Woodhenge Self Reliance Campus

A better copy of the newspaper article

2012-01-16T18:16:00.001-05:00

NNY educator brings renewable energy knowledge to Afghanistan

By SGT. MELISSA STEWART
TASK FORCE SPARTAN PUBLIC AFFAIRS

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 2012

ARTICLE OPTIONS

James S. Juczak is an expert in renewable energy, saving money and making something amazing out of nothing.

Mr. Juczak spent more than 20 years teaching everything from foreign languages to shop classes and has been on the staff of Cornell University’s Cooperative Extension. For 90 days, he found new and inventive ways to help the people in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, by working side by side with soldiers in the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, Task Force Spartan.

At home in the north country, Mr. Juczak lives on his farm in a mortgage-free house that he, his wife and some of his friends built out of recycled objects. His home and surrounding structures on his property on Fuller Road, Adams Center, run on renewable energy, and the majority of the food used by the residents of the community is produced on the farm.

“We live at a place that we built. It’s called ‘Woodhenge,’” he said. “It’s the intentional community that we set up.”

Mr. Juczak spends his time spreading knowledge of an economically and environmentally friendly lifestyle with local students and fellow free-thinkers.

“I run an intentional community; I teach people how to build self-reliant systems around themselves, including energy systems. I write and I lecture,” he said.

And now, he helps the Army. While Task Force Spartan soldiers were preparing for their yearlong deployment to the Zharay and Maiwand districts in Kandahar Province, Capt. Kimberly Duenow, officer in charge of the Spartan agricultural team, began to look for ways to train her soldiers on as many different agricultural topics as possible. She found Mr. Juczak through a partnership with Cornell University and the task force.

“The captain showed up at my office one day and said, ‘I heard you know something about renewable energy,’” Mr. Juczak said. “I offered to do lessons for her team, and they started to show up for two- to four-hour lessons at the Cooperative Extension.”

“I did everything from food preservation to how to set up solar systems, wind systems, that kind of stuff,” Mr. Juczak said.

His enthusiasm and skill stood out to the soldiers. After going through the training with her team, Capt. Duenow realized that Mr. Juczak was an incredibly valuable asset to the task force’s agricultural mission. She and other officers discussed deployment with Mr. Juczak, and he expressed his willingness to join them.

“Jim was really enthusiastic and had expressed his interest in wanting to come out and help us more and deploy,” Capt. Duenow said.

Mr. Juczak arrived at Forward Operating Base Pasab with no idea of what to expect from a military base, the Army and Afghanistan. According to him, he was expecting the living conditions to be considerably more austere and the soldiers more impetuous than what he found.

“I don’t have any military experience, so moving into a tent with 10 enlisted men has been a riot,” he said. “It is nothing like I thought it would be; they are much shyer and much more polite than I thought they would be.”

While he was at FOB Pasab, he helped the agriculture team inform locals about types of renewable energy and has taught many how to build valuable and useful equipment out of next to nothing.

“Jim is great because he is so resourceful, and with our limited budget and funding, he has been a huge asset to us,” Capt. Duenow said. “He is a very resourceful, handy guy who has helped out with pretty much everything.”

Mr. Juczak worked with the Spartan agricultural team to teach at the Zharay District Center. He said classes were a fun and successful way to educate locals on energy efficiency and ingenuity. One of the projects that stood out the most was a fuel-efficient stove Mr. Juczak taught locals how to build.

He also has had a hand in Operation Stork, which is a task force initiative to help decrease infant mortality rates through education and the distribution of birthing kits that contain basic medical and household supplies to assist in safe home births.

Mr. Juczak did not just help assemble the birthing kits; he got his family involved with Operation Stork.

“Upon hearing about the birthing kits, his family decided that this year they wouldn’t exchange Christmas gifts. They decided that they would just find ways to bring in donations,” Capt. Duenow said.

Many times over the past three months, the civil affairs or agricultural teams took Mr. Juczak out into the Zharay district to get his opinions on the most effective way to clean out irrigation channels, clear trees out of roads and build energy-efficient items for local Afghans.

Although Mr. Juczak has been outside the base many times, he has never been afraid. He said he can tell his wife with confidence that he is being well protected by the soldiers he has worked with for the past 90 days.

Mr. Juczak also has helped soldiers interact with Afghan companies to get better deals on contracts. He said many times, an engineer or builder will present a contract that is written in superfluous technical jargon in the hopes of confusing customers and finagling more money out of the job.

“I have made my salary here getting projects canceled where the bids were 10 times what they should be for what they got,” Mr. Juczak said jokingly. “A lot of times an engineer will couch it in terms they hope no one understands, or they hope no one looks at it in detail.”

Mr. Juczak’s 90 days with the task force ended last week.

SPC. GEORGE BADILLO N U.S. ARMY

James S. Juczak teaches locals in the Zharay District Center, Kandahar province, Afghanistan, about renewable energy and using junk to make efficient household items.

I'm Back!

2012-01-13T08:33:00.004-05:00

This is the 'demo' Rocket Stove that convinced my class to come back for several days. I built it and then served them Red Zinger tea! This is a fun response to the gallons of local chai tea I was served any time I was with a group of more than one local. Note; One of my students is playing with the snapper puzzle in the background!

My class is looking at my photo album from home...
Me driving an MRAP (I do not know what it stands for, other than really heavy club cab pick up truck...20,000pounds heavy!). My beard has since been trimmed back a bit.
Hi All;

I am back from Afghanistan and have recovered from my jet lag and other mental roadblocks that happen when a person goes from living in a tent with 9 soldiers and into a nice home. There is an article on my adventures that was published in the Watertown Daily Times in the link above, if you are interested. My time in Afghanistan is precious to me in that it taught me a terrific amount of things...everything from how to talk and think like the US Army to how a lot of the 'other half' of the world lives.

My level of paranoia on what could happen to 'our world' if one of the simple strands that keeps us functioning as a cohesive society is still VERY HIGH! I just reread "One Second After" (author:William R. Forstchen) and it confirms my beliefs...I also just rewatched "Zombieland" which is a cute movie, but makes the important point of having 'rules'; one of which is to 'enjoy the little things in life' and another is "Cardio" (the ability to run away).

The things in Afghanistan the the locals impressed me with is their appreciation of little things. One of the gateways into teaching the "Local Nationals" was the fact that I brought simple lessons and told them that they already knew most of what I was teaching...just that I had a different way of applying what they already knew. I also gave out simple teaching toys...During the first lesson I gave the participants a 'ferrous-cerium' rod- one of those spark rods used for starting fires (I get mine from USA Knifemaker Supply - usaknifemakersupply.com) and showed them how to use it...again a 10 second lesson that changes how you look at fire...more on fire later. I also gave them one of the 'rubber band/snapper puzzles' that were made by Anthony Cronk's students at South Jefferson...waited the appropriate amount of time after demonstrating it and then told them the 'secret solution'. It is all about timing...they loved it and it was almost too much for what is known as 'set-induction'...they played with the puzzle for days!

My fascination with fire has lead me to learn as many techniques as I can on how to start one. For years I used 'flint and steel' fire starting as a gateway lesson for my 7th graders. It is a good place to start (I get my flint and steel kits from Track of the Wolf- a primitive living supply house specializing in the technologies of 200 years ago). I recently resupplied myself with several dozen ferrous-cerium rods, but also got some 'permanent matches' and a 'fire piston' from the aforementioned USA Knifemaker Supply. The permanent matches are a kind of poor man's zippo lighter, but are completely waterproof! It is a keychain ready lighter that has a small container for lighter fluid and a rod with wick that is mounted in the container. You unscrew the 'match' and flick it along the ferrous-cerium rod attached to the side of the container and you get fire.

The fire piston is really neat. In this case it is a machined chunk of metal rod that allows you to compress air in such a way that a piece of char cloth is ignited and can be used to set fire to a tinder bundle. Google it if you are curious. I may also start to publish pictures on these techniques if I think there is an interest.

Maybe my last blog from Afghanistan...or at least FOB Pasab

2012-01-01T11:02:00.001-05:00

Jan 1, 2012 Maybe my last blog from Afghanistan...or at least FOB Pasab

Hi All;
The last days here have gone by in a blur. I started to get my area packed up...it is presently a disaster needing to have things put into their final traveling places. There are three packages of 'stuff', mostly clothes that I am mailing home. That will help make my travels easier. Travel time is uncertain. I have a truck ride from FOB Pasab leaving at midnight today; it will take me to KAF (Kandahar Air Field). We're trying to get the connection from KAF to Ali al Salim AF base in Kuwait done today, but it is a matter of good chance if the proper connections are made. I will be traveling with SPC George B. one of the great guys from my team and he will help to smooth the way for me. I anticipate at least 24 hours at KAF and then a 3 hour military flight to Ali al Salim. Then it is a matter of catching a military bus ride from Ali al Salim to the international airport in Kuwait City. At some point I have to get my tickets to travel as a 'real' person from Kuwait to Syracuse. I'm going to buy the ticket on-line as soon as I have a confirmed schedule...wish me luck with that.

We had our class on Saturday and got the final connections made with the stove at the NGO Center. It was a little difficult because the bazaar was under 'lock-down' due to the threat of a car bomber. Nothing happened, but it slowed down the students from getting to us. Also the CSD workers were not there and we had to hand carry the dirt and water for the cob/adobe to do the finishing work. We did start a fire in the stove and proved that it at least works for a short run. I will be posting pictures when I get the chance. It was a good group.

Today is a sort of break day for the team- they are tasked with helping me to finish things up here and help me to get on my way. George and I went over to the "Resiliency Center" to bring in the New Year. We watched "Happy Gilmore" and brought in the New Year with hats, masks and noise makers...the daring toasted with Becks NA beer...I chose water. In all a mellow way to welcome the beginning of both the year and my trip home. I will take at least one of the team to the ANA shipping container/home and discuss how to build a stove to heat it...we're also trying to have the stove for their cooking converted from an open fire to a rocket stove...it is a hard job convincing them that this is a good thing...tradition is tradition.

My recent experiences with the 'real' people of Afghanistan have helped me gain a sense of hope for their future. Kandahar is a poor region and the birthplace of the Taliban. In bad terms it has a lot of 'trailer park trash' people living here, unfortunately, these are the people that have the biggest connection with the US military...they are the easiest to get to come onto and near the base for menial labor. Until now my opinions were more leaning towards the negative as to the possibility of Afghanistan standing on its own after we leave...now I feel somewhat better. The country has the mineral resources to make it very rich if they could get their acts together politically and tribally. There is still a lot of graft and power plays that leave a lot of people not getting their fair share of money, status and influence.

Anyway, thank you for following my 90 day diatribe and I would appreciate any comments you have on anything I have done or you think I should have done. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Love, -Jim- jsjuczak@gisco.net

The Ultimate Compliment

2011-12-30T11:47:00.001-05:00

12 28 11 The Ultimate Compliment

The masonry stove workshop is going well. We're on schedule to complete it today. My team of 3 US Army Soldiers and 4+ local builders has been teaming up very well. We decided to use the local version of 'cob' (clay soil, cut straw and water) and local bricks to build it. Wilson welded together two large brake drums into a metal burning unit and a secondary air supply that will introduce fresh air to the smoke to reburn it. The whole thing will use around 600 bricks and should heat the NGO Center well. Despite the language barrier the comradery is terrific. We shared a meal of curry chicken and naan and then I served tea with the water heated on the rocket stove we built the first day of the workshop. I had red zinger tea for them...it was received with mixed reviews, but great humor. An interesting note: three of the four students went home after the first day of the class and built a brick rocket stove! The ultimate compliment to a teacher.

I handed out the rubber band 'snapper' magic tricks to the students too...it was as big of a hit as the class. Anthony Cronk, South Jeff Technology teacher is to thank for the production of these. We learned how to mix the 'mortar' from local ingredients and Wilson and I had fun working shoulder to shoulder with the local crew getting over a third of the stove built...this was the hardest part and the rest is much more simple.

Hopefully by the end of today we will have burned the first fire in the new unit. Class will be done and then we can do another one for the ANA sleeping unit made out of an overseas shipping container.

I have been asked by MAJ Egloff to find a source of crutches and canes for the locals near FOB Pasab. If anyone can think of a source or is willing to contact manufacturers it would be greatly appreciated by the lame and injured in our area. I will provide contact information and can probably arrange to have it shipped for free or to get the shipping reimbursed. (Dad: we have some really sad looking wheel chairs made out of those cheap, white Walmart lawn chairs and some bicycle wheels...I remember you were working with a group that built wheelchairs for the working people of 3rd world nations...do you have a set of plans or pictures so I can develop a minigrant to have them made here?)

Happy New Year! Love, -Jim-

ps We had a great day building the masonry stove. It is 95% complete and the class asked if they could come on Saturday...we agreed and will finish the detail mudding/cob then. I showed them how the world's simplest motor works today and gave them the supplies to make one...we also gave them gifts for their children...bad idea at the start of class...we spent easily a half hour helping the adults in building a little cardboard car. Okay it was fun anyway. We're also getting locals stopping by to give us hints on how to wrestle Afghan style. More fun!

pss from Krista: I have located some youtube video:

the recent Zharay wrestling tournament

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWn3p870EWE

the Spartan 3BCT midtour video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue7ujHrUwvU&feature=endscreen&NR=1

Jim also said to search ‘FOB Pasab’ and ‘Taskforce Spartan’ on Facebook.

Christmas @ the FOB

2011-12-26T10:58:00.000-05:00

12 25 11

I'm beginning my workshop at the NGO Center tomorrow and have 10 locals signed up to help build a masonry heater to warm the place up. It will be busy there with the painters finishing up the painting, the sewing class (we're talking about hand cranked sewing machines and irons that run off locally made charcoal). The sewing class meets in the mornings on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. My class will meet Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in the afternoon. Klaus will be sending out yesterday's blog on the wrestling event but I got chased off the computer at 3am this morning (yesterday evening for you) by the cleaning crew and left out some of the other details.

While we were at the medical center watching ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ we were pleasantly interrupted by a band of 6 soldiers with flickering electric candles singing Christmas carols. They had a laptop computer with them so they could remember all of the lyrics… a heartwarming event that stands out as one of the nicer 'treats' while being here.

My team was given the day off except for guard duty at the HHC entrance point...two of them had an hour shift during the day. We went to the DFAC for a turkey, ham and roast beef meal...not bad, but not that good either....I miss cooking! The gift exchange went well. I got the team members each something made out of local lapis lazuli and handed out one of the rubber band snappers and a fire steel to all of the others I work with and near. It was fun for all. The funniest gift I got was a card from George B., who has a great sense of humor. He went to the PX and got selected cards that had nothing to do with the holiday... I got one that wished me "The Best Chanukah to the Best Dad" ...which was better than the one he gave to Wilson that said "Happy Birthday to the Best Boyfriend Ever!"

I spent most of the day reading and actually finished a book. I have read about 25 books since I have been deployed...lots of them here and at the COPS... thanks to both the donations of soldiers who have finished them and boxes from the US.

Love, -Jim-

GOOD MORNING AND MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL:

2011-12-26T10:51:00.001-05:00

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-

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2011-12-22T16:24:00.002-05:00

Hi Dear & Family & Everyone;

We're off blackout, but my phone reception for texting has been poor...we think that it is due to the weather...really weirdly cold and a bit foggy. Apparently my blog is moving around. One of the Sergeants stopped me and told me her family is following my blogs and laughing a lot. Go figure. MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR! Just in case we go on blackout again.

We are in the painting phase of the NGO Vocational Center. My team and a crew of LN's put two coats of really crappy primer on the walls and ceiling. I surprised them by working beside them the whole day. The real paint will go on on Saturday...tomorrow is 'Juma' the traditional Muslim day off. We're trying to get the rest of the metal for the arches welded into place soon so we can remove the center posts from the steel arches. The painters are funny...brushes only, no drop cloths and really no regard for drips of brush direction...I did grab 2 rollers and went at a wall and had the 'boss' using my roller by the end of the day. I had the 'terp explain that it really makes the later coats of paint go much faster.

LT Porges (the guy in charge of the LN work teams - nice guy with his heart in the right place for the locals, but not too nice!) grabbed me to talk (again through a 'terp) about finishing a septic tank and leach field on the other side of the bazaar. The guy had had his workers only put in the tank, but no way to drain the 'effluent'. He claimed it wasn't in his contract...I showed him that is was...he had no clue how to design the drainage...his tank supports 6 'squat latrines' with a water flush system...kind of unique here. My experience with the locals is a bit cruder. They simply squat and relieve themselves in a 'slightly out of the way' location. We have to look where we step if we are inspecting stuff off the beaten path...electrical systems, wells, locations for solar and wind stuff. Anyway, I wound up drawing the septic tank, the "T" connectors and access caps and the leach field for the system on one of the concrete "T" walls. I will be the 'inspector' next week. He wanted the US Army to pump his tank...I explained that they were leaving and there would be a big puddle of sh*&^y water all over the soccer field and next to the new Mosque. He tried to get me to say that a smaller system would work (I told him he needed 0.5m x 0.5m x 30m minimum with a perforated drain pipe and fist sized stones and some kind of architectural fabric on top) he wanted to only go 20m. We'll see...

I'm doing well, the DFAC crew is making me laugh...They are from all over the world and have decorated the Dining rooms with sculptures of their concept of an American Christmas. They have decorated for every holiday by carving Styrofoam into their concept of holiday stuff. The water fall with dolphins and Santa scene is a bit over the top, I think. I will try to remember to take my phone/camera to get some shots.

The 'generic' dear soldier letters are appreciated by the military here. We are swimming in candy canes, cookies and other holiday stuff. I think the Jewish contingent from our office is lighting the third candle for Chanukah. Nothing for Kwanza that I have seen yet. We did talk about the relative relief here from constant blaring advertisements and commercialized Christmas songs blaring from everywhere...it is almost peaceful in a war setting. I am going to celebrate with my family when I get home! This is the one time that I will ask Krista to keep the tree up for a while longer!

All for now! Love, -Jim-

..like using a fire hydrant to brush your teeth..

2011-12-17T11:56:00.002-05:00

12 16 11 Jim after AFG

It is now Friday and that is 'surf and turf' night at the DFAC...no, seriously they do usually serve steak and lobster tails at the large DFAC at Pasab...the steak is really well done and the lobster (or crab cakes or shrimp scampi) is also really well done, but edible.

We do not get weekends here...it is pretty much a 7 day work week with a requested break for relaxation time or personal stuff like laundry. I have a lot of respect for the soldiers here...civilian workers too! It is a steady pace. I usually get a bit more of a chance to relax at the COPs. George B and I have had the chance to watch several movies at the MRW since I arrived.

Now that I have my foot in the door and am a 'registered contractor' with the Federal Government I can have as much or as little to do with the US Army as I wish. I can wait and see what they contact me to do, or I can offer my services based upon contract bids. There is also a lot of non-military work that I may be asked to do, if I'm interested...my ability to train people in the field (as in anywhere in the world, no matter how primitive the situation) in any number of areas is considered a very valuable skill. Interesting to note is that the skills sets for anyone in the world for practical things is either missing entirely or very narrow in scope...kind of scary in a way that the "I will make something that will work for you" ethic is almost entirely missing. For me to be writing the 'handouts' on how to blow up trees for the leaders of a COP is typical of how narrow they are going. For now, I'm going to go home and discuss this with my family and try to work out short stints at companies and military bases in the US. I will be around Woodhenge this spring and summer for the bulk of the time.

I visited the Maiwand Electrical Power system yesterday and today to do an evaluation and series of recommendations on how they could better use their present system and how to introduce renewable power in the form of photovoltaics and wind. Someone did an estimate for the region and got them a 450kW diesel generator (think really big!) for a system that presently requires something on the part of a 50kW generator...the difference is kind of like using a fire hydrant to brush your teeth...the generator uses 25 liters (just around 6 gallons) of fuel per hour instead of just over a gallon to do the same job...the infrastructure to deliver the power is mostly junk wire strung from bamboo poles or just compound to compound. I will be discussing, in a 'storyboard' (how the commissioned officers communicate ideas and situations) several differing scenarios for Maiwand and Afghanistan in general as far as electrical power production could be further developed for stability and sustainability.

I am in good health and spirits...keeping active mentally and physically, but looking forward to a bathroom that is in one location (as in I don't have to walk to one building for a shower and another for use of a chemical outhouse and wash myself and brush my teeth with a bottle of water...all while being cold or having a lot of people around me. That and more!

Have a great day! Love, -Jim-

No levels, no squares…

2011-12-11T11:34:00.000-05:00

12 11 11 Hi Everyone;

We've been on blackout for something like 5 days and it has been boringly busy around here. The Ag Team was tasked with removing three walls from some stalls at the local bazaar. The resulting room is intended as an NGO (non-governmental organization) vocational-technical training center. It already has two regular classes, one in literacy and another in sewing. We have built the arches out of heavy duty steel and brought them down to where we are removing the walls... nothing in this country is more than roughly measured...no levels, squares, tape measures, etc... all by eye... not bad considering. Everything appears to be made out of low fired bricks or mud bricks with a mortar made from seemingly random mixtures of dirty sand and Portland cement. It keeps us alert when we are using things like exothermic torches (a magnesium rod and oxygen tank used to make a flame hot enough to melt steel and concrete) or sledge hammer, or chisel and hammer... sometimes stuff just falls down other times we have to persuade it! We have two of the 12' x 7 1/2' walls mostly removed and one steel arch installed.

Sometimes I don't hear so well... sometimes I just don't understand: Major Reyes walked into our office and announced "When we move to the rear I get Jim first!" Before you think I have gone local I should explain two things about local culture an US Army terminology. My MI instructor (military intelligence) warned me that the local culture has a lot of fun poked at it about the 'fondness the men have for boys'. It isn't uncommon to see two adult male soldiers holding hand s and walking together...it is not uncommon to see older men stroking the head or shoulder of a near adolescent boy. There are odder stories that I will relay in person that aren't meant for a public blog...that said...'moving to the rear' means returning to Ft. Drum and 'I get Jim first' was intended to mean that he needed me for some consultation work on home and energy system design. It did sound really funny to me and when I started laughing the rest caught on and joined in...

I am getting a bit tired of the living situation here...it just isn't home...my bed is noisy, my pillow is too hard, the food is getting boring and I'm tired of walking on fist sized gravel that makes you trip without warning. There, I'm done whining. We are swimming in cookies and candy...the Adopt a Platoon and Adopt a Soldier movements in the US are dumping LOTS of holiday goodies all over FOB Pasab. It is making me feel like I need to work out more often. I did break the 10 minute mile on the elliptical trainer on level 10 the other day though! I was over 15 minutes when I first started on that machine about 6 weeks ago.

Hope you all are having a great preholiday time! Love, -Jim-

Back at Pasab

2011-12-11T11:31:00.002-05:00

12 3 11 Hi Everyone!

I got back from Hutal yesterday morning. Time is distorted here...we got up at 0530 to get breakfast at the Hutal COP and it wasn't ready, by the time it was ready we were getting our briefing for the mission (a briefing happens before any troops move anywhere...sometimes I think they have them to plan trips to the bathroom!...that is an exaggeration, but not by much). Anyway, the DFAC's have food ready all of the time, it might be as simple as my breakfast of coffee, kiwis and a muffin...topped off by a couple of packages of roasted sunflower seeds just before we got into the vehicles. We were on 'blackout' for all but the first day I was in Hutal so I have to try to remember what the highlights of the trip were.... I was asked to go take a look at the wadi (a dry gully that fills rapidly with water during the short rainy season here) and evaluate it for the potential of having a check dam installed. There are several Army Corps of Engineers and other competent officers involved too, so it wasn't my show, I'm just being used for my non-military point of view and occasional flashes of insight. The 'local engineers' proposed a dirt dike at a cost of nearly $300,000. We all agreed that was too expensive and that something else should happen. These check dams have several functions: to reduce the flash flooding that happens every year, to retain water for irrigation, and to help recharge the local aquifer. Now the real problem deals with the scale of the project...the wadi is 15' deep and 1200' wide! We need to retain water and have the thing last. An effort last year using the "Hescos" (wire cages with a cloth inner liner usually used to protect a military site...they are assembled and then filled with dirt to make protective walls and are all over the place...two problems- they have no top or bottom and the dirt in a canal or wadi washes them empty and the locals will come in during the dry season and take them apart to be reused for fencing and animal cages.
We have a number of solutions on the board...several of them from me that involve the use of digging a retaining pond upstream and using a combination of new concrete, t-walls and earth from the site. I'll let you know what happens...

While at Hutal I lived in "the House" a concrete building with individual dorm-like rooms for one person. It was nice and quiet. The permanent resident was a Special Forces Major that teaches survival, evasion and escape skills. We traded techniques on stuff like fire starting and he let us 'play' with the escape part of his teaching aids...as a result I can now pick the locks on a set of hand cuffs, break free from duct taped wrists and cut through the 'flexi-cuffs' those zip-tie cuffs used around the world. I have to send him a flint and steel kit in exchange...

We also got to visit with Willie Kruger, the South African civilian farmer that runs the local model farm and agriculture center just off the COP. Willie is a big bearded guy and has a lot of good things going on. His main claim to fame is proving that planting in rows (crops like corn and wheat) produces a greater yield...he has the space to do side by side comparisons. He also brought in seed from his native country and has, for the most part, had much better production from his fields than the locally available seed. I took the hint and wrote about 15 US seed companies and asked for their 'surplus' for around 20 different seed varieties. We'll see what happens. Willie has an interesting schedule...he works for 2 1/2 months and then goes home to his own farm in S. Africa for 3 weeks and so on... The only 120v water pump for the model farm just burned out and he's running the place on a 'borrowed' pump. My next 'mission' is to try to get him a new pump donated from a US manufacturer...any suggestions? I'm also writing to the Lorentz Pump Company in Germany to see if I can get some solar pumps donated to the various local medical clinics for solar powered installations...My skills as a moocher continue to live on here in Afghanistan!

Stihl Chainsaws continues to reject my letters asking for a donation of a 'rescue' chainsaw (heavy duty with a carbide blade) for one of the COPs I visited that is having trouble with snipers in trees...if any reader has another recommendation or you want to write to the Stihl Company on the soldier's behalf I would appreciate it! So would the soldiers! I even came up with justification...they spend more on one model in an ad than they would giving 50 soldiers who would pose for free with their chainsaw..."Stihl, helping to eliminate the Taliban one tree at a time!" or Stihl, another tool in the arsenal against terrorism!" Yes, I can lay it on a bit thick!

Anyway, it looks like I will be at Pasab for a while. My main job is getting the walls removed at the Vo-tech training center at the local bazaar...frames to build, walls to knock down, masonry to install...all in a good job!

My sister, Barbara, came through with 4 HUGE boxes of supplies for the birthing kits and local medical clinics (I've toured three clinics here, so far, and most of you have more and better supplies in your home's bathroom!). GO Barb! We are taking donations to repay her for the shipping costs she's incurred doing this big favor for the people of Afghanistan and the US Army!

All for now! Love, -Jim-

Grubby kids and tall mud walls...

2011-11-27T21:35:00.001-05:00

11 23 11

I was at COP Kandalay for the past 4 days. It felt great to get back to Pasab and have a shower...5 days without bathing was a bit much...on the other hand it is a 'dry heat' and I do not think I smelled any worse than anyone else. I stayed in a tent with my 'bodyguard', three members of the military's CA (Civilian Affairs team), and an Air Force dog handler and his dog. It was an interesting mixture. We went on several patrols through and around the town of Kandalay. Narrow roads with sewage running through the center ditch surrounded by tall mud/straw walls...most of them at least 10' high. We could tell that we were safe because the kids came out in droves and asked for pens or candy ("Chocolat Nishta" means that I am out of stuff to give away, especially candy.) We are kind of the roving 'trick or treat' patrol for them. The outfits were cute and the girls wore much nicer stuff, for the most part, than the boys. Lisa would look great in one of the colorful outfits. "Ma noom James dai' (My name is James) is one of the answers I had for their questions...I do stand out with my beard and digital patterned uniform parts. And I did feel like boiling my hands when I returned to the FOB...the hands asking and grabbing candy and pens weren't the cleanest...Weird stuff, we started to give out candy in one alley and the kids were handing us what we found out were non-functional fuses (detonators)...Yikes, weird kind of stuff to be finding in your backyard. I helped the military by telling them how to kill trees with Roundup, girding and blowing them up. The Taliban uses trees as cover for organizing attacks and denying them cover is an important order of business. I wrote the Stihl company for a really tough chainsaw and got turned down...I think I'll write again...Think of a chainsaw as a 'tool of war'...and the ad with a chainsaw lined up with all of the weapons being used here...a bizarre thought. "Sthil, helping to eliminate the Taliban, one tree at a time". Maybe a second appeal will help.

I am still doing well, but missing the traditional Thanksgiving feast with the Ebeling clan! I'm pretty sure the food at the DFAC will be good, but not the same as home.

Love, -Jim-

11 27 A Variety of Projects

Well, they have certainly started to use me for a variety of projects. I went to the COP at Now Ruzi with Wilson and MJR Reyes to inspect and evaluate the entrance for the Pashmul Canal. Remember that the canal is named for the town at its terminus not its beginning. We were gone for 2 and a half days. The COP was by far the nicest I've been to, the soldiers there were polite and in awesome shape. The food was as good or better than that of Pasab, the cook really tried to make stuff that we would enjoy eating. The beef stew we had last night was as good as I could make. The only complaint that the Major and I had was the lack of fresh fruit. Anyway, I have to step back a bit. I forgot about the visit to the 'peanut factory'. Prior to leaving for the Now Ruzi mission I was asked to accompany the CA (Civil Affairs) team to the location of a peanut processing facility. The facility was situated on about 6 acres of land and consisted of 4 completely empty concrete and steel buildings about 75' x 200'. Our mission was to evaluate the site for potential for future manufacturing businesses. One we are considering is an unfired clay brick factory. MGR Freeburger gathered a soil sample from just outside the compound and tested it (sedimentation test... fill a container about halfway with soil and the rest of the way with water and shake... it will settle into strata that tell you what the solids in the soil are... rocks, sand, clay, silt... etc)… the soil there is around 75% clay and almost too rich for bricks to dry quickly and with that much clay they may shrink too much. There is also the possibility of a sewing factory and a poultry production facility. The buildings were stripped, but serviceable and clean... the site entrance had a small contingent of ANP posted there.

Back to Now Ruzi...We took a long walk...more of a bushwhack through farm fields, orchards and scrubland. Over walls, hopping irrigation ditches, walking under tree branches and all kinds of stuff. It was great. We finally arrived at the Argandab River near to where we were going to meet an Afghan engineer. We'd initially talked to him at the COP and we finally spotted him...unfortunately for us he was on the other side of the canal inlet. The entire patrol (consisting of 15 US Soldiers and 12, or so ANA, plus me waded across to the canal entrance. It was about 15' across and got to just over 2' deep...not bad, but everyone had to walk back with wet feet. Up until now the canal was controlled by the locals, under the direction of the local 'murab' (water control official) would block or unblock the canal inlet with rocks and gravel depending upon the need downstream. The engineer wants to use US funds to put in walls on either side of the canal entrance for 100 meters and some kind of lock system to control the water. Most of the construction would be 'gabions' which are rock filled cages of fence material...you see them in the US as retaining walls along highways and waterways. I wasn't impressed with his knowledge (or lack thereof) about water flow rates, peak water heights, soil shear and stuff like that. What will really tick me off if it is another one of those multi hundreds of thousands of dollars projects that wind up making the rich richer here. I've more than paid for my trip by going over really terrible plans from the local engineering companies and telling the military 'check writers' exactly what they are getting for their money. I mean the plans are so bad that I wouldn't have given a 9th grader in my drafting classes a "70" on them and the budgets are fictitious...$11,500 to empty the dump trucks, and the same to fill them...and the same to drive them.

I spent the afternoon today chasing around the materials and tools to make the holes in the walls of the NGO Vocational Training Center. We think we have it together to start soon. I also got grabbed by another Major who is interested in 'powering up' two of the local villages with solar electricity. This promises to be a big and productive project!

More on these and other projects as they develop. Love, -Jim-

Handing out Birthing Kits

2011-11-27T21:26:00.002-05:00

11 16 11 Hi All;

Some of you have asked about getting more pictures of the people
receiving the birthing kits. The following are more pictures of
women in the Dasht Camps receiving medical exams and birthing kit
stuff. There are a mixture of nomads that have been resettled and
displaced persons. Remember these camps have been in place for
around 10 years and had a peak population of around 25,000 people.
The 5,000 that are left are the ones that couldn't 'get out' one
way or another. I compare them to the people in the US that were
still living in the government provided RV's three years after
Hurricane Katrina. The Nomadic people typically have dark
clothing...more likely than not the other people are people that
were displaced during the Soviet Occupation from this region and
then tried to reintegrate and had been gone so long that they were
not accepted anywhere else but the Dasht Camps. The women who are
not nomads typically try to keep their faces covered. The covering
of faces is not an imposed punishment in a male dominated society, but rather
a cultural habit developed over hundreds of years. I
suspect/theorize that it is a result of the many invasions that
have happened over thousands of years. The perspective is
different here...in the US you can look at the result of a 'melting
pot' in the faces of the people that have settled our
country...tongue-in-cheek people that have fled or been chased out
of their countries of origin...here you see the ethnic blending in
physical features that result from the blending of genetic material
from invaders from all over the world.

11 20 11 Hi All;

Pardon the typos...I'm on a computer at an MWR facility on a COP about 10 clicks (Kilometers) away from the FOB. THe keyboard is 'sticky'. This is my second mission to a COP and so far they are kind of like a really nasty boy scout camp with guns and barbed wire added in. The people are great, but the toilets need to be wiped down completely before using them. Only one or two choices of main dish and a couple of sides at any given meal and a folding cot to sleep on. It is much quieter with only the sound of generators and cooling systems running 24/7...compared to idling vehicles, helicopters and drone planes which run constantly at FOB Pasab.
We arrived after dark last night and got the 30 second tour. I did manage to find the MWR Phone CHU and talked to Krista, Lisa and Fred. My job is still mainly doing long term suggested solutions for small and big problems, but my reputation for thinking outside of the box is getting me some really odd problems to work on. Yesterday, before I left I had to design the steel supports for three openings in a double brick wall for an NGO (non-governmental organization) office and teaching area in the bazaar just off of the FOB. I will also be teaching a class on how to build masonry heaters there to 10 locals + military and then a class on manual water pumping. THere is also a power system for the Pasab Clinic and water purification system for the same. The weirdest question came from the leaders at the COP I'm at right now. I have to help remove a forest that the Taliban is using to stage bad stuff against the locals and military. Selective removal of trees...this will involve everything from finding suitable chainsaws with carbide blades (the tree is something like our 'ironwood' or lignum vitae) to devising tree removing shaped charges (explosives for a singular purpose...sounds like fun to me!) to girding the trees to finding a non-pervasive, non-persistent poison to be injected or sprayed onto the trees. I'm also traveling to visit check cams for flood mitigation and inspecting canal inlets. It is a wild ride with a lot fo hurry up and wait...we waited for 3 hours last night for our mission to drive off base for a 45 minute ride to the COP...but that is everything here anyway. My health and spirits are good. I did have a 'loud discussion' with one of my team members about his DILIGAF (Do I Look Like I Give A F@#$) attitude. It keeps getting him into trouble with the higher ups and with his personal life...it was a kind-of 'dad' or 'grandpa' discussion ...he's just 21 and I wanted to let him know, in a gentle (okay , not so gentle) manner that it would chase him for the rest of his life and block roads to success if he practiced it long and hard enough to make it a habit...maybe it made a dent...maybe not...

I will go from this COP back to Pasab for a day (Thanksgiving!) and then on to another COP with an experimental training farm and get to play there for a couple of days...farming information and irrigation/canal/flood inspection and recommendations, but sadly no explosives..

Have a great day! Love, -Jim-