There are two kinds of people in the world

There are two types of people in the world.  Rule followers and rule breakers.

Rule followers, true to their name, keep and obey the commandments of authority.  They fill out every section on government forms.  They get anxious if they don't know what box to check.  

Rule breakers go out of their way to break the rules.  A rule breaker checks all the boxes on the form just to see what happens. 

Rule followers make sure the system works.  Rule breakers make new systems.

My wife is a rule follower (right now she is having an anxious reaction to my use of the word "what" instead of "which" in the second paragraph).  I used to be a rule follower.

The military is built on rule following.  Well, expect for the rule that special forces guys get to make up their own rules.  But by making the "do whatever you want rule" there are still rules, that's how it works.  The best part is that the rules for doing something like fixing a truck don't change much between Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas.  Task stability can be good.  The dark side of rules is that the systems we built for dealing with people, especially foreigners, are not universal.  We built a lot of rules for dealing with NATO or Russia.  And those rules don't work with Pashtuns or with Iraqis.  There is a time to be a rule follower.  But you gotta know when to switch. 

As a recovering rule follower (I relapse frequently...), this will be a tough deployment for me.  I like having "the code" or a boss to tell me what to do.  There's no bosses where I am going.  I can't wait.

Are you a rule follower or a rule breaker?  How do you deal with "the other half" of the world?

3 Hurricane Survival Tips

                                              

Tip #1: Purchasing ice prevents power outages.  We spent $10 on ice before the last two hurricanes and both times we did not lose power.  Therefore buying ice prevents power failure.  It's science.

Tip #2:  Don't volunteer to work night shift at an operations center during a hurricane.  You'll soon discover there isn't much you can do to alter the path of the big red swirly thing on the screen anyway.

Tip #3: Wear a helmet and take a baseball bat to the grocery store.  You'll need it to fight off the other zombies who didn't fill their bathtubs with water in anticipation of the storm. 

DG - Done Graduated

In the military a "DG" means "Distinguished Graduate."  It's what you get when you finish at the top of your class.  Those of us less serious about high accolades from academia refer to DG as "Done Graduated."  So I DG'd from the advisor course and am back home for a bit.  The course did a great job of balancing the fieldcraft skills with the cultural training.  Cadre were knowledgeable and relevant.  I give the course 4.5 out 5. 

To finish out the the training the staff put us in the field for a final training exercise.  The mission was to traverse hostile territory to meet with a local commander.  On the way they "ambushed" us and our vehicles went down (simulated gunfire with blanks).  This forced us to move out on foot while taking casualties (a cadre will walk up, yell in your ear: "gunshot wound to the chest, shrapnel to the leg, unconscious" etc etc).  He told me "shrapnel in the right leg, you're bleeding, but you can walk."  So after a self applied tourniquet to stop the "bleeding" I spent the rest of the exercise pretending to hobble around on my good leg.  It got pretty funny because I ended up carrying  the weapons from the other wounded.  At one point I had three rifles slung over my shoulder while I was helping to hobble another "unconscious" teammate to the landing zone.

A few small training courses left before the real fun starts; language school.

Why its Great to be a Captain

Shameless admission: I like being a Captain (Capt) much better than being a Lieutenant (Lt).  And I had a great time as an Lt. 

The best part about being a Capt is that you still get a significant amount of interaction with the younger troops and at the same time the bosses respect your opinion more.  You aren't totally shackled to a desk yet.  It's the best rank in the military. You can get a lot done without jumping through too many hoops. 
 
It does have one drawback.  You can't pull the "I'm just an Lt" card anymore.  Starting out my career I used that line to get things done without having to fight the big blue bureaucracy.  Sometimes it's better to ask for forgiveness ("hey I'm only an Lt") than for permission.  Apparently Captains are expected to know what they are talking about so you can't get away with that line anymore.  And it's not that Capts are any smarter than Lts, we are just much at better at faking it!

I was lucky to have a bunch of good LTs this last year (7 of them by the end of the year).  Overall they were great and many started leading from day one.  Nice to have people like that around.


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Some Lt jokes:

Can't spell "late" without LT!

What's the difference between a recruit that has graduated from basic training and a 2nd Lt?  The recruit has been promoted once.

10 Marriage Tips for Guys

#1 - Don't try to problem solve.  When girls have bad days, trying to problem solve doesn't help.  Don't ask me why because I don't know. 

#2 - "I'm sorry that happened to you" is a great phrase to break out when you feel the urge to problem solve.

#3 - Logic does not apply to female emotions.  Again, don't ask me why, I'm just a guy. 

#4 - Never say "You're being irrational!"   Refer to #2 for proper response. 

#5 - Clean the kitchen.

#6 - Listen to books on tape while cleaning the kitchen.  Use the mundane task time to expand your mental arsenal.

#7 - Your wife is not a formula.  Sometimes a parking ticket is nothing and sometimes it's as catostrophic as an earthquake.  Don't get frustrated by this, just embrace the feminine mystique or some crap like that.  

#8 - When overwhelmed by #7, combine #2 with hugs and continue to execute #1.  

#9 - Be a leader.

#10 - There is no such thing as being 50-50 in a marriage.  Go all in, 100%.

 What did I miss?

A Feudal System

Afghanistan has a feudal system.  The hard terrain helps keep power decentralized among politicians, warlords, and tribal leaders.  It's not that different than medieval Europe when kings and nobles ran around doing their thing.  Only instead of spears and pikes its AK-47s and RPGs.  The warlords and politicains vi for control using a mix of culture, commere, relegion, and violance to carve out kingdoms.  The political science term is "spheres of influence" but our medieval comrades would recognize the set up.  The tools of feudalism have changed but the structure is the same. 

The Afghan rulers that have manged to control the country have influenced areas along the ring road, but not much further (map below).  Between us (America) and the Soviets we have had similar challenges with the ring road.  Going farther back than recent history, Afghan rulers are have to balance one tribe against another to make sure no one groups gets too strong.  Reminds me of Europe during Machiavelli's time. 

The fuedal framwork is a useful tool for understanding the environment over there (or at it's least useful for me).   Many Afghans don't have a sense of national identity (though I have heard the Afghan military does).  Instead there is allegiance first to family, then tribe, then faith, and then country.  This isn't wrong, it's just different.  You have to know these loyalties to be effective at operating there. 

In the US military, when we are deployed, the system feels feudal.  To avert anarchy we subsume ourselves to the tyranny of rank.  There are benevolent "kings/queens" who lead well and who we happily follow.  And there are jerks who beat you over the head with their rank and drive you crazy...  It's a form of feudalism that coalesces around rank and units.  Which is why I'll post soon about how much more fun it is to be Captain instead of a Lieutenant...

The Best Start to the Day

I've discovered a great way to start out a workday.  For 3 days last week we "kicked off " the day with combatives.  After kicking, punching, and knocking your co-workers around for a few hours in the morning the rest of the day just seems to fly by.  It's even better than a cup of coffee to get you going. So maybe instead of morning PT we should have a combatives?  Might try that in my next unit.  Definitely way cooler than zumba...

Top 3 Takeaways from Dave Grossman's book, On Combat

Before deploying to Iraq in 2010 I asked my special forces buddy what types of things you need do to help get ready for a tour in a combat zone.  Of course there is the physical component that includes fitness, weapons handling, driving, radio use, and other military "hardware" skills.  But he also emphasized the mental component, which isn't talked about as much.  Mentally preparing for the job is even more important because it drives success in so many other aspects of a deployment.  

The best resource I have found for getting mentally prepared for a deployment is Dave Grossman's  On Combat, The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace.  I highly recommend this book to anyone.  Here are the top three things I learned:

#1:  Tactical Breathing
Tactical breathing is simply taking control of your breathing when your body is dumping adrenaline into the system to put you squarely in "panic mode."  If , out of fear, your heart rate exceeds certain thresholds (usually 200 BPM+ or so) there is a loss of fine motor skills and mental functions are dimmed.  By using tactical breathing you are able to exert control over your nervous system and stay in your optimal performance range vs slipping into "fight or flight" mode.  Tactical breathing is also useful if you start to feel nervous, like before a big presentation.  This is great technique that I use regularly thanks to this book.

#2: Be mentally ready to pull the trigger
You have to be prepared to defend your buddies and protect yourself.  And at times that means reacting to a threat with deadly force.  Mental prepartation beforehand is critical to the task of deadly force.  Hopefully, by being ready, you'll never need to draw on this aspect of preparation.  

#3: How to treat the casualties after the fighting is over
PTSD affects everyone differntly.  Some warriors experience horrific combat and feel no lasting effects when the battles are over.  Others see the same combat and have their lives completly turned up-side down by the scars.  Everyone will react differently.  In the book you'll find some useful steps for helping a buddy (or yourself!) through the processing phase and how to recoginize some of the basic emotions that arise out of PTSD symptons.  But the best peice of advice is to get profesional help.

If you have PTSD write to me.  I'll send you this book free.  I give it to anyone I know who is still suffering long after the boom. 

DC Ghetto Senator

I walked into Jake's apartment and got a glimpse of what my life as a single guy would have looked like (no, not pizza and beer cans everywhere...).  Let me tell you about Jake.

Jake is singularly focused on one thing, his work.  He volunteered for a program (same program I just started) as a civilian that put him in Afghanistan for a year working directly with Special Forces and Afghan front-line infantry units.  He is most likely the only US civilian to ever embed so deeply within the Afghan infantry.  And he is getting ready to go out for another year of the same stuff. 

Jake lives in the ghetto of DC.  When I asked him why he lives on the rough side of town he said exactly what I would have said if I was single, "The rent is cheap."  And his place looks just like mine would...  His apartment has one table, one bed, one couch, one big screen TV, and one computer.  And tons of books, more books than furniture!  But other than that empty.  He doesn't own a car but has three expensive motorcycles that are strategically positioned around the country near family.

Jake swears like a sailor and in a post-Afghanistan tour photo he had a scraggly beard down to his chest. If you met him your first impression would not lead you to believe that he has been involved in the inner-cirlce of prominent Senators and DOD policymakers.  I managed to get him to admit: "Yea, some of what I wrote ended up in the final bill."  I give him a hard time and call him "Senator Jake." What I like about Jake is he is a "just get it done" type of guy.  He can do the "big-brain" stuff but will just as readily join a good-ole bar room brawl.  Guys like Jake make a difference because they are smart enough to make up their own rules when the going gets rough over there.  Most importantly, Jake genuinely cares about people, and Afghans especially.  His cultural skills were so effective that he was briefing 4-star Generals on the "climate" of his district on a regular basis.  One 4-star told him he was the "eyes and ears" of the command in his volatile region. 

Jake is exactly the type of guy the US needs involved in complex situations like Afghanistan.  Guys like him are drawn to the complexity and aren't afraid to take risks to gain new perspectives on the strategic challenges.  And by getting a different view of the problem we can start on a whole new way of solving them. 

"They have the watches, we have the time"

"They have the watches, we have the time."  It's an Afghan proverb that sums up a few hundred years of foreign involvement in Afghanistan, including ours.  Its comes to mind as the "drawdown" of US forces starts to take shape.  The big question will be what the remaining US presence will look like.  This article on US posture in AFG post 2014 is quick look at one of the possibilities.  While my tour starting up next year will be interesting, my tour in 2015 will be VERY interesting.  I can see the US maintaining to some degree its larger bases in country while we continue to support Afghan security forces. 

In 2010 I was part of the drawdown in Iraq, but my focus was mostly on equipment (ie getting Big Army from Iraq to Kuwait without losing a few billion dollars of tax-payer gear).  This tour the focus will be on building relationships with Afghans.  And there are still a lot of unknowns about the specifics for my job (location, team, environment, etc) but the basic concept of partnership will be keystone to the tour.  It's gonna be an adventure. 

A "no email" day

4 hours of combatives is a great way to start a week.  Combatives are hand-to-hand fighting drills.  It's great PT, you get to take out some aggression on some unsuspecting pads, and the time goes by fast.  The only down side is after 4 hours you feel like you were in a street fight and your whole body is sore and bruised.  We spent the rest of the afternoon doing egress drills out of up-side down gun trucks.  These are fun as long as you don't catch a knee to the head or the guy suspended "above" you doesn't decide to drop too early.  After doing all that about half the class went out and ate way too much pizza.  Some days you just really love your job. 

Why I had to get good at money

When I was in college I started to invest a couple of bucks a month in a mutual fund.  The guy I went with was a nice guy but he had to sell his company's terrible products.  After two years of going nowhere in a fund that was way to expensive I consulted another guy on the phone hoping for better results.  This guy was nice too but he didn't have a perfect set of products either (and he was 5000 miles away in Alabama at the time...).  After that conversation I knew no one else could teach me this money stuff better than I could.  Can you tell I was a self-taught homeschooler?  I started by reading a couple books on the subject (the best one was The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness).  Ever since then I have been reading finance/investing books at the rate of about 1 or 2 per month.  I'd say this is solidly in the "hobby" category at this point.

I have some simple investing rules: 
-If you can't explain it you shouldn't put any money it. 
-If it's a complicated fund strategy it's wrong. 
-Diversify
-Needs a long, good track record
-"Roth" is a million dollar word (hopefully more than just one).
-Barring serious catastrophe, invest every month forever.

I was talking to one my kids (one of my 20 year old Airman, they're my kids) about investing.  I am comfortable telling him to invest in something as simple as the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index (VTSMX) until he gets a little smarter.  Once he learns a bit more about funds and personal finance in general it's good to diversify into some other types of funds.  Until then the VTSMX is big, diverse, and nearly free to own at 0.17% per year.  Yes, the decimal point is in the right place.  All this fund does is track the stocks of public companies based on their value (called market capitalization).  Open in a Roth account, and start saving.  Just start, thats what I tell all my "kids" anyway..

If you ever want a free assessment of your mutual funds and investments just let me know.  Most places charge $250 or more for that, I'll do it just for fun. 

The Enemy

Before you go anywhere dangerous you have to study as much you can about the operating environment.  Here's a look at thoughts from my research so far.

The Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) is the elephant in the room when it comes to the war in Afghanistan.  A weak Afghanistan is in the interest of Pakistan.  The ISI, through clandestine action, puts operations in play to support Pakistani national objectives in the region.  It is unknown how much control the central government is actually able to wield over the ISI.  This makes it a serious player in Pakistan on both internal and foreign policies.  The ISI funds, trains, and equips the Taliban (and other groups) from strongholds in Pakistan.  There is an extensive history on this pattern since the Soviet invasion in the 80s that I'll write more about in a later post.  Bottom line, these guys are the puppet masters and their role can't be understated. 

The other enemy we face in Afghanistan is us.  Our bureaucracy prevents us from being effective at the most important task: building lasting relationships with Afghans.  My biggest fear is not green on blue attacks, but the consequences of a restricted battle-space resulting from overly protective commanders.  Your security posture matters in how you interact with people, and we tend to take it too far.  And if you restrict your own movements you play right into the hands of the bad guys.  If I come visit your house or your neighborhood how are you going to feel if I show up armed to the teeth in full body armor and looking nervous when I talk to you?  Or I may skip the visit altogether because it takes up too many resources to get there.  Unfortunately a risk-averse commander can and often does mandate that local interactions go down like that.  The guys I have talked to who got freedom of movement were effective because they looked and acted in culturally sensitive manner.  In their case the best weapon was culture and language skills.

 Like Napolean said (paraphrase imminent) "Don't do what your enemy wants you to do."  In this war the battles are not for terrain, they are battles for trust.  

Lost in Translation

Got another story from our Afghan trainer.  Let's call him Aziz.  So in Afghan culture looking like a fool is to be avoided at all costs.  Saving face is huge.  For interpreters this means being exceedingly polite even if they don't catch a phrase or meaning here and there.  Not a foreign a concept even for Yanks.

Aziz is in Kabul and is assigned to interpret for a new Colonel (Col).  They go to an international conferance downtown where the topic is the mental health on the Afghan people after decades of war (yea, what a topic right...).  It's hard to hear in the room as the speaker goes through her points.  The Col, sitting next to Aziz, leans over and asks a quick question.  Aziz can't hear the question and just nods his head "Yes."  (I ha've been guilty of the same thing).  Thinking the moment of misunderstanding has passed, Aziz is forced to answer another question when the Col says "How long ago?"  Aziz, still unaware of the original question, casually responds, "Oh a few years ago."  The Col leans back into his chair looking perplexed.  He leans back over concerned and asks "Did it turn out ok?"  Aziz, now stuck, "Oh yes, everything came out ok, no problem."  The conferance wrapped up and on the ride back the Col asked his last question, "So how much time did you spend in the mental hospital?"

 Aziz worked some pretty tough assignments in AFG, and his intercultural skills are top notch.  He told this story to group of us today and made it funny for the whole American group.  You know you are getting the culture thing down when the humor works on the crowd.  The skill of your interpreter is major factor in mission success and unfortunately most terps are not up to Aziz's level.  I am hoping I can tap a few good ones when I get there.

Cowky Milk

We tried to explain sarcasm to our Afghan instructor today.  We failed miserably.  Now anything that is not true is sarcasm.  He now says "So it is opposite of what you mean?  I know whole books that are sarcastic then!"  Cross-cultural communication; always an adventure.




I make tons of Pashto mistakes and sound ridiculous to the instructor most of the time.  But sometimes he makes a few small English  mistakes.  My favorite so far: "Some Afghan politicians see American as a cowky milk."  I hope I don't become a cowky milk....

Not much more to report.  Routine is still training, eating, working out, and studying. 

"Your wife is fat"

An American soldier in Afghanistan is getting to know his interpreter.  The Afghan interpreter likes the American soldier and is looking for a way to compliment his new friend.  The American soldier pulls out a photo of his family and his Afghan counterpart spots his opportunity to bestow a kind word on the soldier.  He says "Your wife is fat!"  Oblivious to the fact that he just committed one of the greatest cultural missteps possible in America, he narrowly dodges a swift punch to the ribs! <---- (ok the punching part is made up.  It's hard to build a good ending when your best line comes in the middle of the story).  After a day or two of awkward silence the soldier and the terp patched it up and actually managed to share some cultural understanding after the incident.  In AFG being overweight is a sign of wealth and power.  In women it's seen as an indicator of "fruitfulness" (ability to have lots of kids) and health.   This is why you need thick skin when starting out in a new culture.  And this is yet one more reason Afghan men love America...

Feeling Lucky

Been neck deep in Afghan politics for the last two days.  Tribes, sub-tribes, honor, Pashtunwali, Pashto vocab, current events, Taliban, reconciliation, media, withdrawal, SOF, more vocab, marriage, property, more honor etc.  Feeling lucky because most info is coming from dudes recently returned and getting ready for another round out there.  So plenty of question and answer time.  Bottom line, good information transference.

Sample of some of the guys I'm training with:

"Bob", an intel guy by trade, wrote his master's thesis on Osama Bin Laden pre-9/11.  Being one of the few in the national security apparatus with a clue right after 9/11, he was a "go to" guy.  Doesn't hurt that he spoke Arabic fluently (he is married to a gal from the region, apparently marriage is an outstanding language learning technique...).  And "Bob" has been on the road ever since.  Along the way he picked up Hindi and Dari.  His cultural and language skills are impressive.  Oh yea, his full head of red hair is pretty impressive too.  You'd never guess by looking at him that he would be a premier cultural expert of any kind.

Feeling lucky to work with people like this.

Training Day 3

Spent a lot of time in the last 48 hours talking about the Afghanistan/Pakistan region.  Lots of the guys here have done a recent tour over there so we have been talking a lot about their experiences. Trying to draw as much information from them as possible.  Some of these dudes have pretty impressive "in country" resumes.  Things like regular foot patrols with AFG Army, village engagements, briefing US Generals on key regional projects, and the list goes on. 

We have had some far ranging discussions on US involvement in AFG and what that is going to look like over the next three to four years.  The biggest topic seems to be uncertainty.  All the players (China, Pakistan, AFG, Taliban, etc) are all in "wait and see" mode.  My deployment will be right in the middle of the transition.  Should give me something to write home about. 

Something I wasn't expecting out of this particular course is the amount of language training we are getting.  This course isn't designed for my particular program and is a more generic course for any/all Air Force advisers to AFG.  So when they told us we were getting some basic lang training I was pleasantly surprised.  Current learning method is flash cards and auditory repeats with the instructor (who spent 6 years as an interpreter for SOF types over there).
 
The US adviser mission  (to foreign governments) has a long history dating back to our time fighting in the Philippines after the Spanish American war.  Of course the adviser mission in Vietnam tainted the political reputation of that type of engagement, but it didn't diminish the demand for US military expertise abroad.  Ultimately the adviser mission can allow the US to build partner capability without having to deploy a huge US "staying" force to a region to pursue our interests.  It's not a perfect mission set, but it has huge strategic value in an environment where relationships in country are more important than how many tanks the enemy drives.  And by the way we're broke and its cheaper...

PL

Sunny Day in the Garden State

It's been a good day.  I got about $5K worth of brand new military gear courtesy of Uncle Sam, we crawled around in the mud outside, did some engagement drills (basically the trainers pretend not to speak English in some sort of scenairio), and we were all done before 1600 hours.  Plus the class is small with mostly more experienced types. Since we are older there's not a lot of supervision and extra rules from the cadre.  So life is good.

On a side note, I finished my recommended reading list.  You'll see it on the tabs on the right.  Stop in and load up on knowledge. 

No other deep thoughts for the day.

-PL