November 20 2006

Today, we discussed what makes an ETT team successful. It was about a three page paper, I will touch on a couple of things, briefly.

This isn't the American Army; don't think it will run the same way as ours does. If you get your panties in a bunch about that, you have a year to be sore. It won't change.

Take small victories. Lead by example still works. Be prepared to get in a fight, you might, I am sure you will have to react to an emergency of one variety or another.

Subsidize the American Army and bring a camera. Yes I know it is good for operational reasons, and I know that the Army ought to supply at least a 1 megabyte camera for those reasons, but they don't, so go ahead, buy a decent one, and use it, it is after all your life that is on the line, and good intelligence is critical for mission success.

GPS: Get one, not the cheapest, not the most expensive. Know how to use it. Again the Army doesn't think it can issue a civilian GPS to every soldier who needs one. It isn't an everyday need. You can get along with out it, soldiers have done with out them for thousands of years, but now you don't have to.

You really don't need a machete, but a good pocket knife is nice.

A thermos is a good idea. As is stainless steel silver ware and a stainless steel cup is also good. If you like coffee the Italian espresso pots are great.

Learn to drink tea. Don't be stupid, learn to drink tea. Also learn to smile.

Other observations from here:

I haven't received mail in quite a while, not because people haven't been sending it, but because our airfield apparently has a hole in it. About 10,000 lbs of mail is stacked up for our region. That breaks down to between 60 and 120 lbs of mail per soldier out here. The last Box I receive came from Pat and Charlie and Joyce, and they were mailed on 3 October 2006. Hope there are no bread products, or they will be covered with mold. Hmmm if it is 10,000 lbs for my group, and there are two that are supplied by air like that with the same problems..... If a north bound train is moving at 55 KPH, and a South bound train is moving at 55 MPH, both headed to Chicago, which one will get there first.....

Rain is very bad for Adobe Construction techniques. The city of Konati (SP) pretty much was in flood stage after our huge storm the other day. The second story walls fell off of rooms and buildings, because the first story support washed down the street.

Municipal government is non existent here, and you can all appreciate the little things that governments provide, you know, clean water, sewer, clearing out water ways so that flood stage doesn't invade your homes, (Unless of course you bought in the flood plain, like they built on in Keizer.)

Electricity: I love electricity, and some of our soldiers are lucky to have things made with electricity on their FOBs, so I won't bitch a lot, however, when you wire circuit breakers, here is a thought, Go ahead and include the entire building on one breaker, don't split a building between two breakers, novel freaking concept I know.

Shows: The New Battle Star Galactica is fantastic. Don't send it to me, I keep using other people’s files and down load the new ones off the internet, but, fantastic, much better than say Desperate Housewives for example.

The Family guy, little kid with football shaped head and British accent; I have passed it by a dozen times. Take the time to watch it, if it doesn't make you laugh, then I think you need to watch it again, damn smart funny show.

Hmmmm Okay that is the top of consciousness ramble for today, hope you enjoyed.

All my best,

Keith