hello all

Hello my family and friends,

So it’s been a little while since I’ve sat down to write to all of you. I’ve tried a couple of times but some things have kept me down and other days it was just too damn hot to type. So let me get down to it….we’ve made some huge strides in the past three weeks. After four shuras with elders (one with the District Governor, who by the way is younger than me and has ADD…well not really but yes he does..lol) we have established a local government here. There is now a Council of Elders that represent the people of Taghaz. We had our first shura last Saturday and we’ll continue to have them every Saturday for the rest of my time here (which by the way is only 6 weeks!). It was a good meeting. Most of the Elders showed up. 11 of out 15 made it. We talked about their problems, wants and needs. Things I knew they’d want: A school, a new canal, to keep their poppy crops this season…etc. Something I didn’t expect from them was asking out help to keep the next generation of young men out of trouble. They don’t want to see them become thieves, join the TB or get into drugs. So we are going to have a representative from the AUP (Afghan Uniform Police….they are police that will come and establish a police force here so they men that sign up will be able to work in their home village.) and the ANBP (Afghan National Boarder Police…what we have here already. They travel just like regular boarder police do). It’s a huge step in the right direction.
The meeting was good and long and I had a Captain from Civil Affairs to help me out a lot. He has conducted several of these ‘first step’ shuras. We are way ahead of the Marines at the Castle (Khanishan Castle). They have been trying to accomplish what we did in 2 months for over a year!

So we’ll also start working with the locals to get their business a boost. We plan on conducting meetings on Wednesdays to start micro-grants where we help them develop a business plan (good thing I’m a business major) and get start-up companies/business going. The big thing we are focusing on are farmers. Getting them a grant to grow something other than poppy next year. It’s a huge challenge.

Yeah the Poppy. So I know some of you got the pictures I’ve sent out with the poppy fields that are in full bloom right now. The harvest is already started in some places. The Marines saw people scoring them today for the first time. And the bad guys are in town. We had a little fight a few nights ago…..let’s just say that as a Marine we don’t fight fair. But if we had to we would still win in a fair fight. You know the saying don’t bring a knife to a gun fight? Well our philosophy is if they have one gun…we have three. If they have a machine gun we have automatic grenade launchers. If they bring a truck with a mounted heavy gun….well we have LAVs that have a chain gun that shoots explosive rounds….then we have mortars to counter their rockets. Let’s not forget about the helicopters and jets that are always near bye. I mean really….this isn’t boxing….this is war! None of our Marines were hurt…so you can breathe deep and relax. I’m fine….obviously since I’m writing this to you.

I know some of you read that we lost a few Marines last week from our Battalion. They were good men. I knew the Sgt. Major personally. He was a great man and we all admired him. His loss hit my Marines and I pretty hard. Please keep them and their families in your prayers. We all appreciate it.

On a lighter note the locals are coming around and really warming up to us! Sometimes the kids are too much! My Mom never had to smack me around much when I was a kid….but for all you that have had the pleasure of beating your kids my hat is off to you. I’d like to smack the crap out of one ‘future terrorist’ myself. I’ve never seen anyone try to grab for my rifle…but he has tried a few times. I’m learning patience with him every day.

Well it’s getting hot again. We had a week of cold weather but not anymore. It’s in the 90’s everyday and it’s like an oven in my tent. Luckily the Enlisted Marines got new ‘Alaska’ tents. They are a lot like the ones we stayed in while we were at FOB Dwyer. They are climate controlled so they have A/C constantly. But after patrolling with all their gear on they need to cool off. A lot of them are getting sick again. It’s because we have to patrol through the nasty feces infested stream that is right outside our COP. It’s ruining our uniforms, boots and socks are high priority. (Thank you Mom and Mona and everyone else for sending more) I gave my boots to one of my Lcpl.’s because his had a tear down the backside of them. I have another pair and one on the way. I’m just lucky to have not been as sick as some of the other guys. I had a mild case of Osama’s revenge. I can’t speak for the boys though. Even the CO has had it twice!


Oh shoot I have to tell you we had steak again last week! That’s twice in a month! Of course as an officer I ate last and got the retarded little piece but hey it was really cooked on a bbq and everything. Mom sent me some dehydrated mashed potatoes (roasted garlic with bacon bits!) and canned asparagus. AWESOME!!! Just AWESOME!! I even had a cold soda that night and we had canned peaches with tapioca.

Ok well speaking of chow I have 20 minutes until they close and I need to get my grub on….even if it is the same crap we eat every night. When you are hungry you eat whatever they are serving.

I hope you are all well and I’ll be home in less than 60 days….not that I’m counting. My Marines are!

Semper Fi,

ws