Christmas Memories

I know everyone's been wondering how their Soldier spent the Christmas holiday away from home and the ones they love most.  It's difficult being so far away, and know that you were thought of and talked about.  We spent the day together as a team here, making chili, playing spades and video games, and talking about our traditions back home.  For some, it was opening presents on Christmas Eve, others, eating tamales and chili.  I know for my family, we wake up before the sun on Christmas morning, open presents, have a HUGE breakfast and wrapping paper war, and everyone but the cooks nap until afternoon when the turkey is done. 

See if you can find your Soldier below!

SPC Helstad "gets" SPC Evers wearing one of his Christmas gifts!

SPC Evers sports one of his Christmas gifts while SGT Conwill sorts Christmas letters.

Gettin' ready to make some chili!

Chips and queso were on the menu, too.

SGT Fortune was head chef.

Enjoying our Christmas taste of home.

SSG Pierce smiles while dipping himself a big bowl.

Opening packages from home.

The reigning spades champions at the start of the tournament.

Throwin' 'em down!

New champions take their prize!

The new spades champions!

Man Love Thursday

One of the going jokes around Afghanistan (well, and most likely Iraq, too, but I was never there) is Man Love Thursday.  Although it's probably not something that should be explained through this venue as there might be children that read the posts, the one thing that's safe to say is that ADT Soldiers have taken the idea and made something totally awesome out of it!

The culprits that coordinate this event each week are our ADT medics, aka: The Penguins.  What started out as a joke for ADT Soldiers has become an event for the entire FOB.  The MWR coordinater for the FOB has even gotten involved by providing near-beer and cigars.  The night starts out with at least an hour of smoking (or not) by the fire and watching some really awesome music videos, mainly from the eighties.  The music is always ended with a singing of Fernando to SGT Fernandez and a couple of songs by Abba.  This is followed by a movie, something along the lines of "The Wedding Singer", "The Princess Bride", etc.

See some of the pics below to get an idea of the fun!

Two of our Penguins, SSG Allen and SPC Ford.

SSG Brown, CPT Holland, and SGT Fernandez stay warm by the fire.



SGT Fortune clowns with one of our Military Police officers.




MAJ Carney and LTC James pose with one of our Polish PRT brothers, Pavel (aka: the Beast.)



SGT Healy says "I am smiling!"



Our FOB Forward Surgical Team is in attendance!



TX ADT-5 Utilizes Veterinary Medicine in COIN

Purpose

TX ADT-5 utilizes veterinary medicine to enter formerly non-permissive areas in Ghazni Province. 

Discussion

TX ADT-5 is utilizing veterinary medicine and the lines of communication between the veterinarians and Agriculture Extension Agents in Ghazni Province to reach out to formerly non-permissive districts and build positive relationships with their populations.

Outcome

This project will result in better animal health by helping ensure that animals are vaccinated, people are educated in basic animal health and hygiene, and training more artificial insemination specialists for increased reproduction rates.  This will have the secondary effects of improving community health, creating numerous full-time jobs in the field of artificial insemination, and increasing the population’s overall income with increased animal reproduction rates.

 CPT Ashleigh Fann, U.S. Army Veterinarian attached to TX ADT-5, conducts a key leader engagement for the head veterinarian and artificial insemination technician for Ghazni Province.

CPT Fann talks with the Jaghatu veterinarian to evaluate his experience and education level.  This was the first time in almost two years American troops visited Jaghatu District.

Afghan Juicing Project

Purpose

TX ADT-5 works together with USDA, USAID, and Afghan businesses to bring the middle of the value-chain for excess apples from Pakistan back to Afghanistan.

Discussion

TX ADT-5, in partnership, is working to bring  the middle of the apple value-chain back to Afghanistan, increasing the economy locally by creating jobs and lowering import/export and storage costs from outside the country.  We have done this through agriculture education, building cool storage facilities, and creating partnerships between local growers and Afghan business owners.

Outcome

This project was done by utilizing human capital and personal knowledge.  Though some funding was used from our partner organizations, the success of this story is that Afghans are now starting to reach out and create business relationships with each other, thus making them more self-sufficient while at the same time increasing their own economy. 

This is the start of a business relationship between Kabul businesses and Ghazni Province grower’s associations, mainly from Kwaja O’mari apple growers, and is expanding to include other fruits and districts in Ghazni Province.  This is keeping money within the Afghan economy as well as keeping any of the orchard production from going to waste. 

This project was accomplished by working with local grower’s associations, the Provincial Director of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (DAIL), Sultan Hussein, the agriculture extension agent from Kwaja O’mari, USDA, USAID, and Kabul businessmen.

TX ADT poses with USDA reps and Kabul businessmen.

Ghazni will provide an additional 10 metric tons of apples for juice to the Kabul juice factory.

Happy Holidays!

It's been a while since the last post...a little over a month, actually.  For that, I deeply apologize.  Since then, we've been through Thanksgiving, promotions, conferences, missions, and Christmas.  With the New Year looming large, I'm going to copy some of our Good News Stories as well as pictures from the past month.  I hope when you see them you can understand why it's been a while!

To say we've been busy is an understatement.  You see, Ghazni District (one of 19 districts within Ghazni Province) is transitioning this year to become totally reliant on the Afghan Government (GIRoA) for it's funding and operational support.  However, the rest of the province is not ready to do so.  The anomoly with Ghazni Province is that it, due to it's diverse population and geography, is seen as a miniature of the entire country...with all the complexities and issues that go along with it.  We have been working on preparing Ghazni City and District to become self-sufficient while trying to get the rest of the province caught up in order to become self-sufficient as well.  It's been a difficult task, to say the least! 

I hope you see your Soldier in the upcoming posts, and I wish everyone a Happy Holidays!