Shanti Trainer Troy Cox: January 2011

Following is a copy of an email update from my friend and soldier in Afghanastan, Tristian:

Greetings everyone,

I have been a bit dilatory about sending out last weeks e-mail update, but was quite busy, now that I am the only one down here holding down the fort. I was supposed to leave today to go to Gardez, but I found out a 0400 AM this morning that the flight as canceled. But never fear, I am going to catch a convoy heading that way later today, and though it might be nice to send this out prior to movement.

I know that I have said this a thousand times already, but we really do appreciate the e-mails and care packages you all have sent over here. The other day, most of our mail, which had been caught up in the pipeline finally came. It was like Christmas, days before Christmas. It was nice. Thank you all for the support, it mean a lot to us.

I have done the calculations based off of the information that you have shared with me. By my calculations, and this is a very conservative estimate, with people forwarding my weekly update, over 1,000 people read this update each week. Now what is funny about this is that when it comes to technology I am a bit of a troglodyte. I do not have a face book or my space, and I certainly do not twitter, but it is good that people are reading and enjoying my updates, so that people can truly see what we go through over here, and how much the thoughts and prayer, and such mean to us.

Now on to the good stuff. Two Shuras ago, we were supposed to have a parter crasher come by and cause some havoc. You see, developing relationships with the local pays off. When they get to know you as a person rather then some Army guy, they begin to show basic human interest towards you. This is good. This is one of my jobs, developing local that can help us out. Our network is pretty strong, and people who know people, know stuff which is valuable information to us. Case in point, this party crasher situation. We found out five day prior to the shura, that a suicide bomber was going to enter, looking for help with an ID card issue. This is very common, and many civilians use the District Center. But this guy was going to come in and try to detonate inside of our meeting. Affectively killing the Sr leadership of the local government, local elders, and the commanders of the ANA, AUP, and the Infantry commanders, as well as little old me...

Not to be.... The Intel was legit, and the security posture for this event was executed flawlessly. However, all for not. One of our local "GUYS" provided additional information and about 0300 that morning the bad guy had some visitors. From what it sounds like, he did not fare all that well with his guests.

Ironically, there were more shura members at that shura then any one shura in the past. So they either did not know what was supposed to happen, or they already knew that the guy was standing in line to meet Allah. Either way, it was a very successful meeting, with the focus on development and agriculture, rather then just on security. Even the Taliban sympathizers were there, go figure!

So that started a very busy week. By mid week we were able to take the District Governor to the family in the village of Begwal, who lost four family members to the IED that blew up their tractor. The condolence event went very well, and the father thanked me several times for the generosity provided to his family, especially the thoughtfulness of the sheep. One of the two boys who survived the blast was at home and the medics checked him out. Both of the survivors were doing well, however the younger one complained about pain behind hid eyes. I am not a doctor, but I think he is suffering from TBI. (Traumatic Brain Injury). This is caused by explosions and is something that many of the soldiers who survive an IED blast suffer from for the rest of their lives. It is somewhat of a bad deal, you survive the blast, but you suffer from memory loss, extreme headaches, and eye issues. Not for me, thank you very much...

So many of our shura members went to the capital of Gardez this week for training so our Shura was held on Sunday. It was again very beneficial, and many of the members and I have begun to develop a pretty good relationship. This culture, it takes time to gain trust and respect. Slowly but surly we are working our way towards friendship. If by the end of FEB about four months in, I hope to have things set up so that we can work together this spring and summer without too many issues.

Well that is about all. I know that it does not sound so busy for a weeks work, but when you sit and speak through an interpreter for 9 hours two days in a row, it really take a mental drain. By the way, I almost forgot. Both on Saturday and Sunday of this week I was able to eat lunch with the Governor and the NDS Chief, he is the head government intel guy for our district. Anyway, wow!! the food was great. The first day I was the only American, but the second day two other LTs were with me. They ate the bread and the rice and meat, but stayed away from the vegetables. BOY WERE THOSE VEGETABLES AWESOME!!!!! Thats OK, don't eat them, it just means more for me. These were the freshest vegetables I have had in a long time, and in face were the first fresh vegetables I have had in the last three months. NO JOKE.... Everyone thinks your going to get sick from eating the veggies, personally I do not care, I have never gotten sick eating naturally grown vegetables in any of the 37 countries I have been too, and I do not think anything bad is going to happen when I am here. By the way, I am now two days out, and have not had any problems. Personally I think they are just haters......

One last thing. We got our plans for a new office and compound to be built for us. We as a COP are expending, and I think by the time I leave it will be a FOB, but that is just speculation. This would be great though, Zormat is the largest district in both population as well as geography, and more ANA/AUP/ANCOP and CF forces would really put the hurt on the bad guys, and allow our team to expand the capacity and reach of governance, development, education, and agricultural outreach in the area. Things are looking up for the good people of Zormat. The bad guys though, well let me just say, when they return from Pakistan for the spring offensive they are going to be a little bit surprised. Good times will be had by all, if you know what I mean.

Thanks again for everything. One request though. Someone sent over to one of the Infantry guys a big plastic jug of (Archer's Farms) Crunchy spice peanuts. I think that this is a Target brand item. If someone was able to send a jug of these over that would be soooooo great. They are awesome, and when we have our Afghan assets over for tea (Chi) they really seem to love them too.

I hope you all have a great holiday this year, I will be with my Team Chief up in Gardez, for Turkey I think. Or at least that is what they call it. The local MP Platoon, purchased a couple of turkeys in the market about a month ago, and have fattened them up. I know they will have turkey. :) I got word two days ago that SGT Miller, my team SGT was flying out of Kuwait, and will be home to celebrate with this family and his fiance. Please keep him in your prayers for a safe return.... On a selfish note, he has to come back before I can leave on R&R..... :)

OK thats it I promise. I will push out another letter most likely after the 25th. Please have a safe and wonderful holiday with your families, and remind them how much you love them. I know that is a bit sappy for a military officer to say, but when you can not be home, you appreciate these things a bit more.

Seasons Greetings,

1LT Tristan

Greetings Everyone,

Can you believe that today is the last day of 2010. I can hardly believe that this is the case. The strange thing is, everyone back home is looking forward to the big New Year’s celebrations, and we have been over here dealing with a school which was blown up and a police check point being attacked today. The irony... did no one tell the bad guys that we take this day off? Anyway, not to be a buzz kill, I hope that this update finds all of you in good spirits, and good health. Just wanted everyone to know, that I greatly appreciate the awesome Christmas response that was shown to me. In fact, there were so many Christmas and Holiday e-mails sent to me over the last week that my e-mail account reached 99% capacity. This is not an easy feat. I have a pretty high capacity for storing e-mails due to what I do, and you guys nearly maxed it out. I was at 65% a week ago, and when I check my e-mail, I had several nasty grams from the computer gurus telling me that I needed to go through my e-mails because I am nearing capacity. So I just wanted to extend my thanks to all of you...

Now on to business. The holidays up in Gardez were nice. I was up there for a couple of days, and was able to hang out with my team Chief who is a Lieutenant Coronal. It was good to reset my compass and discuss several initiatives that we are looking to facilitate down here in Zormat. For the last several years my district has been neglected, until, all of a sudden, someone realized that it was a major hub for insurgent transportation of men, material, and money, the three M's. Now it has become a priority. I am here at the right time, to make things happen. I have had several meetings with the local government officials and planted the seed for the events to come. Security is a major issue here in Zormat, but with the increase in ANSF (Afghan National Security Forces) that will be pushed here in the next month or so, and all of the operations that we have lined up for this winter, the bad guys will have no idea what hit them. Then comes the important part, stability operations. This is where my team comes in. We have to sort through the good government guys, and the corrupt ones. Then we have to empower them to connect with the local populace, not an easy thing when you are living and working in a tribal based culture. But we are making good head way. Our job is to assist the local government in increasing their capacity in order to garner local support, and begin to return the people to the government rather than continue support of the local insurgency.

Two days ago, I was with our Sub Governor when we received Intel that one of the newly built schools had been blown up by a local Hiquani sponsored insurgent group. It was retaliation for the roll up of a high ranking Hiquani over in Pakistan and the Afghan Government's insistence that he is extradited to Afghanistan to stand trial for terrorism. This is a huge deal. Anyway, we were aware that something was going to happen, but there were mixed reports. Once I heard about it, I called up to the Battle Space owners, as well as the PRT Engineers to report what was going on real time. It is always good to have local assets, who are willing to place the people of Afghanistan before themselves. It makes this worth it. Anyway, calling on an unsecured local ROSHAN cell phone is usually not the way one pushes up real time intelligence, but it was the only thing I had. There is much more to this story, but because it is an ongoing event, I cannot go much more into it. Today, the Sub Governor stopped by the RIAB (Radio In A Box) and issued a message condemning the actions of the cowards who blew the school up. It was ten minutes in length and I am having it translated as we speak. The local police chief also stopped by and had a few things to say about the incident over the radio. These two messages will be followed later today or tomorrow by a message from the Provincial Governor.

Information Operations is a huge part of our non-lethal strategy over here. Word of mouth is the main way of passing information, and the ability to cover hundreds of square kilometers in one fell swoop is a powerful tool for us. The one who puts out the message first often wins that battle. It at times is all about perception and truth. It is our job to provide that so that everyone knows what is going on.

Changing subjects a bit, I have attached two things to this e-mail. The first I would like to talk to you all about is a story about the Civil Affairs team that is working in Paktya Province. I think I am quoted in it somewhere. However, the reason why I have attached this we blink is to that you all can have real time info about what coverage the 101st Airborne Division is putting out. This is the second story in so many months, where either my team in Zormat or our larger CA team in Paktya has been on the front cover. Be on the lookout. My stories have also been published in the Kalamazoo Newspaper, and some of our team was published in a local Boston paper. Anyway, I will be writing a piece later in Feb that should be published in SC and IA, and I hope will be picked up by a national paper. Any suggestions please let me know. I will also send it out over this e-mail.

Now on to the second attachment. This is a scanned copy of a note that a little boy in one of our northern villages gave to our 1st Platoon while they were out on patrol. It is really a great story, and I must thank all of you who sent pens over here for distribution to the kids. The platoon was dismounted and was walking through a local village. As is the common practice, the local boys and the little girls come out of the wood work to see if the soldiers have anything to hand out, or to pester them about “Pens”. One of the soldiers passed one of the pens that were sent over by some of you to a boy about 11-12 years of age, and he took off running. He returned to where the soldiers where and spoke in English to the soldier to stay there. The boy proceeded to sit down and pull out the piece of paper that he ran and got, and wrote the message that I scanned in. The boy handed the note to the soldier, and smiled, said thank you and ran off is this buddies. As soon as the platoon returned to base, the soldier came up to me and asked if I could do anything to help the kids. Of course I said yes. So now I ask you all to assist me. If there is any way that some of you guys would be willing to set up a quick coat, hat and sock drive, and the socks can be any sort, that would be quite helpful. If anyone could help, and then send them over here, I will make sure that the items reach this boy and his village. The village in question is on our periphery and is way out in the rural area, near the mountains. They do not have easy access to any of the urban centers.

Anyway, in this case the pen is mightier than the sword. This is the reason why the pens were so important. These children want to learn, and the only way to make this country and region stable is through educating this generation. Most of these children have never lived without our presence here. In order to prevent dependency, education is important. If this next generation can read and write and have a basic education, then they can think for themselves, and eventually can make the decisions that need to be made so that Afghanistan can once again become a great and free independent nation.

It is also why the bombing of the school was such an act of cowardice. It is easier to control a large population if they are ignorant and illiterate. That way, if you are going to use the Holy Quran as a weapon, and you are the only one who can read it, then however you interpret it, is the truth. By know you should be picking up on some of my themes in this message. I just wanted to let you all know, that whether or not you know you are all a vital part of the Non-lethal operations that I conduct over here. And all of you should be proud that you are making a difference, as was demonstrated with the pen that was given to the little boy.

On another note, it snowed for the first time yesterday. The day before, we could tell it was doing to snow, and when we woke up, sure enough, there was a dusting. It quickly melted, and snow remained only the mountain tops as of today. Our last big push of mail came in and I received many of the packages that were sent that I was expecting. It was a good thing. If we have the winter that has been predicted the stock pile and food will be well utilized, so thank you all again for your assistance with that. It is nice to know that we have a fall back plan if we get hit hard with snow.

Well that is all for this week. I have a very active week coming up and will send one more update out before I go on leave. It looks like with transportation to and from the UK, I will be off line for about a month, give or take. I will try to push out one letter while I am on leave, but if not, do not worry I will pick up again in mid Feb.

Thanks again,

Have a safe New Years,

1LT Tristan

Greetings All,

First things first, I would like to welcome many of the new readers that have begun to receive this weekly update e-mail. I have been told that we are geting close to 3,000 per week, that this is distributed to, or forwareded to. Pretty good I think :)

Anyway, there is much to talk about this week. For those of you who have e-mailed me about the winter clothing and the coat drives you are holding, per the request of the little boy who wrote the note that I sent out last week, we really appreciate it. I contacted the Bagram Supply yard near Kabul, this is where are of the donated stuff goes from major corporations, and the only thing that they had to offer for our operation, was 100 thousand dollars worth of Old Navy Flip Flops, wrong season I think??? With all of your help, many of the children in the poorer rural areas will be getting new coats and some other winter garb, so thanks again. I have also heard from someone who receives my e-mails, that Wal-Mart stores have some sort of program that will send over winter coats for kids. If anyone of you has a Wal-Mart nearby, and would be willing to contact the store manager on by behalf to see if they would be willing to send coats, please do so. We have an estimated population between 250,000 and 400,000 in our district, many of which are children, and come from subsistence farming communities. With the floods of last summer, and the low level of precipitation so far in our valley this winter, they may be looking at back to back crop failures. We are beginning to plan now for a major humanitarian aid operation come late spring. I just hope we do not get another flood, that would be too much for this population to handle in one year.

Now on to this past week’s events. As many of you guys are aware, one of our new schools was bombed by the bad guys last week. Just yesterday, they came back and tried to blow the rest of it up. But what they did not know, is that we were watching, and a local called up the Afghan Police and reported what the guys were doing. We were able to follow them back to their qalat, yesterday, without them noticing, and they had a bit of a surprise this morning about 3:00 AM. I have not found out what exactly happened, but rest assured they will not be blowing up anymore of the schools in this area.

Also, back in November there was the tractor which was blown up by the IED, where four men from the same family were killed, and two were wounded. I have spoken in the past on how important developing relationships are in this culture. We as a military have some very high speed technology which scares the hell out of me, but, sometimes, the basic human relationship can do more than all of that gee whiz stuff. Case in point, just the other day, one of my local assets came to talk with me in order to provide me the name of the guy who planted that IED, as well as where his village is, and where he currently was, time now. We sent this info up and it is being acted on. That’s all I can say on this. But if the guy is rolled up, this would definitely provide justice to the local people and the family who lost so many family members. He also informed me about something else, which I will expound on in my next story.

So, my team chief, name not to be mentioned, while in Iraq had a Fatwa placed on his head by a cleric in Iran, because he was doing such a good job in his area of operation, and was denying the enemy freedom of movement. His comment to me was that you know that you are doing your job, when they put a price on your head. The next bit that I would like to share with you confirms this statement.

So there I was, in the weekly Shura with all of the elected elders from our district, or at least those who cared to show up that day. And a certain topic came up that really pissed me off. I do not like to say such things in these updates, but I can only put up with so much stupidity, if you know what I mean. So about two weeks ago, we began receiving information from some of our local assets. Now in the Civil Affairs community we cannot say intelligence or sources, because I guess we are supposed to be passive collectors, and tree huggers and such. Whatever!!... So the information that we were receiving was a new tactic that the Taliban was going to employ this winter and an Information Operation Campaign, or propaganda campaign that they were going to execute this spring. We had several reports of an influx in robbery and rape in our districts, and of check points set up by the Taliban to steal money and equipment from motorists. So we did a bit of investigation and got the rest of the story. The Shadow Government’s Governor for our district, this is the commander of the Taliban in Zormat, who is financially and logistically supplied by Pakistani ISI, prior to heading over the mountains for Pakistan for the winter, ordered all of his remaining Taliban fighters in Zormat to act as thieves and rapists and robbers. The plan was to create crime and discredit the local Police and Army. Then come spring, they would return in force from Pakistan, and tell everyone, that this type of bad activity never happened when the Taliban was accepted into their villages. In the last several months, we have been pushing initiatives to separate the local support of the Taliban from them, and so far with great success. They know this too. This is why they were planning to perpetrate crimes against the population and then lie to them come spring, that they are the only ones that can guarantee their safety.

Well they will no longer be able to use this tactic. Like I said, I can only handle so much stupidity and lies before I tell people what I think, and so I did. After hearing one of the Shura members, who is a supporter of the Taliban, say that the influx of crime was not due to the Taliban, I had a couple of words to say. I was too the point, and told only the truth. To the amazement of the Shura members, I told them everything about what the Taliban was planning on doing, and told them that they needed to inform the populations that they represented so that they could stay safe this winter. Then I really dug the fork into the Taliban. I mentioned that I have read the Holy Quran, and that this type of activity is forbidden for a true believer. I also mentioned that for someone who claimed to be a Mujahad and participating in a Jihad that this type of behavior was extremely shameful, and that they would have to answer to Allah on the day of their deaths. Most of the Shura members received what I said with open arms, but you could tell that some of the sympathizers were trying to wrap their minds about what just came out of me mouth. But one could say, I dimes out the Taliban, rendering their whole operation mute. To add insult to injury, the ANA commander has agreed to record a public service message to be played on the radio throughout the rest of the winter and into the spring, so that the local population can protect themselves, and see the lies that the Taliban will try to spew come spring. Over all, a very eventful Shura.

Now to the good stuff. Three hours after the Shura, we had a walk in. He came to give us some information about some bad guys and such. When he was done talking, he turned to me and told me I needed to look after myself, and stay safe, because I had made the Taliban real angry at the Shura. They had found out that I had ousted them and their mischievous activities, and were pissed. He told me that there was a price on my head. My response was that if it is not at least $150,000 then I would not accept the threat, our guest just laugh. I guess it is a good time to go on leave for a little while, huh?

Having a price on my head is nothing new to me, or many of the service members who serve here or in Iraq. While in Iraq, there was a $75,000 price on my head as a Military Police Platoon Leader. Not big thing, personally, I think I am worth a bit more. I did not tell my folks about the price on my head in Iraq until I returned home. I did not want them to worry about me. But this is not my first rodeo, and they know I can take care of myself, so I thought I would share this with you all, so that you could truly understand the enemy we face on a daily basis. They are a bunch of cowards who hid behind the honor of Jihad. They are nothing more then brigands and thieves and rapists. Hell bent on keeping Afghanistan destabilized for the benefit of the Pakistan Government, under the guise of being holy worriers. What a shame, they take away the prestige and honor of the true Mujahad who fought bravely against the Soviets over 20 years ago.

Anyway, therein lays the second thing that our local asset wanted to tell me. He informed me that I did in fact really piss off the Taliban leadership in this area, and that there was a price on my head. When I called up my team chief to inform him, he congratulated me on being the first of the team to achieve this status. I guess you really do know that you are making a difference if those idiots are willing to single you out. I just hope their offering at least the $150,000. My local guy is checking into it for me.

Well in a couple of days I will be heading out for leave. This will be a good time for all the bad guys to cool off a bit, and recoup from the kick in the groin they just suffered. I will be back, rested up, and fortified before fighting season. They are not going to have a chance when they return this spring, that is all I can say about that. Surprises are so much fun.

Anyway, I will write again in a couple of weeks when I get back from leave. I will still have access to my e-mail and will check it periodically. Again, thanks for all of your assistance on these projects, it means a lot to use to receive your support, but is also means the world to the people over here.

Again thank you all,

1LT Tristan Boddicker

Shanti Trainer Troy Cox

Monday, January 24, 2011

Yoga Musings

Friday, January 7, 2011

Support Our Troops Update from Tristian Dec-January

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