I have unfortunately not updated my blog in quite a while, I blame being very busy at Atterbury, and then the lack of connectivity here in AF. But, believe it or not....
I'm finally in Afghanistan!!!
So now the real work begins. I am the CERP fund manager, here at the ol' PRT. What does that mean? good question. The Commander's Emergnecy Response Program was developed as a way to provide humanitarian aid from military units to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. The money origianally came from millions on american cash that were found in the palaces of the former ruler of Iraq (now deceased). That money has long since been depleted and it is now money directly from the taxpayers.
So I hand out taxpayer dollars to Afghanis in order to build wells, and schools, and roads, and clinics, and other cool stuff. Easy right?
Wrong. First, there are the layers of beaurocratic BS. Originally, CERP was basically a bank account that commanders could use to tackle the humanitarian problems they saw in their areas of operation as they saw fit. Problem? Little to no tracking of MILLIONS. Some greedy military officers are in jail because they mailed home hundreds of thousands in CERP cash. Sooooooo....... how do you solve corruption? Make it harder to spend the money. Now CERP projects have to be submitted, and the paperwork filed in triplicate, and the right forms filled out. Now it's just more complicated to waste taxpayer money....
Not that what I am doing is wasting. The people here in Afghanistan desperately need to be brought out of the 16th century in more ways than just having Kalashnikovs and RPG's. They can't read or write, don't have clean water, but they can program a 2-way radio and wire it into an explosive charge. The women here hide themselves from our convoys as we roll down the street. The poverty here is amazing, the Taliban are one of the highest paying gigs in town, and they pay $350 a month (much more than the national army). There is much to do
Speaking of much to do, I must go to bed. It is late here, and the morning call to prayer will be ringing through the town with "Allah hu Akbar" in a few hours....
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Hey, history boy! Had the average Afghan's life ever advanced to standards common in the 16th century, he'd be laughin'now. People often like throwing around various centuries to describe current Afghan backwardness (Rush Limbaugh picks a new one every time he's on the subject), usually because they're not all that sure what life was like for anybody prior to the invention of 45 rpm records. (What are those? Google it.) So with all your reading about Afghanistan in particular, and history in general, I'd like to see you be the guy to pick the appropriate century to describe their present woes and show that you know why and wherefore you say so. Just to give you something scholarly to do in your copious free time.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I see you've modified the personal info on your blog, but I think it would be advisable to adopt a pseudonym and have your actual identity drop out of sight entirely, along with any identifying place-names, associates, contact info, etc. Strangers do tend to troll for milblogs, and may well find yours without having any idea what to look out for. Non-strangers will find you easily enough. But the Army also trolls milblogs and is much quicker to police them than are other branches of the service. You have to be scrupulous about OPSEC matters, and never speak ill of higher, or they'll sqash you like a bug. Don't know if you were a follower of Lt. G. at "KABOOM" -- a GREAT writer, who used a full range of pseudonyms for all people and places, but he got shut down and scrubbed clean for posting something edgy about his commanders. [He's back in civies now and has a book deal. I'll get you a copy when it comes out next month.]