Pashtu First Grader

I feel like a first grader again.  My handwriting is bad, I can't tell time, and I am still learning the days of the week.  Basic addition and subtraction is a chore and numbers just don't make sense.  On the plus side we seemed to have skipped over kindergarten stuff and are pushing right along to second grade level Pashto; grammar and vocabulary.  The basic sentences are starting too.

Today we tried to teach our instructor the difference between hail, hill, heel, and hell.  Because he's Pashto he can't hear the difference in the words (just like I can't hear the difference on some of the unknown Pashto sounds they have).  Since we were learning the word "hill" in Pashto we heard this all day (forgive my language), "what the hell" when he wanted us to say the Pashto word. 

One thing I have noticed is that Pashto burns up all my creative energy (hence no posts in a week).  Apparently trying to form sentences in Pashto uses up the same side of the brain as trying to put together English ones.  And according to Joy I am sleep talking in Pashto now.  That's how you know it's started.

 

Day 3

Pashtu alphabet memorized.  44 letters each morphing into different shapes depending on where they are in the word.  Once you get the logic though it's not too bad.  I judge my Pashtu handwriting at about the 1st or 2nd grade level.  So now I can sound words out I just don't know what they mean.

We are teaching our Afghan instructor American idioms (though he knows most already).  Today was "cook the books" and "touchy feely."  The first one was easy to explain but the second one was little harder to clear up...

Pashtu Day One

Started language school today.  And the first thing we did was set up or newly issued government ipods.  Never thought Uncle Sam would spring for something so hip and modern as an Apple product. 

It looks like flashcards are a thing of the past.  This language app we downloaded on the ipod uses some kind of specialized algorithm to track your practices and cycle your vocab around.  Pretty cool, but I'll probably need some real flashcards at some point. 

Our instructor right now (will change later) is 26.  I asked him what his father did and he said he is a retired Afghan General.  He retired after he was almost killed by a suicide bomber.  The deployment is starting to get real. 
 

Wing It

When Ernest Shackleton was recruiting men for his expedition to the south pole in the early 1900s he put this add in the paper:

"Men Wanted: For hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success."

His recruiting effort, by design, brought in the right kind of men for what would prove to be a historic expedition across the south pole. 

After a great presentation on capacity building in Afghanistan I asked our last speaker how he would spend his first thirty days in country if he went to my district.  He looked at me kind of funny and I could tell what was coming next.  So I finished his thought out loud, "Just wing it then, got it."  50 hours of discussion on Afghanistan provided by three star generals, retired ambassadors, premier COIN thinkers, and a few daring adventurers and my best conclusion is to wing it.  That's how complex the problem is.  It reminded of Shackleton's quote.  There's a lot of work to do, glad I get to be a part of it. 

Military Academia, how it's different from regular college

As part of the AFPAK Hands program we go though a week of counter-insurgency (COIN) training in the classroom.  As a young Captain this is pretty cool because we have been on the campus of the National Defense University (NDU) on Ft McNair in downtown DC.  Other than the long commute and short walk through ghetto, the campus is a cool spot.  NDU is one of the militaries' higher level professional education centers.  In other words there are lots of Generals and Colonels running around getting more masters degrees.  Thankfully, we are in civilian clothes so we can hide amongst the other bureaucrats.

                                             

The AFPAK program has "rented" some space and intellectual talent from NDU.  Some of the highlights have been briefings from a retired 3-star General and a retired US Ambassador (by the way that's a first in my career, having a General come brief me...).  We also had some great geopolitical discussions with a prominent COIN author who advises senior DOD officials.  As I sit through these discussions I couldn't help but think about my college academic experiences and how different this type of setting is compared to my undergrad experience.  Here are the big differences.

1. Many lecturers in military academia have been shot at.  This adds a different level of "real world application" to academic concepts.  My civilian profs focused on the theoretical, these guys/gals focus on the practical.  It's a dimension to learning that I would not have appreciated as a 19-year old kid.  Speaking of kids...

2. The military audience is older and smaller.  My first political science class had 300 people in it.  I don't recall learning anything in the class.  Most of the 300 people in the class were 18.  In my class today the median age is 40 and there 20 of us.  The last four days of lecture/discussion have covered more geopolitical ground than I got in dozens of credits worth of undergrad work.  Small groups led by experienced instructors equals a great learning environment.

3. You pay more attention when you know you'll need the information.  Part of my academic problem in college was a lack of motivation.  If the topic didn't seem interesting or applicable I didn't give it much spare brain space.  This block of military learning has kept me engaged because I know I am going to need it.  And do 18 year olds really know what they are going to do with their lives enough to know what information they need for the trip?  I know I didn't have clue. 

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1000

Thanks to my mom, my mother-in-law, and my reluctant, proof-reading wife for pushing the blog to over 1000 views. 

Just kidding about my wife, she's my biggest fan.

If I had a dime for every car I junked I'd have 20 cents

I have gotten good at being the last owner of cars.  The car doc came back with a grim prognosis for the Pathfinder.  It will soon make it's way to "car heaven."  The "end of the road."  The "final chapter."  Etc.

The first car I junked was some kind of British Ford that I can't recall.  It was a four door and huge for British roads.  One day I had to drop the Group Commander and the Group Command Chief at the airport in south London.  The Commander was my bosses' boss.  A big deal (incidentally, I saw him this week at the Pentagon but didn't say hi due to the story that follows...).  It happened to be the hottest day of the year in England.  And the same day my a/c went out...  As a young Lieutenant I engaged in the most serious, deep-thoughted, professional, conversation I had ever had to distract my poor boss from the sweltering heat.  The Chief, at the start, gave up and fell asleep--or passed out--in the back seat.  Thankfully we arrived at the airport on time, despite a miserable delay in traffic cooking in the heat.  After dropping them off the a/c magically came back on and I turned the car for home.  30 miles south of the house the engine exploded and I pulled over with a huge smile on my face.  "Thank goodness I got them down there on time..." I thought.  That's how my first car made it to the junkyard. 

The second car was another Ford.  A Mondeo I think.  British car.  I bought it for 1,000 bucks.  The license plate kept falling off the back so I duct taped it.  I would have to periodically reapply tape, no big deal.  This car actually worked ok.  Unfortunatly the British are extremely strict with vehicle inspections and the duct taped plates, among other small problems, just wasn't going to fly on Her Majesty's royal roads.  So this one got junked too.

The third car was another Ford (maybe I should I try another company....).  I bought the Taurus from my in-laws.  It had low miles and ran great (right up until it didn't...).  A certain unnamed driver in my household, who wasn't me and we don't have kids, did some significant "redecorating" to the rear passenger door.  In fairness DC driving is brutal so it wasn't unexpected.  But, despite the cosmetics, we planned to keep this car for a long time.  One day, the same driver who "redecorated" the door, was driving along a bridge in DC and the freeze plugs gave out.  The engine was shot.  Instead of junking this car our pastor suggested we give it to a college kid who put in a new engine for himself.  So I guess technically I wasn't the last owner on this one. 

And now car number four, my Pathfinder.  No great story with this one.  It's just old and too expensive to repair. 

While I don't enjoy driving cheap cars we have made the sacrifice so our "redecorating" driver can get some serious higher education.  And all the trips to the junkyard have been worth it to see her go to school. 

What "junkyard" tales do you have?