Nice and Relaxing Day...TGIF!!!

Rocket Status: None today.

Today was pretty calm, since it's Ramadan and Friday.  My interpreter wanted his immigration to US package mailed today, so at around 10:00am he was calling to ask about it.  It costs them $375, non-refundable, to submit the immigration package.  I took it to the post office and purchased the money order for it and mailed it certified mail.  He wanted it to go DHL to get there faster, but they wouldn't send to a P.O. Box.  He was happy it was sent, but disappointed DHL wouldn't ship to a P.O. Box.

Today at 2pm, I received a call that the dining facility contractors were at the gate and needed to be escorted in with their food.  When I went out to get them, there was a huge dirt devil.  See the pics below.

The rest of the day was peaceful until I went to the interpreters camp to inspect the meal.  Of course, the food wasn't good.  The rice was no good and the meat tasted bad.  They did make it cleaner, but no where near clean enough.  Another military person showed up about 10 minutes before me and said when he opened the door to the kitchen, he saw a bunch of mice scatter...going to have to work on the cleaning bit harder.  I asked the supervisor if he had bleach and he said no, the stores were closed for Ramadan.  Then about 5 minutes later, while we were inspecting the rest of the place, he showed me about 6 small bottles of bleach.  He couldn't tell me why they weren't using it for disinfecting all the surfaces and in the dishwater to kill germs.  He said he would, but so far every thing they've promised has been false.

Here are some pics of the dining facility today:

My Friday, it's Thursday!!!

Rocket Status: One at about 7pm, which is pretty early.  Didn't hear an explosion, so it was a dud or a false alarm.

Today was very pleasant for the most part.  No ANA to mentor or advise, just catching up on paperwork, reviewing contracting information, and writing letters of justification for construction.

Went to a meeting this afternoon for about an hour and a half.  Then met some friends at the boardwalk and went to Green Bean Coffee...not Tim Hortons (who...they left us!!!! I'm still bitter...must be the Italian in me).

I also was able to pick up one of our interpreter's package for US immigration.  They receive special consideration because of the risks they take to interpret for us.  The Taliban wants them dead more than us. Unfortunately, the system may take longer than two years to allow them to enter the US.  If the US/Coalition decides to pull out, the interpreters will most likely be killed or will be forced to flee to Pakistan or another nearby country for safehaven.

Tonight I met with the person representing the contractor.  He brought two cooks from Kabul to make things better.  Unfortunately tonight, the food was worse than before; the meat was so undercooked, the people wouldn't eat it.  We had lots of arguing going on and I had to ask everyone to leave, so we could discuss the problems without a riot.  You can see the cleanliness of the food preparation.  It's something I've brought up every day and will continue to until the it is fixed.  They don't understand washing their hands with soap.  In most bathrooms, they just rinse their hands with water after using the toilet, so the same for food prep.  We're working on it.  This has been extremely taxing of my time and mental wellbeing.

This is the main kitchen. Keeping plates on the floor...not the best thing to do!

Anyone want some nice fresh melon off this table?

This is lower than yesterday, but still pretty bad.

1st Day of Ramadan

Rocket Status:  None today.

Today was fairly calm in the morning.  It was nice to be able to relax in the office and just focus on getting caught up on paperwork and projects that have been pushed to the side for other priorities.

I finished a contracting package requesting an additional year to a contract.  It will meet a board tomorrow and hopefully be approved.

During Ramadan, Muslims don't eat until after dark, so they're very hungry.  Well, the contractor ran out of food and about 25-30 people didn't get food.  It was almost a riot.  The interpreters are not happy with the performance of the contractor so far and said they'd rather stay in their room than eat something they make. Their boss from Kabul was supposed to show up at 3 pm.  As usual, they have lied about every single question I've asked them and their boss did not show up.

Here's a look at the dirty dishes

Anyway, that was most of my day.

Still Working Contracting

Rocket Status: None today.

Today is the day before Ramadan starts.  This means that all the Muslims will not eat, drink, chew gum, or use tobacco during daylight hours...I'm sure there are other restrictions, but we (US & Coalition) don't do any of this in front of them, but we definitely eat and drink during the day.  This also means that my ANA work force will be gone until Saturday, then they'll be on half days for 30 days.  Not much will happen for the next 30 days.

This morning started out with the contractor calling me at 7:30am, just as I was walking to breakfast.  Breakfast ends at 8:30am, so by the time I got the contractor in I was eating a protein bar for breakfast.  The frustrating part is the contractor brings all this food and then, since they don't have a base pass and aren't too worried about getting one, they need us to come pick them up and transport all the food for them in our vehicles.  Today I spent about 7 hours doing nothing but contractor oversight.  I spent about 20 minutes doing the job I was sent here to do, so that part is the frustrating part.

This contractor is feeding our interpreters and is doing a terrible job right now.  I'm there for every meal right now until they get it right.  I've already told them they are not fulfilling the contract.  After so many days not fulfilling the contract and giving them a cure notice, we'll happily cancel their contract and get another company that can perform.  I couldn't believe they are bidding on a contract and they were asking someone how to cook rice...that really makes me angry.  I'm working on getting it fixed through oversight or cancellation.

The next thing I was working was there are guards living in ANA huts that are in horrible conditions.  There is no shower, no electricity, and there are only port-a-johns for their use.  On top of that, the contractor is paying some guy $60 total to fix food for these 44 guys.  I sent a message to the contracting officer about the deplorable conditions and he sent a message to the contractor saying all payments will stop immediately until this situation is addressed.  That will definitely motivate an Afghan...I bet even during Ramadan.

I was in the office until about 10pm working on another contractor's problems.  He hasn't been paid in 4 months and I've been sending email after email (probably about 20 or so by now) to the paying agent to request payment.  They keep coming back and telling me he's been paid.  We'll I figured it all out tonight.  The contractor gave us an Afghan money account number instead of a US$ account number.  It should be fixed and he'll get his $35,000, which is a heck of a lot of money to me so I can imagine how much it is to an Afghan.

Here's a few guys heading out the gate to convoy.

Tuesday was about as frustrating

Rocket Status: None today.

Today started out with my normal run with the ANA.  I had one guy missing because he had to pull guard duty...other than that the run was perfect.

Right after the run, I had to go shower and eat breakfast to be ready to escort the new dining facility personnel with pre-made food.  Of course, they didn't show up or call when they said they would.  I'm not impressed with the new contractor on the first day.  He didn't get breakfast served until 8:45am, lunch at 2:30pm and dinner at 8:45pm.  Providing oversight on this contract should be interesting.

Today we still had to deal with all the paperwork for the contractor to leave the base with his equipment.  It was a frustrating process and I can see why people avoid it.  We went back and forth from the base commander's office to the Corps Commander office 5 different times with no results at all.  They'd tell us they are in their office, so we'd go to their office and no one would be there...we did this a couple of times. Then we started going to their rooms where they live and we found the General, he looked and acted like he just awoke from a nap and this was at 3:30pm and we'd been waiting for him at his office since 3pm.  On a positive note, the contractor was able to depart with all his equipment tonight.

I spent just about the entire day doing this...I did get 10 minutes of mentoring today.  The day started at 5am and ended at 9:30pm, so it was full day.

I'm definitely tired and frustrated, but I'll bounce back tomorrow.

Here are some of my meals from today...

Breakfast

Sorry, but no lunch shots, but here's what the interpreters are eating.  I decided to join them for the evening meal of rice and beef.

 

They like their bread and it was good.

Frustrating Sunday & Busy

Rocket Status: None tonight.

This morning started with rolling through emails, then doing some paperwork.

The interpreters' dining facility is changing contracts and the old contract ends today.  The next contract starts tomorrow and no one has seen the contractor today.  I finally got a hold of him on the cell phone and he said he was in a car accident right out side the Kandahar gate.  I'm pretty sure he's lying.  It's very convenient to have an accident right before your contract is suppose to start.  Okay, so then I went to meet with the departing contractor and he was telling me they were taking the table and chairs, water heater, and air conditioners...that's a problem.  The outgoing contractor never told us he replaced anything and now has apparently thrown away all the government owned equipment...of course is was worn out anyway, but he should have asked.  I was able to work it out with the outgoing contractor...he said he's living in this country because of us, so he was very grateful.  That was nice to hear.

Next, I went to meet with the ANA Colonel.  The inspectors were still here and were asking questions about vendors and samples.  I don't think they've dug deep enough to find the real issues.  The Colonel asked me if I had anything important to discuss...that's his way of asking me to leave, but I didn't take the hint since he was taking the inspector to see the ammunition storage point (ASP).  I told him I'd like to follow along and he had no choice since the inspector was there.  When we got out there, I knew he didn't want to show the old ASPs, since there were not well organized and in need of attention.  I decided to play the manpower card to bring it up without looking like I'm telling the inspector anything.  I told the inspector the reason we need more people is to alleviate the strain on the soldiers guarding the ASPs...he definitely agreed.  This was a success.

Then there was a truck filled with bottled water that was directed to the ANA logistics depot.  I looked at the paper work and some genius put the delivery location as simply...Kandahar.  I can't believe people can be so dense as to use such a simple label and also the document was solely in English.  Not a great help for the ANA. I tried making phone calls 26 times (looked at the count on my iPhone)
to the numbers on the invoice and every time I'd get through, they wouldn't understand and hangup or just were cutoff because of the poor cell reception.  I finally sent them a text message, but never heard from them.  If someone steals the truck of water, then the contractor deserves it for being so non-specific on the delivery.

Next, the interpreter village generators died for good today.  I submitted a letter to extend the contract for operations and maintenance on the generators on Wednesday with an email explaining the criticality of expediting the letter, but here I am on Sunday with no letter of justification.  Now the interpreters have no water for showers or the toilets and no power in the restrooms.  I'm working it as fast as I can and will have to look for another solution, because once I get the letter back, I have to send it to Kabul for legal review, run it around to six board members that approve the money and hopefully at the fastest, it'll take two to three days.

Then I was coming back into the gate and realized the standing water I saw yesterday is getting larger and larger.  I found out the ANA Garrison commander is not letting the blackwater trucks, trash trucks, and laundry trucks on the post without a pass...don't know why they just can't search them.  Personally, I think it's to make the contractors pay money for their pass.  Anyway, I was told the septic water will eventually back up into our dining facility...hope that's not true.

Next I received a call from our departing contractors that requested I escort them off the base, because the security guards wouldn't let them off the base without us.  I just sat down to eat, so asked them to give me 15-20 mins and I'd be there.  So we drove to the gate and the guards stopped us.  They said the contractor can't leave with their equipment.  I told the guard I know this is their equipment.  They said they need a letter with all their equipment listed and signed by the Corps commander.  I asked them who could do that right now, but he couldn't answer.  I told him I'll sit here...call the commander.  They didn't like me sitting there and were getting agitated.  I told them I'll leave when the commander can come and clear this up.  I was tired of spending my days doing ridiculous hurdles, so they can (in my opinion) bribe contractors for money.  When my door was open, one of the guards hit me in the forearm with the butt of his weapon and my adrenaline spiked...it wasn't hard enough to hurt me, but it was enough to focus my attention on him.  I let him have it verbally and then closed my car door.  With it just being me and another person, I was feeling a little uneasy about the situation.  I loaded my pistol and set it next to my leg just in case something happened.  I didn't make a big show of it, but they saw that I loaded it through the tinted windows and stayed away from the vehicle for a while.  I called my guys back at the base and they dressed up in full gear and came out in four vehicles, since I told them I was a little uneasy about the numbers and the tension.  Then General Rahman showed up and was pretty upset that he was called out at 7pm.  He asked me about my weapon and why I had it out in the vehicle.  I told him one of his soldiers hit me in the arm with his weapon and I was outnumbered.  I told him, I didn't point my weapon at anyone or threaten anyone.  There were 20-30 of them and two of us.  The General was upset with his soldiers for letting this trivial matter become a problem, but he's the one that orders them to do it in exactly this way.  Anyway, the General said the contractors would be able to leave and that I could go.  I told him thank you, but they're my responsibility and I don't mind staying with them.  The contractors were very scared of us leaving them with the ANA...the one contractor was nearly white with fear and didn't want to speak.  I told him I wasn't going anywhere until he made it off the base.  This whole ordeal took about two hours.  We did get them off the base, but now the General wants to see the contractors tomorrow, so I'm going with them.

One last thing for the day...my end of tour award is due today.  I went back to the office and had to finish that up.  I finally finished at the office at around 9:30 pm.

It was nice to take a shower and relax...I'm mentally tired from today.