31 December 2010

Street Kid

This little guy has been selling hand drawn pictures and photos on the street going to ISAF the last few weeks. I bought a crayon drawing from him two weeks ago and gave him a dollar last week. Today he was inside our Hesco barrier and had both a photo and a drawing. I asked him in Dari how much for the photo and he had trouble holding up five fingers along with the two objects. I gave him a dollar as a gift and then remembered I could get a photo of him with my BlackBerry. He is adorable.


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Snow on the Mountains

There is snow on the mountains visible between the white building on the left and the antenna. It was a clear, warm, and sunny day today in Kabul. The smog has been oppressive several nights this week. Its so bad that it takes your breath away. I knew I could feel snow yesterday; just that it didn't fall in Kabul, but rather up in the mountains. Usually it is so dusty and smoggy we can't see the mountains. A double bonus on New Years Eve. Happy New Year to all!


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Street Friend

A closer shot of my little friend with the art work.


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30 December 2010

ISAF Christmas

Five attorneys from our OSJA office and an Air Force Public Affairs Officer celebrate Christmas Brunch at the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) dining room. ISAF offered salmon, shrimp, turkey, et al. while Camp Eggers had sandwiches.

ISAF offers china plates, metal cutlery, and a European flare for meals. ISAF's dining room is a pleasant respite from our paper plates, plastic utensils, and more mundane American cooking. We go over to ISAF for brunch every Friday (Jumma) and then go to their Bazaar (the highlight of our week). We look forward to Friday's.

My good friend from Day 1 in Kabul. Unfortunately, I'm leaving soon and he must remain until next June.

TV Hill Sunset & A Cloudy Day

This morning started off cloudy and overcast. It felt like it could snow. There was high humidity for Kabul and cold enough for snow. However, by mid-afternoon the clouds were gone, the skies clear, and warm, as usual.

The time was about 1630 and here is an approximation of the ambient light. The mountains were unusually distinct without the omnipresent smog, dust, and pollution.

This was the cloudy day from two days ago, 29 Dec 10. This picture was from around mid-day and it stayed cloudy all day; another rarity. The clouds were a wonderful change of pace from our ever sunny days.

25 December 2010

Aschiana School

The instructors told us to start distributing the school supplies to the boys at the rear. I said I wanted to start giving the supplies to the girls at the front. Women and girls are discriminated against in this society and I favor them every chance I get. I buy from women at the bazaar and give them things before the men and boys at every opportunity.

These little girls were so shy they wouldn't answer questions about how they were doing or how old they were. I hope they are able to learn and to grow into strong persons to defend themselves and their families. They are going to be the vehicle of change in the Afghan society if they are going to be peaceful and prosper.

These kids were so happy to get pens, pencils, and notebooks. Try this in the United States! This is the best and most rewarding thing I have done over here.

A navy Lieutenant with the Afghan who helped arrange our visit to the Aschiana school and orphanage for street children. All Afghan public schools close for three months in the winter. This school remains open to attend to the needs of kids who beg on the streets or work in bazaars.

This is me in front of the Aschiana school. We didn't coordinate very well when we delivered the school supplies and clothes last Saturday. The children weren't in school. The muslim holiday of Ashura was on Thursday of last week and thus, the children had an extended vacation.

I was worried about the clothes and supplies going "missing" while in storage at the school. I took photos of me in front of the piles of donated goods and I told the instructors I had these photos and the piles should be the same height when we came back to hand the stuff out to the kids. The instructors and director promised they wouldn't touch them and gave us the key to the locked storage area. They were true to their word and the piles were untouched when we returned.

16 December 2010

Air Force legal staff - Camp Eggers

The Air Force sent us a Christmas care package that included antlers for all of us. Here are your Air Force legal staff stationed at Camp Eggers. Happy Holidays!

<<12 Dec Cp Eggers 002.jpg>> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: FOUO


Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: FOUO

15 December 2010

Legal Staff caroling


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101st Quintet


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14 December 2010

Warrior of the Week

Lt General Caldwell, NTM-A/CSTC-A Commander, recognized Air Force paralegal as the warrior of the week on 14 Dec 10. TSgt Wikoff has created an outstanding relationship with the Criminal Investigation Division of the Ministry of Defense's GS Legal Department.

01 December 2010

MGen Nooristani and Former Mentor

My predecessor stopped by MGen Nooristani's office to award him a commemorative plaque for his achievements in modernizing MoD Legal. MGen Nooristani is a rarity in Afghan government. He is decisive, intelligent, and overall well intentioned. We offer our advice and most times, MGen Nooristani takes action. We identified problems at the National Military Hospital and the next day, he is touring the hospital and giving a speech to hospital workers about the need to improve patient care. Afghanistan needs more leaders like him.


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TJAG and Protesting Recruits

These three young attorney recruits haven't been paid for two months. The ANA keeps making excuses for their incompetence. These three brave souls came in from the Legal School and KMTC to complain about the lack of pay. The ANA TJAG is in the middle and tried to be conciliatory and appeal to the recruits patriotism. The personnel officer started yelling at them and saying you can't get money from a milk cow's udder. I guess something is lost in translation.

TJAG is going to try to get "bonus" money to pay them for their service over the past two months and the recruits should have recieved their bank debit cards for their pay today.


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