Return Home- Again

Deployment #2 is pretty much in the bag now- as I wait here in Manas Airbase (kyrgyzstan), I am trying to reflect on the experience and bouncing ideas off of my peers to see what we may have collectively learned and what we got out of the deployment. For myself, seems like the first deployment was geared toward a self discovery/ testing of what I am capable of both mentally and physically. This deployment wasn't really oriented the way the first one was. For the most part, I saw it as a further honing of special skills and alot of growing off my base of knowledge rather than learning from scratch. I think I have become a wiser/ more informed individual as a result of this deployment/ experience. Much of it comes from the guidance and mentorship I received from my Battalion XO- probably the first real mentor I have had in the army. He is probably the first person who has truly defined mentorship for me... without having to define mentorship. Learning how to think/frame problems- that is where me make our money as officers and he is the first one to clearly articulate this and put a sense of urgency to the cause. If we are not able to do this as officers, we are pretty worthless. This was not a compelte revelation, but it has been made much more clear to me.

I think I might need some more time to think about it all. The year went by quick and in the next 6 months I will undergo some quick changes and I will be in a totally different environment, different country, and starting the learning all over again. With the time I will have in the next month, I am still trying to think of the bet way to spend the time while having plenty of peace and quiet. Still trying to find the answer. Thats all I have to say about that.

Afghanistan: A snapshot of international partners interaction with one another

As stated before, this continues to be a very interesting deployment. What is begining to bother me the most is the amount of time stuck in the conference room conducting mission analysis- that is the not so interesting part, but I am building an appreciation for the operational level of thinking and what is necessary to accomplish the mission at this level. The truely interesting part is devising ways to accomplish what you need to get done while traversing and dodgeing the various personalities inside and outside the organization. It is simply not enough to accept the status quo- there are always ways to get done what needs to get done- and I am not talking about simple tangible things, but the intangibles, like changing someones perception of an idea.

All part of the tools necessary for the counterinsurgent to fight in this convoluted melting pot of great ideas, missed opportunites, and forgotten promises. It stil bothers me that for ten years of effort in this country, we have done little to make a lasting impact on this country. The great ideas are pouring left and right now- and they are great ideas- it is just coming possibly too late in the game. There is still hope, but it seems like we are starting from scatch and there is little to build off of. Think of where this country could have been if it received the focus it should have for the last 10 years.

I ramble... and I am getting tired. I was going to write something longer, but I am too tired! Will try to recap some events next time I am on.

Afghanistan: The land where (surprisingly) many have not seen Americans Before despite being in the country for the last decade

So, deployment number 2 has kicked off with bang- not literally (luckily), but we've hit the ground running pretty hard. Very different deployment for me, I am on staff in the S9 position which has turned out to be very rewarding and interesting thus far. I knew what I was in store for when I got to Afghanistan and I have been making the best of the job since I've been here. The job title is civil military operations officer. Some call me the money man (which is mostly true). I manage all the projects our unit undertakes (construction and what not) and more importantly coordinate with the various organizations doing projects in the province- these include NGOs like USAID, other military organizations (in our case, primarily German), and with Afghan leaders. So far, it has been interesting to see the interactions between different people and various organizations. They are as varied as the personalities themselves.

This is the first time in the last month I have actually had some time to write... I ended up getting an assistant, but I forsee after a month, I made need another one. Dealing with millions of dollars of government money can be a bit uneasy, but I have people I can go to for advice- makes the burden easier to handle.

Hmm, what else? Think I'll go to bed...

OUT

New Perspectives

Came back from a COIN T3 (Counterinsurgency Train the Trainer) Conference out in Hohenfels, Germany. The conference went through the weekend, which sucks, but it was definitely worthwhile. The audience was mainly Majors-Colonels from respective allied armies (very few Americans there).

Couple of qucik points about the conference:

-If you put a bunch of high ranking officers in a room together, especially from different countries, it can easily become a cluster-fuck of non-intelligible sharp shooting of the briefer, or a series of individuals standing on their soap box to make a mediocre point... luckily, it did not go in this direction- the briefer was shit hot and put out any potential fires.

-Despite the amount of time we have been in Afghanistan, we have yet to standardize the application of COIN (Counter-insurgency) as well as standardizing a teaching program- the course I took is a draft to the Basic COIN class that should be coming out soon.

-The army has been teaching too much theory and not enough application- seems like we are finally headed in the right direction as far as applying theory.

-The environment shapes your operations, not the other way around. Simple, yet as an organization, we still stick to the conventional mentality of Operations shaping the environment.

Whoops, lunch time is over... OUT!

Life is about Choices

Life is about choices, and it is nice to know that even though I am in the Army, I can still make some of my own decisions and soak up as much life as I can (To the left is Saint Michaels Cathedral in Hamburg, Germany). Some things, of course, are completely out of my control and some of the decisions are made for me. But those times I do have control, I realize how great a feeling it is.

(A Castle in Copenhagen, Denmark at sundown at the bottom)

Nothing in particular spurred this realization, but everytime I get into a long training event (the last 2 months) or even a long prison sentence (West Point), the feeling you get when your cut loose is always a nice one and you begin to revel in all of the simple things- Good Food, Traveling, and making some of your own decisions in your free time. Life is good.

The top of the 9th

Not really a baseball guy, but this title still seemed appropriate. Starting to close things out here in Hohenfels but still plenty of game to play. What have I been doing for the last month? Imagine a deployment to Afghanistan, stuff it into one month in the area the size of a medium sized national park, and its in the middle of Bavaria... make sense? Basically, just a mock excercise in preparation for Afghanistan... and a very well thought out excercise. It is well scripted and thought out, still some little things here and there you catch, but overall, an awesome tool to build our processes, SOPs, etc.

I don't think I have ever learned and absorbed so much knowledge in my life... true statement. I think I may have learned more in these 2 months in the field than I have in any of my MS (military science) classes at West point, more than possibly even all my history classes combined (I wasn't much of a student at times). The way I look at the world has possibly changed, and I am interested to see how much I have changed my perceptons once I go back home in the winter time.

So, what exactly am I talking about? Maybe it isn't quite raw knowledge, but mainly the way I frame problems, the way I attack problems, and the way to properly digest a problem. If I thought the way I do now, I think school would have been so much easier.... pretty sad when I think about it. Not only easier, but alot more interesting. The relevancy of what I am learning right now is there- I am going to Afghanistan, so I must do all I can to prepare the best I can so the plans we make as a staff is the best plan possible in order to ensure that soldiers come back home alive.

Yea, thats all I got right now. Payce

Still alot to learn

You think you know everything... but then you always get checked. I am almost in awe with the amount of things I do not yet know... for once in my life, I think I am excited about learning something new. Well, maybe "learning something new" is not the way to put it, but more like I have found different ways to think- which makes the world a whole lot more interesting. More on that later (as long as I don't fall asleep).

So, I am no longer an XO. Was switched out a couple of weeks ago. I am now the Battalion S9 aka Civil Military Operations Officer. I pretty much deal with money and relationships- between us and NGOs, PRTs (Provincial Recontruction Teams), Local government, etc. "Synchronizing our lines of effort" is pretty much the mission statement. So far, it holds promise to be an interesting job.

Had some symptons of withdrawl when leaving A Co- been with them for the last year- but it was definitely a worthwhile year. The next year and a half are looking interesting... Leave for another month of training in a few days.... seems like I am never home.... and then shortly after that, I will be home for the holidays... and shortly after that, Afghanistan. Its about time, been waiting around way to long just to go.

In unrelated news, in the few days I had off in between coming back from Graf and leaving to Hohenfels, went to Munich for my 3rd Oktoberfest- happy 2yr anniversary in Germany!

Payce