I know it’s been a while since I’ve written. The combination of my computer going down and my busy schedule has kept me distracted. However, I have decided that I need to update those who have been thinking and praying for me and my colleagues here. I have also decided that my experiences and what I have been up to are better explained through my videos, slow as they have been coming. I would like to focus this update on my analysis of my experiences and what I’ve been learning.

There are three major things I’d like to talk about: who are Heroes (as it relates to the soldiers here), who are the enemies (an analysis on who we are fighting and why we are here), and the beauty of an individual (my new found friend, my interpreter/cultural advisor, who’s name in this essay will be SoA for his safety) can one man change the world?

Among Heroes:
3:00 am: I wake up with malaria infested mosquitoes nipping at my face and other alien bugs that look like they have been eating those mushrooms from Alice in wonderland; the ants here look as if they could carry my son away on their backs. I roll over and smell B.O. and see army gear strewn all over the room. I unzip my sleeping bag and see my closest friend sitting beside me begging to be cleaned, my M4 and am reminded I am still in a warzone. I am away from the people I love the most and am hanging around men who’d I’d probably not be close friends with in the “civilian world,” only because we typically run in vastly different circles. However, as I hang with these men and watch them I become enamored. Many of the soldiers here are younger than I am and in many cases, so are their leaders the Lieutenants (Platoon Leaders) who are fresh out of West Point, ROTC, or Officer Candidate school (which you can go to straight after getting a bachelor’s degree). I then marvel as I follow them around the beautiful Afghanistan terrain boggled at the tasks our society expects them to accomplish. For instance this happened today. Army Ranger’s go and capture four bad guys and hold them for questioning in the night. No one killed or injured but the mission is far from over. We are conducting Counter insurgency here and if you don’t know this is, it is the strategy that got us to where we are in Iraq and is what will probably help us win the war here. Counter insurgency is soldiers not just going and capturing guys in the night and questioning them or going and killing bad guys (it involves that too) but is primarily going out among the people and making things right. So in typical counter insurgency (COIN for short) fashion the infantry platoon arises early in the morning to go clean up the “mess” that Ranger’s made the previous night. 3:00 am, mosquitoes, army gear, M-4, “light where’s my friggin light I can’t see anything.” I head down to the where all the vehicles are and wait for the patrol brief. The Platoon Leader holds a flashlight over a map. “We’re gonna go a couple of clicks (kilometers) away and talk to the village elders about the capturing of those four dudes. Be careful cause we’re taking the same route that Three Bravo (another platoon stationed here) took when they got hit by an IED a couple of weeks ago (an IED that sent three guys home with purple hearts, two will be coming back, one broke his leg so badly he won’t be). And oh by the way we damaged another MRAP (up armored vehicle that most definitely made those three guys go home alive and not in caskets) and so we have to take all humvee’s (which are kind of seen as death vehicles now).” No one said anything but, “Roger that,” and then they geared up. I of course thought to myself “why the hell would we go out in humvee’s several clicks away, to talk to a village elder about how he feels about one of our operations?” Someone could have died doing that mission and no one complained they did their job and came back in time for breakfast. These soldiers do this every day. I don’t want to romanticize them unrealistically, sure they complain and gripe about equipment, vehicles, even sometimes the mission but they always do it. To me that’s a hero, that makes all the difference. Do what you say you’re going to do. They signed up to come here and serve their country and they’re doing it. They are winning this war one Afghan town, one Afghan tribal elder at a time and some of them may not come home. There are probably many other definitions of what a hero is but these soldiers, many of them humbly tell me they have the most boring and mundane job, these soldiers are my heroes and I only hope that when I grow up I can be like them.

The enemies of Afghanistan, the American people, and all those who love freedom and peace:

I have to admit something. I’ve had a sort of myopic view of who our enemies were here. I used to think they are all evil. Now, don’t get me wrong many of them are, but there are many shades of grey as well. Many of them follow an ideology of hate that leads them to want to kill anyone and everyone who doesn’t believe, think, or live like them. This is in my opinion evil at its most obvious and the foundation of the enemy here. Many of these men are foreigners coming from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan etc. for jihad against the Western infidel. Many are local fighters who feel the same way. Many are your average nihilistic sociopath you can find in America; he is not idealistic or pragmatic he just likes to “watch the world burn.” Some are in it to make money. The sociopath’s or the idealist’s use poverty against people and pay them to do evil things like plant IED’s and car bombs which most of the time never even kill the intended targets. Many are young poor men who have nothing better to do and are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some are even persuaded by fear to perform horrible acts. The terrorists here commonly hold innocent family members hostage and force their loved ones to plant IED’s or roadside bombs etc. The enemy here is varied and complex. Now that I have attempted to articulate who we are fighting I want to articulate why we are here, in my opinion. First and foremost I believe in this mission. I believe helping the Afghan people create a Democracy will make the world and America a safer place. I believe we should stay the course and finish the job. Don’t be fooled however, the job here will take decades. This enemy is passionate and this society is still for the most part stuck in the first and second centuries in many ways. Most people can’t read and write. They don’t have running water or electricity and they live in mud huts, for the most part. What America is doing here is nation building don’t have any doubt about it. This mission is not necessarily about 9/11 anymore. We devastated the Taliban and all the Al-qaeda training camps here in 2001 and 2002. Osama bin Laden is not here and hasn’t been here for years; he’s either dead or living it up in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Dubai, or wherever his millions of dollars could take him. We are doing what we did in Iraq and more soldiers will die doing it. We are pouring billions and eventually trillions into another backwards country in the name of democracy; and I love it! No other country in the history of the world has poured this many resources and the blood of its people for another country, let alone two! What we are doing here is noble, profound, humane, and will better the world. But if you’re against nation building, sacrificing for another country, or all the same things many people were against Iraq don’t lie to yourself cause we have a new president. We are here and we are here to stay for a very long time and we’re fighting an enemy that needs to be defeated.

The beauty of an individual, can one man change the world?

I believe the world has been changed over and over again by individuals. Generally it’s the masses that do the most harm. I believe that my interpreter SoA (I have to keep his identity a secret for his safety) is the hope and future of Afghanistan, if he is not killed first. Throughout history the evil masses, like those we are fighting here, know for them to be successful they must wipe out the best of a society. During the Turkish genocide of the Armenians they targeted the intellectuals, the teachers, the doctors, and the politicians first. The terrorists here are and have been targeting these individuals for years and it’s getting worse. They especially target people who work for Coalition Forces like my friend SoA. There is no hope for this country if the best of Afghanistan are wiped out by these thugs. SoA just recently sent his family to Kabul and is living full time on our base, away from his family, because the threat has grown out of control. Just recently he and I went and visited an extremely liked local professor and doctor who had an attempted assassination on his life precisely because of who he is. SoA believes in this mission and what we are doing. He is a moderate Muslim who believes that if you blow yourself up or target innocence you will not get 72 virgins in heaven but will go to hell. He believes in many western values like freedom and democracy, the individual choice what religion you want to believe in or the freedom of speech without interference by the government. He is the hope of Afghanistan but he must survive. To replace a man like him is almost impossible and this is why the enemy targets him. I never knew how easy I had it until I met SoA. He is a great man and one day may be the reason why American soldiers can come home.

The last thing I wanted to mention was just a personal update. I love my job and believe in what I’m doing. Continue to pray for daily strength and safety. The hardest thing for me while I’m here is being away from my best friend and partner, my wife, and my beautiful son who I mostly know through videos Melanie posts online. Continue to pray for our family to be strong during this turbulent time. Without my family I am nothing and I’m daily reminded about what a blessed man I am.

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