Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Month 4 Day 26

Notebook Entry
Taught Samir 2/2/215 and 3/1/215 [Afghan Battalion unit designators] map reading, VTC [video teleconference] in afternoon.

Journal Entry
Taught Samir and all but the 1st Kandak S2s maps in the morning. It was a bit painful, but a bit fun. A lot gets lost in translation, I think. I had to make little mounds of rocks and sand so they could see what I was talking about rather than just hear about it. I had them drawing little pictures, by the end I think they grasped about 30% of what I was talking about. They don’t deal with advanced Mathematics like we do and they are not used to thinking conceptually about issues. In the afternoon we did a VTC. Major Valquist, the smooth leader, was not around so Major Hesco, aka 0-60 took the meeting. He loves to feel like he is in charge so he gives random taskers to everyone around and can’t help but put in his two cents at every occasion. Maybe I am being too harsh, maybe he is just trying to lead in an environment that is hostile to his leadership. It is like he doesn’t know what to do with himself, and maybe that is the answer.

Want to see our own 'officer's eat last'? I went to the big command post for the Marine Regiment and took this photo.  The central toilet is marked 'VIP only'-what kind of example does that set for the Afghans...

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