fleur de Lis to USACE NCO!

Purple Heart recipients.

Convoy brief by USACE's very own Force Pro.

Flight brief - fully geared.

The bosses!

About to land - and away we go!

Views of Kabul city.

National Police Training Center - Flagship project for ANP.

Here I am briefing the NPTC project layout, success and challenges.

VIPs in route - once again, chatting with LTG Van Antwerp.

Green valleys! The patchwork is beautiful from the air.

Successful day!

COL M and Dani

Town Hall with the Chief of Engineers

2010-09-03T02:21:00.000-07:00

Lieutenant General Van Antwerp held a house meeting during his recent visit to AED-N.

Dani and Dave "preparing" for the house meeting. "Preparing" entailed Dani chatting with Dave :-)

COL Magness (AED-N Commander) and General Van Antwerp.

During the house meeting, General Van Antwerp presented coins to individuals nominated by their various organizations. I was honored and humbled to have been nominated.

Then we did a group photo. The group was too large to get onto one frame, so there is a series of photos below.

MeS Ribbon Cutting

2010-09-03T02:11:00.000-07:00

ANOTHER SUCCESS! !
The MeS Resident Office team attended a ribbon cutting recently and shared some of their photos with me. What a great group of people, and a successful project!

Chuck (Resident Engineer) and Dan Nordstrom (Project Engineer) cutting the ribbon.

The group partaking in a meal to celebrate.

MAJ Jugan, the MeS Resident Office OIC.

Contractor employees enjoying their meal.

An Afghan gentleman. . . .

District HQ Ribbon Cutting - Basawol

2010-08-18T00:55:00.000-07:00

One of the projects I worked on my first six months was just turned over! A great news story! !

Our contractor, Sayed Ishaq Sadat, General Zaman of the Border Police and Nawab preparing to cut the ribbon.

Yeah! A new facility . . .

Flags

2010-08-13T05:20:00.000-07:00

Billy helped fly flags the other week . . .

MeS in the Summer

2010-08-13T04:31:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of taking another trip to MeS, and of course took some photos.

A view of the city . . .

Another view of the city.

Can anyone from Walla Walla name this person?! Perhaps a familiar face from years ago? Yes, Oswald Mora is working as an office engineer for the MeS Area Office. I have the privilege of interfacing with him frequently. He says hi to everyone!

A view of the suburbs of MeS.

The airport in Marmal had this nice flowering shrub - and when there aren't many flowers around you have to take photos!

The valleys are even more pronounced now that the hillside has essentially no green!

Jalalabad Area Office Flood

2010-08-02T09:32:00.000-07:00

Jalalabad Area Office was part of quite a significant flood. . . .

Danger - Elvis and Kevin are crazy!

I guess this gator is out of commission.

As long as you don't mind having wet feet and legs, chilling in the office isn't so bad.

The Area Office.

And, talk about water front property in your living quarters.

Promotion Ceremony

2010-08-02T08:31:00.000-07:00

One of the CSTC-A Project Managers I work with on Border Police facilities was promoted from Lieutenant to Captain today! It was neat to be a part of the festivities.

COL Wehr, Capt Sean Warner, Lt Jacob Botello, and Capt. Noble.

Capt Warner and Capt Noble pinning the new rank on Capt Botello.

Capt. Botello taking his oath.

On behalf of the fellow Air Force Captains, Capt. Warner and Capt. Noble presented Capt. Botello with the Officer's Creed - too funny. . . .

Congratulations!

Just the ladies!

2010-08-02T04:47:00.000-07:00

For Alisa's last day the ladies in Dani's office got together for some photos. Alan just kept clicking and got some great candid shots!

Alisa and Dani laughing at Rebekah, Sai and Sarah.

Sarah pretending to go over the railing.

Rebekah is just out of control, too funny but rock on. . .

Alisa, Rebekah, Dani, Sai and Sarah.

As the transition continues the next few weeks, the ladies of ANP will dwindle. . . Sai (on the right) will be the only chica remaining. . . .

Kittens at Qalaa

2010-07-30T20:25:00.000-07:00

Our resident cats have apparently been busy and now we have KITTENS! I've heard about the kittens for over a week and hadn't seen any of them until breakfast this morning. . . . He was just so adorable I snuck him up to my office and tooks some pictures.

Not sure if you can tell, but Brandon was teasing the kitten with a taste of RipIt - the kitty was then entrigued.

Alan was the photographer, and Sarah was crinkling plastic to get the kitten to look at the camera. It was funny to see the production!

Going Away Parties

2010-07-26T00:36:00.000-07:00

We've had 2 going away parties in the past few weeks. Within the next 60 days, Roy, Alisa, Rebekah, Dani and Carmine will redeploy; Alan, Sai and new team members will remain to carry the torch. So far, we've farewelled Roy, who took a job in Germany, and Alisa, who leaves in a week.

Ed and Mary at Roy's going away.

Dan and Dani.

Roy and Dani. Of course, Roy was eating cake and ice cream with a knife - no surprise to those of us who worked with him several months.

Carmine, the ANP Program Manager, and Dani.

Sterling and Roy.

Many of the PPMD ladies before Alisa's going away dinner. From left to right: Alisa, Sarah, Sai, Loan, Dani & Rebekah.

Wes, Carmine, Alisa and COL Magness.

Sai and Alisa.

Tuttle's Deployment

2010-07-20T08:23:00.001-07:00

Check out an article about a co-worker of mine (even though he works on Afghan National Army projects instead of Afghan National Police, which we all know is the superior program - ha!).

http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/news/YE/2010/June2010.pdf

Start on page 4!

It's a small world. . .

2010-07-16T02:00:00.000-07:00

One of the funny things about life is how small the world is - how you can be thousands of miles from home, and realize that home is right there with you. In December, Dani was in Herat and ran into a family friend - someone her parents worked with in the Nevada Air National Guard many years ago and knew Dani as a girl - Frank Turek. He is working in Afghanistan as a contractor. Recently he was relocated to Kabul and works at Camp Eggers. Dani has had the pleasure of seeing Frank several times week on Qalaa.

An e-mail Frank sent to Dani was very touching, and deserving of sharing for not only civilians deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, and for those carrying the weight at home while we are deployed, but also for all the military whose support is required to allow the USACE mission to be successful. The e-mail is below:

"Thanks for your service both here and domestically ~ you're a member of a long line of engineers birthed by West Point engineers and surveyors who mapped out the entire country. Evolved into the USACE family, and has since the early years of the 19th century installed the backbone of our American infrastructure. Thanks, and .....God Bless."

The MALDIVES!

2010-07-13T22:50:00.000-07:00

For our latest R&R, Billy and I went to the Maldives, which is composed of 26 atolls in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Sri Lanka. The name of the country is pronounced mall-dives, like divas. We were quickly corrected when we got to the island that it is not mall -dives, like diving. But they said since we were American it was alright that we didn't get the pronunciation correct! And since the staff couldn't remember another time there had been Americans at this island, I guess they would permit us to be ignorant. . . So, needless to say a lot of the adventure of this trip was meeting the people from Western and Eastern Europe.

The island where the airport is only has the airport! These big airliners land, slow down just in time for the end of the runway and then turn around . There is no taxiway for maneuvering about. So if you've ever landed in Salerno, or Kunduz you'd understand - except this is a huge plane! It was a short flight from Dubai (about 4 hours) and was direct on Emirates Airlines, which is just a wonderful carrier.

This is the sign for the airport. The writing toward the right of this sign is their native language, Divehi.

To give you an idea of the layout of the country, click on the link below and then click on the photo to make it larger. The lightest blue color indicates shallow water and designates the boundary of an atoll. Then the green shapes are actual land masses.

http://www.bestholidaysmaldives.com/images/mapb.gif

So, since the only thing on the "airport island" is the airport, all the "taxis" are boats. this was our chariot to Gasfinolhu.

And this is the "parking lot." The color of the water was breathtaking! I promise I didn't photo shop the colors.

As you leave the airport, you can see Male, the smallest country capital in the world (or so they told us), its own island.

This is a float plane leaving the domestic terminal. Since all domestic flights involve landing at an island, they are all float planes! It was neat.

As you approach Gasfinolhu, this is a neighboring island that has "water bungalows."

This is the dock for the island, Gasfinolhu. The lighter colored water is referred to as the "lagoon." You can walk to the end of the pier and the water will only be chest deep! The island is 350m long by 70m wide, at it's widest point. There were 40 beach bungalows with wonderful views of the lagoon. If you're ever on this side of the world, we highly recommend this holiday!
http://www.gasfinolhuisland.com/

And this is the island we could see from the beach all week!

Once we arrived, the hospitality was wonderful. We filled out the arrival information while sipping on a fruit cocktail drink.

This is the garden bungalow we stayed in. This is of course before "Hurricane Danielle" unpacked.

The room was very basic, but when you plan to be snorkeling, diving, wind surfing and sunbathing most of the time - who cares about the extra s in the room. . .

This is the view from our room. The glass is basically one-way. Whichever side has more light cannot see in - so during the day you can have the window wide open the people walking by can't see in. But at night that's a different story. The 2 lounge chairs you can see were on our little piece of the beach - just for Billy and I.

This was our daily meal visitor. Breakfast was served from 0730 to 0930; lunch from 1230-1430; and dinner from 1930-2130. Almost all the seats in the dining area had an ocean view and we were assigned the same waiter all week - which was really nice.

The path between the bar/restaurant and our bungalow had beautiful plantings that were in bloom.

This is a view from the main beach. The catamaran was primarily used by the staff. The "hut" in the distance is the end of the pier for the island. You could walk there and not get your shoulders wet.

This is the main beach - there were kayaks to use, a volleyball court, and the starting point for the windsurfing lessons.

Here's Billy testing out the water - it was nice and warm! We didn't even need a wetsuit for scuba diving.

From the midpoint of the pier looking at the bar and main beach.

Looking out along the pier from the bar.

This is what we fondly called "main street." There were no streets, but this path to our bungalow was the closest thing you would find.

A view of our little slice of paradise. The way the trees were situated made it very private.

Each night when there was turn down service the bed was made up differently. It reminded me of a cruise ship where they would fold the towels into various shapes. The pride taken was wonderful.

One morning during low tide we walked out to the end of the lagoon where the waves were breaking. This is a view looking back at the island.

And yes, not the best self-photography, but it was an attempt.

And the full view of the island - you can see the "path" we walked on to get to the end during the low tide. It was neat to see the mantas swimming right along side you in the shallow water!

This was another one of the bed arrangements.

Here I am learning to windsurf - at least I'm actually on the board and standing, which I think I spent more time in the water than anywhere else. It was great to learn in the shallow water. When you fell off you could just stand up and step back on the board - there was no concern with needing to float. :-)

And here is where I spent more of my time during the windier part of the day.

The afternoons were a bit stormy, but nothing we didn't expect. It's technically monsoon season for this part of the world, so we were pleasantly surprised how good the weather was. The cloudy skies made for some wonderful sunset photos.

Suz and Dani are doing there "Eastern European Porn Star" pose. There were a few groups of eastern Europeans who would take their little cameras, set them on a tripod and then take numerous photos of the women. It was funny to watch. So one night, Suz and Dani decided it was something they needed to try out - of course minus the tripod. It was just too funny.

Billy and Dani - such a beautiful place.

The "storm" had just passed so the blinds were still down on the bar, but this is the bar and beach.

Dani and Billy enjoying a little sunshine before football started - Did we mention we saw more football (Soccer for us Americans) in the week we were in the Maldives than in my entire life!?

Other bed arrangment.

Billy finally deciding he'd give windsurfing a go. He did great!

Until moments like this - in mid fall! :-)

One afternoon the wind was too strong for the novice windsurfer, so the staff pulled out a trainer kite! They did great until they crashed the kite and then it was very difficult to launch again since there was no inflated edge. Once they practiced some with just the kite, one of them would come get a windsurfing board. They would fumble around with the kite and then get on the board! It was classic.

We did one dive trip with Suz and Tom; Dani did another dive on her own. This is the instructor getting a read on the currents, tides, etc. It was his favorite place on the boat.

Another beautiful sunset.

Dani and Billy - just before the sun left for the evening.

Right at the bar, the lights reflected beautifully for this photo.

This is how we spent many of the evenings - beers and mixed drinks in hand, at the bar, watching football. This is Tom and Billy, just relaxing.

During the games we would watch on a large projector-type TV. The dinner staff would crowd around a smaller TV area. . . It's so interesting how popular football is in the rest of the world.

I snuck into the dining area early one night to get some photos of the set-up. This is where the soup, salad, and condiments were displayed.

Here are more of the salad dishes.

For every meal there was some sort of grill option where it was cooked right before you.

And, of course, my favorite - desserts! There were always amazing options, but the best was the hot custard of varying flavors.

A view of my favorite table from further away so you can see the wonderful breads on the left! There was always a fresh cheese bread, like asiago bagels. MMMMMMM!

Across the room (circular) from the salads were all the hot dishes.

And this is the seating. From this photo you might think there were a lot of people on tihe island. There were actually about 60 guests and 80 staff. So, at any given time since meals were 2 hours long, there may have been 20 other people there with you.

Each meal had the full array of utensils. Enough for a 5 course meal if you want to eat that way - most people just piled their plate high! And Billy usually managed 5 courses, even with his plate piled high! :-)

This is a wood carving of a local fisherman. Not sure why they didnt' have the rod attached, but it was still neat.

The staff - so friendly. . . Our waiter for the week is in the center.

Dani partaking in the nightly photo of the bed designs.

Looking out from the walking path.

Billy enjoying a little sun and beach walking.

The lighting was just perfect - here's Billy getting out of the water. I think it would be a wonderful calendar photo - Mr. July or something like that :-)

The catamaran coming in for the evening.

The view from the lounge chair.

On a clear night, the moon had a beautiful reflection off the water.

And, another bed arrangment. We never could figure out where the flowers came from each night as there weren't that many trees or plants with flowers.

Lloyd, Justine and Dani on our way to the local island, Thulusdhoo, which is one of the included excursions.

Looking back at Gasfinholhu.

Since we went snorkeling and diving frequently enough, Dani learned that one of the best seats in the house is where the staff sits. . . So she decided to join them.

And, looking ahead at Thulusdhoo. At low tide, you can apparently walk between this island and Gasfinohlu.

A ship wreck right off the shore that has not been moved - makes for some good pictures at least.

This was the first female Dani saw in the Maldives - all the staff on the island is male. Remember, the Maldives is a Muslim country.

They used net and tubing to make benches and swinging chairs - it was great!

One of the main industries on Thulusdhoo island is a Coca-Cola bottling plant.

A late dinner after football - Lloyd, Billy, Tom, Suz, Dani and Justine.

Our bungalow.

I thought this was the cutest idea! Only needed if you didn't make it up for breakfast, or if you weren't watching football in the evening when turndown service occured.

This is how you washed your feet before entering the bungalow. Since we didn't wear shoes the entire time we were there (not even sandals) it was a necessity.

This little crab was too cute! Perhaps not the nicest thing to do, but I kept picking him up and placing him upside down so we could watch him come out of the shell and turn his "home " back over.

The gang - Lloyd, Dani, Tom, Justine, Suz and Billy.

Leaving the island, our parting shot . . . .

The water bungalows on a neighboring island we looked at all week.

This is a shipwreck on the jetty protecting the "taxi waiting area" at the airport. I'm just not sure why the Maldivians don't feel the need to remove wrecks.

After storing our luggage at the airport, we took a ferry to Male, the capital. This is a typical street.

You always hear about the Boy Scouts being an international organization, but it's amazing to see it in action.

We took a little tourist map and tried to hit the highlights before sunset. This is an old mosque minuret.

Another public building.

This is a grave at a mosque. We were permitted to enter the grounds of the mosque, but not the mosque itself. The mausoleum was made of carved coral blocks.

And the graveyard next to the tomb.

There is a public park that we decided to stroll around - although small, it was pleasant.

Billy at the park.

This fountain is the center of a round about.

This is the largest mosque on the island. If we had arrived earlier in the day we could have entered the mosque even as a non-muslim. I was pretty bummed to have missed that opportunity.

The fruit market was one of the main attractions as well. Many people were out and about shopping for the evening meal.

This was one of our final destinations in Male - the fish market. It was tricky to ensure we didn't end up smelling like fish for our flight and the next 12 hours to Kabul.

The flight attendents on Emirates greet you wearing the following. They are always so beautiful.

The decorations in the airport in Dubia are just as extravagent as everything else in Dubai.

Dubai - In route to R&R again!

2010-06-30T08:24:00.000-07:00

It's that time again - R&R! Billy and Dani decided after many deliberations to spend 9 days in the Maldives. As always, the first part of the trip involves a 12+ hour layover in Dubai. Instead of seeing the sights in the airport, 5 of us went to the Diera Mall and on to a desert safari.

The new metro from the airport is extremely efficient in getting around the city, at least to the major sites. And, most importantly this time of the year, the metro is air conditioned! The metro is primarily elevated alongside major roadways.

As you can imagine, Dani couldn't resist a photo at this store. . .

The desert safari occurs in SUVs equipped with roll bars. MANY companies have this excursion and they all typically travel in packs of 10-20 vehicles.

Ferron, Dani, Billy, Charlie, Ifty (the driver), Mike and Tom were the trouble makers for the day! We had to stop in the middle of the desert to let the engines cool down before continuing on.

A view of the dunes. . .

Without alcohol in Afghanistan, it's difficult to avoid the immediate temptation of a few drinks. Tom was priceless and made our dune driving very entertaining - but he couldn't make the whole trip.

After dune driving, you arrive at a "camp" where dinner and drinks are served. Traditional seating on pillows was fun.

There was also an opportunity to touch and ride a camel! At least they have the muzzle covers to avoid all the spitting camels are known for.

Dani and Billy about to begin their camel ride.

They had 3 camels strung together so one guide could manage them all. Mike and Ferron rode one camel, Billy and Dani on the second, and then some little kids on the third.

They even had a hawk you could hold.

Billy wasn't so sure about it :-)

This "lamp" was inside the camp. Dani decided it must have a magic genie and tried rubbing it!

Billy and Dani in the camp.

Since Tom needed to continue his nap, Dani decided to take provocative photos while he was sleeping.

At the camp there was an opportunity to get henna. It is like a frosting that you have to let dry for 45 minutes. Then it basically falls off and leaves the following stain.

We eventually made it to airport. Since we flew on Emirates to Male, Maldives, we went to Terminal 3. It is only for Emirates and is very opulent. So. . . .on to the next adventure.

Random Photos from Afghanistan

2010-06-08T07:24:00.000-07:00

As Dani went through folder after folder of photos from the past 10 months, there were several photos that she wanted to share. They are in no particular order, but simply continue to illustrate the experience we are having in Afghanistan.

This photo is from the northern area of Afghanistan. In the background, there is one of the new Uniform Police District HQ facilities. This picture is courtesy of Rigo.

Springtime in Kabul at Qalaa was blessed with gorgeous flowers. . . .

If you ignore the over sized, up armored SUVs that line every flower bed, it's actually rather pretty.

The CSM (Command Sergeant Major) for AED-N won't let anyone pick the flowers, so there are always beautiful buds to enjoy.

More roses. . . .

Now that the weather is warmer, we enjoy sitting out on the balcony and soaking up the sun. Roy fell asleep and it was too tempting to take a photo of him!

A while back, 1Lt Chris Cagle, another co-worker and friend of Dani's redeployed. Had to get in a parting shot.

This is the resident kitten for Qalaa - Loggy - perched on the gate.

One of the compounds between Eggers and Qalaa is occupied by the Mongolians. Inside the compound there is a tent that is set up with authentic Mongolian items. Here is Dani and the Mongolian soldier who showed her and Gareth around.

Dani and Gareth in the fancy carved chairs.

The roof of the Mongolian tent is elaborately painted in Dani's favorite color -ORANGE!

Here are some of the furniture pieces inside of the tent.

Robin (left) and Dani (right) attended a conference in Kabul. Adrise and Ashraf (left to right) were the force protection for the day. After spending all day inside it was a pleasant surprise to find it snowing.

This gentleman attended the conference USACE hosted with the AISA (Afghanistan Investment Support Agency). AISA is responsible for contractor licensing and professional development. The best analogy, as far as Dani understands, would be that AISA is the AGC (Associated General Contractors) in the United States.

Public Affairs caught Dani mid-sentence during a presentation.

The view of the neighboring government building during the Joint Business conference.

Every Friday there's a migration from Qalaa to Eggers for lunch and shopping at the bazaar. Billy and Dani joined Eric and Hank for the fun.

Eric, Billy and Dani heading back to Qalaa after a hard afternoon of shopping.

When Dani's last supervisor redeployed he was insistent on not having a going away party. So, being the creative ladies of ANP, this cake was made for a "Hello Carmine" party. Carmine is Dani's current supervisor. We couldn't let Greg off that easily!

Pashminas!

2010-06-08T07:12:00.000-07:00

Ladies! Do you need a pashmina?!
If you'd like any of the following pashminas (scarves) let me know and I can bring them home.

Blue

2010-05-28T08:20:00.000-07:00

It'll be great to see the little guy again!

Blue catching his breath after playing ball.

Aren't I just adorable?!

And I'm famous!

Government Construction Contracting Dictionary

2010-05-28T08:05:00.000-07:00

This seems very true many days!

**CONTRACTOR -- A gambler who never gets to shuffle, cut or deal.

**BID OPENING -- A poker game in which the losing hand wins.

**BID -- A wild guess carried out to two decimal places.

**LOW BIDDER -- A contractor who is wondering what he left out of his
bid.

**ENGINEER'S ESTIMATE -- The cost of construction in heaven. (Billy does a great job at these!)

**PROJECT MANAGER -- The conductor of an orchestra in which every
musician is in a different union. (Would herding cats fit into this category as well?! :-)

**CRITICAL PATH METHOD - A management technique for losing your shirt
under perfect control.

**OSHA -- A protective coating made by half-baking a mixture of fine
print, red tape, split hairs and baloney -- usually applied at random with a
shotgun.

**STRIKE -- An effort to increase egg production by strangling the
chicken.

**DELAYED PAYMENT -- A tourniquet applied at the pockets.

**COMPLETION DATE -- The point at which liquidated damages begin. (In Afghanistan, this is a synonm for a wild ass guess.)

**LIQUIDATED DAMAGES -- A penalty for failing to achieve the
impossible. (Absolutely, or it's something we don't enforce heavily because cash flow then becaomes an issue for the smaller Afghan firms and we end up with even less progress.)

**AUDITOR -- People who go in after the war is lost and bayonet the
wounded. (Or walk contractors through the termination for convenience process step by step so they can get money the contractor is already entitled to - so basically doing their job so we can get it off our books!)

**LAWYER -- People who go in after the auditors and strip the bodies. (Here it's about see all the grey that exists between the black and white.)

Cleaning the Lights

2010-05-25T08:48:00.000-07:00

Women of Qalaa House

2010-05-23T09:44:00.000-07:00

We did photos of the "Women of Qalaa House."

Sai (below) is a PM with the ANP group. She's the one who organized the photos. Sai and Dani sit next to each other.

Below is a photo of the NWD group currently deployed in Qalaa.

Mazar-e-Sharif in the Spring

2010-04-29T10:45:00.000-07:00

After returning from Leave Between Taskers (one of our R&R trips), Dani was assigned a new Area Office. So the first six months were full of trips to Jalalabad (in the east), and the second six months will be full of trips to Mazar-e-Sharif, Kunduz and Feyazabad (in the north). (Assuming she can ever make it to Kunduz and/or Feyazabad.)

Homes nestled amongst runoff channels and trees. The trees are not common, unfortunately.

A valley with the river running through it. The route between Kabul and northern Afghanistan required crossing the Hindu Kush. The views are just stunning.

Snow capped mountains.

The topography never ceases to amaze. It looks like a model you would see in a museum. After flying over the mountains in the states, Dani has decided the reason topography stands out so much in Afghanistan because there aren't trees. So you can see every change in the hillside - it's not masked by the foliage of trees.

More mountains. Dani still thinks the adventure tourism industry would be a good idea.

Being as it's springtime, the mountains have a little more green than they will in the next months.

Mountains. . . valleys. . . .just imagine the life of those living here.

Breathtaking!

With the photos being so small it may be difficult to tell, but in the center-bottom of this photos, there is a village on the hillside. Can you begin to imagine the "roughing it" and simplicity of living there?

This gorge was amazing! The geological features in Afghanistan never end - there is something different and unique around every bend.

This is closer to Sari Pul and Meymana provinces.

A valley expanse of green. Again, greenery in Kabul is very limited, so this is a nice treat to see.

This is at the Marmal Airfield in Mazar-e-Sharif. The reddish/brown in the green grass are poppy flowers (or so Dani's told).

One of the soldiers traveling with Dani picked one for her.

And this is the Mazar-e-Sharif commercial terminal.

Again, the scenery. . .

Patchwork of agriculture.

Dave Linn enjoying the ride.

Here is a photo of one our the ANP Uniform Police District Headquarters construction sites. This site currently has a land dispute because the Contractor didn't build where he was supposed to. Instead, this plot of land on the top of a hill in the middle of a farmers field was chosen. Apparently it sounded like a good idea at the time.

This "gorge" was another surprise to see.

The deep valleys with steep sides are so amazing.

Here's a closer view of the valley walls that drop like cliffs.

The expanse of mountains, ,hills, and valleys. In most places vehicles cannot be your mode of transport.

"Civilization" revolves around valleys with rivers or at least seasonal water flow. The Afghans are very crafty with diverting the water to fields and homes.

Valley life . . .

Another ANP District Headquarters building. From the air the roof features are very distinctive in addition to being a bright shiny metal. It makes it easy to find the construction sites.

Just look at this. . . .beautiful!

Another plateau that rapidly drops to a valley floor.

The edge of the valley against the mountains.

City life . . .Very little greenery and every residence with a wall around it.

Dani on an Afghan National Army helo.

Dani had the pleasure of an unexpected overnight stay at Camp Spann during this trip. The conference room was cozy for her and Lauren.

And since none of us brought an overnight bag, we had to get creative. These spoons were crafted into a contact case! :-)

At the MeS Resident Office, the team made this sign board. It's neat to see where everyone is from and how far it is from Afghanistan.

This is the back side of the signs. Or it could be the front side. . .

Ulrike, the office engineer, does a great job of growing roses. The little greenery amongst the rocks is nice.

The flags at the Resident Office.

The lush valley in the springtime.

Another valley. The lines of brown easily identify where runoff leaves the mountains. These runoff channels are called wadis.

Snow capped mountains on the way to Kabul.

The harsh topography makes passage essentially impossible by foot.

Wouldn't this be fun to ski?!

Or how about these?

Always breathtaking beauty.

Again, life flurishes in the valleys of the mountains. Thes greenery demonstrates this from afar.

Leaving the mountains and into the Bagram valley.

This is a reservoir just outside of Kabul.

And as one enters the Kabul valley, the perpetual "haze" welcomes you. Wind and rain are always welcome to knock the crud out of the air.

Views of the city, Kabul.

Views of Kabul.

This "palace" is stunning and the grounds are well manicured.

It's neat to see the homes continue to rise along the hillside.

Easter

2010-04-29T09:59:00.000-07:00

Dani was on the road during most of the Easter festivities, but Billy (in orange) partnered with Andy (in stripes) for the egg toss. They got third place!

The teams preparing.

Billy with perfect tossing form.

Billy waving to the crowd. . . err, to Andy.

Billy with a save!

Sydney, our wonderful baker, made these cupcakes. A lot of care went into this.

Most meals are served from a line in the DFAC. But for holidays, the Kspan is decorated for two seatings and people volunteer to serve the tables. Billy and Dani were joined by Paul Cravens and Ed Louis.

Sheena, Andy, Billy and Dani at dinner.

Andy and Billy. Don't they look like trouble makers!

Billy and Dani with Paul, Carmine, Eric, Andy, Christina, Alicia, Sheena, and Ed.

Living the High Life in Dubai

2010-04-12T11:38:00.000-07:00

When leaving Afghanistan, we fly to Dubai and have about 12 hours on the ground before our international flight. So, we decided to visit the Burj al Arab, the world's only 7 star hotel! This is the hotel shaped like sail that people send doctored up photos of the helipad as a tennis court. . . We had to make reservations for afternoon tea in order to even get on the premises.

Billy and Dani in front of the hotel sign.

The hotel sign up close.

This camel was out front and too pretty to pass up. Dani thought about climbing on it, but figured that would be a one-way ticket out of the hotel.

The hotel is basically on an island. This photo is looking back at the neighboring beach.

And looking the other direction, the entry way, and neighboring hotel.

Standing at the bottom of the hotel, here's what the sail looks like.

Another angle of the "sail."

The entry to the hotel.

Dani and the camel.

The STRREEETTCCCHHH limo that belongs to the hotel.

Even the town cars have the emblem for the hotel on them. Very fancy!

This is the view as you walk into the hotel and look up. The grey marble is a fountain, and the rest are floors of rooms.

Looking from the second floor down to the lobby. The colored rocks in the fountain are just beautiful.

Again, looking up to the top of the "sail" from the inside.

A little more centered in the building . . . looking up.

The second floor of the hotel has shops, restaurants, and this beautiful fountain that danced with the music. Like a mini-Bellagio.

This is one of the booths at a restaurant. It was not serving any afternoon meals.

Another angle of this same restaurant.

The top floor has a restaurant that overlooks the water. Live music (lady in red playing the piano) is just part of the ambiance.

We finally sat down to have afternoon tea in the second floor "open" restaurant. It was a 7 course tea. This was the first course - finger sandwiches.

Followed by a wonderful salmon wrapped in filo dough - the sauce on it was amazing!

The third course was sorbet to cleanse the palate.

And then tea - many flavors to choose from.

The fifth course was scones, and boy where they good!

Then there was a yogurt and fruit dessert.

Followed by the last, but definitely not least, dessert options - all delicious!

From where we were sitting, this was the view looking up! It's very impressive.

And looking behind us, this was the view!

Dani striking a pose - the orchids in the background are real!

Billy and Dani enjoy tea!

After the Burj, we went to the Hyatt. Out front they had what Dani thinks of as the Beaver car! So of course there's a picture!

The Hyatt has a beach, which we walked along and waded in the water.

Billy during sunset at the beach.

Dani waded to this little rise in the sand.

The landscaping at the Hyatt was very pretty. Billy liked this as an idea for the future backyard.

And the chandelier in the lobby was stunning.

On the taxi ride back to the hotel, we went by the world's tallest building. It is currently closed for tourist to go to the top deck - perhaps next time.

This is a mosque we went by - yeah, not the best photo, but still neat how it is lit up.

On to Reno . . .

2010-04-09T08:39:00.001-07:00

R&R continued with a week in Reno. . .

The 10 hour drive to Reno has become a trek several times each year. With the snow capped mountains the scenery was gorgeous.

The road may not be as straight as between Reno and Las Vegas, but you can set it on cruise control and relax a bit.

It always feels great to get out of the vehicle! Finally in Nevada - the just over half way point.

At home with BLUE! It was wonderful to see him again.

The view of Peavine from Hidden Valley.

Billy and Blue playing.

Dani and Blue on a walk in Mira Loma Park.

Blue at dog park. He has always been a ball hog, but in the past 6 months he's mastered scooping up two balls at once. He's sitting over his treasures.

We had a family dinner - so Mandy (my cousin) and I snuck in a quick picture.

We spent an afternoon snowshoeing with my aunt, Kristy, cousin, Stephanie, and friend, Matt. We also had 3 dogs with us - they are so fun to watch. Look at Billy being devious with a snowball!

Dani and Blue with Lake Tahoe in the background.

Dani and Matt in front of Lake Tahoe.

Dani and Billy.

The ladies - Dani, Stephanie and Kristy.

Dani with Blue and Koda (Matt's dog).

Dani wrestling with Blue.

Beautiful Lake Tahoe.

Overlooking Lake Tahoe.

More of Lake Tahoe.

Billy had just taken a large tumble! It was priceless. Stephanie (behind) had the best view of the "catastrophe."

We found a snow cave, so of course Dani had to climb in.

And it was large enough to "strike a pose."

We stopped at the new lodge at Slide Side of Mt. Rose Ski Area. The view of Washoe Valley (and Washoe Lake) was beautiful.

Chelsea and Matt joined us for dinner one night. It was great to catch up and hang out a bit.

We spent a day skiing at Squaw Valley Ski Resort. Here's Billy with the sliver of Lake Tahoe in the background.

The day was sunny! It makes the views breathtaking.

Lake Tahoe from the top of the mountain.

Dani and Billy at the lodge.

Dani, Billy and Mom (Mati) at the Squaw Creek Resort lodge for lunch.

Here's how Billy spent several hours when we weren't out and about.

Dani, Billy and Blue. Blue doesn't seem very excited about this picture! :-)

On the way from Reno to Portland, we stopped in Sacramento. We met up with Laura (roommate from college) for lunch and a stroll around Old Town Sacramento.

Then on to Portland to meet up with more college friends - and I forgot my camera so I don't have pictures to share! But the trip was wonderful.

Questions from Home

2010-04-05T19:00:00.000-07:00

Greetings again from Afghanistan! We returned from R&R on March 16th and have settled back into life here in Afghanistan. While on our R&R we had the chance to tour much of the greater Northwest including visiting friends and family from Walla Walla to Reno to Portland and points in between. In the future we’ll post some updates from the trip. For now though, we’ll try to answer some of the questions we received while on R&R.

WHERE DO YOU LIVE?
We live and work at Qalaa House, the headquarters for the US Army Corps of Engineers Afghanistan Engineer District - North in Kabul, Afghanistan. Imagine living on a 4 acre minimum security compound surrounded by 10ft tall walls and guard towers. Yep, that about sums it up . . . . But it is often referred to as Camp Cupcake due to some of the luxuries we have. From our compound, depending on how overcast the day is, we can see snow covered mountains in the background.

A couple hundred USACE employees are at Qalaa House so conditions are tight. We luckily got to pick our roommate (each other!) and thus share a room in one of the residence halls.

Our residence hall on the left. We are on the third floor…Notice the “elevator” we get to walk up and down every day!

Our room is approximately 8ft wide by 15ft long with a chigo for heating and air conditioning. We have a desk with a phone, computer with internet access, two single beds, two wardrobes, two nightstands and a mini fridge….Did we mention that space is tight?

View of our room from the doorway. Dani’s bed and wardrobe in the foreground, Billy’s bed is in the back of the room.

WHERE DO YOU WORK?
Dani works on the second floor of Qalaa House, the primary headquarters building for the compound.

View of Qalaa House from third floor balcony where we live. Dani has a 60 second walk from her room to work.

Dani at her desk on the phone, which if she isn’t out traveling the country is where you will usually find her.

Billy works in on the third floor of the engineering building at Qalaa, called Loma Linda. While the engineering building is on the other side of the compound from the residence, Billy only has a three minute or less walk to work.

This is Loma Linda. Billy works on the third floor...more stairs!

Billy at his desk, where you will always find him since he never makes it out into the field.

WE WANT A PICTURE OF YOU BOTH IN UNIFORM
Several people requested a picture of us in uniform.

Dani is in the Army Combat Uniform (ACU) with digital camo pattern. When she travels outside the compound she wears this uniform because it is fire retardant. Billy is in the typical Desert Camoflauge Uniform (DCU) which all the USACE employees are issued and wear while at work.

Vacation in Walla Walla

2010-03-07T17:30:00.000-08:00

We spent about four days in Walla Walla before heading to Reno for a week. Below is the "trouble" we managed to find.

Mike, Greg, Ronnelle and Dani at Avatar in 3D (Billy's taking the photo). It was a lot of fun, and we looked just amazing in the new glasses. :-)

This is part of the 2-acre lot Dani and Billy purchases in August before deploying to Afghanistan. It's located near Stateline Road on the Walla Walla side in Hilltop Acres subdivision. We stopped by to take in the view and see how it was looking!

This if the view of the Blue from the lot.

Than plan has always been to clean up the yard in March - so here's the mess Dani and Billy managed to make in the front yard in just a matter of an hour. A LOT of plants needed to be hacked to the ground! We easily filled the garbage can and still need to tackle the backyard.

Dani hacking away at the various plants. There sure was a mess to clean up on the grass.

Monday afternoon Dani & Billy had some time and decided to go wine tasting. We were even able to convince Kathy to "play hooky" and join us for a few hours.

Dani couldn't resist the St. Patty's Day hat at one of the wineries! Kathy wasn't as thrilled to even be seen with Dani looking so silly. :-)

Dani and Billy met up with several friends, visited with co-workers, and made the trek to Reno (10 hour drive). . . . .

VCR Good News Story

2010-02-20T06:50:00.001-08:00

Here is a recent story about the VCR missions taking place in Kabul. . . .

http://ntm-a.com/news/1-categorynews/127-war-time-humanitarian-relief

Valentine's Day in Wardak Province

2010-02-19T19:43:00.000-08:00

This past week Dani took a trip to Wardak province with several of USACE's customers. The helo was absolutely FREEZING! The weather in the morning was wonderful, but in the afternoon we "raced" back to Kabul to beat the snowy weather. It was neat to see the weather moving in so quickly from the air. . . and luckily we made it, or we would have spent the night at FOB Airborne without anything but our uniforms and body armor.

The sunrise is always beautiful from the airport. From left to right is Dani & 3 CSTC-A representatives, Bobby, Paul and CDR Hawn.

The views while freezing almost make it worth the torture! :-)

The group visit the "flag ship" project for the ANP program. It is the National Police Training Center (NPTC), and is a huge facility. In this photo you can just see the outline of several building foundations.

This is another view of the "Training Compound" within the NPTC. This portion of the facility is the furthest along.

Another view from the air of the Training Compound.

Dani and CDR Hawn are consulting with the Contractor on how to best proceed forward with wadi (basically a large, natural drainage ditch) remediation.

Here is an example of a trench constructed to divert natural drainage away from the NPTC facility. It also servers as a anti-vehicle ditch to prevent a car bomb from approaching the facility.

We got to see the local laborers making CMU (concrete masonry units)! This machine is fed "mortar" in the front end, and near where the operator sits there are molds that get compacted.

When you lift the mold, wha-la, you have CMU ready to cure. Apparently the cure temperature is anywhere above 5 degrees Celsius. It was still requiring the water for the "mortar" to be heated in large drums over open flame.

The Contractor also told us a neat story about this "uncommon" handtool. On a site as large as this, there are only 2, yes, I said 2, rebar tying machines! Apparently it's a very popular item - whoever doesn't have one of the two is tying rebar by hand.

This photo is a little difficult to see in the smaller size, but this is a circular saw that was immediately mounted upside down to perform as a table saw. Again, there is only one, yes 1, of these on the site.

The mountains leaving the NPTC are gorgeous with all the snow.

In some locations we were low enough in elevation to see the snow line, and the pronounced drainages.

Heading back to Kabul, this is the "suburbia."

Kabul International Airport was exciting to see - it meant we made it just ahead of the weather. We hadn't been on the ground 10 minutes before it started snowing fairly hard. So Kabul didn't get a white Christmas, but partially had a white Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day

2010-02-15T19:13:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day was done with flare!

The Dining Facility (DFAC) was done up for several days. It sure brightened the atmosphere.

In the evening a "chocolate" event was hosted in the District Room (one of the 3 main conference rooms). Just look at all the sweets that were available.

As is common for Sunday nights, Salsa completed the evening. This is a photos of some of the group in the K-Span (a building where weekly House Meetings, basketball, spinning, salsa, bazaars, etc. take place).

Jalalabad in January

2010-02-10T06:19:00.000-08:00

Dani and LCDR Spicer (Dan), customer and friend from CSTC-A, took a trip to Jbad in January. The main purpose was for a Red Zone meeting and pre-final inspection of various ANP District Headquarter buildings. Due to weather and various other situations, not everything planned was accomplished. But the trip was still enjoyable.

Dani and Dan at Qalaa.

Dani and Dan with Afghan National Police Commanders, USACE Local National employees, and the Contractor. This picture was taken following a red zone meeting.

Jalalabad isn't as cold as Kabul, but as you can tell it isn't very warm either. Dan was mid-process of getting ready, and Dani snapped this shot!

Nawab (Local National Deputy Resident Engineer) and Jennifer at the FOB (Forward Operating Base) Hughie office. We were all very cozy for the few days Dan and Dani were visiting.

The area surrounding Jalalabad. In January it was still lush and green.

Between Jalalabad and Kabul, this village caught Dani's attention due to irrigation canal that goes around the hill. Water is such a precious commodity it's interesting to see how it's utilized.

Dani and Dan spent an extra night in Jalalabad due to snowy and foggy weather in Kabul preventing flights from landing. Luckily the weather improved enough that they could catch a flight into Camp Phoenix. On the way, the cloud layer was still low, so the helo went above it. The views were amazing and the photos don't do justice.

Within 10 minutes of Kabul these mountains clearly show the snow line.

The terrain is just beautiful!

Imagine living in this valley surrounded by the mountains - and the runoff that must occur in the spring.

Arriving in Kabul, here's a typical main road and the adjacent land.

The snow in the valley had melted by the time Dani and Dan returned to Kabul, but the mountains could not hide the evidence! It was breathtaking.

All in all, the trip was successful and fun. In the last 6 months Dan and Dani took several trips together, causing trouble at various FOB's. Dan has redeployed, so Dani will have to find another travel partner, and someone who is as good a "body guard" as Dan.

CLS

2010-02-08T18:44:00.000-08:00

Dani completed the Combat Lifesaver (CLS) course at Camp Eggers yesterday. It's usually a 2 day class but due to room availability it was crammed into a day. Apparently Generals get priority for meeting space :-)

The class teaches things like what to do from a medical perspective while under fire, basic first aid, and the proper way to call in a a MEDEVAC. Which if Dani were the one calling in a MEDEVAC there would be much bigger problems than getting the correct protocol - the first challenge would be figuring out the radio frequencies! The class also has a hands on portion where students do IV's on each other. This was definitely Dani's favorite part!

Dani was paired with people she knows from CSTC-A. This is a photo of her teammates. And, as you can see, the lighting in the building was so poor flashlights were needed to help find the veins.

MAJ Hudson gave Dani her IV. He did a great job and it only hurt a little. At least he only pricked her once - it took Dani more attempts than that on him. Good thing MAJ Hudson is strong, and didn't even complain. :-) Dani even gave the instructor an IV - so lots of practice.

Dani and MAJ Hudson - everyone is so serious and quite when this is going on . . .

MAJ Hudson looks so professional and like he knows exactly what he's doing! Just ignore the blood on Dani's arm though :-)

Although we don't have nearly the amount of snow as the East Coast, it was cute to see the mini snowman Force Pro built at the Eggers gate. This was just too cute to pass up a photo.

Kandahar for a Day

2010-02-01T23:22:00.000-08:00

Dani just completed a quick trip to Kandahar - down and back on one day - with a group of USACE and CSTC-A (the customer) people. Usually trips like that require a night or two in order to arrange flights. So, it was a nice treat to do a day trip that was so far away.

Morning sunrise just beginning to hit the mountain tops in Kabul.

Another view of the beautiful snow capped mountains surrounding Kabul.

As seen from the plane, the red desert plateau just outside of Kandahar.

The mountains between Kabul and Kandahar are so majestic. With the snow, the contours are even more pronounced.

It's unfortunate Afghanistan is so heavily mined, otherwise backcountry skiing wouldn't be such a dangerous activity.

It looks like something you see in paintings or on a 3D model in a museum!

While waiting for a ride in the group got to see several jets takeoff. It is always fun to watch, and very LOUD!

Dani, CDR Hawn and Bobby (both from CSTC-A) then went to a mini-ribbon cutting for the Regional Logistics Center (RLC). The RLC is just part of a much larger facility that will be shared amongst Afghan National Police, Afghan National Civil Order Police (more specialized police force - like SWAT), etc.

As is common practice in Afghanistan, the Contractor provided a meal following the ribbon cutting. The food is always wonderful and plentiful! It's not very often we get to eat outside of a DFAC (Dining Facility), so it was such a treat!

CDR Hawn and Dani with silk flowers the Contractor gave to everyone in attendance. Dani has put them in her office to brighten up the brown motif.

At the USACE compound in Kandahar Dani discovered this castle and finally convinced Greg (Dani's supervisor in Kabul) to take a picture with her.

Depending on the base the bathrooms will vary greatly. In Kandahar, this is the connex with toilets - yes, toilets - don't let the shower curtains fool you. They serve as the door, and you can easily tell is someone is in the stall by the toes of their boots sticking out. :-)

It was like a mini Walla Walla reunion. Alden Foote, Randy Chong and Ezra Abraham are permanently stationed in Kandahar. Dani rounded them up for a photo!

The Challenge

2010-01-23T05:40:00.000-08:00

This video is of the Afghan National Army (ANA) doing PT and is too good to pass up posting. It is being e-mailed under the title "The Challenge," which is so appropriate. After 8 years in Afghanistan, this is how far we've come. . . Just imagine the challenges with construction!

Salsa Night

2010-01-22T03:05:00.000-08:00

Dani joined a group from USACE & Camp Eggers for a night of salsa dancing at the Embassy.

Since we have to wear flack vest and helmet outside of Qalaa, and ride in an uparmored vehicle, we all crammed into a van for the short drive. I'm sure it looked like a clown car when we exited.

Dani dancing with Dave.

It's as close to a girls' night out as you can get around here.

Dani & the French soldiers - They continued to chat with each other in French and wouldn't tell Dani or Theresa what they were saying. So they got "the look." :-)

Dani & Robin taking the tourist shot with the Embassy logo.

Then gang then joined in!

New Year's in Herat

2010-01-17T02:19:00.000-08:00

Dani took trip to Herat over New Year's weekend. Dani had a great time with Gareth (one of Dani's friends who's also an ANP customer from CSTC-A, which is Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan) and the Herat Area Office team.

Dani and Gareth took a USAID flight from Kabul to Herat. The views of the snowcapped mountains and the desert plains (near Kandahar) were breathtaking. The darker orange coloring on the bottom photo was a dune-ish plateau that dropped off at the river you can see. It was very interesting!

The purpose of the trip was a ribbon cutting ceremony for an expansion project at the Regional HQ (RHQ) for the Afghan National Civil Order Police (ANCOP). This is the typical set up and attendance for a ceremony of this type. Torrey (another USACE employee) and Dani were the only females in the room.

On the way to the RHQ, there were camels! Dani really wants to ride a camel but hasn't figured out where this is possible given the security precautions that are required when outside of any secured compound.

The Herat security team took Dani and Torrey (Gareth joined as well - but he didn't need the practice) to the range near the FOB (forward operating base). It was great firing M4's from the prone and standing position, and even attempting the two tap (where you don't aim but fire once, then correct to hit the target).

Dani shooting with Peet (pronounced Pee-et, he's from South Africa) "supervising."

Perhaps not the best shot, but not too shabby for the first time shooting an M4! (Or at least Dani thinks it's not too bad.)

Peet and Torrey shooting.

Gareth and Peet shooting.

Peet riding a motorbike near the shooting range. The view is gorgeous - we couldn't pass up on such a neat photo.

The bazaar in Herat is smaller than Kabul, but still entertaining. Dani was being goofy trying on a fur hat and even convinced Gareth to give it a try! He doesn't look nearly as thrilled about it.

Peet in traditional Afghan clothing. The security team was meeting up for lunch on our "down day" (day we get the afternoon off).

Just look at the view from the range. . . . Perhaps the Afghans should start up a adventure tourism industry for skiing, mountain biking, hiking, etc.

The moon in the evenings was just amazing! And the air is so clear in comparison to Kabul where you're lucky to see the moon and stars at night. All three nights in Herat were this beautiful.

Waiting on the tarmac at the Herat Regional Airport can be a noisy activity. When a flight arrives ear plugs would be highly recommended, but as you can see most of us didn't have any.

So, New Year's in Herat for Dani was very enjoyable. . . . The group had a bonfire with near-beer and soda. Not nearly as exciting as the festivities stateside, but not too shabby either. And seeing more of the country is always exciting.

Kuchi Refugee Camp

2010-01-10T00:20:00.000-08:00

Dani had the opportunity to participate in a Volunteer Community Relations (VCR) Mission on Friday. The mission was to hand out bags of clothing to families in the Kuchi Refugee Camp in Kabul. SOZO International (http://www.sozointernational.org/), who provided bags of goodies from children, partnered with Camp Egger's VCR for this mission.

The people at Kuchi Refugee Camp were very appreciative! It was a very rewarding experience and wonderful opportunity to interact directly with the Afghans. They are such beautiful people.

View of the front of the camp from the "street."

A family - the children are just adorable.

A typical home at the refugee camp.

Another view of the refugee camp.

CPT Lori Keener and Dani. They were battle buddies for the misison.

After distribution of the clothing bags, families returned to their homes.

Dani and a young girl.

Dani and an infant. She smiled so precious and her mother (in red) was just stunning.

If you are interested in sending clothing or toys for people in need, boxes can be mailed to the address below. Please let us know if you plan to do this so we can properly thank you!

VCR Program/ Chaplain Section
CH Albertson
CSTC-A
APO, AE 09356

Holiday in South Africa

2009-12-15T23:08:00.000-08:00

This is the beginning of our holiday (aka vacation) in South Africa. We started in Johannesburg and went to Kruger National Park. We'll post pictures as we have time, but didn't want to delay any longer in getting started.

Typical hillside village between Johannesburg and Kruger National Park.

MacMac Waterfall between Johannesburg and Kruger National Park.

Did we mention it rained a lot the first few days?! Dani decided to "sing in the rain" before heading out for the day. This is the view of the garden from our room.

And this is the room. Typical style was twin beds.

Buffalo - One of the BIG 5. The BIG 5 are determined by the difficulty of hunting the animal on foot. The BIG 5 are buffalo, leopard, lion, rhino & elephant.

Leopard - This is a leopard eating it's prey. The picture is difficult to see, but if you open it up bigger you may get a view of the leopard's eyes.

Giraffe - This was Dani's favorite animal to see.

"Mini deer" - These are full grown, but look like fawns.

Vultures - We never fully decided what they were scavenging on, but it was impressive to see.

Baboon w/ Impala - Neat to see all the creatures living in harmony (as long as they aren't the predator.)

Baboons - Just look at the baby. Most of the baboons we saw had babies since it's spring in the Southern Hemisphere.

Water Monitor - Very neat lizard. We only saw a handful of them during our travels.

Here we are in Kruger National Park on top of a ridge. And guess why we stopped there - because there weren't "bathrooms" anywhere else. (And who do you think needed one?) The view ended up being a beautiful bonus!

Still in Kruger National Park. It did rain on and off throughout the day, but the cooler weather was a blessing in disguise since all the animals were out in the middle of the day. Usually the animals are active only in the morning and at night.

This is the Pretoriuskop "rest camp" within the Kruger National Park boundaries. One "hut" for two people. And you can see the little Toyota Versa we drove for 18 days, almost 3,000 miles!

Sausage Tree - The "fruit" on this tree was so fascinating!

This is the common area in the rest camp at Pretoriuskop.

Look carefully. . . Do you notice anything that seems not right? . . . Like the driver being on the right side of the vehicle and the vehicle being on the left side of the road?!

Saddle Billed Stork - Very interesting to watch! And the bill is so unique.

We visited the Shangana Cultural Village. This is the chief and his family. (Dani doesn't believe they actually live there - that it was a tourist trap!)

Merry Christmas from AED PM's

2009-12-15T21:59:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of the ANSF (Afghanistan National Security Force) Project Management team.

VCR Mission

2009-12-14T20:13:00.003-08:00

Yes, we owe everyone pictures from South Africa, but we wanted to pass along a good news story. We've been helping with the Volunteer Community Relations (VCR) mission. We haven't been able to go out into the community yet, but our time will come.

These articles are what being here is about more than the violence and politics the media is undoubtedly feeding in the public in the states.

http://www.catholicherald.com/detail.html?sub_id=11739

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/article/20091212/WDH0101/912120507/-1/a

Dubai in an Afternoon

2009-12-11T18:33:00.000-08:00

Whenever we leave Afghanistan for R&R or redeployment we travel through Dubai. We had an entire afternoon in the city on our way to South Africa, so we took a tour and went skiing. Yes, skiing in the middle of the desert!

Skyline under construction. Just look at all those sky cranes.

This is a hotel mimicking old style buildings. In the background you can see the Burg al Arab.

Burg al Arab - This is the fancy sail shaped hotel with a helicopter landing pad on top. It is the world's only 7 star hotel. It costs about $50 just to get in, and you have to have an appointment. Since we didn't have an appoinment, entry will have to wait until next time.

Billy in front of the world's tallest building. There is also a fountain show similar (okay, basically identical) to the one at the Bellagio in Las Vegas in this pond.

Here we are skiing! It's an indoor ski hill. To the left of us you can see the midway of the chair lift.

This is the bottom of the ski hill. All the lights in the background is the mall! Yes, you could sit in the warm mall and watch people ski and sled.

Maiden Shahr, Wardak

2009-11-12T18:59:00.000-08:00

Dani also took a trip to Maiden Shahar in the Wardak Province. This is about an hour to two hour drive depending on traffic, or a 20 to 30 minute helo trip. Here are some of her photos.

Picture of the Kabul International Airport terminal and "gates."

More of KIA (Kabul International Airport).

Near KIA - the "mounds" of dirt are actually conical homes.

Kabul River running through town.

A fort or ruins on top of a hill in Kabul.

View of the city - Kabul.

Between Kabul and Maiden Shahr - a valley of life.

Dani, Gareth and Nova at FOB Airborne. (FOB = forward operating base) This is in Maiden Shahr.

Nova and Dani at FOB Airborne. Look at the beautiful hills in the background.

Picture of one of the large project sites in Wardak Province. This will be a National Logistics Training Center (NPTC) for the ANP. It's one of the ANP Program's flagship projects. The contract value is almost $100M.

Another view of the NPTC. This shows the foundation excavation.

Another view of the NPTC. This shows the foundation excavation with the perimeter wall.

A valley with lots of greenery and trees between Kabul and Maiden Shahr.

Here is a reservoir! There is a lot of water in Afghanistan but there is very little control of the water. So, a larger body of water like this is rare. Dani found it interesting that the height of the dam would imply the water level has been significantly higher than shown in this photo. For that to occur, the inundation area behind the dam would flood what appears to be populated areas.

Another populated corridor between the provinces.

Arriving back in Kabul - the buildings don't even stop at the foothills. . .

Halloween Fun

2009-11-12T18:25:00.001-08:00

Just because we were in Afghanistan didn't mean the MWR committee couldn't throw together a fun Halloween bash. Check out the photos below. (Captions are below each photo, names from left to right.)

The ANP Gang: Nova, Rebekah, Alan, Dani & Paris

Rebekah, Nova, Dani, Jean, Carde, Paris & April

Our girl from Arkansas (Tabitha) - barefoot an pregnant! (with Alan)

Dani and Alex Almeida (from Walla Walla District!)

Decorating the office for the holiday.

Afghanistan Overview & Bamyan

2009-10-15T20:23:00.000-07:00

Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces, similar to how the United States is divided into 50 states. Within each province there several districts, similar to counties in the United States. Each province is lead by a governor, and has representation in the bicameral National Assembly of Afghanistan.

The National Assembly of Afghanistan has an upper house (House of Elders “Mesherano”) and the lower house (House of the People “Wolesi Jirga”). The House of Elders has 102 members, with each province having at least 2 members, and serves more of an advisory role rather than that of law making. The House of the People bears the greater burden of law making and consists of 249 delegates. In each House, there are considerations made for women, disabled, impaired and Kurchis nomad delegates.

Now that there is some general understanding of the country, Dani went on a trip to the province of Bamyan. Bamyan is number 15 on this map, the middle of the country. (We live at Kabul, number 22 on the map). Bamyan has the only female governor in Afghanistan with a majority of the population being Hazaras. In addition to the natural beauty Bamyan is known for, it is recognized as one of the safest provinces in the country which has allowed for greater focus on civil rebuilding.

Currently, Bamyan is the operations base for the New Zealand peace keeping force called a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT). To date the Kiwi’s (New Zealander’s) have helped with reconstruction work including building bridges and schools as well as maintaining security in the region. The New Zealand Police are also working in the region to help train the Afghan National Police (ANP). (In July 2006 three Afghan women signed to join the ANP in Bamyan, the first time women have joined a police force in Afghanistan.)
(Note: Captions for photos are below the photo.)

Photo: New Zealand Base entrance.

Photo: Bamyan University. The Taliban used this as a military base during their regime.

Photo: Old Russian tank sitting in a field near the existing Afghan National Police facility.

Photo: Military police advisors and ANP Commander. The Commander just accepted the keys to a new facility.

Photo: Statue of Baba Mazari, or Rather Mazari, who is considered one of the great leaders of Bamyan.
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As mentioned before, the province and city of Bamyan are known for their beauty. The trip between Kabul and Bamyan is only a glimpse of the magestic mountains, river valley villages, and a way of life for many people.

Photo: Valley of Bamyan City

Photo: River vally at the foot of mountains.

Photo: Life in the valleys.

Photo: Mountains.

Photo: More mountains - they just keep going, and going.

Photo: "Suburbs" of Kabul.

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The history of Bamyan also makes this province and the city of Bamyan famous. In antiquity, central Afghanistan was strategically placed to thrive from the Silk Road caravans which cris-crossed the region trading between the Roman Empire, China, Central and South Asia. Bamyan was a stopping off point for many travelers. It was here where elements of Greek, Persian and Buddhist art were combined into a unique classical style, known as Greco-Buddhist art.

Many statues of Buddha are carved into the sides of cliffs facing Bamyan city and are evidence of an early Buddhist monastery. The two most prominent of these statues were standing Buddhas, now known as the Buddhas of Bamyan, measuring 55 and 37 meters (180 foot and 120 foot) high respectively. They were the largest examples of standing Buddha carvings in the world, likely erected in the 4th or 5th century C.E. In March 2001, the Taliban decreed that the statues were idolatrous and ordered them to be demolished with anti-aircraft artillery and explosives.

Photo: Dani in front of "baby" Buddah

Photo: "King" Buddah (the largest). You can barely see the outline of where the Buddah sat inside this alcove.

Photo: "Queen" Buddah. The scaffolding is to help prevent the back wall from caving in. There are organizations considering reconstruction of the Bamyan Buddahs, but construction activities have not started.

Photo: Dani's travel group in front of "King" Buddah.

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Below are pictures of the "couuntry side" in Bamyan and the daily life of the people.

Photo: Donkey and boy moving potatoes.

Photos: Men during "harvest."

Photo: Potato storage area (in the yellow sacks).

Photo: Women walking to the market.

Photo: Women and children walking home.

Photo: Boy and his "vehicle." Just amazing how he'd steer them with a branch.

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Since Billy and Dani visited Bryce Canyon National Park this spring with Mark and Nina, the following area reminded Dani of the states. So, if we were to come back to this area in a million years, perhaps erosion will have taken its toll on the landscape and spires like Bryce would be visible. The coloring of the landscape was also very unique!

Photo: "Future Bryce"

Photo: Erosion creating beautiful drainages.

Photo: Civilization up every valley.

Photo: another valley of farming fields and homes.

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The landscape on the way into Kabul is very different than the mountains to Bamyan. There is substancially more flat ground with variable irrigation. The next series of photos were taken near Kabul.

Photo: Farmland where the fields are divided by mounds of dirt, walls, or trees/shrubs.

Photo: Farmland & river. Notice how the greenery disappears as you get closer to the hill in this photo.

Photo: This is a tent neighborhood. From Dani's travels it appears most people live in homes constructed from mud wall, but this photo demonstrates an even poorer group of people.

Photo: Closing in on the capital, Kabul. The homes are built of mud and CMU and each has a wall around the perimeter. Also notice the elevvation differences just in this photo! All "buildable" land is being used.

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The transportation to Bamyan was via helicopter. The neat part is that the crew is from Colombia! It was neat to talk with them and enjoy part of the flight basically in the cock pit.

Photo: Flight crew for USACE.

Photo: Dani with flight engineer and pilot. Yes, this was taken while we were flying!

Photo: Dani in front of the helo- a Russian MI-8.

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Well, that's it for this time. We hope everyone is doing well!

What We Are Doing Here

2009-09-20T07:19:00.000-07:00

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is busily helping with the effort to establish a secure and stable environment in Afghanistan. The main programs USACE is involved with are:

1) Afghan National Security Forces Program - deals with the Afghan National Police, Border Police, and National Army

2) Counter-Narcotics/Border Management Initiative - provides security along the borders through construction of guard towers and forward operating bases

3) Strategic Reconstruction Program - works with other international agencies to develop water and electrical resources and construct roads, and

4) U.S./Coalition Forces Power Projection Program - constructs the military facilities required to maintain troop and civilian workforce in Afghanistan

Based on the programs listed above it gives the initial impression that less humanitarian type projects (water supply, sewer systems and treatment plants, school, hospitals, etc.) are being constructed and completed in Afghanistan then in Iraq. Since Dani worked on sewer and water systems when she was in Iraq, the "non-humanitarian type work" has been a large concern of hers - that the work wouldn't seem to be as rewarding. It's much to early in our tour to determine whether or not the work is rewarding. But about a month before we deployed a Colonel put the work we are doing into perspective. He said that security is required in Afghanistan prior to building water systems, sewer lines, schools, and hospitals, that there needs to be strong sense of order/law, and that other international organizations are focusing on the "humanitarian" mission. This allows us to focus on the security that will permit all other efforts to be successful.

Another interesting point this Colonel made was there isn’t the experience and education in Afghanistan to staff the schools and hospitals even if we where building them. Beginning with the Soviet invasion some 30 years ago and continuing with the repression of the Taliban, very few doctors and teachers remain in Afghanistan. Efforts are now underway to open schools to teach the teachers who will eventually fill the schools that will built.

Photo: National Military Afghanistan Academy Graduation (USACE mentors in brown)

Along those lines, Dani attended the graduation of three Afghanistan Lieutenants who studied and were mentored by USACE. The idea is they can now go and teach their peers in the Afghan Army what they learned – engineering, project management, construction, etc.

USACE is also attempting to place an emphasis on employing local nationals (Afghans) to learn as much about USACE so that when the U.S. leaves there will be locals left to continue and maintain all that we have started. To date this has seen minimal success due to a variety of reason, but primarily the lack of access to the computer networks.

Enough politics…So, Billy works as a cost engineer. The government needs to budget for everything that gets built…what, the government cares about a budget?! No way! Believe it or not, Congress wants to know how much the construction work USACE plans to oversee will cost. Thus, Billy develops what are called budgetary estimates to give Congress visibility on the total costs of a project. In addition to budgetary estimates, Billy also develops detailed estimates for construction projects before a contract is awarded to a contractor. The detailed estimates allow USACE to determine if the government is getting a fair and reasonable price. And last, but not least, Billy develops estimates if there is a large change in the construction contract that requires additional money (or savings). He’s been working on figuring out costs for everything from renting armored cars to building FOBs (Forward Operating Bases) in the middle of nowhere.

Dani is a Project Manager in the Afghan National Police (ANP) Program. She is currently managing 21 contracts with over 60 constructions sites for Uniform Police District ( 60-120 people) and Provincial (400 people) Headquarters, Afghan National Civil Order Police (345 people) Battalions and Border Police Company (90 people) Headquarters. Basically these are self contained compounds (diesel generators for power, wells for water and septic systems for sewage) with barracks for personnel. The contracts are "site adapt" which means the building is a cookie cutter design (which is fondly referred to as the "cube") and the contractor only needs to design the foundation, in ground utilities, etc.

Photo: Mountains of Afghanistan

There are several challenges with these projects. For this update, the highlight will be about the challenges of LAND. Afghanistan is very mountainous and most usable land is already built on, in addition to the fact that it's one of the most heavily mined countries in the world! So, before a project begins, a right of entry is provided by the Afghanistan Ministry of Interior (MOI). This is basically the permission slip for USACE to build on the piece of land that is owned by the Government. Note that this means no one in the village or town claims to own the land. Once the project is awarded, the first step a contractor has to complete is to demine the site. This means removing all the unexploded ordinances (rockets, mines, grenades, etc.) down to 1 meter below the ground surface. After this is done, it’s amazing how many people in the village say they own the land - the land is now usable and safe so of course it doesn't belong to the Afghanistan Government. So, at the beginning of a majority of the contracts, this is the first hurdle!

Boots on Ground

2009-09-13T07:47:00.000-07:00

To get everyone caught up. . . August 30, 2009 we left for a 6 month "vacation" to Afghanistan.

Our "vacation" began with the cross country flight to Winchester, VA where we spent the first week at the USACE Deployment Center (UDC) at the Transatlantic Center (TAC). After having our lost luggage delivered to the hotel at 3am, we spent the next 5 days preparing for deployment. We were issued uniforms and other gear, underwent medical assessment, watched several training videos, learned field trauma care, and attended 2 days of Quality Assurance and RMS training. All in all UDC was tolerable and ended early Friday afternoon, giving us almost the entire weekend to play tourist since we didn't depart for the Middle East until late Sunday night.

So, we spent the weekend busy as usual. We ventured to Shenandoh National Park on Saturday with a friend of Dani's from Iraq, met one of Billy's college roommates who now lives in Blacksburg, VA (Virginia Tech is located there.) for dinner, and helped a friend tar seal her driveway. And somewhere in between all that we packed up our gear which could weigh no more than 66 pounds. Not to worry though, we shipped 3 duffle bags and 1 box of stuff ahead of us so we'd have enough for the 6 months, including all the mandatory issue items (uniforms, boots, camo rain sets, etc.).

Suprisingly enough UDC did not have a lot of "hurry up and wait" time - we were typically busy the whole day. But we think the tactic was to save all the "hurry up and wait" for the day you depart the States - we (there were 5 of us) arrived at Dulles International Airport at 3:30pm for a 10pm flight. Luckily, Dulles has a nice USO and with our CAC ID's we were able to enjoy the amenties (snacks, cozy chairs, football) until our flight.

Our flight was a 13-hour direct flight from Dulles to Dubai International Airport. Yes, 13 hours . . . and yes, Dubai! The flight luckily wasn't full so we each got 2 seats, the food was tolerable, and even though Dani should have been sleeping, she'd tell you the movies were good.

We lost a day during the flight due to time conversions and arrived in Dubai at 7pm Monday night. Getting through customs, passport control and baggage claim were a breeze because USACE hires a "marhaba" (meaning welcome) to help get you into the express lanes and into the hired car to take you to the hotel.

Unfortunately because we arrived in the evening it was basically dark already. (It's amazing that it's completely dark by 6:30pm!) Thus, we weren't able to do much sight seeing and the front desk at the hotel reminded us it's Ramadan and most places would not be open their usual hours. Basically, there wouldn't be much for us to do if we ventured out. So, an attempt at sleeping during what felt like the middle of the day is what we did.

The hotel was luxurious. The United Arab Emirates tourism group rates it as a 4 star hotel. And the prices of everything there reflect as such ($8 for a beer, $12 for a small daquiri and $20+ for a buffet breakfast per person). But considering per diem is $413 per day I guess we made out pretty well (food alone is $135)!

The next morning (although our body was screaming at us that it was the middle of the night!), we ventured out to see the sights immediately surrounding the hotel. We quickly discovered that we weren't staying in the downtown tourist district and didn't get to see any of the world reknown sites (Burj Al Arab, indoor ski hill, mosque open to non-muslims, etc.). We now have a plan for next time though!

By 9:30 Tuesday morning (about 12 hours after landing in Dubai) we were headed back to the airport for a 2-hour flight to Kabul, Afghanistan. By this time there were 9 of us traveling together and making our way through security that would never meet stateside standards, passport control, and boarding the plane via a shuttle to the tarmack and stairs up to the plane cabin. And if you can believe this, they served drinks before take-off and a hot meal on a 2 hour flight (not just salted peanuts!).

Dani slept during the flight but Billy enjoyed looking out the window at the countryside which entailed lots of desert and very rugged mountains. But as we entered the Kabul area Dani was roused and we had a chance to see the city from the areal vanage point - the arid landscape, the lack of trees, and the individual, wall-encapsulated residences. It was also amazing to taxi around what seemed to be all of the Afghanistan International Airport, only to discover we'd squeeze the plane inbetween other planes away from the terminal and the luggage would be unloaded onto carts that appeared to be hand-pulled to baggage carousels beneath the terminal.

Once again, we completed a trip through passport control, customs and baggage claim and met up with our "guide." Our "guide" took us on a long walk (there were several people with heavy suitcases that wished they had accepted the services of the porters at baggage claim) to the convoy vehicles. We suited up in fire retardant jumpsuits, flack vests and helmets and were on our way. After a quick trip through the city, we were at Qalaa, which is where Afghanistan Engineer District North (AED-N) is headquartered.

So as of last Tuesday afternoon, we were considered "boots on ground."

More to come. . . .