Guests and Paperboys

Today we had quite a few visitors. After the new MOT D and the OCCP mentoring team had left for their patrols, the rest of us waited at the safe house for a transport that would bring the old MOT D to CNL. We were hoping that there would be enough room in their vehicles to take the PO's guys along as well. They needed a lift to Camp Marmal and the leave transport. We were, of course, prepared to give them a lift ourselves if the visiting unit could not provide the service. First up was the diesel delivery truck. It arrived early, filled our fuel tanks and left. The ISAF news delivery boy was also early. Our guards' commander told me a few days ago, that the delivery boy takes some of the ISAF news and sells them to shops in the city. I asked the boy how the system works: Where he gets the papers, who delivers them to him, where and how much he is paid for the delivery an so on. He said that sometimes when he is not paid he sells the papers. I continued to ask him questions about the receipts for the delivery and other details. Then I told him that the ISAF news is a gift from ISAF to the Afghan people, and that no-one should have to pay to read the ISAF news. The boy started insisting that he was not selling any papers, but the interpreter and the guards who were listening had just heard him say that he sometimes sold the papers. I told him that I had already reported his actions to Mazar-e Sharif two days ago, and that they would have to decide whether he could keep his job.

Then a delegation from the prison turned up at the gate. The outer wall of the prison was now in even worse condition than before and it is likely to crumble any day. They wanted more Hesco-bastions and concertina wire from us to reinforce the wall. A man from a construction company was also at the gate offering the services of his company. Then the sewage tank car came to empty the guards' toilets. The logistics transport arrived at the same time that the OCCP mentoring team was coming back to base. Then the tactical PSYOPS (psycological operations) team and the SUAV squadron (small unmanned aerial vehicle) came back from the shooting range. And during the whole morning the water delivery man wanted to come and go to fill our water tanks.

After lunch we went out to take a look at the prison wall, and having seen it, decided to donate all our remaining Hescos to the prison. It would, after all, be a major setback if the 150 prisoners escaped one night. Then we continued to look at a location where an anti-tank mine was found some time ago. It had been washed up by the floods. In the afternoon MOT B arrived from CNL, and even later MOT D came back from their patrol. On top of it all, as darkness fell it started to rain.