Last Day Before the Leave

I got up at 0530. It was easy, because after 2 and a half months in Afghanistan, I was finally looking ahead at some leave time. We left for Camp Marmal at 0630, because we have to start the check-in procedures at 1000. There is no time to have lunch, so I had a pizza for brunch at one of the camp's restaurants. It was sunny but pleasantly cool. After check-in, we went into the departures waiting hall and expected to board at any minute, as the luggage was already being loaded into the plane. But the refueling didn't start on schedule. Someone said that it was because some VIP's plane had to be refuelled first. We took of about one and a half hour behind schedule. The stopover in Trabzon was unusually quick, only about 45 minutes and we had good flying weather. As the stopover in Copenhagen was also done a little quicker than usual, we arrived in Pirkkala about 10 minutes ahead of time. A and the dogs were there to pick me up. We dropped of the commander of MOT C in Säkylä on the way and arrived at home just before 0200 on Friday, local time.

Outsourcing

To make up for yesterday's idleness, I was out twice today: first to the security meeting, which lasted almost two hours (because the deputy governor started arguing with UNAMA's political advisor), and to meeting with the chief of NDS. That meeting lasted almost an hour. After the first meeting I briefly met UNAMA's new legal adviser, a human rights lawyer from USA. I also spoke with a Swedish medical team, who had come to change some equipment in our medical containers. After the second meeting I went to the gym and excercised for an hour on the crosstrainer. All this was possible, because I have now discovered the joys of oursourcing the writing of reports: I brought a colleague to each meeting, we both took notes, and then told the poor guy that he would have to write the report on that meeting, not me! We still go through the draft together and compare our notes, of course, but it lets me of a little easier. And sometimes it even improves the reports.

I haven't been using my camera too much recently, so here's an older picture from our medical training session last Saturday. We rehearsed how to use some support equipment, and poor J got to act as a crash test dummy.

OCCP Lunch

All our teams were out today, but I was not. I spent my day writing reports and working out in the gym. The two meetings that were scheduled for the PO today were both at the safe house: three gentlemen from the OCCP came over for lunch, and the ANP administration officer paid us a visit in the afternoon. The lunch meeting was a very relaxed occasion. The OCCP commander told us stories and jokes. I bet you didn't know that salt was invented in Afghanistan. The ANP administration officer meeting was more formal. He didn't want much: about 1 kilometre of road and some gym equipment. Oh yes, and a holiday of one or two weeks in Finland for the high commanders of the ANP. It would be much appreciated, he said. When I told him that there is a lot of snow in Finland still and that the guests would freeze in cold, he replied that by the time that you arrange the trip, it will already be summer. How true (he didn't mention the summer of what year he meant).

Fundamentals

It was difficult getting out of bed today, because yesterday I had neglected planning anything for myself. I had time to spend some time at the gym, to make some phone calls to the PRT HQ about some ideas that had been brewing for a while, and to make some plans. Idleness is creative, and thinking takes time. After all, that's what I'm getting paid for - thinking. And a multitude of other things. When the one meeting that was scheduled for today was cancelled, I even had the time to fill a 2GB memory stick with music to play in the car on our next patrol. A minor but fundamentally important detail.

Much Ado About Nothing

This morning I woke up with a very sore throat. That was soon remedied with a big mug of hot chai at breakfast. Fortunately we didn't have any planned patrols today, only a defence exercise just after noon. I spent most of my day updating the job descriptions for the PO staff. They should be updated with every rotation, but they were not updated when I arrived here, so they were now one year old, which meant that quite a lot of changes were called for. MOT Z and MOT E did two patrols each, but they saw nothing out of the ordinary. It would at this point seem that all the planning, preparations and precautions for Nowruz were made for nothing. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary has happened (or come to our attention) in our area so far. It is calm and quiet practically everywhere. Perhaps the cold weather (not much above 10 degrees today) has cooled down the New Year celebrations, too.

Cold New Year's Eve

Last night we watched a movie: "The Hurt Locker" by Kathryn Bigelow. It was quite good, actually, better than I had expected. It was funny to see the American soldiers in the movie, because they were equipped exactly like the U.S. Tracker team in our yard. My experiences here made the movie seem much more realistic, in a way. When the movie started, the temperature outside was about 25 degrees, but by the time of the end titles, the air had turned cold - about 10 degrees. Some rain had been forecast, but there was none during the night and not even during today. That's bad news for all the farmers.

Today MOT Z arrived from CNL to reinforce us during Nowruz. They went out on foot patrol in the city in the afternoon, and of course Isaf walked with them again all the way. I was not feeling too good during the whole day and tried to take it easy. It would be easier to be ill for real or then to be feeling all well, instead of lingering somewhere inbetween for several days. Anyway, we had to turn the air conditioner in our room from cooling back to heating mode.

Nowruz Patrol 2

Same shit, different day. As it was Friday, I got to sleep a bit later. I had a sore throat and was feeling ill, so at first I thought that I would stay in bed all day. But after brunch I felt better, and after the medical training and weapons maintenance I was still feeling ok. A bit tired, but ok. So we went on a second Nowruz patrol, very much like the one yesterday, except with more ANSF units and in a different direction. Again it was very hot. It wasn't that hot really, but it felt hot because I'm not yet used to it. There were even more people out having pick-nicks, and groups of men were celebrating and dancing already.


The apricot tree in the yard is in bloom.

Nowruz Patrol

Nowruz, the Persian new year, is soon here. It is celebrated at the time of the vernal equinox, which this year is on the 21. of March. At Nowruz a lot of people are coming to Mazar-e Sharif, and some of those people visit Aybak. A lot of people means a lot of potential security risks, and it is one duty of the PRT to help the ANSF (Afghan national security forces) to control these risks. Thus, we have made a plan of joint patrols with the ANA and ANP, with the purpose of maintaining situational awareness, upholding security and showing presence. Today we did one of these patrols to the border of Baghlan province. NSTR (nothing special to report), except that it was hot, and a lot of people were out.

In the evening we had a barbecue on the roof in traditional Thursday fashion. Surprise guests also arrived from Kabul: a Swedish team on their way to MeS. I smoked a cigar and tried to relax.


It's difficult to believe that this is the same yard that it was just one and a half months ago.

Foot Patrol

Today we had a foot patrol in Aybak together with the ANP. Unfortunately I wasn't able to go along, because I went from the OCCP-meeting to see the chief of police. Those who went on foot patrol were quite happy about it, despite the fact that it was very hot outside again today. Isaf the puppy went along and she walked with the guys all the way. She was quite exhausted when they came back to the PO. Another meeting that was scheduled for the afternoon was cancelled, so I had the opportunity to clean my quarters. I would have gone to the gym, too, but I have been feeling like I'm coming down with a cold the past few days. There was a report of a serious traffic accident involving a bus on the road to Kabul. I'm not in the least surprised - the bus drivers drive like madmen. But there are worse things than accidents in Afghanistan, make no mistake.

The temperature on the sundeck was 36 degerees today. In the shade.

Hot

OCCP-meeting, then back to the PO for a 15-minute break, then to see the chief of NDS. The rest of the day I spent firmly in front of the computer writing reports. It's no intelligence unless you have reported it. In the afternoon I took a short break on the sundeck, only to find out that it was too hot. It must have been way over 30 degrees in the sunshine.


An extremely peculiar sign found in CNL. Incredible. You can take the Swedes to Afghanistan, but you can't the våfflor out of the Swedes.


Do you have difficulties to relax? It's easy. Follow my lead: do like this...NOW!

Busy and Very Tired

The patrol was fun. It was really good to be out in the desert, to breathe some fresh air for a change, to be exposed to the elements and to some immediate challenges for a while, and although it was an operation with a tight schedule, the hurry almost always stops when you get out there. Spending three days on patrol reminded me of any excercise with conscripts back home - except for that this time all weapons were loaded with live ammunition, everyone was serious and professional, and (almost) no-one had to be reminded of not using any visible lights in the pitch-black darkness of the desert.

From the three days' patrol, I rushed straight to the commander's conference in CNL with only one hour's break to pack, take a shower and shave. I thought that I would have time to plan my presentation on the way there, but there was a guest from ISAF HQ in the car who talked and asked questions all the way. After the first day of the conference I had received a bunch of papers to read, but there were some guests who wanted to talk, so I didn't get to read them. I didn't get to go to bed exceptionally early, either. The next day of the conference was done by lunch time, so there was just enough time to run all errands and even to get a haircut and to take a shower before heading back to the PO. But alas, just as we came out of Mazar-e Sharif, one of the cars in our convoy malfunctioned, and we had to turn to Camp Marmal to get it serviced. Fortunately there was another convoy heading to Aybak, which we could join up with. We arrived in Aybak at 2220, and I didn't get to bed early yesterday either.

Today there was a security meeting, which of course had to be attended to. For those of you who wonder why I even try to do everything myself, I can only say that I don't: I didn't want to send my second in command to the security meeting because he went to the previous one, and right now he was busy with other things. The operations officer is on leave, and there were important issues on the agenda. If I'm here I should go - after all, it is hosted by the provincional governor. Anyway, going to a meeting means writing a report, and that usually takes an hour or three. Right now higher commands keeps asking me for the report on the three day's patrol, and I haven't even begun writing that yet. The deadline was on Sunday evening, and now we are only some two hours from Tuesday. Sometimes it's really difficult to tell what day it is here because all days are the same, and there is no spare time for me. I don't consider short breaks between tasks spare time - they are essential to maintain a certain level of performance. Whenever I want to have some time for myself, I have to take that from the sleeping hours, which I gladly do, because it's really much more important to have spare time than to sleep. Sleeping isn't spare time.

Today I heard that there are dog fights arranged here every week. Of course I had heard of this before, but today the EUPOL officer who works with us was invited to one of these dog fights. He was told that traditionally the owner of the dog that loses must invite all participants to the fight for dinner, at which the main course is the dog that lost. This sound hard to believe, but judging from how the Afghans treat their dogs, it's not. I have seen more than enough cruelty towards animals here.

The day temperatures are getting back to normal soon: today it was 28 degrees in the shade. Here are some images from the patrol:


In a wadi.


The MOT's are heading out. It's green now, and it will be getting a little bit greener still, before it gets all khaki again.


Rise and shine (the sun doesn't).


An ANP patrol taking a break on nature's own golf course.


The kids of the villages never get tired of getting their picture taken.


Looking in real life for the road that's on the map.


The wheat mostly grows very thin.

Patrol 3

I'm out for a few days, so I won't be able to update the blog. No news, good news.

(This post was written yesteday and its publication postponed. You can do that, you know.)

Wednesday

Off to the OCCP meeting to explain yesterdays shorcomings. From there to the Department of Women's Affairs to plan a project proposal about funding the planting of fruit trees on land owned by women. From there back to the safe house to give a situation update to the U.S Corps of Engineers, who despite the sound of the name are a civilian contractor to the U.S. Army. These civilian contractors have to be seen to be believed. What war does to people is well known. Also well known is what plenty of money does to people. Put those two together, and the result is somwhere near a civilian defence contractor, or what some would call a mercenary.

Anyway, the rest of the day I spent making plans for upcoming operations. The U.S. Tracker team was here for the last time today, and I gave the commander of the unit a Finnish puukko, and the sergeant a Finnish kuksa. They gave us their shield of arms in marble. After that, there was poker night, what else. The MOT D commander, H, had won 4 times in a row, but the day before yesterday his luck finally ran out. Let's see how it goes today.

Neighbours' Lunch

It's all in a day's work. My day was very, very busy, as usual. It started with meeting with the deputy chief of NDS. Then we had some weapons training. While the others were training, some of us went over to the garden across the street to host a lunch invitation for all the people from the neighbouring houses. Some 50 guests were invited, and Qabili Pilau with a side dish of salad and Naan, of course, was on the menu. In fact, I've had a traditional Afghan meal four or five times now, and every single time Palau has been on the meny. Not that I'm complaining, it's really good. And there was lots of it - 300 USD buys a lot of palau: 25 huge plates for 50 people (two always share a plate) were brought to the tables, and 15 plates were brought to the women and the families, as was the plan. Still it took two men to carry away the gigantic bowl of left-overs away to somewhere. I had been fooled, again. 150 or 200 USD would surely have covered the catering.

What was more irritating, though, was the discussion subjects during the meal. "The PRT doesn't do anything, no reconstruction, nothing." "Why can't you put asphalt on the roads in the neighbourhood?" "If you can't put asphalt, put gravel on the roads." "If you can't put gravel, at least build ditches on the sides - you can do that, can't you?" "Did you like the food? How about giving a radio for our cook?" At last, there was my chance for a comeback line: "Our cook sings himself!" After 25 minutes of stuffing themselves with palau (it's unbelieveable how much these thin guys can eat) and insulting us for not doing anything, everyone left all at once. Some said they hadn't prayed at midday, and had to pray, although we postponed the lunch from 1200 to 1300 at the mullah's request, and others said that they had prayed, and left anyway. There was a word or two of thanks, but not enough to leave me with an impression of politeness. It's unfortunate that I will have to join another one of these lunch invitations in six months or so.

Coming back from lunch, we continued for a while with the weapons training. Then it was time to go to the shooting range, where we shot with all the support weapons of the PO, then had a short dinner break at dusk, and continued with the night vision sights. It's all in a day's work.


Always eat with your right hand only, and keep your Naan the right way up.

International Women's Day

There was a celebration of the International Women's Day in Aybak today, and we were invited. I held a speech that was written for me by the PSYOPS (psychological operations) department of PRT MeS. My speech was translated and it lasted with the translation about 10 minutes. We also showed a 14-minute film about women in the Afghan and International security forces (in reality we stopped showing the film after about 7 minutes, because no-one was watching it). The event started at 1030, about an hour behind schedule, which seemed to worry no-one. A female police officer and an NDS agent were searching all locals who entered the hall of the Medina Hotel in Aybak. About 150-200 guest found their seats at last. There were speeches, poems, songs, and of course, tea and cake. Then there were more speeches, and then some more speeches. At 1225 we left, because there seemed to be no end to the speeches.

In the afternoon the logistics transport came, bringing one generator mechanic with them. They had not notified us about their arrival in advance, so there was no lunch for us left when we arrived from the Women's Day celebrations. Great. After eating whatever I could find I suddenly felt so tired that went for a nap, but couldn't sleep, because there was again someone who wanted something. Then some paperwork came up, and after that a briefing over the phone about the insurgents fighting each other in the neighbouring province, and before I knew it, it was evening again. Another day gone by with positively no spare time, or a chance to go to the gym.


The women were of course seated separately from the few men who were present.


The mullah was on fire, like they usually are. He barely had time to take a quick sip of water before starting his agitation again.


I was bored.


Fortunately there was a plethora of headgear for my amusement.


At the safe house, Isaf was taking it easy in the sunshine. She's getting bigger and bigger.

SRP IVO Aybak

In the morning I tried to sleep a little longer, but soon found out that it was to no avail, so I read some work-related papers instead in the minutes that I wasn't disturbed. Before lunch I went to the gym. After lunch we went out on short-range patrol (SRP) in vicinity of (IVO) Aybak. We drove around the city and up on a couple of hills in the outskirts. The weather was beautiful. When we came back to the safe house, our guests, MOT C and the development adviser from MeS had just arrived.


This lamb had been born only minutes before we walked over to talk with the shepherd.


View over Aybak.

Low Ops Day

I thought that it would be a good idea to have a low ops day for a change. "Low ops" is a kind of military slang expression, which means that we would not be doing, or at least not be planning to do such an awful lot during a given time period. That was the plan, but today turned out to be quite something else than "low ops", even if it would be unfair to call today an "ops" day either - it was somewhere in between. In the morning DOWA (department of women's affairs) called and wanted to meet me. They wanted to plan the details of the international women's day celebrations. They also proposed a project to plant trees on land owned by women. Consequently, I had to write a report on that meeting. In the afternoon we had some training for foot patrols and even had a short foot patrol outside. Upon returning from that training patrol, the PO's second in command, I, accidentally discharged his sidearm into the unloading barrel. Too bad, but these things happen. In a case like this it is standard procedure to start a criminal investigation, which we did. During the evening brief my phone rang three times. It took me more than 30 minutes before I was able to get other business out of the way and call back. Not exactly my idea of low ops.

Fin Brief

At yesterday's visit to the PO, the COS FIN NSE (chief of staff of the Finnish national support element) told me to come to CNL yesterday to join some briefings. So much for my late morning and brunch: we left at 0830. The OCCP mentoring team were going to have some training for their drivers today anyway, so they were my transport. The briefings at CNL, which were the Fin Brief and an intelligence briefing, contained actually no information that I could not have received by email to Aybak. My trip to CNL, however, which took the whole day, was not completely in vain. Something always turns up: I met the ACOS G3 (chief of operations, or assistant chief of staff G3) and the Samangan intelligence analyst, who had some interesting information - not that I could not have gotten that by email also. Meanwhile in Aybak, there was an explosion outside town, which turned out to be caused by an NGO (non-governmental organisation) detonating a landmine.

Fin Visit 1

There was a delegation from the Finnish Department of Defence, The Defence Staff, and the different trade unions within the Defence Forces in Aybak today. The visit and its arrangements took up most of our time today. It went quite well, actually, and the visitors were satisfied with what they saw and heard. The weather in Afghanistan does not cease to surprise. At noon the sun was shining and it was warm. At 1600, there was a hailstorm with hail the size of a grape, which peeled the paint from the walls of buildings. After the storm, there was a perfect rainbow for a few minutes, but the air had turned at least 10 degrees colder.


There was enough time to take out the camera...


...to talk back to the Swedes who said that it was gay to take pictures of rainbows...


...and to take three pictures, but not enough time to take one panorama picture!

Security Meeting

At 0900 today there was a security meeting at the provincial governor's office. It was the first meeting of its kind in over a month. The meeting itself was good: short and informative, as there were representatives from all the most important security organisations, including us. In the afternoon we went to the shooting range to zero in the weapons of the two late arrivals. It was a good afternoon at the range, but at around 1600 the wind suddenly grow strong enough to blow down our targets, and soon rain followed. We managed to get stay reasonably dry until we came to the safe house, where the rain was pouring down.

Lunch Invitation

Today's main event was the lunch invitation for the ANP and NDS commanders of all of Samangan province's seven districts, as well as the provincial commanders. The police were late, because they thought that the invitation was at 1300 instead of 1200. The provincial chiefs didn't come, because general Dostum was in Samangan at the same time, and he is what they call a "major player". In the afternoon, I wrote a report and did some other administrative work, while at the same time giving instructions to the new second in command. The GENAD (gender adviser) called quite a few times about the arrangements for the International Women's Day.


"Could I have a lunch invitation, too?"

Field Artists

In the morning the political adviser arrived and gave a briefing on the political system of Afghanistan. It's really very complicated, and the Afghans themselves make it even more so. Then we went to meet the governor. He's been away to Kabul for over a month, and some people thought that he would not be coming back, but there he was, all happy and smiling. At lunch a Norwegian officer who works for UNAMA came over. He wanted to know about the security situation in the province, but didn't want to listen to me, really.

In the afternoon the Field Artists from Sweden arrived. There was a band of eight people, complete with a trumpet and a trombone. After the evening prayers were over, they started to play old and new rock covers. The americans had come over to see the gig. They even played some Iron Maiden, and I got to sing. The neighbours gathered in numbers on the roof of their houses to see them play. The band was really good: the singer was from a band called Farbror Fläsk, and he invited me to sing in their band. They do gigs in Finland, too, at the RockOff on Aland. To make the evening perfect, there was Coke and popcorn for all.


Waiting for the evening prayers to finish.


The Field Artists in action.