Macy is Home

AWAC Primer

 

The cast:

Capt Doug “Bear” Traversa (me), USAF, editor and ringmaster

Capt Doug “Rat” Templeton, USAF, my hut mate and regular contributor

Maj Steve “Odie” Odum, USAF, relaxing at home

Capt Mike Toomer, USAF, another hut mate and contributor

Capt Drew Morton, USAF, another hut mate and contributor

1^st Lt Dany Barcan, Romanian Army, fellow soccer player and contributor

SSG Carrie Sawyer, US Army, contributor

Maj John Rogers, USAF, contributing photographer

Hamid, Han, and Wali, CMA interpreters

Cute dogs provided by Papillon 911, Pom Posse, and North Central Maltese Rescue

    

The setting:

Camp Phoenix, Kabul, Afghanistan, home for most of us

Central Movement Agency (CMA) - Afghan Army transportation base where I work

Logistics Command - Afghan Army base where Rat, Mike, and Drew work

ANA - Afghan National Army

KAIA - Kabul Afghanistan International Airport

 

26 Apr 07

Listening to Swagger by Flogging Molly

 

     I am happy to report that SSG Sawyer’s dog Macy is safe at home.  Here’s the e-mail I got from her:

     Geez, I write all the wonderly fond stuff about my dog and what does she do? She turns up!

     Out of sheer luck, my neighbor (who has be very upset about her being gone) was actually hanging out at the shelter yesterday and a call came in.  He went to the woman's house and picked her up for us while Herb was at work.

     Thanks for your help, whatever southern voodoo you did worked.

- SSG Sawyer

   

[Not voodoo, merely the incredible power of AWAC.  Not only will reading AWAC bring you health, wealth, and success, it can find lost pets  -Bear]

 

* * *

    

                                                                                        Photo by Maj Rogers

   

Bear, Hamid, Mike, and Drew Ponder the Universe

     Yes, as the title indicates, we had another of our justly famous conversations about universal truths, and this time Mike and Drew got to participate also.  Poor Hamid, his brain hurts enough when I talk to him; imagine the migraine he must have had after talking to the three of us.  I don’t remember how we got on the topic, but we ended up discussing freedom of religion.

     “People in Afghanistan don’t need the freedom to switch religions; no one would leave Islam,” Hamid assured us.

     “Well, how would you know?  Right now it’s like having a gun held to your head.  Remain Muslim or die.  Your government forces everyone to remain Muslim.  Leaving the faith is never a realistic possibility for anyone, unless they flee the country.” I countered. 

     “But no one would ever leave Islam.  It is the perfect religion.” Hamid was very confident on this point.

     “Hamid, you’ve never even read the Qur’an.  Don’t tell me it’s the perfect religion.”

     Mike joined in at this point.  “I find it amazing that so many people here have not read their most holy book.  I’m not talking about people who can’t read, I’m talking about those who know how, but never bother.”

     I piled on.  “Why haven’t you read it?  It’s the most important book in your life, and you’ve never read it.”

     Hamid didn’t hesitate.  “My mullah tells me what is in the Qur’an.”

     [Yes, I know, we’ve had this discussion before.  Please bear with us.]

     Mike (did I mention he is a lawyer?) pounced on this. “So you are basing your entire set of beliefs on what one man tells you?  Why would you do that?  What if he’s wrong?”

     “If he is wrong, someone can say something in the mosque.”

     I had to jump on this one. “Hamid, has anyone EVER stood up and said that the mullah was wrong about anything?”

     He paused, then shook his head. “No. But they could if he was wrong.”

     “Hamid,” I disagreed, “No one is going to contradict the mullah.  They are probably afraid, or think he knows better than they do. That’s why no one ever disagrees with him.  But let me ask you something else.  Do you think it would be a good idea to change the law in Afghanistan to allow people to change their religion?”

     Hamid seemed puzzled. “No one would do that.  Islam is the perfect religion.”

     “That doesn’t matter.  Would you change the law if you could?”

     “No,” he said simply.

     “Why not? What are you afraid of?” I demanded.

     “We don’t want people to go to hell.”

     Mike joined in here.  “In our country, you are free to worship as you please.  The government doesn’t tell you what to believe or how to worship.  I could make up a new religion today if I wanted to, and they wouldn’t stop me.”

     “Yes,” I added.  “I could worship that chair if I wanted to.”

     Hamid gave us one of his exasperated looks.  “But the government must stop you from doing that.  It is crazy.”

     “No,” insisted Mike, “in America, the government is forbidden to interfere in your worship, even if it seems crazy.  We believe in the marketplace of ideas.  If you want to convince someone that your religion is true, you must do it by words, not by force.  If you had that freedom over here, people might not stay Muslim.”

     “No, no one would leave Islam.” Hamid was firm on that point.

     Drew finally joined in.  “How do you know?  Let me illustrate.  Suppose you went to get ice cream, and everyday, all they had was vanilla.  Then one day, they also had chocolate chip, but the guy serving it refused to give it to you.  How do you know if you would like it unless you were allowed to try it?  Here, the people aren’t even allowed to try another religion, so how do you know what they’d do?”

     “Do you even study what other religions believe?” asked Mike.  “Are you even allowed to read a Bible?”

     “Our mullah tells us about other religions,” replied Hamid.

     “Yes, and you say he claims that the Bible spoke about the coming of the Qur’an and Mohammad.  Yet I can tell you the Bible says no such thing,” I pointed out.

     “So you are saying the mullah is lying?”

     “He is probably mistaken, or ill-informed, but I have read the Bible several times.  I assure you, it doesn’t speak about Islam.  If it did, don’t you think more Christians would become Muslims?”

     “But the Qur’an came after the Bible; it must be better, it is that last book from God,” protested Hamid.

     “Oh, there are many books that came after the Qur’an that some religions claim are from God.  The Book of Mormon came later.  Are you going to become a Mormon?”

     We talked some more, and I wish we had a tape recorder, because it was a good discussion.  Mike got up to leave and said, “Hamid, we aren’t being mean.  We are trying to get you to think.  If you believe the Qur’an is God’s word, then you need to read it so you know what it says, not what one man tells you it says.”

     Mike and Drew left, and Hamid and I talked for another hour.  Saturday is a holiday, so I won’t see him again until Sunday.  He is trying to squeeze in as much conversation in our remaining days as possible.   

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Afghanime - Anime News from Afghanistan

 

     Peter Fleming, who may be my brother-in-law, but at the very least is married to my sister-in-law Amy (no one has given me a straight answer on this) sent this e-mail:

 

     By the way...a guy I work with went to an anime show in Boston.  I showed him the blog page with your anime awards a few days before he went to the show.  He was talking to the people at one of the booths (Full Metal Panic? Something like that) I guess the girl that does the voice was there or something...but anyway, they knew about AWAC....I guess people had emailed them the site and they had checked it out or something....I don't know if it was the writers, or just PR people, but he says they had seen the site and the drawings.

 

     Naturally I am pleased that AWAC is getting known in the anime world too.  Just another step towards total global saturation.

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Tonya’s Cute Dog of the Day:

     Rat was crushed that I didn’t have “Tonya’s Cute Dog” yesterday, so I’ll make it up to him today with multiple cute dogs.

 

Charlotte, Zoe, Xander, Serenity

 

Buffy and Kojack

 

Steve and Oscar.  Oscar was blind, and someone threw him in a dumpster.  The animal shelter picked him up, and we took care of him for a couple of weeks until he moved to his foster home.

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Five Seconds of Fame: 

     Yesterday’s quote, “You don’t learn anything if you don’t try anything” is from an anime series, Chrono Crusade.  I didn’t really expect anyone to get it, but I liked it, so I wanted to share it.

    Remember, you too can be famous.  Just identify the quote (without using Google) and send me an e-mail.  You can also send a photo of your choice to be posted.

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Quote of the Day:

“Well, boys, it would be hard to call what we've been through fun, but I'm sure glad we went through it together. You boys always managed to give me a good laugh, right when I needed it most.”

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It was yet another great day, oh wait, Zombie Project sighted off the port bow

-  Bear

traversa@gimail.af.mil   

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Here’s Rat -

     Today is Thursday and that means bad pizza night. Rumor has it the current vender is going out and a Pizza Hut is going in. This would have been a nice change however as luck would have it its happening after I leave. We do have a Subway here but it is literally in the back of a van that is parked outside the Post Exchange. Of course, all the food other than the chow hall has to be paid for and since we get a whopping $3.50 a day, it takes a day or more’s allowance to eat out.

    I am looking forward to going to the Big Bazaar tomorrow for the last time. I doubt I will be buying anything, but it is another last that I can check off my list of things to do before heading home. We have been checking off a lot of lasts lately and with every one come a joy and sadness. Our lives here are about to change and everything we have grown used to is ending.

    When we go home to our families there will also be change. They have spent the year moving forward without us, and it will most definitely be different. Many of us will be moving to new bases and will be starting new jobs. I often wonder how I will keep up with all of it. Our children have gotten bigger and have had to endure being single parented. They have learned that mommy or daddy can be sent away for a long period of time and if they are older, like my daughter, they understand the danger they faced.

    I guess the one thing in life that remains constant is change. You either learn to accept it, or lock yourself in a box and refuse to come out. I for one have learned to accept it, because my whole life and military career has been about moving and changing. Now I have spent a year helping others to make change, and in the end I’m pretty proud of what we’ve done.

Ratman, Rodent of Change

dtempleton14@yahoo.com

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Letters to the Editor

 

Captain Traversa,

     It is difficult to write a letter to the editor after having read the letter Leta wrote. As far as I can tell, she has covered almost everything and there isn't much left for me to say. But if I don't write, I will feel bad. So here we go…

    I have to admit that I'd expected a military person to be strong, tough and carrying enough courage to fight with enemies, but I didn't expect any military person to be kind, caring, and having a great sense of humor. Neither I expect any military person to educate me and entertain me at the same time. And that's exactly what all of you have done.

    I still remember the day Captain Traversa first mentioned my web site on AWAC. As a person who grew up in Taiwan and has never managed to master English language, I know I often make English mistakes so I never asked anyone to link to my site. I don't know if Captain Traversa knows what he had done. He encourages me, and makes me feel comfortable while being encouraged.   What a great leader he is!

    Everyone is wonderful here: the writers (You don't know how many times I laughed when I read AWAC), the readers (You don't know how many times I wanted to pick up the phone and talk to other readers), Americans, Afghans… This is one of the warmest families I have known. And I will miss everyone.

    Hope all of you will have a nice trip home. If any of you publishes a book, please let us know.

Best,

Helen

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     And a special thanks to our readers.  Without you, we might as well give up blogging and sit on the ground watching the grass grow.  If you are a regular reader, and would like to be added to the list, just send me an e-mail.

     New members:  Jenn Smith

The AWAC Support Staff

My wife Jancy

My kids, Taylor, Elise, and Ryan

My parents Peter and Nancy Traversa

My sister Susan Carnes

My nephew Daniel Carnes

Jed Black

Matthew and Gloria Gauthier

Monet Thomas

Pam, Chris, Helen & William Sande

Doris Black

Eve (Black) Iwicki

Leta Carruth

Bruno Mota

Pixelkiller

Matti Harris

Glynne Harris

Helen Chen

Caitlin Bright

Dana Schwartz

Mary Talarek

Jean Macfarlane

Carolyn Bullard

Shari Harrall

Monica McKean

Anna, Pick, and Rocky Lyman

Stan Borek

Robin Radlein

Judy Pappas

Diana Walker

Debbie Yeoman

Peter Hohenstein

Dan Zambon

Maj John Rogers

TSgt Derek Paris

Kathy Terri

Sharon Van Name

HC

Gael Buhlert

Raphael

Laura Ostrander

Maj Teri Centner

Linda and Dave King

Lori Holloway

Marieanne D'Antonio

Peter and Amy Fleming

Jenny Strobel

MSgt Lorian Maddox, USAF (ret)

Leta Hall

Jenn Smith

Comments

[Teri Centner]

I thought Macy was the cute dog of the day yesterday... Or does the cute dog of the day have to be homeless?

[Matti]

Yeah!! I'm glad Macy is home. I have a friend in Medford. I was ready to give her a call and tell her to be on the lookout.

Thanks to Maj Rogers for the photos. I've found the last few posted to be particularly neat.

Great post, as always guys.

[Leta]

It's becoming way too emotional to read your posts men. Not sure if it's because I'm going to miss you so much or because you are only days away from being with your families. OK, it's BOTH!!!

Hurray! Macy's home! AWAC saves the day! Good Joo joo!

I hope that Hamid will take to heart what you guys are sharing with him - to read the Qur’an himself. I realize he's in a very tenuous situation there - disagree with the mullah and, most likely, be marked in a not so good way. Unfortunately in order for Afghanistan to move forward one of the tennents must be for the generations to be more free with their thinking - NOT (as I feel you all would agree) to think like Americans per se but to think for themselves. I wish Hamid well as he struggles with this concept. I know he will "do the right" thing.

Rat ~ your post is the one that elicted the most emotion. There really are no words to express how grateful I am to have come to know such amazing men AND their families. What a powerful group you all are - what an inspiration to the soul.

And Helen - I couldn't agree with you more!!!

[Solo]

Hamid would be very interesting to talk to, but I fear I would be the one to end up with the headache(LOL). You guys will gone soon, heading back to your other homes,other lives. I wish I could shake the hand of every one of you, and give you my thanks. You've inspired, caused laughter, and at times a tear or two. I'll never forget the day that brought us all to this point, that put you in Afghanistan, in harms way. Thanks for everything you've done and everything you've been. Very soon, WELCOME HOME!!!!!!

[colagirl]

Fascinating discussion with Hamid--whenever you have these conversations it really opens my eyes to just what a different worldview much of Afghan society must have. It puts me in mind of that Thomas Jefferson quotation:

"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, He must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear."

I will miss hearing about Hamid and Wali and Maj. Atabar and everyone after you return home. Sigh....