Military
camps at Gardez
Two camps are located side-by-side. One is an ANA camp
where a brigade is headquartered and some of their soldiers billeted. The other
is an American camp, where soldiers and marines mentor and train the ANA
soldiers at corresponding levels of leadership.
Both
camps are spartan, just gravel spread over dirt, and except for an existing
Afghan mudwall compound, seem recently built. Most of the structures are quickly
erected plywood huts, wired and insulated and better than a tent, ubiquitous in the past 15 years wherever we’ve deployed
overseas. Large generators provide
electricity for the camps. Though the camp has wells, one of the troops
stationed there told me they shower only once a week, as the wells can’t
produce enough water.
In the afternoon, the OMC-A officers investigated food
service issues. They already knew the ANA was having a hard time keeping their
cooks on the job. I’d heard that more than half the cooks desert regularly, as
no young Afghan male wants to do "woman’s work." They all want to be infantry.
Today’s inspection found prosaic problems: shortage of cook uniforms, low
quality boots, pay problems. These are things we can fix. The warrior mentality
will be harder.
I accompanied CE1 G on his inspection of generators,
where I hoped to get some photos and information to use in my power generation
class at Fort
Afterwards we drove a couple miles to another camp,
large and still under construction, and clearly intended to be permanent. Concrete
barracks, not plywood huts. A modern electrical distribution system, paved
streets and sidewalks, street lamps. I was told the cost of the camp will be
$68,000,000. That seems high to this Home Depot shopper, but it will be money
well spent if it helps the new nation establish security in the badlands.
What the camp declares is that this area will have a
permanent force of ANA soldiers to stand guard against both the Taliban and the
regional warlords. Similar camps are being built around the country; the one I
saw at Pol-i-Charki had the same type barracks. If this nation can develop a
strong military, as also-Islamic
A UN refugee camp was built directly outside the wall of
the new compound. Not good for the compound’s security, but probably a plus
for the refugee camp’s. We only drove past the camp, so all I saw were some of
the unfinished concrete-block 1-room huts where families live, made larger by
lean-to shade outside a wall.
Some of the camp dwellers have found construction work
at the new ANA compound. Generally, their future is dim, especially if they
remain in the refugee camp. Kabul
especially, and other cities probably, is where the jobs are. This past harsh
winter caused the deaths of hundreds of Afghans, many of them children, and
seeing the refugee camp made it easier to understand why.
We were invited to sit in on the evening’s Battle
Update Brief. The US Regional Command Advisory Group commander, COL N, was
briefed by each of his approximately 15 staff officers, and gave guidance as
needed. A large, strong-looking man in his forties, he was firm but relaxed,
showed common sense, and knew the details of everything discussed, from the
number and location of the camp's portable toilets to the need to get the ANA Bde S3 out of
that parade in Kabul
in a few weeks.
Capable as COL N was, I expected him to be in the active
Army, accustomed to daily operations
and leadership for decades, and sure to soon be pinning on stars. I later found
he’s a reservist, the head sheriff in a
That night LTC F and LTC L announced our plans for
tomorrow had changed. We would be going to Zurmat the next morning, and then
back to
