GOOD MORNING AND MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL:

12/24/11

Christmas Eve day was ultimately strange from a strange place for me. The day started early with my team assembling at the office at 7:45am to meet with MJR Reyes. We'd cut the stakes for 19 signs that were needed for the area-wide wrestling match we'd organized as part of the military's 'coin' (Counter Insurgency) program. We wandered around placing the signs for each of the areas districts and groups as well as arrow signs to direct traffic and pedestrians. Working with Jorge (MJR Reyes) is always a pleasure. He is ALWAYS full of energy and positive ideas/suggestions. We work well together. Anyway this was an almost all Afghanistan event and the US Army wasn't sure what to expect. It started around 11:00am (Afghan time ...this means somewhere near, like within two hours more or less depending upon tea time and mood for the LN's) and kept growing until, I estimate, that there were around 1500 men and male children (remember it is a really gender oriented society here) gathered in the newly built soccer field just off the bazaar (right near the previously mentioned septic tank and non-existent leach field).

Afghan Wrestling is not something many have ever seen. The bouts were fairly informally arranged without any appearance of brackets or classifications. Men take a cloth from their turban and tie it around their waist, under their shirt. Then they spend a few minutes getting their opponent’s hands wrapped into and under that cloth. It is a knock down event...meaning the goal is to dump your opponent on his back, Best 2 of three falls wins. There were probably 50 competitions...the two top winners got 125cc Honda motorcycles!

Now for the real highlight. David Wilson is one of the men on the Ag Team. He is the guy that I probably have spent the most time with and has been my 'body guard' on most of my off-base assignments. He is also fairly big! About 6'6" and 275 pounds... he stands out in any crowd, especially with the locals. He also has a great memory and has been working on his Pashto. It would be an understatement to say that he is 'known'. He is also a big kid at heart...to that end he asked COL Frank (in charge of the FOB) if he could wrestle in the event. He was given a tentative 'yes' and proceeded to the wrestling circle with our faithful translator, "Maverick". A few minutes of discussion and he got teamed up with one of their biggest and most experienced wrestlers. The event was rigged a bit by the Afghan official... David's positioning was such that he could defend a bit, but not too much and he wound up getting gracefully dumped on his back twice. However, this wasn't a bad thing. The Afghans are a fragmented people: fragmented by tribe, distances, war, Taliban influences and more. To get over 1000 of them together in one place to unify over one event is an almost unheard of feat. To get them all rooting for the same event is almost unheard of. To get them all to cheer and clap for their country in a friendly sporting event is AMAZING. The comment from the district governor was loosely translated as 'this single moment has broken the back of the Taliban'. David got thanked by COL Frank and a 'Challenge Coin' to boot. The comment from one of my tent mates is that he 'took one for the infidels'.

There was the Afghan version of a one man band on a giant drum with two distinct drum heads being beaten at the same time. The drummer was accompanied by a dancer whom I would have to call a 'whirling dervish' for all of his ballerina-like spinning. The drummer also played for several variations of what looked like all male line dancing. Most of these dances started with very slow coordinated movements and wound up going pretty fast at the end.

We finished up around 2:30pm and were given the rest of the day off. I went Christmas shopping at the Haji Shop (a store in the ANA compound that sells local stuff, magazines, cheap Chinese knock off goods, and local gemstones). I got the members of my team stuff made out of the local Lapis Lazuli stone.

Our tent is ready for the morning. We have had our share of problems... the generator is broken and our heat and lights have been out for a couple of days... on and off as repairs get going and then fail... did I mention it is cold here?

We're in good spirits and I even watched the original cartoon "The Grinch that Stole Christmas" with the team and a bunch of the medical staff.

Time to go! Have a great day! Love, -Jim-