Zendagi Migzara

It was as normal of a day as any other. 5 of the guys that I work with and I were coming back from the gym on one of the Army bases here in town. I remember the time very clearly because little Joe asked, "What time is it?" I looked at my watch and it was 5:39pm on Sunday, the 29th of August. We pulled into the front of our complex, and just as we were stepping out of the car we heard an earth shattering explosion, followed nearly simultaneously by shattering glass and falling debris. We were all carrying our rifles, so we peaked out into the street, at which point we heard about 4 or 5 shots of sporadic gunfire, so we ducked behind cover. When we were sure the gunfire had stopped, we took up positions on the road, some of us facing towards the explosion, some of us facing away from it. Our little posse of kids was all around us, so we told them to RUN (most of them did following the blast - they're not exactly strangers to explosions in their town.)

I knew it had to be the other house owned by our company, located about 400 meters down the road, based on where I saw smoke and from where the explosion came from. All we could do at this point was block the road in case of a secondary attack, but as it is with most car bombings, the attacks are over a split second after they've begun. There was no gunfire exchanged; the gunfire was either cooked off rounds after the explosion or people freaking out after the fact. There was no fight, just carnage.

We found out the names of the guys who died in the blast, and since we support all the programs out here we knew them. I'm not gonna lie and pretend like I knew them well, like we were "comrades," or that I even particularly had any affinity towards them, but they certainly didn't deserve to meet their end like that. It sounds cliche, but I suppose there's a reason cliches are used so much.

Today I visited the site for the first time, and I've never seen anything like it. The sheer amount of damage done to the house that we (initially) spent so much time in is appalling. Places we stood, places we relaxed, let down our guard at, are completely demolished. Based on where the crater is, the person in the car could not have gotten any closer to the house. They simply drove up, a few guys probably got out to tell them not to park there, and that was it. What remained of the people who were killed by the blast was covered up by 1ft x 3ft pieces of cloth. It smelled like rotten, charred meat in front of the building.

Beyond that I don't really know what to say. Something like this happens and you expect some sort of conflicting emotions, some sort of Faulknerian or Normal Mailer-esque reactions to the situation, but I didn't experience anything like that. Maybe this is because I wasn't there during or right afterwards, or I didn't lose any close friends in the blast. They have a saying here that I recently read in a book called The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - Zendagi Migzara - Life goes on.

The blasts didn't change my views of the Afghan people at all. Unlike what you see on CNN in Iraq, there was no rioting or cheering like it was some sort of sporting event. There certainly were a lot of people milling about, but they stayed a respectable distance and observed quietly. I don't feel that the bombers were representative of the Afghan people, and from what I've seen and what I've gotten from talking to the people here, they are making an effort to get back on their feet in their own time. They're not sitting around and blaming everyone for their problems - they're history is such that they simply rebuild, go on, and survive.

Zendagi Migzara.

For the CNN story on the blasts, you can check out:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/08/29/afghan.explosion.ap/

Who the fuck is Mussolini?

Well, I'll get to the title of this page in a moment.

I know I didn't write for like a month, and then I wrote the other day, but I have some good information. 2 reasons: 1: I watched Fahrenheit 911. 2: Retarded statements aren't limited to Michael Moore and white trash. High level execs can say stupid shit too.

So today, we're sitting at the BBQ we have here on Friday nights. It is, quite possibly, the most depressing BBQ in the world. Appropriate, being that this is Afghanistan, but I've been to some raging BBQs here. Anyway, this company comes out and actually puts together a really nice spread. They have dudes who work for the company that does the BBQ (and in our little chow hall) in these little butler-esque outfits, and they take your plate away when your done, all the nice stuff. So why is it a shitty BBQ? I'll tell you why. The "bigwigs" of the programs show up. The asshole level and fun level are in direct proportion to one another; the more assholes show up, the less fun it is. It's not completely without rewards, though. When they show up sometimes their little guard detail guys show up and stand on the fringes of the BBQ and maddog everyone. By the way, it's a secure compound. Don't tell them that, they'd have to pull their tongue out of their boss's anus long enough to look around and see how goddamn stupid they look.

I digress.

So we're sitting there, and the second in command shows up. I'm not gonna name any names; suffice it to call him "Sgt Maj" (cuz that's what people (me not included) call him.) Anyway, we were sitting there noticing how many kites were flying around. They like kites here. Apparently the Taliban didn't let them fly kites, so now that the Taliban is gone, they fly kites. Simple pleasures, right? Anywho, one of the guys was explaining why they fly kites, and the Sgt Maj pipes up in his "I'm gonna run my mouth cuz I'm used to having 2000 people who don't have any choice but to listen to me" voice and says, "Well, the Taliban had a lot of contributions too. Like low crime."

Woe..

I was dumbfounded. Yeah, I guess they did have low crime rates. I guess that's what happens when you're an oppressive regime and like holding public executions. Turning soccer stadiums into live fire ranges with human targets and slitting people's throats in public, stuff like that. Apparently crimes against humanity is a better alternative to stealing apples and loaves of bread. So, after my sphincter relaxed (cuz I about shit myself) I said, "Well, Mussolini made the trains run on time." And yeah. He looked at me like "Who the fuck is Mussolini?" Or maybe it was more like, "Mussolini was a train conductor? I thought he was the guy on the Chef Boy'r'Dee's can." I dunno. I get those expressions mixed up sometimes.

Good ole Timmy Taliban and Mussolini. World contributors.

Ok, on to the next point:

Michael Moore is obese.

Moving on.

So I watched his documentary. I'm not gonna say it was with an open mind, cuz it wasnt. I'd heard some stuff about it before. The title of the movie irritated me too, cuz I read Fahrenheit 451 in middle school and I liked it. Maybe we can use it as a little hickometer though: "If you don't know what the title of this movie is referencing, you will probably think it's really informative."

Anyway, quite a propaganda stunt, I suppose. Now, the obvious response to many mouth breathers would be, "WELL WE WERE LIED TO." Yeah, we were. We all know it, and I think at some level we all kinda feel stupid about it. Or disappointed at least. In any case, one distortion of facts doesn't cancel out the other.(- + - = +) Put away your Algebra books, people, cuz I know that's how most people think. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to be born completely inept at math, so I can see past such conditioning.

I resent his rhetoric in the movie. I resent how he portrays the military, and I resent the fact that he runs around Capitol Hill asking government people if they would "send" their children off to Iraq. Newsflash, fuckstick: Parents don't send their children to the military. While he spent a good amount of time showcasing a woman who told her kids from day 1 that the military was a great thing, believe it or not, most parents have a shitfit when their kids join the military. A parent doesn't "send" their kid off to the military anymore than a parent "sends" their kid to vote for who they (the parents) want them to vote for. Age 18. Magic number. Take responsibility for your actions.

The images of grieving parents and wounded American soldiers has an effect on me and most of the people I know, so watching it being used to forward his little agenda (whatever that may be - probably just to make more money so he can eat more cheeseburgers) was a little tough to swallow. I didn't spend that much time in the military - just 5 years. But I joined. And I'm not going to begrudge anyone their choice NOT to join, or their reservations about "sending" their kids to join. That's what's wonderful about America. You don't have to join. An obese douche (who was never in the military) running around trying to guilt trip public servants about not "sending" their children to the military is totally inappropriate. As much as he would like to run around and pretend like he's doing us a huge service by "informing" us on things that are totally obvious to anyone that doesn't live in an igloo, let's face it: He has to feed himself. And from the looks of it, he's doing more than OK.

I guess there are other things in the movie that bothered me, but I don't really feel like mentioning them all. Maybe it's cuz I was in the military (and he wasn't) and my best friend is bound for Iraq I get a little irritated at these media whores.

The Columbine movie was OK - Michael Moore is a card carrying member of the NRA and supports gun totin' and all that good stuff. He has some credibility in that arena. But the military is one gun club he was never a member of, and in my opinion has no right to be misrepresenting the military as a whole.

Well, that's all for now I guess.. More later

Rumors of my demise .........

Well, Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggeratted. Mark Twain said something like that. I think.

Well, things have been going pretty smoothly lately. We've been teaching a lot of classes, trying to get the good word out. The good word of the comms gods. I don't really know why I haven't written anything - I guess when I've been somewhere for a while, things get pretty mundane.. That's not too difficult around here - there's sort of groove you settle into after a while around here.

I will say that, as always, I do enjoy teaching quite a bit. I get a good amount of job satisfaction from teaching - I have the students fill out comments sheets at the end of class, and the feedback is always good. The guys we're sub'd under are all excited, cuz they can send the comment sheets to DC and look good. This whole "making other people look good" thing is getting a bit old, but what do I care? I think I'm doing a good job, which is a lot more than a lot of people can say. I feel like I at least have a purpose of being out here - it sucks going day to day not really knowing why the hell you're here. Granted, the salary here makes it more bearable, but salary alone isn't always sufficient. Job satisfaction, baby.

Well, they moved us. We knew it was gonna happen, but not exactly when. We moved from a compound on the outskirts of Kabul into the compound where we work. I guess it has its pros and cons. We don't have to suit up and drive into work anymore.. We can just roll outta bed and go to eat or whatever. Ok, so the cons?? Well, we live in the same place as those who think they're still in the military. What's that mean? Well, all the up-n-ups live here too, so they like to make rules about every little thing. There are a lot of signs around telling us what we're not allowed to do - that sort of thing.

Another plus side is that we live in what I call "Little South Africa." Most of the South African guys live right by us, so there's never a dull moment.

Well, if anything exciting happens, I suppose whoever is reading this will be the first to know. Until then, peace--