Non-Potable Water

Here is a sign you don't see often in the United States, "Non-Potable Water". The complete sign actually reads, "Non-Potable Water, do not drink or brush your teeth with this water." So this water is so bad that you don't even want it touching your lips or teeth for fear it may get into your system. Non-potable water is a term meaning the water is not fit to drink, of course it is OK to shower in. I am not sure what is in it because I left my portable water testing kit at home, but my guess is there are nice little germs in there just looking for a crevice to attack. Don't worry my skin is not falling off or anything like that and I am sure the rash will go away in time (just kidding).

We have plenty of bottled water here to drink and brush our teeth with so I make sure and brush my teeth once a week whether they need it or not. I thought about showering with bottled water but it was really hard to rinse my hair and I ended up with some really flat hair. So I take my chances with the water and will go through a deep cleaning when I finally get home. Maybe I can go to one of those stations where they spray you down after you have been in a building that has been infected with some rare airborne disease.

This week we had the DOD IG inspectors here. We gave some briefs and toured several facilities. I made sure to give them lots of tap water in hopes they would all get sick and the inspection would end sooner; I did not get any takers though. Actually, the inspections went well and they were a good group of guys.

Back on the homefront, our good friend Stacey was married. I have known Stacey for about 14 years and I have seen her grow up. It is hard to believe she is married now. Rebecca gave a lot of support, making favors, programs and flower arrangments. I am sure it was a wonderful event.

Peace to you all,

Pat

The Burn

Every Thursday night, the crew gets together and puts on a big burn. You might ask what are we burning? In the military we have lots of documents that cannot be thrown in the regular trash for fear that some terrorist may see sensitive documents... or maybe even personal love letters. So we make a fire in a big trash can and burn all the papers. Now don't get the wrong idea, it's not like we stand around the fire and recite strange incantations... although I have heard a couple people chanting something under their breath. I am sure they were just putting a curse on the Taliban.

So Thursday night everyone grabs their boxes or trashcans full of papers to burn and heads out to the burn pit. Often we will bring some near beer and cigars to make a big event of it. We have to find entertainment where we can. Of course, there are a few rules to the burn. Any piece of paper in the burn barrels is subject to scrutiny by all the burn members. Just to make it entertaining people often write up incriminating notes about others that happen to find their way into the hands of innocent bystanders. The notes are read aloud for all to hear and mock the individual who the note is supposedly to or from. Often the notes are invoices from specific on line purchases someone has made, I won't get into what weird things are alledgedly purchased.

There is also a "stick man" for the fire. This is an important job and takes a minor bit of training. You see as a fire burns and more papers are added, the fire can go out if the papers are thrown in without first separating them into small bunches. The "stick man"
stirs the fire to keep the flames going. He also must proclaim what a good "stick man" he is as he makes the flames rise 3 or 4 feet above the top of the trash can. He must also be careful he does not get burned as he moves the papers around to ensure all the scraps are burned.

Right now the burn gets a little hot and you can only stand to be the stick man for so long. I am sure when the cold weather hits, we will all be huddled around the fire and volunteering to be the stick man. So that is how we spend about an hour of our week, burning paper and telling stories on a Thursday night.

This week consisted of planning meetings and a couple visits to locations. We now have HUMMWV's due to recent incidents. Because I am one of the few people with a HUMMWV license here in CJ4, I do the driving. Good thing I had all that training at Fort Riley. We had a nice meeting with the Deputy Minister of Defense and with the head general of logistics for the ANA. We had a very nice lunch with the general which consisted of some grilled lamb, rice, potatoes, and some other stuff that I couldn't recognize. It was all very tasty.

I had several meetings with my leadership team developing plans and goals for the group. We then had a full team meeting with the entire Operations crew. We are making progress in building the team and identifying roles and responsibilities for everyone.

Back on the homefront, Rebecca turned 40. Hard to believe isn't it. She is not doing much celebrating as she is waiting for me to return. I did get her a ring and earrings with Sapphires that I bought here in Afghanistan. She said she really liked them. Ginny or Gamma, the kids Grandma, came to San Diego for a visit. Not sure they all have too many plans, but I am sure it will be a nice visit. My brother Matt who flies for FEDEX also made a visit over the Labor Day Holiday, the kids really enjoy seeing him.

Peace to you all,

Pat

General Order One

Being in Afghanistan has its challenges and it can be hard sometimes. It is especially difficult being away from our families for such a long time. A nice cold beer at the end of the day would certainly be enjoyable. Of course you have all heard that drinking is not allowed here. This is mandated by General Order One (GO1) which states in addition to no drinking, sex is not allowed either. Of course without drinking the possibilty of sex occurring decreases, or so I've heard.

We all live by GO1 so I was very curious the other day as I was shopping in our little exchange here at Camp Eggers. Right next to the razors, soap and shampoo... there were pregnancy tests. So I asks myself "Self, if there is no sex why do they need pregnancy tests?" Then just further down the aisle, I see condoms. So again I asks myself, "Self, if there is no sex, then why do they sell condoms and if the store sells condoms, why do they need pregnancy tests?"
This will just have to remain another one of life's mystery to me, but given the chance I would like to talk to the guy who orders the stock for the store.

Again while in the store... I really don't spend that much time there, I just happen to be the kind of person who notices things and I suppose you notice things more when you are far from home... I see they are selling vacuum cleaner bags. Not just any vacuum bags, these bags are for the Hoover Wind Tunnel, which I am told is a mighty fine machine. Guess what? They don't sell Hoover Wind Tunnel vacuums. I am sure this was just some oversight by the stock ordering person, but again, I would like to get into that guy's head. I am sure I could learn a lot.

I recall when I first got to Afghanistan, I knew all about GO1 (doesn't that sound much better or at least friendlier than General Order One). I was in the store and noticed they had a cooler of beverages (there I go again noticing things). Much to my surprise they had beer in there. I thought, what is this some cruel trick to get us in trouble? Did they think we would just pick it up only to get caught at the register with contraband and be forced to stand before the General to explain our actions? So while I was thinking about how to get the beer out of the store, I peered through the glass of cooler to notice that it wasn't real beer, it was near beer. The stuff that looks real but has no alcohol. Again, another cruel joke, tempt us and then fool us with fake beer. Well, I was not standing for this and I left in a huff with my two six packs. (Editor's Note: Sadly for Pat, here in San Diego the same keg purchased in December is in the kegerator behind our bar. Matthew, Pat's brother the FedEx pilot, is here on a layover this weekend and we made sure that the Karl Strauss was still good. I think the near beer torture is sufficient payback for the 20 months that I had to drink fake beer during the gestation of our two children.)

On to work. I told you about those GAO (U.S. Government Accountability Office) "we're here to help" auditors. We had a couple meetings with them and a site visit. Overall it went pretty well, they did not dig too deep, although I know they will be back. In addition to the audit preps and meetings, we continue to work on moving all the equipment to the Afghans. We have lots coming in and lots going out, still amazes me how much stuff an Army and a Police Forces needs. The team of people we have here are really great. Even though we work hard we find the time to laugh and joke and enjoy each other's company. You have to keep a sense of humor here.

Back on the homefront. I was able to get a video call in with Rebecca and the kids. Last time I tried, the computer kept freezing up... so it was not much of a conversation. This time I was able to see them but could not hear them. Perhaps a blessing, as I caught them in the mad rush to get ready for school in the morning. First week of school seemed to go alright for the kids. They like their teachers and they actually do like going to school. Rebecca told me about Thomas' STAR testing results. I am really proud of how well he did, he actually got a 600 out of 600 on the math portion; he must get that from his mother.

I hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day. We will be working here, after all it is Labor Day and not Vacation Day.

Peace to you all,

Pat

Hearing Double

You have all heard of seeing double, but you may not have heard of "hearing double". This week I attended a conference on the ANP (Afghan National Police) presenting our strategies for moving forward. The audience consisted of US and coalition forces along with Afghans from the Minister of Interior and ANP. Because we have English and Dari speakers everything has to be said twice; first in English and then in Dari. You can imagine how long it takes to get through a meeting as the speakers must pause and wait for translation. It's not like we are at a NATO meeting with headphones and have an interpreter speaking in our ears. The meeting goes something like this.

US Speaker "I would like to welcome you all to today's meeting."
Pause
Translator "Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah"


US Speaker "Knock Knock"
Pause
Translator "Blah Blah"


Audience "Who's there?
Pause
Translator "Blah Blah"

US Speaker "Wooden who?"
Pause
Translator "Blah Blah?"


US speaker "Wooden you like to know"
Pause for laughter
Translator "Blah Blah Blah"
Pause for laughter

OK there was no laughter, and you can see how this would make comedy pretty tough. OK, there was no knock knock joke either, but you get the idea of how slowly this conference ensued. What would normally have taken about an hour to get through, took about three hours. Such is the way it is in Afghanistan, you must have a lot of patience.

I also attended a meeting at the Minister of Interior's office. Another opportunity for patience. We waited for almost 45 minutes to start and then the agenda was completely different than what we expected; so we really did not get anything done. Not every day is like this, but things definitely move at a slower pace. Its kind of like the difference between the East Coast and West Coast of the US... except the difference is multiplied by 10.

We had a very serious incident this week. Two of my team members were injured in a VBIED (Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device) attack. They were convoying when a car hit the lead vehicle and blew up. The two guys in the first vehicle were injured pretty seriously but survived, the guys in the second vehicle assisted getting the guys out of the first vehicle and called for help. It really hit the team here pretty hard as these were our guys that we work with every day. The two injured guys were medevaced out to a hospital. One of them was seriously injured and will require some reconstructive surgery. We are all thinking about them and praying for their recovery. It has been very active around here the past few weeks with many attacks... you may have read about them in the news. We are all well trained but it is difficult to predict the IED attacks.

Back on the homefront, the kids started school today.

Thomas is now a Third grader and Madigan is a First grader. Time flies. I am sure the house will be busy as usual as Rebecca will be reminding (that is the nice version) the kids to get their homework done.

Peace to you all,

Pat

Be Our Guest!

For those of you that have visited my blog at http://www.wadeaminute.blogspot.com/, you may have noticed something new. Rebecca added a counter that shows the days away and the days until my Christmas break and when I leave country. She also added a guest book where you may all write any pithy comments you would like. So be our guest, be our guest, put our service to the test. If you didn't know that is from the Disney movie "Beauty and the Beast".

Speaking of guests, we had a small guest in our office this week. His name is Squeakers and he is a small mouse who has come to visit. I named him that after the mouse on television here who is the OPSEC (Operational Security) mouse. He constantly reminds us to be careful what we write and say as someone is always listening. So he is a constant reminder of OPSEC for our office. I feed him the potato chips that were sent to me in a care package. Naming him was no easy task.

I thought of names like "Algernon" (you know, Flowers for Algernon)

Editor's Note: "Flowers for Algernon" is the classic novel by Daniel Keyes that inspired the Academy Award-winning movie "Charly". The novel was the winner of the 1966 Nebula Award. From the summary on Amazon.com: "Charlie Gordon knows he isn't as bright as most people. A gentle young man, he can read and write a little and manages to hold a menial job. A surgical operation on a lab mouse named Algernon leaves it an Einstein of mice--can such an operation raise Charlie's intellect as well? And what are the dangers of such an experiment?" In the end both heroes (Charlie and Algeronon) have to face the cruel realities of life. Charlie watches Algernon’s enhanced intelligence fade rapidly until finally the small mouse dies. Charlie then struggles to find a way to accept his destiny of losing all the new abilities and talents he was bequethed by the experiment. One of the last things he adds in his journal: "Please if you get a chance, put some flowers on Algernon’s grave in the back yard…” hence the book's title.

or that mouse from "The Green Mile" "Mr Jingles"

or perhaps "Mighty Mouse" or an old standby "Mickey Mouse"(why because we love you).

None seemed appropriate to our situation so I settled on Squeakers. It also had a fit to my WD-40 breathren since WD-40 stops squeaks, not that I would use WD-40 on a mouse. Could be another use though. Editor's Note: Pat is referring to the 2,000 listed uses for WD-40 http://www.wd40.com/pdfs/WD-40_2000UsesList.pdf My personal favorite is "Keeps kitty-doo from sticking to electric cat-box rakes."

Some of the people here think I should set mouse traps out and kill him and I know Rebecca would definitely want to get rid of him. Back home when we had mice in the garage, I would set traps and kill the mice leaving the carcass to be discarded. When I was there I would take care of them, as I am gone now, Rebecca pays my son Thomas a dollar to throw them away. Right before I left, Rebecca bought a mouse zapper that does precisely what it says it does.

It zaps the mice with electricity when they enter the machine. Not sure if that is more humane or not.

We also had some other guests this week from the DOD IG. These are the Dept of Defense Inspector Generals, basically government auditors who were here to look over our processes regarding weapons and ammunition. You may have seen the news regarding Iraq and the huge loss of weapons that was reported; you can understand why there is a lot of attention to this topic. I think I like Squeakers better. Actually, they were pretty good guys and we walked them through all our controls we have for weapons and ammunition.

This week I made a couple of trips to storage sites. One trip to an ammunition storage site was quite beautiful. The site is located just outside the city and has several hills within the compound. A group of us drove up to the top of one of those hills and the view was spectacular. There really are some pretty areas of Afghanistan if you can find them. We looked out on several mountain peaks and the valleys were actually green in places. The fact that we were overlooking many ammunition bunkers did not detract from the beauty of the landscape. It was nice to see some scenery that was different than what we normally see. I also went by Camp Phoenix and saw my old stomping ground. Had not changed much.

Back on the homefront, the kids finished vacation bible school this week. Not nearly as much fun as laser tag or magic class was for Thomas. The school year will be starting pretty soon so they all better enjoy themselves while they can.

Remember to think OPSEC, Squeakers would want you to.

Peace to you all,
Pat

Afghan Girl: Then and Now

You may not remember the 1985 cover of National Geographic depicting a young Afghan Girl, but it sparked a lot of attention back then. A few years ago the photographer sought out this girl and found her 17 years later. This story is from 2002 but still interesting, part of the story follows.

The young Afghan refugee who stared from the cover of National Geographic in June 1985 was an enigma for 17 years. What was her name? Had she survived? This past January photographer Steve McCurry joined a crew from National Geographic Television & Film to methodically search for her. They showed her photograph around the refugee camp in Pakistan where McCurry had encountered her as a schoolgirl in December 1984. Finally, after some false leads, a man who had also lived in the camp as a child recognized her. Yes, she was alive. She had left the camp many years before and was living in the mountainous Tora Bora region of Afghanistan. He said he could find her, and three days later he and a friend brought her back to the camp. There, the remarkable story of this woman, Sharbat Gula, began to be told. Take a look at the attached pictures and you might remember the face. Life in Afghanistan was none too kind to this woman as she aged over the years. George Stutevillefor National Geographic News September 9, 2002 Since Sharbat Gula, the Afghan girl with the fierce green eyes, was "rediscovered" earlier this year, her story has moved thousands of people to contribute nearly half a million dollars to a fund established to prove the lives of girls and young women in her war-ravaged country. The portrait of Sharbat staring from the cover of National Geographic in 1985 touched millions of people around the world and
became a well-known icon.

Behind the Search for the "Afghan Girl" http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/03/0311_020312_sharbat.html

A Life Revealed http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0204/feature0/index.html

Afghan Girl's Story Sparks School-Fund Donations http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/04/0425_020426_sharbatupdate1.html

The photographer who took the famous picture tracked her down after 17 years, and she appeared again on the cover of National Geographic last April. So many readers were eager to help Gula's family and others like them that the National Geographic Society joined with The Asia Foundation in creating the special fund. By last week, about 5,600 donors had given $475,368 to the fund, including a $100,000 gift from the Society, said Mark Longo, director of development operations for the National Geographic Society.The money, he noted, is already being used to establish the National Geographic Society Girls Education and Training Center in Kabul, Afghanistan. The center will provide educational opportunities that were denied to Sharbat but which she said she wants desperately for her own three daughters, Longo explained. "It was Sharbat's desire and her wish that we use the funds specifically for this purpose. She knows about our efforts and is pleased," he said. The daily life of women and children in Afghanistan has been disrupted by decades of turmoil stemming from a bloody invasion by the former Soviet Union, violent civil strife, and the crushing ideology of the Taliban.

Back in present day Afghanistan; I am still working too much. Such is life here. I did a couple trips this week to do tours for a General along with a working trip to identify construction projects we are working on for the Afghans.

We have received in a lot of new people to CJ4 and so I have been spending time with them to get them integrated into the team. It is nice to get more resources of course it will be short lived as a bunch of people are rotating out next month. For now we are a little crowded, soon we will be short staffed as more will be leaving than coming. This will make it a little tougher around here.

I found the internet cafe, more like a room with some computer stations. I am trying to find the time to set up my camera so I can do a webcam with Rebecca and the kids. I also need to get some pictures sent home so Rebecca can post them. I am sure I will get around to it.

Back on the homefront, Rebecca and the kids are busy as ever. Our nieces left and are travelling the Northern route back to Boston. I heard they went to Salt Lake (said it smelled) and also went to see Mount Rushmore. I have never been to Mount Rushmore, I will have to put it on my list. The kids are busy in summer camps and having a fun summer. The two of them keep growing. Madigan is now tall enough to ride the "Indiana Jones" ride at Disney and she lost her second tooth. Thomas is now tall enough for the "Maliboomer" at California Adventure and his belly button now reaches the top of the pool table at home. This was a rule that Rebecca had as a child, you could not use a pool cue until your belly button reached the top of the pool table. I guess I will have to teach Thomas what little I know of pool when I get back. Also his shoe size is now a 4, when I left I think he was a size 2. Time flies, can't wait to see them at Christmas.

Peace to you all,

Pat

I'm going to pump you up!

No its not Arnold or those guys from Saturday Night Live doing the workout sketch, just little ole me, Pat Wade, from Afghanistan. I thought I would share with you a little story that Rebecca found about gyms in Afghanistan.

Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Biceps
These men, and others like them, have started a muscle revolution in Afghanistan. Their thinking: If they can build their bodies, then maybe—just maybe—they can rebuild their nation.

By Oliver Broudy, Men's Health

In Mohammadi's office an assistant serves tea. Someone had referred me to him, thinking he might be able to shed a little light on a question I had about the recent fitness craze sweeping Afghanistan. Since the fall of the Taliban, 80 new gyms have opened in Kabul alone, up from a total of 15. You see them everywhere, tucked into garage-size storefronts beneath huge pieces of plywood bearing the hulking likeness of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ronnie Coleman, or some other bodybuilder. The gyms have names like Gold Gym, Super Gym, and Super Gold Top Gym. They stand in the shadow of shattered buildings, beside other shops selling sacks of cement and cases of Coke - the foundations on which all great nations are built.

"The private gyms are suddenly everywhere," Thomas Gouttierre, director of the center for Afghanistan studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, had told me before I departed for Kabul. Indeed, during my 2-week stay, it seemed as if a couple of new ones popped up overnight. Other evidence of the get-fit revolution here: Workout gear has replaced burkas on store shelves, protein powder tops every gym-rat's wish list, and the Mr. Afghanistan bodybuilding contest has become the hot ticket.

So I can't vouch for the popularity of Arnold in California, but he is somewhat popular here in Afghanistan or at least Kabul. I had noticed the signs with pictures of hulking men, but did not think anything of it until this article.

Just the other day, I was with my interpreter, Hameed, when he asked me to buy him some muscle building protein powder at the exchange. Hameed is a 20 year old kid who weighs maybe 130 pounds and he obviously wants to bulk up. I bought him what they had in stock and hope it works to add some pounds to him.

For you muscle heads who want to read the entire story, here is a link.

http://health.msn.com/menshealth/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100167003&GT1=10212

On to work. It is busy as ever and I am just trying to keep up. Everyone works pretty long hours in our department here at Camp Eggers. I am still hoping we will smooth things out and have some more free time. I spend most of my days going to meetings, working on tasks and keeping up with e-mail. Hey, it sounds just like real work. I do make time to go out and do site visits to better understand all our operations. Getting out is difficult though because you really have to plan your trips and always be aware of the dangerous environment. You can't just run out and meet someone. You have to plan ahead to make sure you have the right number of vehicles and personnel to do a convoy. It certainly does make progress a little slower.

Back on the homefront, Rebecca took our nieces to Mexico (Tijuana),

just to experience what its like in Mexico. I told them Tijuana is far ahead of Afghanistan. I don't think it resembled anything like Girls Gone Wild, but at least the girls got a chance to see what it was like in part of Mexico... on a Thursday afternoon with their aunt.The kids are doing well and my birthday present for Madigan finally arrived; a bit late.

Editor's note: Patrick sent Madigan a beautiful pair of ruby earrings.

We also went down to Imperial Beach for the US Sand Castle Competition last weekend. I have to share because it is absoultely amazing what people can do with sand and water:

This is Mount Rushmore:

And this is the backside of Mount Rushmore:

Peace to you all,

Pat

A House Not a Home

This week I continued learning how CJ4 works and discovered what all of my responsibilities are here. This involved many meetings and some visits to our various operating locations. I am starting to get the hang of things around here in the office and around Camp Eggers in general. Much of what we have to do to improve operations at CJ4 is to clarify roles and responsibilities between the internal divisions. I am leading a small team of people to do just that, and documenting some of the processes we perform. So far it is going well and it is really helping everyone to learn what each area does and the challenges they face each day. I am confident we will have things humming along in a few weeks.

Now a little bit about Camp Eggers. Camp Eggers is a military base in Kabul located near the US Embassy and the President of Afghanistan's Palace. The camp is named after Capt. Daniel W. Eggers,

a US soldier from the 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, North Carolina, who was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) along with three other soldiers on May 29th, 2004 near Kandahar.

The base, or Camp as the Army calls it, is a maze of buildings all labeled by "House" names. For example, my office is in Eagle House, we also have the Rose House, Liberty House, Justice House, School House, Pool House (yes that's its name, but there is no pool), Jail House (that place rocks), Out House (it has a very funny smell) and the Big House (you don't want to go to that place). OK, I was kidding about the last three. It is pretty funny how every building has a name with house. I live in a place called Pena House, and it is right next to one of the very few building that is an exception to the naming rule - it's name is "Motel 6". It is named that because it looks like a motel. Besides I think, albeit more appropriate, Roach House was taken. So Pena is my house. I dare not call it my home, but for the next nine months it is where I will live. Camp Eggers is building a new complex on the base with housing for all the folks who live off base. I know they will all be happy to move on to the base, thus avoiding the traveling back and forth from "safe houses".

The base has all the basic ammenities such as a gym, dining facilities, post office, laundry facilities, and a small exchange. One thing this place does have, that Camp Phoenix lacks, is greenery. There are actually trees and grass in many parts of the base, whereas Camp Phoenix was all concrete and rocks. It does make a difference to see some trees and grass in a desert environment.

One of the funny things military people notice at Camp Eggers is the amount of high ranking personnel here. There are many Generals, lots of Colonels/Captains (O6's) and bunches of Lieutenant Colonels/Commanders (O5's) on the base. I would not say it is as many as the Pentagon, but it might be a close second. Just in my Directorate we have 10 - O5's with 2 more on the way. We are obviously a bit top heavy; its amazing any work gets done. Actually, we have a great group of people who are not afraid to do whatever it takes to get the job done.

Back on the homefront, the kids are involved in summer activities. Thomas has been going to to Magic Wizardy class and Pirates on the High Seas class. Madigan is in First Grade World.

(Editor's Note: Madigan also lost her first tooth last week.)This coming school year we will have a Third Grader and a First Grader... and they will both be on the same school hour schedule. Rebecca is happy to finally have one drop off and one pick up at school a day. My nieces, Kathleen and Elizabeth, only have a short time before they return to college. They had a rough week as their car's transmission went out. They did get the car fixed and are praying it will last for years to come... or at least long enough for the trip back East. Rebecca is still working hard at her job and at home, I wonder how she does it all, but she is doing great. By the way, if you want to see pictures of Rebecca with John Stamos (mentioned him last week) go visit my blog.

Peace to you all,
Pat

Moving On Up

First of all, let me apologize for not getting my update out last week. Thank you to my lovely wife Rebecca for communicating to all of you. I finally got onto my e-mail and I saw that she got more responses to her message last week than I regularly do from mine, go figure. So, this weeks update will have to be for the last two weeks. Better get ready for a marathon or more appropriately a Tour d'Afghanistan (you know the Tour de France is going right now).

You all remember the classic 70's TV show "The Jefferson's".

The opening song went something like this, "Well, we're moving on up, to the East side. To a deluxe apartment in the sky." Thanks to Rebecca, you all knew I was moving as a result of a "promotion"; more on that in a minute. Well my move was actually West to Camp Eggers closer to downtown Kabul. I am moving from the luxury of my double-wide connex with two rooms and internet to a shared small room in a broken down building with peeling paint and mold in the bathrooms. No deluxe apartment for me, more like a run down motel that charges by the hour, not that I have ever stayed in one of those. Of course I could be living in a tent and sleeping on a cot, so it is not all bad. At least I am on the base, some people have to live in what are called "safe houses" off the base and put on all their gear to take the 5 minute shuttle ride to the base to go to work. I can walk to my office. Living in my double-wide, I bought a few things and got the place quite comfortable. Moving to a smaller space meant that all the stuff I had just could not fit, so I am living among boxes in a space that is about 7' by 7'. I have to always remember though, there are plenty of people living in much harsher conditions than me, so all is well.

On to the promotion. After three months of getting things organized and getting things humming along, the CJ4 Director, Colonel Davis (Air Force) was impressed with the progress I had been making with the ANA. Because of this progress, he asked if I would take over a position at CJ4. Now CJ4 is under the command of CSTC-A (Rebecca explained that a bit) and this is the major command for which we all work. CJ4 is the Logistics Directorate with some pretty big responsibilities. After Col Davis offered me the position, I thought about it and then asked a bunch of questions. One of those questions was about the organizational structure of CJ4. I stated that I did not agree with the way it was organized as it was split between ANA and ANP which caused confusion. I asked him if he was willing to restructure the Directorate. He said he was thinking about it. Well, that night I sent him my ideas and the next day he added some thoughts and came up with a new structure. As part of that structure he now wanted me to be his Operations Deputy. At that point I really couldn't say no, even though I knew I would have a lot of work to do and would have to move to Camp Eggers.

I have been at the job for a week now and the main reason I accepted besides the huge pay raise, bonus, and stock options (yah, not so much) was that from this position I can effect a lot more change and make more of a difference. I oversee operations for both the ANA and ANP or as we now say, ANSF (Afghan National Security Force). My first week has been an information firehose; lots of material blasted at me in a very short time under a lot of pressure. I am less confused each day and I am starting to understanding who is who and which organizations do which activities. I can't say I am there yet. I told Col Davis I need a month to get things in order. I finished the organizational structure and still have to do some work on clear roles and responsibilities. It is difficult to learn while at the same time trying to keep up with the day to day tasks. This causes me and everyone else to work very long days. We are usually here past 10 o'clock at night. So the bad room thing is not so bad, since I just try to wind down and sleep there.

The group of people I work with are great, and that makes a lot of difference. It always amazes me the number of people who are making such great sacrifices to be here and do their duty. Everyone is pretty optomistic, and as always, I am remain positive about this experience. We are doing great things for Afghanistan. No, its not perfect... but we are making it better. I am always shocked at how much money we are spending to help Afghanistan, especially as a tax payer.

My big accomplishment for the week was that I found a few moments to find the laundry facility and turned my laundry in for cleaning finally. I also found the Dining Facility and the post office. Speaking of the post office, since I moved my address has changed.

Patrick Wade
CSTC-A, CJ4
Camp Eggers
APO AE 09356

At the office, I am not done settling in and currently work from a temporary desk. I made a few trips out to see the ANP (Afghan National Police) distribution facilities, as I have to learn all those operations now. I am fortunate that I has already figured out the ANA side, well as much as possible considering only it's only been three months and I am in a foreign country.

Almost two weeks ago some of you may have heard about one of our Air Force brothers, Master Sergeant Gillespie, was killed by an ANA soldier who opened fire on a group of people killing the US Airman and 4 ANA soldiers. It was a horrible incident and once again reminded us that bad things can happen over here. It was also very disturbing as this Airman was part of the class that went through Fort Riley with us. He was already eligible to retire and decided if others were going to fight the War on Terrorism he should go too. He planned on retiring when he got back.

Last Friday was "The Fallen Soldiers" Ceremony. I really hate these ceremonies. They are well done, but the whole thought of one of our military brothers leaving us is just a very unpleasant situation. As I stood in ranks that night, and listened as fellow soldiers told stories about this Master Sergeant, I looked up and saw the row of 16 flags from all the nations supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. I began to listen to the flags blowing in the evening wind. The wind always picks up in the evenings here in Afghanistan. Have you ever listened to a row of flags blowing in the wind? It sounds like waves crashing on the beach. It was actually a very calming sound as I love the sound of waves on the beach. Kind of funny that a sailor standing in formation at a funeral in Afghanistan hears the beach.

Speaking of the beach, bad transition here, Rebecca took the kids to the beach for a week at Camp Pendleton's Del Mar Beach. They stayed at one of the rental cottages on there. They played in the water, celebrated our friend Linda's birthday and had a great time. If you have never been to Camp Pendleton's beach, you are missing out because it is one on my favorite beaches. The beach is wide and clean... and patroled by the Marines, so it's very safe. The Marines also built new cottages in 2003 which are very nice. (Editor's Note: I took this picture of the sunset from our patio one night.)

Also speaking of the beach, our good friend Karen invited Rebecca and our nieces, Kathleen and Elizabeth to go to the Beach Boys concert at Pechanga Resort.

(Editor's Note: This is Kathleen, Bruce Johnston, Rebecca, Mike Love, and Elizabeth backstage at Pechaga. The show was amazing. The girls and I were singing and dancing through the whole show.)

Karen got them back stage passes to meet the Beach Boys and guess who was playing with them, John Stamos. And guess who spent some time with John Stamos, yes Rebecca did.

(Editor's Note: John, yes we are on a first name basis now, is absolutely, positively GORGEOUS in person, much more rugged than I thought, definitely not a TV pretty boy... and smelled great! I don't know what scent he was wearing, but I noticed how he smelled because he had his arm around me for a good 5 minutes! My friend Michael Lynn - the E! Hollywood producer that I met through Karen - who is btw doing the True Hollywood Story of John Stamos airing Sept 29th - had trouble with his camera while trying to take our picture. John waited patiently drumming his fingers on my shoulder... yes I thought I was going to pass out. John had a nice conversation with my niece Elizabeth, I was too star struck to speak. Leave it to the 19 year old to stay composed.

He even gave her a kiss... on the cheek of course.

(Editor's Note: After Michael finally had his camera working and had taken my picture with John, he said - something like "give her a kiss". I turned my head towards Michael completely shocked that Michael said that and John really did kiss me. And then as I stood there absolutely star struck and blushing, John said "I hope your husband comes home soon". To which I lamely replied "How did you know?" He said "I have my ways". I thought maybe he had seen my battle zone bracelet. Karen admitted later that night that she had mentioned to John earlier in the day that Patrick was in Afghanstan.)If he had slipped her some tongue I would have had to fly home and beat his butt, although I am sure Rebecca wouldn't have minded. (Editor's note: Not true, and oh by the way, nice word choice Patrick. Semper Fidelis - even if I'm not a Marine. And for the record, I texted Patrick immediatly after and told him "John Stamos kissed my cheek - have a pix" and he texted back "Nice. Did you kiss his? Hope you had fun" So Patrick is not the jealous type at all.) So it was just a cheek and hug; I am sure John Stamos has had his fill of blonde girls named Rebecca. For those not up on not so recent current entertainment events, John Stamos is divorced from Rebecca Romijn, the model.

I told you this was a long one, hope you didn't miss me too much.

Peace to you all,

Pat

Delay in the next update

Editor's Note: Last week Patrick was "promoted" to a new Narmy position in Afghanistan. This is a new job, not a new rank... and there is no salary increase or any of the really good things that generally come with a promotion. It is a lot of additional responsibility, he is just getting up to speed with the new position. This promotion included a move from Camp Phoenix to Camp Eggers on Friday the 13th.

Camp Eggers is the home of CSTC-A (CSTC-A is the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan). CSTC-A (pronounced systic-alpha) is the main command post headquarters for the entire Afghanistan Theater. It is located in Kabul located near the US Embassy and the President of Afghanistan's Palace, about 10 miles from Camp Phoenix. Originally "Kabul Compound" the camp was renamed after Capt. Daniel W. Eggers, a US soldier from the 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, North Carolina, who was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) along with three other soldiers on May 29th, 2004 near Kandahar. With his new position and living quarters, Patrick can now walk from his room to his office without being "locked and loaded" in an up armored vehicle convoying "outside the wire". So it is slightly safer at Camp Eggers. That's the good news...

Here's the bad news - no more double wide. Yep, Patrick is now back to sharing a room and the accommodations are not nearly as nice as Camp Phoenix. (read that: the walls are crumbling and the only thing holding them together is the mold.) The worst part about his new living quarters is that there is NO Internet connection in his room. SO, no more web cam conversations with us at home and no more Live Messenger chats. He has a computer at his new office, but that is for official government business only and he can't load any software on that machine. And there is no cable TV connections either, so he will miss Armed Forces broadcasts of baseball and football games now. As Pat Meriwether succinctly summarized Patrick's living situation in an email to me last night, "From the penthouse to the outhouse just like that..."

As soon as he can find some spare time and an Internet cafe, he will send an update. For now, I'm adding some pictures to the older posts.

Rebecca Wade