A few soldiers died recently in my province at a combat outpost. There was a major gunfight a few miles from my base. My war has been relatively quiet, meeting with contractors and traveling to villages to look at schools. How real the war truly is, but how blind we are sometimes to it. I hope that I can make the most of my tour here, and make a real difference, but the fighting seems like it is another world away. And yet it is so close. The contracts and the killing are interrelated, a massive struggle to gain popular support, like an election campaign where the other side likes to blow people up. And the stakes are huge. This country is the crossroads of almost every unstable region in the world except for Africa. Iran to one side, India/Pakistan to another, China getting interested in expanding its influence. The stability of these regions depends on the stability of a country that most people didn't care about before 9/11, mostly because it was stable (though brutal). The stakes are high and it is me more than the door-kickers who can win the war, win by supporting the government long enough and hard enough so that it can finally stand on its own two feet when the acceptable time comes. But I must stay alive to win, and the war, though it seems distant at times, is all around me.
That's all from the wall
10 March 2010
04 March 2010
A Note on Pride
"A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon"
Napoleon Bonaparte
I write today about pride. Almost even more than pride in general is pride in one's own accomplishments. In order to set those apart who have accomplished greatly, the military has certain traditional markings to bestow. The first, and most well-known is the medal/ribbon, which is worn on dress uniforms. I have ribbons for rifle marksmanship, being on the best ship in the squadron, and achievement as a junior officer, to name three. Also, there are rating badges, like my "dolphins", the pin that shows that I am a qualified submarine officer who can save the ship from fire, flooding, or torpedo attack if necessary. One that is less known, especially to us Navy folks, is the combat patch
In the army, one organizational patch is worn on the left shoulder. This denotes the unit to which a soldier currently belongs, showing pride in one's current job. On the right shoulder is the combat patch, the unit patch for a unit (of your choice if you rate multiple) you have deployed with to a combat zone. A soldier's favorite combat patch is his badge of honor. A soldier without a combat patch is less than a first-class citizen, a non-hacker if you will.
It has come to my attention that some Navy PRT commanders, nameless of course, believe that the unity created by all of the soldiers wearing only a PRT patch (unauthorized in country, by the way) is more important than the pride in one's own accomplishment shown by proudly displaying your combat patch.
This may cause some discontent in the ranks....
That's all from the wall
Napoleon Bonaparte
I write today about pride. Almost even more than pride in general is pride in one's own accomplishments. In order to set those apart who have accomplished greatly, the military has certain traditional markings to bestow. The first, and most well-known is the medal/ribbon, which is worn on dress uniforms. I have ribbons for rifle marksmanship, being on the best ship in the squadron, and achievement as a junior officer, to name three. Also, there are rating badges, like my "dolphins", the pin that shows that I am a qualified submarine officer who can save the ship from fire, flooding, or torpedo attack if necessary. One that is less known, especially to us Navy folks, is the combat patch
In the army, one organizational patch is worn on the left shoulder. This denotes the unit to which a soldier currently belongs, showing pride in one's current job. On the right shoulder is the combat patch, the unit patch for a unit (of your choice if you rate multiple) you have deployed with to a combat zone. A soldier's favorite combat patch is his badge of honor. A soldier without a combat patch is less than a first-class citizen, a non-hacker if you will.
It has come to my attention that some Navy PRT commanders, nameless of course, believe that the unity created by all of the soldiers wearing only a PRT patch (unauthorized in country, by the way) is more important than the pride in one's own accomplishment shown by proudly displaying your combat patch.
This may cause some discontent in the ranks....
That's all from the wall
02 March 2010
A Note on Corruption
There are a lot of accusations going around about how all the members of the Afghan government are corrupt, and that we need to stop the corruption. I can attest to the first part. But it's not as bad as you think, honestly. And here's why...
First, we have to define corruption, and then we have to acknowledge that we see corruption with the eyes of a westerner. So corruption to me is taking money as a member of the government (getting your cut) in exchange for making things happen. So, from a western perspective, are all members of the Afghan government corrupt? Pretty much.
But it's the norm here. And it used to be the norm in America. The goal here is not a corruption-free Afghanistan, but rather a functional government with an acceptable level of corruption. As our awesome (seriously, kick-butt) State Dept rep told me, "If they're 55-60% on the level, that's a win in my book." So good government officials here are not free of corruption, rather they just let their looking out for #1 not get in the way of the important thing, which is establishing a working Afghan government that can last. Once that happens, as people expect the government to actually do its job well, the corruption level will just naturally decrease as the greedy and stupid are punished.
Want an example? Some members of the provincial government actually threatened one of our BETTER contractors with being thrown in jail because of bad work quality on the road. None of the members of the government present had any knowledge of construction, nor any ability under the law to actually imprison. Squeezing the local contractor for a cut of the U.S. Government funds? Probably...
Ah well, life goes on. That's all from the wall.
First, we have to define corruption, and then we have to acknowledge that we see corruption with the eyes of a westerner. So corruption to me is taking money as a member of the government (getting your cut) in exchange for making things happen. So, from a western perspective, are all members of the Afghan government corrupt? Pretty much.
But it's the norm here. And it used to be the norm in America. The goal here is not a corruption-free Afghanistan, but rather a functional government with an acceptable level of corruption. As our awesome (seriously, kick-butt) State Dept rep told me, "If they're 55-60% on the level, that's a win in my book." So good government officials here are not free of corruption, rather they just let their looking out for #1 not get in the way of the important thing, which is establishing a working Afghan government that can last. Once that happens, as people expect the government to actually do its job well, the corruption level will just naturally decrease as the greedy and stupid are punished.
Want an example? Some members of the provincial government actually threatened one of our BETTER contractors with being thrown in jail because of bad work quality on the road. None of the members of the government present had any knowledge of construction, nor any ability under the law to actually imprison. Squeezing the local contractor for a cut of the U.S. Government funds? Probably...
Ah well, life goes on. That's all from the wall.
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