Week 3

Hi Fred,

Things are going well here...it is an odd place for a civilian to work. Noise from the helicopters, generators, and vehicles 24/7, but you get used to it. The food is like college food on steroids...you get 10 main course choices and something like thirty sides to choose from. Water is bottled and everywhere. All of the power drinks you can consume, snacks (good and bad) lots of fresh fruit at all three meals.

Tons of walking in the Afghanistan sunshine. Seriously, it is in the 80's during the day and 50's at night. The tent is air conditioned a bit too cool, even for me. I'm going to the PX (Post Exchange...mini shopping center...think Stewart's with some extra camouflage stuff thrown in) to get a blanket. I have access to a facility to do my own laundry and can also drop it off and pick it up an another place and they will do it in two days. I prefer to do my own.

I'm fabricating stuff to show the locals and soldiers the operating principles of the stuff I want to teach. We go the the Agriculture Center about three times a week. It is 50 acres of bare soil with just a few plants growing. The locals have been hired to fix up the main building and it is guarded by ANP (Afghan National Police) who live there. Right now I'm trying to get them a bathroom and shower...the facility that is there has 2' of human excrement in it! I have no idea how or where they go to the bathroom...I am looking where I step though. My goal is to have them think of me every time they take a dump.

Have a great day! -Jim-

10/21 Hi Everyone;

I've been gone for two weeks. My life is settling into a sort of routine. I am sleeping well now and figuring out what is good for me to eat at the dining halls (DFAC = Dining FACility). The number of different things I'm being used to advise on is very diverse. I participate in a weekly meeting on Agriculture and Irrigation and met with the international contractor that will be mapping out, inspecting and rebuilding the canal infrastructure in our AO (Area of Operation).

I also put together the pieces of the puzzle for getting a proper slit latrine and shower set up at the Ag Center. The ANP (Afghanistan National Police) HAD both, but no way of emptying them and they are both a bit disgusting...a foot of human waste in both of them. I appealed to the CPT. that is the preventive medicine guy at our FOB and he had the design for the exact thing they needed...he went the distance and requested that the latrine get built. I'm only hoping that the ANP will get into digging the trenches in a timely manner. My goal is to have the ANP think of me every time they use the facility...They are polite to us when we do our three visits a week to the Ag. Ctr. Always offering a glass of Chai tea loaded with coarse sugar or sugar disks. The tea is pretty much flavorless, but after the trip (sometimes walking) the sugar is appreciated.

Today we'll retest the rocket stove and begin the second version.

The second one will be out of more recognizably scrounged materials, rather than the scrap metal from the motor pool's metal fabrication area. I'm also looking to build a hand pump for the top of the well at the Ag. Center...eventually there is a contractor showing up and installing a solar powered pump to irrigate and fill the reservoir there. The 3BCT is getting into making the Ag. Center look nicer. They hired a bunch of LN's (Local Nationals) to even out some big piles of dirt, clean up the garbage that accumulated there and do the patching and repair work on the central building. They are also building guard towers on the top of the administrative building. The Army is rebuilding the main gate into the facility, adding smaller gravel to the parking areas, adding a flag pole to the very top of the building, installing a playground for the local kids to use and a bunch of other infrastructure improvements to the facility. I'm hoping to get a series of 6' x 6' x 2' boxed gardens built out of the bricks they are removing from a non-used reservoir. Eventually the concrete base of the old reservoir will have the CHU's (Containerized Housing Units) that the ANP stationed at the Ag. Ctr. (and presently living on the top floor of the administration building) to live in.

Cpt Kim is putting together a bunch more of the birthing kits. I'm happy to announce that my sister Barbara got a manufacturer in the US to donate 1000 umbilical clamps to the cause (this is one of the only parts that is harder to get in Afghanistan). My family is pooling the Christmas money we usually spend on each other and seeing if we can buy a bunch of the clamps to send here...I looked at one of the kits and the umbilical clamp doesn't look that complicated or expensive...I'm setting my mental goal at 10,000 of them. Anyone reading my blog can reply to Klaus or Krista if they can source them or are interested in donating to the cause. The latest statistic from my group is that these kits reduce infant mortality by something like 40%. The kit includes a clean blanket, sterile gloves, nasal aspirator, towels, scalpel, absorbing mats, soap, alcohol pads and more...including the umbilical clamps.

I was sorry about not getting pictures posted to this site...I'm not good at that kind of technology...

SPC George B. Just helped me upload some pix. The one with me holding the M-16 is just posed! The rifle belongs to a civilian worker who was unloading pumpkins. The picture with the US and ANP soldiers is at the Ag. Ctr and I'm drinking Chai tea with the AMP commander. Another picture is me working at the motor pool's metal fabrication area building our first rocket stove.