Return to Feyzabad

The first week of November we headed back to Feyzabad and Badakshan Province with the intention of scouting some more sites to build the Afghan National Police compounds at. This time we skipped the drive down the donkey trail from hell and flew by military C-160. My intent was to visit 5 proposed building sites in the province but due to the German contingent hand-off activities (the Germans only do a 4 month tour of duty here - I'll see 3 complete rotations of them before I leave....lucky bastards...) and enemy activity in 2 of the areas, we had to scrap three visits and only ended up doing two. At the last minute Rick Rieger, the Project Manager, dropped off the trip so we replaced him with LTC Mike Hesston of the Vermont National Guard. Mike is the executive officer of the 1/209th brigade who are embedded with the Afghan National Police and are training and equipping them. While we were on the trip some of his men fought alongside the Afghan police in an operation in the West side of the country where they surrounded about 160 Taliban in a village there. Last I heard the Taliban were getting the worst of it.

Photo One: 30 minute break on the tarmac at Mazar E Sharif enroute to Feyzabad. L to R is myself, LTC Mike Hesston, LTC Wayne Dick(S-2, Intelligence Officer), and MSG Steve Cotton.

Photo Two: Feyzabad PRT (Provincial Reconstruction Team) camp. The camp is in a valley surrounded by high brown mountains. Plenty of places to hide up there so as a result the camp usually gets rocketed at least once a month. One of my tasks is to build an office there for the work we'll be doing in the Spring. We've usually had to stay in heated tents when we come up, but the Germans have promised us barracks rooms in hardened buildings once we're a permanent presence there. I really got to like the German Officers and soldiers we served with while we were there and I really felt a great sense of comraderie between us. They didn't quite know how to take us but fortunately had a good sense of humor and learned to treat us as part of their little family.....albeit it the strange American cowboy cousins they didn't quite know how to take. So Vielen Dank Oberst-Leutnant Heckert, Leutnant Ingmar Schulz und Leutnant Alex Schiffers! Sie waren guten Kameraden!

Photo Three: Waiting for LTC Wayne Dick on one of his forbidden foot excursions. He kept our German escorts in a continuous state of nervous agitation. They weren't supposed to wander around on foot patrols in the areas we took them to, but had to put up with it every time Wayne wanted to stop and talk to someone or to get a photo or buy a scarf at a local roadside stand. Wayne is a madman - perfect guy to bring along on an adventure like this. The guy lives for the next adrenaline rush and will find a way to create one if things are too calm in the area. He was great company and I think the Germans were ready to adopt him by the time we left.