16 Apr 07
Listening to Heaven by DJ Sammy
Patriotic Conex Photo by Maj Rogers
*** My e-mail address traversa@gimail.af.mil was down for over a day, and I've lost any e-mails sent at that time. If you wrote me and I haven't reposnded, please resend the e-mail ****
The Zombie Project that Won’t Die is back. It’s not as violent as before, but I’m out of silver bullets, and it seems to enjoy the garlic. Most annoying. However, I know it can’t go on much longer. Either it will die or I will leave. Right now it just spasms occasionally.
Yesterday all the new folks spent the day sleeping, for the most part, and we didn’t really see much of them. Major Apple bought pizza for the CMA team, and the new Captain and SMSgt joined us. We talked shop quite a bit, probably more than we should have, as jet-lag was evident. Today the whole group started in-processing, and they were all at the chow hall. We met the Major who got the photo taken with us, as well as the Lt Col who said he liked my blog. Hamid was eating this all up. He loves meeting new people, and these people had been reading about him! I was impressed by how gracious all the Americans have been to Hamid. Some have even tried out speaking in Dari (they actually got Dari training at Fort Riley).
Doug and Mike had an extremely long day, so I’ll be surprised if either post tonight, but if they do, that will demonstrate their devotion to our readers. I’m still trying to recover from staying up all night a couple of days ago. At least my headache has subsided.
I saw Dany in the library today. He says they are pretty much done with work, so they are just hanging around for a couple of weeks with nothing to do. He likes reading Time magazine, but all of ours are at least six months old. He doesn’t have a laptop, so he can’t even watch DVDs. It’s going to be a long couple of weeks. I told him he needed to write a nice long blog entry and gave him some ideas. He promised me something tonight, so we shall see.
Here’s another episode of Hamid and Bear Decipher the Universe. Enjoy as we look at the nature of faith and evidence. One thing that has struck me about the Afghans I have met is their absolute certainty that Islam is true, and the Qur'an has the answer to all of life’s problems. The notion that Islam isn’t true, or might not be true, never crosses their mind. Of course, this only applies to the ones I’ve discussed religion with, but I think this represents the majority of people over here. You are either a believer or have deliberately chosen to reject God. The concept of being undecided or an agnostic is hard for them to grasp. This conversation will help illustrate what I mean.
Hamid and I were discussing holy books. He still finds the notion of multiple religions fascinating, and he always asks if they have a holy book.
“Sir,” he commented, “you know that the Qur'an wrote itself. This is what the Prophet said.”
“Hamid, as I mentioned before, you weren’t there, and neither was anyone else alive today. If you want to believe that the Qur'an wrote itself, you have to take it on faith.”
“Fate?” he asked.
“No, faith, F-A-I-T-H,” I said, spelling it out. Hamid often asks me to spell new words for him. He is a diligent student of English.
“What is this?” he asks again.
“You’ve never heard of faith?” I asked in surprise.
“No, what is it?”
“Faith is when you believe something without any evidence. Most religions require you to believe things on faith. When you believe the Qur'an wrote itself, you believe that by faith.”
“But Sir, the Prophet said it happened.” Hamid protested.
“Yes, but how do you know he said this? Like I’ve said to you before, you weren’t there, so you don’t know exactly what he may have written or said. You don’t have the original Qur'an, just like we don’t have the original scriptures that make up the Bible. People believe these are God’s word based on faith.”
“You make another good point. I don’t know if we have the original Qur'an or not.”
This conversation occurred shortly after Easter, so Hamid asked about the holiday.
“Maj Apple was telling me about your Prophet, Yeesus (this is how he pronounces it).”
“You mean Jesus?” I corrected.
“Yes. He told me that 1000 people saw him after he was resurrected,” said Hamid.
“Yes, that’s was written by the apostle Paul, one of the main leaders of Christianity. However, even that still requires faith. Let me tell you a story, and see if you can figure out what I mean. Suppose I told you that last night, right he at Camp Phoenix, I caught a giant purple lizard that ate rocks.” I held my hands about three feet apart to show how big my purple lizard was. “Not only that, it could fly! Would you believe me?”
Hamid got that bemused look on his face that he gets when I start making him think too hard. He laughed. “No, I would need to see it myself. Would you believe me if I told you this?”
I smiled. “Very good. I would need to see it too. But what if I said that 1,000 people here at Camp Phoenix also saw the lizard? Would you believe me then?”
He paused, looked closely at ma, and replied, “No. I would need to see it.”
I feigned indignation. “But 1,000 people saw it! Don’t you believe me?”
“No, I would want to see it.”
“That’s good, but can’t you find another flaw in my story? Can’t you think of another question to ask?”
He shook his head. “No, I’m not sure what you are asking.”
“I told you 1,000 people had seen this lizard. You think it’s a pretty crazy story. Wouldn’t you want to talk to these 1,000 people?”
“Yes, that would be good,” he conceded.
“But what if I couldn’t tell you the names of any of them, and you couldn’t speak to any of them? What would you think?”
At this point Hamid was lost, so I stopped.
Hamid, here’s my point. Paul wrote that 1,000 people saw Jesus after he rose from the dead. This may be true, but he did not give the names of any of these people. So 1,000 people with no names, and no way to talk to them, proves nothing. I always hated it in church when this was used as a proof of the resurrection, because logically it isn’t. But it’s not the sort of question you would ask in church. The same is true with your view of the Qur'an. You believe the Qur'an wrote itself. This may be true. But you have no evidence of this. You must believe it based on faith. Do you understand what I’m saying? Just because I say 1,000 people saw a giant purple, rock-eating, flying lizard doesn’t make it true, does it?”
“Oh, Sir, you have such tough questions. I have never heard things like this.”
At this point I had mercy on Hamid and we moved on to other topics.
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Tonya’s Cute Dog of the Day
Pizzacato is available for adoption through Pom Posse
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Blog Watch:
This blog linked to AWAC a few days ago, based on the owner doing a search on “Leta,” which of course brought her to one of our mentions of Leta Carruth. Anyhow, yet one more strand in the global web we are weaving.
Flibbertigibbet
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Five Seconds of Fame:
Yesterday’s quote, “We're not your classic heroes. We're the other guys,” is from Mystery Men. Herb Busler, LT Sean Marvin US NAVY, and Peter Fleming.
The three winners of Dany’s contest, in order, are Gloria Gauthier, Susan Carnes, and Dana Schwartz. He will be throwing in a fourth prize for Lorrie Cramer. Here are photos of the prizes. Gloria, let me know which one you would like.
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Quote of the Day:
“This is history. We are living an historical moment. We are going to lose the war because our glorious Führer has taken a sleeping pill and is not to be awakened. Sometimes I wonder which side God is on.”
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Not many Great Days left to have, at least in Afghanistan
- Bear
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Here’s Rat, posting despite a very long day -
Well I'm back from my day off. I was totally exhausted so sorry for not posting yesterday but I was truly spent.
Mike and I spent today doing the last training class for the Afghans before we leave here. I have to tell you it is a great feeling having the “last” of everything starting to occur. Tomorrow we have to train our replacements on what it is we do around here. The opportunity to get them spun up so we can turn everything over to them is a high priority.
One of the highlights we have this week is teaching them to drive in Afghanistan. If you remember my segment on driving, I’m sure this will prove to be enlightening for them and entertaining for us. The game plan is to have one of us old heads drive and have three of them in the vehicle to ride and to experience the fun. We are hoping for some rain to make it a complete sensory overload. Apparently, the seat cushion disappearance is a phenomenon known as “APF” or acute pucker factor; we’ll see where theirs end up.
I also mentioned before a book called The Kite Runner. I hear it is being made into a movie. It is a great book about Afghan culture and should make a great screenplay. There is a famous kite maker here in Kabul who is making the kites and teaching the children in the movie how to fight with them. You see, they take the string of the kites and put glue on it and coat it with broken glass. Then 100 or so fly their kites and the object is to fly up next to another and cut their string. The last kite flying is the winner.
It is a sport of the past and was outlawed during the Taliban timeframe. It is one of the things in Afghan culture that shows a they are starting to make a come back. It is also an indicator that they are starting to assert their ability to secure their way of life and to throw off the bonds of the previous government. It is a proud moment to see that our time here has had an impact on more than just the military we work with.
Ratman, Driving Instructor.
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Here’s Han’s first big posting -
The Afghan Family
In rural areas of Afghanistan, traditional life is centered on the kala, a walled compound within which live the landowner and his extended family. Family includes a man's parents, his wife (or wives, since Islam allows men up to four wives, though most male Afghans cannot afford more than one), young children, grown sons and their families, and unmarried female relatives. Wealthier families have facilities for guests in their kalas, and are equipped to shelter and entertain anyone who should drop by. Travelers are welcome for the news they bring and the opportunity for fresh conversation.
Even in the cities, to a certain extent, people live in extended family units. The women of the households form a single work group and care for and discipline the children. The senior active male member, typically the grandfather, controls all expenditures, and the grandmother oversees all domestic work assignments.
Adults work very hard, but also do extensive visiting or entertaining during weekends and sometimes on weekday nights. Women with small children may remain at home, and they are also very busy with household responsibilities as well as entertaining relatives and friends. Hospitality, one of the most important Afghan values, requires elaborate food preparation and a very clean house.
An Afghan's family is sacrosanct and a matter of great privacy. Afghans see family matters as strictly private. People are generally reluctant to share personal and family issues with non-family members, including health care professionals. It is considered an act requiring revenge among conservatives for a man to express interest of any sort in another man's female relatives.
Afghans tend to socialize almost exclusively with extended family members. Extended family obligations, especially to parents and older siblings, often supersede other responsibilities, including allegiance to one's spouse, one's job, and certainly to one's own needs.
Afghan traditional views on what constitutes proper family relationships are often at odds with American values. For example, polygamy is permitted in Afghanistan, as long as the husband is able to support each wife equally.
In Afghanistan, families arrange marriages, although there is a great deal of variation in how much input the principals are allowed to have. In rural areas, the groom frequently does not see the bride until the two are engaged or even until they are married.
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Here’s Odie, still trying to get away from us -
Continuing…
Events of 14 April 2007
So I left you noble readers at Bagram awaiting transport. When me and the three Army brethren (two brethren and one sistern, actually) arrived we unloaded all of our gear and were then told it needed to be in a staging tent at the pax terminal. So, off we went humping many bags of gear through the increasingly hot day. It wasn’t too far away, but the “A” bags are not made for ergonomic carrying and the female was a medic who had four large boxes of pro gear weighing over 100 lbs apiece. There wasn’t a wheeled vehicle in sight, so we lugged them past the customs tent and the pallet build up area to the staging tent outside of the pax terminal. Of course, we were warned not to leave any bags unattended so we had to do the “missionaries and cannibals” game since we all had more than one could carry and the female had way more than one could carry.
In the pax terminal, we were in luck as a C-17 had a show time of just a few hours away. We went over to the USO but it was closed for two hours for cleaning, which apparently happens everyday. So we went back to the pax terminal. As I was hanging out there, I noticed a sign for AF Persco (handles personnel stuff – that’s all I know) pointing down the hallway. I looked over my instructions again. Nope, no need to go to Persco. All I needed to do at Bagram was secure a ride to Manas. But, it was like obsessing about whether or not you’ve turned off the iron so, eventually, I gathered my gear and followed the signs to find the office. Of course, it turns out, you DO have to out-process through the Persco here, but no one will actually tell you that. You just have to be appropriately curious (how long have we been doing this?).
When I got back to the pax terminal, they shooed all of us out to sweep the floor. The USO still wasn’t open, so we just had to wander around outside until time for roll call. Shortly after roll call, we were informed that we would have to take all our bags to customs. Remember, customs was one of those tents we labored past while dragging all of our bags to the pax terminal (Bear, you’re taking notes, right? I’m throwing you some pearls here). So, we made several trips until all of our bags were inside the customs tent which is a thin-skinned yellowish tent with no air-conditioning and, thus, no air movement – stifling. Here we were told to take everything out of all of our bags. So, the hours spent packing everything just so were undone in a few minutes. The bad news for me was that all the moving and jostling had burst my new, full, bottle of shampoo open in the bottom of my suitcase (not talking a travel-sized bottle here), so I got a roll of paper towels and started cleaning. Just as I was finishing that, I went to a pile of my recently emptied stuff and discovered that, in my haste, I had thrown something heavy on top of a bottle of sunscreen. The plastic bottle, soft from the heat, popped the top clean off and spewed sunscreen over most of what had escaped the shampoo. I can assure you that nearly everything I now own is extremely shiny and strong, with virtually no sun damage. Finally, as I’m packing it all back in very tightly and hurriedly, the suitcase finally reaches its design limit and rips down the front. We then got to lug everything, one more time, over to the cargo build-up yard and build our own baggage pallet.
At this point, I was so wet with sweat that tapping my palm against my t-shirt under the flight suit made a soaked “thwap” sound, the flight suit itself was wet from the waist up and even my note-pad in my chest pocket had been soaked through the pages. After all this, you may think that I was down. You would be wrong. I knew I was headed toward home with some time in Manas to actually read and relax and it would take more than this to dampen that spirit. In fact, my day was about to start looking up considerably. But I shall save that for tomorrow (with more pictures, I promise) as I’ve written plenty today. To be continued…
I saw my wife, Anessa, did indeed post. I thought it was fantastic. You can all see now why I married her. Why she said yes…? We’ll get back to you on that one.
Cheers!
Odie
Before I forget - from yesterday's post - is that a cast on Drew's arm?
You know Bear - you truly are an amazing man for the way you interact with Hamid. Never telling him what to think - always giving him ideas about which to think and draw his own conclusions. Your children must be very well rounded and great thinkers. MAJOR KUDOS to you for the way you choose to allow one to think for themself as opposed to attempting to force and opinion or idea on the. I'm kinda liking the idea of Bear for Ambassador to Afghanistan. You and Jancy up for that?
Rat - your level of "giddiness" is infectious. Heck - just throw them the keys and head to the airport. They'll eventually figure it out.
Odie, Odie, Odie - what WILL we do without your sense of humor and adventure? Hopefully you'll never see this comment because you are on a plane then home with your family. They, like all of the AWAC families, are a beautiful group. Hurry! Hurry! Get home!!! Oh, and if/when you deploy again - take zip lock bags. OK?
Han - first of all I am very impressed with your command of the English language. Your writing skills and vocabulary are incredible. I commend you for both. I very much enjoyed your post. Thank yo for sharing a small glimps of Afghan family culture with us. While parts of it are completely different from any time in American culture so much of it really parallels with "times past" here. In days of old many of the family units did operate in much the same fashion with respect to the male leader and the female being matron of the family. I often wish we would return to some of those ways here. Finally, thank you for being such a great source of information to our guys from AWAC as well as for being a stellar interp! I appreciate you for that. Please do try to keep in touch with Bear via email so that we may know you are well and safe.
ONE DAY CLOSER GUYS! ONE DAY CLOSER!!!
Posted by: Leta | April 17, 2007 at 10:49 AM
Your lesson on faith was certainly a good try, Bear. I wonder if you should tell Hamid about the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_spaghetti_monster)
Rat, thanks for the tip on the Kite Runner movie. I really enjoyed that book, but have been curious since reading it about what the kite strings and the "fights" really look like.
Posted by: Teri Centner | April 17, 2007 at 06:42 AM
I have such mixed feelings about your rapidly approaching departure. I am delighted for you all and your families. You have labored hard and well and deserve your return to those you love. But we will miss hearing of your sometimes tedious but always great days. If any of you and your dear wives ever make it to Anchorage, AK, I hope you will send me an email so my husband and I can treat you to dinner out. (I can't really invite anyone to dinner in as we are dog lunatics also and have enough whippets (and one Pom) for our own dog sled team.) Anyway, I believe today's quote is from The Longest Day (something each day must be feeling like to you by now). In case I am right, I will try to email you a photo of two of my puppies for a cute dog of the day picture.
Posted by: Robin Radlein | April 16, 2007 at 01:38 PM