After 7 days of operating away from our home base, I am glad to be back. I wish I could tell you all more about how the mission went, and while I could due to nothing being classified, I won't do to the nature of my work. The only thing that really matters is that we took 16 Marines with us, and we brought back 16 Marines unharmed. As most things go in the Corps, our mission constantly changed, and because of one of these changes, I was put in charge of the bulk of my teams forces. We had some good times (see pictures) and we had some Marine times. The guys performed in a manner that makes me proud to call myself a Marines, and because of thier actions, we can call this mission a success.
One detail that I will expand on is that of a new friend our entire team made. For the most part, the ANA are very difficult to work with and advise. The have a saying "inshallah" which translates to mean "If god wills it" this means if they tell you they will get to work at 0800, that could mean anytime that day....or maybe the next day.......or maybe never! Everyone here has this attitude, and because of it, things rarely go as you expect them to. The exception to that rule comes from the ANA route clearance company commander, Syied (sp). Without question, he would do what was asked of him. At one point, I witnessed him do something most Marines would at least hesitate to do, and he did it without fear. In fact, he was joking around with me about it after we had finished for the day. Multiple time, I asked him if he would assist the 13 Marines I was commanding in providing route clearance as we traveled up and down the road, never did he argue or complain or tell me he had to ask the General first. He would simple asked me the detail of his part of the mission and the say, "O.K., lets go" In fact most times, when were as Marines were called to do something and it required their support, they were ready and in their trucks before we were. We did have a lot of down time, and when we did, he would venture over to our area and watch us play cards, or joke around. I feel that I have his complete trust, and for an Afghan, he has as much trust as I can afford to give him. I will include pictures below with me and him.
Again, the good news is I am back at my home base and I am safe. I also walked into my room with a pile of boxes showing me all of your support. I got one from my mom, my dad, my step-grandma, a couple of books from Amazon, a little something to prank the guys with (DAD: just think back to that special liquid that comes in an eye dropper). I also recieved a Cigar Box Guitar from a gentlemen in Canada free of charge because of a program on cigarboxnation.com. I will post pictures of this at a later date. We are planning on being home for a few day, and then we are going back out to check on the progress of our ANA counterparts. My only hope is that I am not out on a mission when the little one arrives!
Well, the computer is not cooperating, I will upload pictures tomorrow.
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