Home Sweet Home

Three weeks from the day I penned my last blog, I flew home from Afghanistan. The tour was over, but it has last an everlasting impact on me. Over the next few days, I will try to capture a few of the last days I had in Kabul. For now, just a few pictures as I headed through Kuwait before crossing the pond to Virginia.

Kuwait. The current location for a "transition course" as Sailors leave the theater of operations. It's supposed to be a place of relaxation before heading home. Everyone's experience in Afghanistan is different. Many military members are truly out "in the s**t" as they say. Some spend more time doing staff work, living on a secure camp.

I would say that both extremes require some reprogramming in the cranium to prepare you for life back home in the USA.

A sobering thought. Before the military had such decompression courses to prep members for returning home, there were many ugly stories of military personnel returning home. An Army data point...In the summer of 2002, five soldiers at Fort Bragg murdered their wives after returning from Afghanistan. Two of the soldiers also committed suicide. At that time, soldiers returning from fierce combat in Afghanistan received the same decompression training as soldiers in peacekeeping missions in Kosovo and Bosnia. But after the Fort Bragg murders, the Army re-vamped its entire program. Read the website in the link above for more information.

I flew home commercial out of Kuwait City International, direct into Dulles. After a short trip down to Norfolk, I was in my wife's arms. That was nearly two weeks ago! More observations to follow about my last days in Afghanistan, but need to get moving today. Heading out in town with my wife -- no body armor, weapons or uparmored vehicles...not sure if I should have left them behind - it's crazy around here!

Suffer the Little Ones (Take 2)

I'm on my last few weeks here in Afghanistan. Never coming back (never say never) and want to do something with these kids. I do have plans to finally go visit a local orphanage soon...not sure if that is smart or not, but gonna do it. Not a security issue -- just can't take them home with me! I really just have to get outside the concrete prison I live in to be able to visit those kids. You'll see them in a future post...inshallah.

My friend wrote me the other day and reminded me of how fragile life is. We often take it for granted -- even our children. He said, "When I hear a baby crying, I think, "that kid is breathing and has got lungs that work." It's all a matter of perspective, I suppose. Sometimes they seem to only annoy us. The amount of energy expended on one child -- even a healthy one -- is enormous! God bless those parents who care for children who have physical and mental challenges.

So, I took a few pictures out in town while I was attending the opening ceremony of the girl's High School. As I saw the transformation from youngest to oldest, I thought if we can only have the vision of what could be, it would change our perspective (and actions) in the present. I snapped a few outside the school and then inside. What a change the investment made!

Here's an encouragement to have the long view and a different perspective as God puts children in your life. Oh, how He loves them.

Drop in a bucket

I don't know how many times I have thought (and said here in this blog) how good I have it! My kids go to wonderful schools one mile from my house back home in Virginia. In contrast, 2007 numbers show an estimated 60% of students in Afghanistan studied in tents or other unprotected structures. Some parents refused to let their daughters attend schools in such conditions, adding to the illiteracy of women in the country.

Went to a school grand opening a few days ago. It's a girls' high school down in south Kabul. Been there many times and know the contractor that the U.S. hired to build the addition that has ten classrooms. This guy is totally into helping others. Sure he makes money and supports his family from these efforts, but his heart is all about education. He realizes that his efforts are just a "drop in a bucket" that must be filled, but he's doing his part.

The minister of education spoke at the school opening. In spite of the beautiful structure as a backdrop to his speech, he declared it was far below the great need of the Afghan children.

Feeling more and more called into doing my part for the "little ones." Sometimes it is easier to rebuke them as the disciples tried to do, but look beyond the present frustration and see what God has placed inside those little ones. They are fearfully and wonderfully made. Suffer them today!

Nothing but a thing...

"There is no difficulty to him that Wills" -Haines Family Crest, Plymouth 1620

Jason Haines, a shipmate here in Afghanistan, shared an email with me that I thought appropriate for my friends and family as I sit here in Kabul in my cozy "dorm" room on my secure compound. It was about one of his family member's that epitomizes the word hero.

When you think you have it bad, Moses, take a look at the real generation that is leaving us at a rapid rate. According to a Cheshire Herald article, World War II ended almost 70 years ago, and veterans from what has become commonly called “the greatest generation” are dying off each year. An estimate produced by the Department of Veteran's Affairs in 2009 revealed that as many as 1,100 veterans may be dying per day. Jason's grandpa fought in the Pacific after he joined to Navy in December 1941. He was underway heading west by 11 January and would not finish his first cruise until 10 March...no, not two months...it was finished in 1943. Look at this picture of his ship to get a small sense of what he endured. This is the USS Minneapolis after the battle at Tassafaronga. Read about it here. After heading back to Hawaii, and six months pier side, he headed back out again for his 2nd cruise.

Oh to have men like that in this generation. I must say we are soft. I pray it is not because we do not value the freedoms they valued and determined to fight for...just that the good life God has given us has made us soft. We complain about 3 days of rain, the chicken was too dry in the chow hall, and the coffee was not fresh when we sat down for that piece of pecan pie.

The next time you are walking down the mall and you see one of those old guys with the blue hats that declares he is a veteran of a war gone by, stop and talk to him...tell him thank you. I guess all I am trying to say is, if you think you got it bad, think again.

It's all relative, my friends. As for me and my lot in life, this ain't "nothing but a thing!"

Groundhog Day

"When Chekhov saw the long winter, he saw a winter bleak and dark and bereft of hope. Yet we know that winter is just another step in the cycle of life. But standing here among the people of Punxsutawney and basking in the warmth of their hearths and hearts, I couldn't imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter."

The days since my last post have drug by, day by day, just like the movie. But, spring hopes eternal! They say the furry guy didn't even see his shadow this year! Either way, I am tracking 49 days before I head home to see the clan.

Reflection from a career Sailor ~ When you are deployed, it seems like everyday is Monday. Even if you have a day that is your "sleep in" day, you still go through the same ritual and duties. What you need is a break in the action to help you count the weeks! Back in the Navy on the ship, we counted pizza nights. We had pizza every Friday night! It was 24 pizza nights to go when you first pulled out, 3 pizza nights to this or that port call, 2 pizza nights until Christmas. You get what I mean. We marked the time and had goals, and we got by.

I was thinking yesterday on Ground Hog Day, that the people of Afghanistan need a pizza night. Something to give them hope. I am not sure it is the U.S. or ISAF at this point. They are in a 30 year old Ground Hog Day of war and turmoil.

With a life expectancy of 44 in Afghanistan, there is a good chance an Afghan will never see it pass. (see the dated article linked here) I am grateful to know that "this too shall pass" can be said about anything I have ever endured in this temporal life on earth. I have had it easy. Count your "pizza days" and count your blessings wherever you are!

Suffer the little ones...

³⁶ He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, ³⁷ “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

No doubt Jesus had a great love for children. Ar passage in Matthew describes the scene like this:

¹³ Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴ Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” ¹⁵ When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

Last week my friend, Sayeed Naseer, a Major in the Afghan National Army came to lunch. As a bonus, just for me, he brought his youngest daughter, an eleven year old princess named Satera (accent on the last "a"). It means "star" and fits her perfectly.

I am surrounded by kids in this city. They are out of school for the three months of winter instead of summer, but they desperately need to be there all year long. An entire generation of school-less Afghans are looking for a way to get by. They pick through garbage on the roadside in hopes to find something of value or even to eat. The sell trinkets and scarfs when mine are playing Xbox & PlayStation or enjoying a afternoon Blizzard from DQ.

Not sure what I can do. There is so much potential in them...so many future stars. Go find a "star" today...yours or someone else's. Hug them and pour into their lives just a little bit of wisdom and compassion. You never know what they will become.

Better Living Thru Chemicals

Think about the last time you had a headache, backache or any kind of small physical discomfort. Now many of you purists might go find a dark room, get into your favorite yoga position or start meditating on fields of dandelions. For others, it's quicker to dig through glove box, purse or even reaching out on the stand at the checkout at a local convenience store for the quick fix! Chemicals!!

There are not many families in America that do not have Vitamin M sitting at close proximity. I'm not talking about Folic Acid either. I'm talking about the real deal...Motrin! Check out the urban dictionary hyperlink above on this one. We all know the dangers of Motrin and Tylenol in great quantities, but oh the joys of the quick fix..."better living thru chemicals" as I have said for many years.

Last night I ran into an Afghan friend. A worker who makes a couple of hundred dollars a month...not a day or an hour...I said a month. "Cheery ye?" (where are you) he said with a smile, but I knew something was bothering him. He had been looking for me for a few days. He described in Pashto that he had a back ache that was really slowing him down and had nothing for it. As I walked back to my room and opened up my cabinet full of bags of medicine that I hope to never use here, I grabbed a bottle of Tylenol.

I thought about it long and hard, and read the warnings over and over that I give little thought to if I am consuming them myself. Now I am playing "over the counter" doctor in a strange land where this is not a common household product. I slowly recanted to him the dangers and told him exactly how many and how often to take the few pills I placed in his hand, wrapped up in a napkin. He knew what they were of course, and thanked me repeatedly.

As I laid down last night, I thought about how our lives are blessed in so many small ways. We have things that we no longer even recognize because we have never lived without them. We are truly blessed beyond measure and we don't stop to count. Our life expectancy is even affected by our rich blessings. This wiki source says we might live to be 78 here in the U.S.

Afghanistan has a staggering 43 year life expectancy! No, silly, it's not because of a lack of tylenol! It's a generation of war, lack of medical treatment, air quality and a whole host of things to discuss on another day. I'm just saying, we got it good, folks!

Now soak this in, and then go out and make it better for someone else today!