Mud Houses up the Hillside

We went over to the Afghan National Army's (ANA) National Military Hospital (NMH). We have reports of poor patient care, theft of supplies, and moonlighting (absent) medical staff. The Staff Judge Advocate (SJA) is doing what he can, but its difficult going against the tide.

This photo is of mud homes that climb up the hillside near the hospital. They blend in with the surroundings and are hard to discern. However, surrounding the blue house in the middle are similar structures made of brown mud going all the way up the hill.

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Today Show live from Camp Eggers

NBC's Today Show with Lester Holt began broadcasting live from Camp Eggers at 1630 on 25 Nov 2010, Thanksgiving. The camera work, coordination with New York, and Lester Holt's professional delivery were amazing. The most amazing aspect was being live on television 9,500 miles from the United States.

These are the South Dakota boys (Task Force Rushmore) who are National Guardsmen providing base support in the Kabul area. These stalwart South Dakotans are professionals and superlative in supporting all our needs here.

Lester Holt is putting on his coat after interviewing troops and Airmen inside the "Goat" Dining Facility (DFAC) at Camp Eggers. The teleprompter was not working correctly and Mr. Holt didn't skip a beat. Very professional in his delivery and he evinced a genuine concern for the armed forces.

Today Show live from Camp Eggers
South Dakota's Task Force Rushmore at Camp Eggers
Lester Holt (NBC) at Camp Eggers

Col Akhbar & Friends

We went to the National Military Hospital (NMH) in Kabul to visit with the Staff Judge Advocate (SJA), Colonel Akhbar. Col Akhbar is trying to do a good job under difficult circumstances. The hospital commander is corrupt and Col Akhbar appears honest and trying to implement the rule of law for the betterment of his country and people. It gives one hope for Afghanistan if the rule of law gets to the tipping point and becomes the norm in government agencies.

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Afghan Oath Ceremony

Thirty-two new attorneys took their oath on Korans as new members of the Afghan Army at Kabul Military Training Center. The continued progress of the Afghan National Army (ANA) to recruit and to train gives hope for the future. Afghanistan has a long ways to go but I believe they are sincere and hard working. With quality leadership they may be able to make it. The question is if they have enough time.

.Command Website: http://www.ntm-a.com/
"Shohna ba Shohna -- Shoulder to Shoulder"

Judge BGen Khwuari

We met with the Chief Judge of the Afghan Military Court of Appeals, Brigadier General Khwuari last week. His office was dust free and organized. The Chief Judge spoke of the integrity of the court and vouched for the other judges. It is persons such as Judge Khwuari that give me hope for Afghanistan.

Judge Khwuari's court room is in this hallway. The table fills the space with just enough room for the appelate and defense counsel's chairs. The Judge said he will have a court room in the new MoD building.

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MoD Construction

Foundation for the new Ministry of Defense (MoD) building in Kabul, Afghanistan. The construction is adjacent to the existing MoD building and will be major improvement for the Afghan National Army (ANA). The modern facility should allow the ANA to enter the 21st century.

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New MoD Design

This is the architect's design for the new Afghan Ministry of Defense (MoD) building in Kabul. It was planned to be completed in 2012, but they have had to fire two previous contractors for incompetence and breach of contract. The third contractor is making progress, but they are a year behind schedule. Everything is Afghanistan requires much patience and understanding.

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Attorneys in Carpet Shop

Mirwais brought in Afghan food for lunch today for his customers. These are several attorneys at Camp Eggers. You can see Mirwais' carpets folded in the background. If someone wants to look at a carpet at the bottome of the pile, Mirwais and Salam must move the carpets that are above it to another pile. It is time consuming and heavy lifting is required. Mirwais and Salam have carpet folding down to a science.

The food was delicious as always. The nan bread is delicious, as well as the palaw rice and barbecued chicken and goat.

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Unusual - Cloudy Day

There have been three days with rain and clouds prior to today. Today was just broken, high clouds. When every day is sunny, it is quite unusual to see clouds. This is looking towards what is called TV Hill and it is about 10,000 feet in elevation. Kabul is 6,000 feet above sea level.

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Generous People

The generosity of the American people is astounding. Every week we receive dozens of boxes filled with new clothes, new toys, and school supplies. The joy on Afghan children's faces when they receive donated pens, pencils, and note pads is rewarding.

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Volunteer Sort

The Chaplains receive donated clothes, toys, and school supplies from congregations in the U.S. Volunteers gather on Monday evening to sort the clothes and children's things into categories for donations to Afghan families, orphans, and school children.

Today there was a surfeit of boxes to sort. There wasn't enough room on the sidewalk for all the clothes, toys, and school supplies. Thankfully, we had plenty of volunteers to assist to open the boxes, separate the donations, create bags of goodies, flatten the boxes, and restore the goody bags.

The storage area is getting full. We were planning on a distribution last week, but it was cancelled. We'll need to go out in the near future or we will run out of storage space.