Wayward

Carry on my wayward son,
For there'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Now don't you cry no more

Kansas: Carry On Wayward Son

Dispatches

"In war more than in other life you really don't know what you're doing most of the time, you're just behaving, and afterwards you can make up any kind of bullshit you want about it, say you felt good or bad, loved it or hated it, did this or did that, the right thing or the wrong thing; still, what happened happened."

Michael Herr: Dispatches

An A-Z of Afghanistan

A. Allah (supposedly). Almonds. Apricots.

B. Bribes. Bodyarmour. Bees.

C. Corruption. Coal mines. Chapans

D. Dust, everywhere. Diarrhoea. Donkeys.

E. Earthquakes. Emergencies.

F. Floods. Flash floods, especially.

G. Guns. Grenades. Grapes.

H. Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin. Hashish. Helmand.

I. Improvised exposive devices. ISAF=In Shorts And Flip-Flops.

J. Joy. Joints. Joint patrols.

K. Kites. Kabul. Kandahar.

L. Landmines and landslides. Locusts. Lies.

M. Mountains. Mosques and Mullahs, Madrassas and Mawlawis. Mud.

N. Naan. Nights.

O. Opium poppies.

P. Palau. Pashtuns. Poverty. Pistachios. Peaches.

Q. Qesel Quduq.

R. Rusty Russian armour. RPG's. Ramadan.

S. Snakes. Scorpions. Spiders.

T. Tchai. Talibans. Turtles. T.I.A.=This Is Afghanistan.

U. Uselessness.

V. Violence.

W. Wars. Weather conditions.

X. The X-factor. ("In Afghanistan you will be surprised. If you're not surprised - be surprised.")

Y. Youth. Yalla.

Z. Zarangs. Zig Zig. Zenith.

Paddy's Lament 2010

Hear ye boys now take my advice
To Afghanistan I'll have you not be coming.
There is nothing here but war where the murdering cannons roar
And I wish I was at home in dear old Finland.

Adapted from Paddy's Lament (Irish trad.)

Travel Day

I got up at 0440 local time. There was an assembly at 0510 and check-in was at 0530. We got to board at 0635 and the plane took off on scedule at 0700. The Germans have their regulations, and they certainly do follow their regulations. There must apparently be a regulation against passengers moving on foot at the airfield, so all movement is done by bus. All movement is done by bus, even if the distance is less than 300 metres. All passengers are to be transported to the aircraft by bus. By bus.


The distance from the terminal to the plane was this short (approximately 300 metres), but two buses were used to shuttle the passengers to the plane. Ordnung muss sein.

During the flight I tried to sleep a little, but didn't succeed too well. The two meals and the movie kept me posted of where and how the journey was progressing. At 1600 local time we finally touched down in Pirkkala.

Time will tell how soon and completely I will manage to let go of my duties in Afghanistan, or to adapt to my new duties in Finland. So far I've no plans or intentions of going back. Time will tell.

This post concludes my blog, or at least the diary part of it. Thanks for reading.

Final Day

My last day in Afghanistan was much like yesterday. I spent most of it in the horizontal position, either asleep or watching movies on my laptop. At 1300 we weighed our luggage. The limit per person was 20 kilograms. My bag weighed in at 21.35 kg, but it was accepted. At 1800 there was a briefing for the travellers and the security check of the luggage. A dog sniffed all bags for narcotic substances and another for explosives. Later I went for a beer in the German medics' mess "Sansi Bar". I withdrew to my quarters in transit tent 1 to finish watching a movie. At about midnight, when I went to have a shower in the Norwegian hygiene containers, the full moon was shining and the night was warm and quiet.


The narcotics dog, and old male Belgian Shepherd, was not that interested in working.


The explosives dog, who was a much younger male of the same breed, was much more enthusiastic about his duties.

Lazy Day

I stayed in bed until lunch, sleeping and watching movies. It was strange but somehow I managed not to feel guilty about being lazy. After lunch I walked to the container shops to buy some items. I walked backt to the tent and took an afternoon nap. I woke up to the noise of the Latvian soldiers watching a Russian comedy on someone's laptop. The volume was high so that everyone could hear the jokes, and obviously they were, cause every now and then they would all laugh. Sleeping was out of the questions, so I played a computer game until dinner. There is a poker turnament in the evening, but I don't enjoy poker. Perhaps I'll watch another movie. One Finnish soldier was brought to the hospital in Marmul today with injuries in his leg. We all were worried and waited for news about his conditition.


Good advice. It's an armoured car, you know.

Parade

I slept late enough to miss breakfast. We walked a tour of all the staff offices with the new commander and second in command to say hello and to introduce the new guys. At 1100 there was a parade in which the deputy commander of the PRT (who is at the same time the commander of the Finnish contingent) handed over responsibility to his successor. The parade was refreshingly short and the strong wind blowing across the parade field made the the air feel reasonably cool. The ceremony was followed by a Finnish lunch with plenty of everything. Before we left for Marmal I handed in my ID-card and said hello to MOT D, who were returning from Shibirghan.

I camp Marmal I helped the new 2iC to fill up the PO cash at the Swedish paymaster's office. Then I said a final hello to the Aibak crew and they drove off. We waited for a couple of hours for the NSE personnel to get ready at the stores and then started handing in our equipment. After three hours I only had one set of bedsheets and my uniform left. I packed my bags anew, trying to make everything fit. The NSE was having a barbecue. I was not surprised to find that there was plenty of food to go around. The sauna was crowded so I walked over to the Norwegian hygiene containers to have a shower. I found a bed in Transit tent 1, which was half-full with Latvian soldiers.


There seems to be alternative routes to choose from when running the lap around Camp Northern Lights.


The parade line-up.

Transfer of Authority

I woke up for the last time in Aibak and went for a run on the treadmill. After breakfast I washed some laundry and packed my equipment. I sat down with the new commander to discuss and tried my best to answer his many questions. After lunch it was time to leave for Mazar-e Sharif and Camp Northern lights. We took the shortcut to avoid the centre of MeS, even though traffic was light. CNL was overcrowded and our accommodation was in the spare tent. At 1500 we joined the FIN-brief which was followed by coffee with cake. The transfer of authority (or TOA for short) ceremonies started at 1800. With that I was no longer commanding officer of the provincial office but became "unemployed" instead. At 1900 the CO PRT wanted to see all his new commanders in his office. I joined that meeting, because a private feedback between the commander and myself was scheduled to follow. I got good feedback from the colonel. When I asked him if he would be willing to recommend me for international duty in the future he agreed and told me to send him an email.

There was free pizza for all at the Finnhouse. I had one beer with my slice, smoked a cigar and went to bed. In the night the wind increased to gale force. The tent shook and flapped in the storm so that some guys moved their beds to the middle of the tent to avoid the noise of the tent tarpaulin flapping against their beds. Of course the air was hot, dry and thick with dust.

Farewell Party

We left for a patrol around Aibak city at 0800. The plan was to visit the Provincial Council, the Independent Election Committee, and the Department of Women's Affairs. We had made no appointments - instead we just drove up to the gate and asked if they happened to have a few minutes to spare and were willing to meet us. Of course they were: No-one is ever really in a hurry in Afghanistan, and no-one certainly ever fails to be hospitable. In each meeting I introduced the new PO commander and second in command, and gave some kind of simple farewell present. At the receiving end, the Afghans could of course not keep from giving me some kind of present in return. The people from the Provincial Council had to come all the way to our gate to give their return gift.

In the afternoon we had a short defence exercise, and wrote reports on the morning's meetings. After an earlier than usual evening brief (which by the way may very well have been my last one!), we prepared for a foot patrol to the provincial governor's residence. He and the chief of police had insisted on organising a farewell party for me. Among the guests were administrative staff from the governor's office, police officers and some friends of the governor from the president's office in Kabul. The meal was excellent and the atmosphere relaxed.

When we arrived on foot to the gates of the safe house there were some men in the street who wanted to talk with me. They complained about Isaf the dog, saying that she was pissing and shitting in the ditch from which people take their drinking water and in which they wash themselves. I said that Isaf is a street dog: she can come and go as she pleases and she only likes us because we give her food and don't kick her like the Afghans do. I said that she is free like the birds and like the 20 other stray dogs that live in our street. One man, who turned out to speak English, was especially keen on getting rid of the dog. I said that it's not our dog and that we could shoot it but we have no bullets to spare. Later the guards told me that last night he had been trying to persuade our neighbours not to take part in our dinner, and today he had been angry with some of our neighbours who had been to our dinner party, saying that they should not have accepted food from the PRT. The man insisted that we at least take the dog house that Isaf lives in away from the street. That I agreed to do tomorrow - it's too hot in there anyway now and Isaf sleeps in a hole in the ground. Perhaps the guys can put it back out when it starts snowing.

There was parliament candidate speaking against the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan in the Mosque across the street yesterday. The man said that we are just driving around in our armoured cars, sitting in meetings with important people on soft couches and not doing any development projects. He's perfectly right, but at least we don't even try to please everyone. The locals campaign to soften up the new commander seems to have started just a few days too early. The moods here can change swiftly and one must never let one's guard down.

All put together, today I got two chapans, a handcrafted handbag and a box of dried fruit. After all the acclaim that came my way today I had to check that I was alive - in my experience only dead people are spoken so well of.


The Provincial Council members and their staff insisted on having a group picture taken.


The farewell dinner at the provincial governor's residence was plentiful and really tasty.

Propaganda Posters

Admin

Before brunch i exercised for almost two hours in the gym. Then I had a briefing for the new rotation about the contingency plan of the PO. The provincial office's new CO (commanding officer) and 2iC (second in command) spent most part of the day familiarising themselves with the administrative duties of the PO, such as cash flow, local employees' salaries, material administration, logistics, maintenance etc. There's surprisingly much paperwork involved in running even the simplest military unit.

MOT Z left and the JTAC (joint tactical air controller) team from MeS came to use our shooting range. In the evening we had invited all our neighbours for dinner. I thanked everyone for the good relations that we have had during the year and introduced the new commander.


There were more guests than we had set the table for, but our guards soon brought an additional table for us to sit at.

Reporting and Planning

We stayed in for the most part of the day. I tried my best to convey the secrets of writing reports and plans that would appease the taste of the PRT HQ to my successors. MOT E went on a short patrol in Aibak, while MOT D was still away to another PO. And we had guests, too: four staff officers paid us a visit. We discussed some issues concerning the upcoming Wolesi Jirga elections as well as a recent task of evaluating the districts and provinces. Oh, and MOT Z also came over to use the shooting range. When the staff officers had left, we went out for a spin and showed the location of all the helicopter landing sites and emergency rendez-vouz points to the newcomers. And, it was barbecue night. Looking over the city from the sundeck, the air was so full of dust that you could barely see the setting sun.

Introductions

Today I introduced my successor to the OCCP, the chief of NDS, the ANA company commander, the ANA recruitment officer and the chief of police. After lunch there was barely enough time to write a report about the meeting with the chief of NDS. Then I took him and the other guys of the new rotation to a tour of some points of interest. These included Takht-i-Rustam and the GSM-mast outside the city, from which there is a magnificent view. I skipped dinner (which unfortunately was lasagna), because at 1900 we had a dinner party for the local employees. The food was excellent. Sadly, some of the personnel of the new rotation did not show up for dinner, because I consciously chose not to order them to participate, as this local employees' dinner was by definition supposed to be a voluntary, relaxed event. There is a rumour going around the men that local food can give you stomach flu. That might very well be true for some, but I must have had a dozen local dinners and have never fallen ill. On top of it all, the guys made up some excuses not to even come and introduce themselves to the local employees. Poor men, they missed out on some excellent meatballs.

Flatbed

Up at 0600, running on the treadmill for an hour, breakfast, patrol training for the new guys, security meeting (the governor promised to arrange me a farewell party!), lunch (spaghetti), live-fire exercise, dinner (tuna steak), three reports, two phone calls, shower and to bed at 2330. It's all in a day's work.

MOT D went to Marmul on a flatbed. It was their turn - compared to the number of times that MOT E has hitched a ride to maintenance Delta has still had good luck with their vehicles (or Echo has had bad luck, rather). But this time they had managed to BOTH spill the break fluid AND to get a flat tyre - on the same car!


Some ants at the shooting range were busy, too.

NSE visit

I started my day with a basic briefing for the new rotation about Samangan province. Then the Americans from Dynacorp came for a visit. Just before lunch the Finnish national support element rolled in in two APC's (armoured personnel carriers). There was 20 of them in all, and they wanted to see everything. We showed them everything, which took about 4 hours. After they had left I gave a briefing about the organisation and the job descriptions of the provincial office to the new rotation. MOT D came in from their joint patrol with ANSF (Afghan national security forces) in the evening - one vehicle towing the other. The brakes on one of their vehicles had broken.

Replacement

In the morning I moved my last belongings to the container in the yard. I had cleaned it yesterday and sprayed a little insect spray here and there, but now the smell of the pesticide had faded. Then I vacuumed and dusted my accommodation space for the new arrivals. At 1000 we left for Camp Marmul, where we picked up a trailer, a spare wheel for MOT D and the equipment of one soldier. We also dropped off MOT D's interpreter. We had bami goreng and surimi salad for lunch at the German mess, which was full of Americans. At Camp Northern Lights we picked up the equipment of six more soldiers and the soldiers themselves, too. We picked up a new interpreter for MOT D. We drove back to Aibak and met the usual number of mildly suicidal Afghan motorists on the way.

At the evening brief we had a round of introductions with everyone present. Then I did a camp walk with all the new arrivals. A phone call from G3 with bad news interrupted me. In the evening I spent almost an hour looking for something without success. Perhaps a new day will shed some light on where the lost item has gone.

Changes

We went to the OCCP meeting to make a plan about a joint patrol, like we had agreed three days earlier. It turned out that there was not going to be any patrol, at least not in the direction that we had talked about, and not on the day that we had planned. Well, no suprise there. The chairman of the local IEC (independent election committee) was not available for a meeting at 1000 like we had agreed. No surprise there, either. We visited the ANP HQ and ran into the Dynacorp guys.

In the afternoon I moved house to the EUPOL container in the yard. It's more spacious than my previous accommodation, and quieter, too.


The latest model of combat bathrobe is equipped with a holster for your sidearm.

Ramadan Brunch

It's the third day of Ramadan, and the locals aren't supposed to eat or drink anything between 0500 and 1900, or as long as the sun is up. Smoking or chewing gum is no-no, too. Yet, as we were having our traditional Friday brunch today, which includes fried eggs, deep-fried everything, cheese, fruit, and the lot - our two interpreters present surprised everyone by coming into the dining hall and filling their plates with food. When they left the dining hall, carrying their delicious-looking brunch plates, they turned and said without flinching that they'll save the food for tonight. Yeah, RIGHT!

Nothing much happened today. The CO called and wanted an update on the situation in Samangan. He sent his greetings to everyone. I managed to get funding for an upcoming event. The provincial governor called us in the evening and told us some good news.


MOT E has switched to heavier equipment - they now move around with the 8-ton RG-32 instead of the 4,5-ton MB280G.

Softs

I got up at 0615 and went to the gym. After an hour and a half on the exercise bike it was time to unload the food trucks, first the frozen food and then the fresh stuff. To everyone’s surprise, there were again soft drinks in the delivery! The support branch should really make up their minds about the matter. After the unloading I did some stretching on the sundeck. It was hot but I didn't care. I had hoped to schedule some meetings for today, but the first of Ramadan was a holiday. Tomorrow is going to be a holiday too (Friday) and according to our interpreter, there is a law in Afghanistan that says that any day that falls between two holidays is also a holiday. I was not in the least surprised, nor disappointed. We had to arrange a patrol in the afternoon anyway to bring the electrician back to CNL. As the opportunity presented itself, the patrol also got the task to stop by at camp Marmul to try to find a new internet hub. Unfortunately the patrol ran into some technical problems on the way and had to return to Marmul for repairs.

The guys wanted to buy some wine and beer for the mess association from Marmul, so I wrote them a certificate for the purchase. We haven't had any alcohol at the PO under my command. I don't know why, really, because it hasn't been forbidden in any way. I just haven't encouraged it or taken any steps to bring alcohol the safe house. And no-one has actually asked for beer or wine to be brought in - until now, that is. Perhaps they have realised that I'm not going to be here for that long (today I actually started packing some of my winter equipment). MOT D came in from their three day patrol. After the barbecue on the sundeck we tried to fly a kite that had landed in our yard. The wind was strong enough because many of our neighbours' kids were flying their kites, but we didn't have the skills to make ours fly. Our signals guys finally got tired of not having any internet available after three days, so they decided to connect the duty internet to the welfare router for a few hours, which was quite enough for me to read my email and update the blog. Soon we'll have electricity, internet and beer available at the same time - who cares about kites!

Arrivals

I slept only four hours and woke up at 1000. I didn’t feel at all tired, so I went for a run on the treadmill. In the afternoon the PO patrol and MOT E arrived with 3 newcomers, one to the PO and two to MOT E. They brought 20 cases of soft drinks. The support branch of the leading nation has repeatedly said that there will be no more soft drinks or sweets delivered to the PO’s. We feel that it’s wrong, because there is no PX store (postal exchange) from where to buy soft drinks or sweets at the provincial offices, and it’s not like we could go out to town to do some shopping, either. Patrols that don’t serve any specific operative purpose are explicitly prohibited. So far the food transports have included soft drinks and sweets like before, despite the promises (or threats, rather) from G4 that there will be no more of that.

I met the guard’s commander and discussed with him the issue of the guard that everyone else are annoyed with. I also asked for his help to arrange two dinner parties in the near future; one for the local employees and another for our neighbours and the VIP’s of the neighbourhood. Both occasions will first and foremost serve the purpose of introducing the new PO commander and second in command to the locals.

The electrician worked all day to finalise his work. He replaced the one cable that was providing electricity to the main building with three cables: one to the operations room, a second to the first floor and a third to the second floor switchboard. So far everything seems to work just fine. When we got the ops room back online, the welfare internet connection would not reboot. It turned out that the electrical problems that we had had during the week had erased the firmware on our welfare internet hub. No more surfing in the accommodation spaces until we get a new hub. I went to bed early (at 2000) and fell asleep instantly.

Departures

The logistic transport that was supposed to take the outgoing rotation away came in at 1120. They also brought the new chef, who used to be a driver for MOT F, and, even more important, an electrician. We loaded the equipment of 9 soldiers onto the truck. 4 guys went with the log transport, 4 with MOT E and one with the PO patrol. There was an event for all signals personnel at CNL tonight, and we sent both our signals guys as well as MOT E’s signallist there. MOT D left for a long-range patrol to Khoram wa Sar Bagh and Ruy Do Ab. As there was relatively few personnel left at the safe house, I volunteered to take a Duty Officer’s shift, my first one for almost six months. The electrician stayed behind and looked for the problem well into the night. We had to run the backup generator on the roof during the time that he was working. As his work progressed and he made some new connections to the switchboards on each floor of the main building, the electrical failures suddenly stopped.

I sat down and talked with the guard that all the other guards have a problem getting along with. He is a good guard with combat experience with the ANA in Helmand province. But he is perhaps too self-confident and aware of his abilities, and he has a “sharp tongue”. Furthermore, he is Uzbek, and most of the other guards are Tadjik (there is one Pashtu, too). There is a good chance that the rest of the guards are trying to get him fired in order to get the opportunity to get one of their family members into the recruitment process for the vacancy. At four in the morning, as I was on my second movie for the night, the guards put up a table in the street and gathered for a meal. Today is the first day of Ramadan, and they won’t be able to eat, drink, chew gum or smoke between 0500 and 1900 during the next 30 days. The were scores of big frogs in our yard at night. I hope that they will eat some the beetles and locusts so that fewer of them enter the house.

Last Night

Today was the last night in Aibak for 9 of us. Some are rotating back to Finland soon, and a few others switch to different duties elsewhere. For the people who were about to leave the day’s agenda was mostly equipment maintenance and packing. Everyone was also supposed to clean their own accommodation, but some are more adept at such things than others. The ones who are not going anywhere yet performed a thorough weapons maintenance, as everyone’s personal weapons as well as the team weapons were dirty and dusty from yesterday’s live fire exercise.

In the evening we had a set dinner with roast beef, ratatouille and fried potatoes. I had bought a case of Beck’s, which was not enough for everyone, but at least the rotating personnel got a can each. For dessert our chefs had baked fresh pulla and brewed coffee. Everyone gathered in the dining hall. I said a few words and handed out locally handcrafted pocket knives to all who were leaving. A couple of guys got something extra for good performances. As a going-away present the PO staff gave me an unique, hand-made shield with a tube of genuine Afghan dust. The Swedish MOT gave me the Commander’s Coin of FS19.

Late at night the guard’s second in command wanted to talk with me about something. One of the guards had come late for work and on top of that he had been disrespectful towards the second in command. This was the third time that I have heard negative feedback about the man in question. Tomorrow I’ll sit down and have a chat with him (just like I did about 5 months ago). Our problems with the electric of the main building continued. We started having a statistic about power cuts on the white-board in the main briefing room – the power fell out 46 times between 0600 and 1800.

Two visits and LFX

We had visitors from EUPOL (the police organisation of the European Union). There were Hungarian, Danish and Finnish police officers in the group - not German and Swedish ones, like many times before. They had lunch and left, because the meeting they had scheduled was cancelled. Also MOT Z came over for lunch. They were in Samangan inspecting some development project sites.

In the afternoon we went to the shooting range and stayed there until darkness. When we came back we ran into an American convoy at the crossroads. It's always interesting to meet ISAF soldiers from other nations than Sweden and Finland by surprise in the field, especially in the dark. One always has to take some extra precautions in those situations in order to avoid any kind of misunderstandings. When we arrived at the safe house, I saw two geckos on the outer wall of the compound. I didn't get a closer look, but I tried to take a picture.


There was a flock of sheep at the shooting range and we stopped to talk with the shepherds.


In the distance there was a major dust whirlwind.


I didn't want to move closer than this to the gecko because it seemed very easily startled.

Camp to Camp

In the morning i went for a walk around CNL, but it was too hot already. I walked four kilometres, streched for a while and had a shower. After breakfast I had my personal evaluation with the FINCON commander. That took about 30 minutes. Then I went to see the intelligence officers who had wanted to see me about something. We left for camp Marmul at 1000. Lion's periodical maintenance was supposed to be done by 1500, but the workshop finished it much quicker. One of the front tyres had to be replaced because it was damaged. We left for Aibak at 1315. There wasn't exceptionally much traffic, but we had two close calls with local vehicles. Their driving is incredibly dangerous and totally reckless. Some of our guys actually applauded when we drove by the wreck of a car that had passed us only a few minutes earlier. It had hit a minitruck just moments before and spun around to the roadside. We didn't stop, but no-one seemed to be seriously injured. The commander of MOT E came back from Finland after two weeks sick leave. His back still hurts but we'll manage somehow.

Coffee and Cake

The FINCON (Finnish contingent) commander told me last week that everyone who's turn it was to rotate home in the next rotation should be in CNL on Friday. I wasn't very fond of the idea (nor was anyone else at PO Aibak, for that matter) but and order is an order. To make use of an otherwise useless trip, we scheduled the periodical maintenance for Lion in Camp Marmul at the same time. The drive to CNL was ok, since there wasn't too much traffic as it was Friday. Everyone in the patrol were short-tempered and irritated. I'm not sure why, but my guess is that it was just because of the occasion. In CNL there was a long briefing, after which everyone got a little something to bring home (picture to be added later). The commander was pleased with everyone and their work (as is usually the case at the end of an exercise or an operation. I almost had to pinch myself to see if I was still alive, because in most cases only the dead are praised this much). There was pastries, coffee and cake, and later in the evening a barbecue and sauna. Camp Northern Lights was unpleasantly hot, just like when I first arrived just about eleven months ago.

Optronics

The Finnish NSE (national support element) brought over some people from Finland to inspect all our optronic equipment. With them was the doctor, who did a medical examination of the personnel who about to rotate home. Also the MOVCON (movement controller) was there to take a look at our vehicles. The inspection progressed quicker than we had anticipated, and the NSE could leave in the afternoon. That was it for the day, basically, and for the first time in a long, long time I felt a little bit frustrated about not being able to do anything useful. This happened of course after I had already excercised for over an hour at the gym in the morning, washed the laundry and cleaned my accommodation in the afternoon.

More Visits

The COS (chief of staff) came over, "just because he hadn't had the opportunity to visit Aibak before", and brought an officer from the operative sector with him. And of course, it being their first visit to PO Aibak, they wanted the full tour and briefing. I seriously considered outsourcing the job, but since it was the COS, it really was my duty. After lunch the WIT (weapons inspection team) came over to talk with the local NDS, and I chose to host that visit, too. In the afternoon I cleaned my room and my weapons (it was a while since the last time). One of the dove's chicks fell out of the nest, but we lifted it back up. It was cloudy with some rain in the morning.

Material Check

The rotation is drawing near, and with it the hand-over/take-over of responsibilites, or HOTO, as it's more commonly known (the Swedes pronounce it huuttuu). An important part of the HOTO process is handing over the responsibility of all material and equipment. The list is long and the items are spread all over the PO, so checking that everything is in place is a long and painstaking process, which took all afternoon. Before lunch, I had already written a couple of report which were overdue. The patrol that had left at 0330 in the morning came in at 1930, and they had had a nice day out. It was still fairly cool and cloudy with a bit of rain here and there.

Progress

It felt exceptionally chilly in the morning, the sky was cloudy, and as I was walking to the dining hall to have breakfast, it even rained a few drops. The thermometre showed, however, that it really wasn't chilly at all, but 25 degrees warm. It seems that I must be finally getting used to the heat. We went to the security meeting at the provincial governor's office at 1000. There was an argument about whether we should cancel the upcoming elections altogether in the few villages where the security situation is poor. I said to the meeting that if they are going to have the elections in Kandahar and Helmand, we should certainly be able to arrange things in Samangan.

When we arrived back at the safe house, we heard that the provincial governor had visited the construction site of the university road that we are funding. He had not been happy with the culverts of the road and said that they would have to be rebuilt and that the workers should stop working immediately. I got instructions to go and tell the workers to ignore the governor, to go on working until the road is finished to the standards stated in the contract, and then they can go home. My assesment is that the provincial governor is hatching a plot to delay the completion of the project and buy time to get the road widened or paved, like he has been saying all along. He seems to be of the opinion that a narrow gravel road is worse than no road at all.

We immediately went to talk with the road construction workers, but there was no-one there. Perhaps they were just having their lunch break, as the clock was half past twelwe. From the new road we went to look at three different development projects, that are all ongoing, or at least they should have been started since some time ago. At 1400 we had an appointment with the chief of NDS. It was very informative, like it usually is, and I know that my report will be eagerly read at the headquarters. One of our interpreters is a little slow in typing out his notes, so I didn't have his notes from the security meeting until late in the evening, and could barely finish my report during the 02AUG2010.

Umpteenth Fin Visit

It's funny how the visits seem to pile up all into one day - today we had three of them. First up was the IEDD (improvised explosive device disposal) team from MeS. They came to look at the explosion site and to take samples. Next the U.S. corps of engineers with the American-Australian-Finnish commander rolled in. They were going down to Khuram wa Sar Bagh district to look at the construction of the new police station that the Americans are funding. Then it was time for the main event: The visit of the acting ambassador of Finland to Afghanistan. With him was the commander of the Finnish contingent, some other staff officers and the close protection team. I offered the guests the usual program: camp walk, lunch, briefing and coffee. The end result was, as usual, a success. When the ambassador's party was leaving, the Americans and the Swedes dropped in on their way back to their own bases. In the evening I continued with the personal evaluations and did a summary of my own feedback. It will, I hope, provide the CO with enough background information to do a personal evaluation of me.


At least someone knows how to take it easy.