This will be a long letter. I wanted to illustrate a typical week in the life of the 40th ADT so everyone will have a good idea of what we do and who is receiving the care packages you put together. There is no way I can reference everyone in the ADT in this letter, but I’m going to talk about a few people by name just so you’ll know that we are real people here.

This letter highlights the week of December 14th thru the 19th when 24 members of the 64 member 40th ADT (Agricultural Development Team) went north to conduct a watershed survey and a health fair for farm animas. The wealth of rural Afghanistan is in its farm animals. People may not own any land and live in a tent, but they can be wealthy in animals. If disease strikes these animals a family could not only be poverty stricken over night they can also starve.

Col Grimm (Our Commander) and I had met with the estate manager of Naray a few weeks earlier while LTC Velte (The Deputy Commander) was in Kabul learning about how to put on a VET CAP (Health fair for animals). We coordinated with Dr. Sofie the head of the AVA (Afghan Veterinary Association) down in Jalalabad for all of the required Pharmaceuticals which he delivered. Another unit that we supported down south sent us all of their left over supplies. We still needed cattle chutes SFC Medina (The Ag Platoon Sergeant) ordered some lumber and SSG Lucus (Large animal specialist and construction foreman) went to work on the chutes like a beaver on caffeine high. We had to borrow trucks which were missing parts and required some extensive repairs to pull the mission off. If it wasn’t one thing it was ten dozen others getting in the way. Spc Tanson (Member of the Ag platoon) rounded up all of the candy she could find and bagged in up to be handed out to the kids, and we got 400 radios from the Civil Affair teams to hand out as well.

Finally everything was ready. LTC Velte and I along with Col Grimm had one meeting to attend at the Sarkani District Center with the governor about the proposed irrigation project on Sunday December 14th. We arrived as scheduled and met with the governor who had invited his brother a schooled hydrologist to attend. I was sitting next to his brother with my notebook open when he started asking me questions about where I got different factors from for my design. I asked him if he knew what my equations were for and he did! I think he was there to check and see if I knew what I was doing, and not just a good idea fairy. The governor invited me to present my proposal. I display the map on the wall behind his desk, where I stood like a Redwood holding it against the wall for all to see.

The first thing the governor asked was how is the water getting up the hill? I told him it would have to be pumped. He was quick to say no thank you to the use of electrical pumps. His counter proposal was to include Marah Warah (The next district north) in the project so that the irrigation cannel could be gravity fed. I agreed to develop another plan and present it to the Kunar Governor and we parted. When we stepped out side there was a line of people waiting to see the governor and the usual mortar fire going off. One of the ground units located the site of the mortar fire and called in an air strike. When we returned the troops were still working on all of the vehicles we borrowed. The biggest problem was the radios. Several of the vehicles had electrical problems that would cause the radios to cut in and out. This would be a problem that we couldn’t solve. The stars were standing ready to welcome the morning when we loaded up in the trucks for Naray (FOB Bostick). We waited for another convoy to clear route California they came on Camp Wright as if their pants were on fire. Once they cleared the front of our convoy we pulled out onto route California and headed north through Asadabad. The first thing that happen was an oncoming car blinded our LMTV driver with its high beams. The result was we hit the Jersey barrier that was filled with water. The water blasted into the air and the barrier ended up under the front of the LMTV bending the front step. We stopped and did a quick inspection and hit the road again. The LMTV is a big cargo truck that we loaded all of the live stock chutes in it and hooked a trailer up behind it with even more barnyard goodies. We affectionately named it the rolling barn

The first hour of the drive was on paved road. We made one planned rest stop at COP Monti which is located near the Asmar district center. We pulled in did what we needed to do and SFC Hanlin our convoy commander asked for directions on how to get back on Route California. He got a funny look form a Spc 4 and jumped back into the truck. Note we asked for directions, and we had several maps and a GPS mapping systems. We pulled out of COP Monti went down a hill to a bridge and realized we made a wrong turn. It took us more than a few minutes to turn around. Lucky for us the gunners saw the “Y” in the road that led to route California. The road was obscured by dirt; you would have never known it was a paved highway.

The pavement ended in about a mile. The next five hours would be over semi-improved and unimproved road conditions. It would take us five hours to safely travel 30 miles. At first the road was ready to be paved then it transitioned to an active quarry where men were excavating boulders by hand. Further up the road narrowed to the point where both my self and our gunner up top had to guide the driver so he wouldn’t end up in the river. Our biggest threat was not being attacked it was going over the edge of the road. We made another stop for nature along the way and I really needed it. My back and lower end had been taking a beating with the road it was great to just walk around for a few minutes. Finally we hit paved road again the gateway to FOB Bostick and Naray. FOB Bostick was just three mile north of the pavement and a welcomed site. We had left Camp Wright at 5:30 A.M. and arrived at FOB Bostick at 12:30 just in time for lunch.

Vehicle that had been ambushed on Route California.

After lunch we loaded our gear into a tent that was shared by another unit passing through. Every cot touched the cot next to it and there were cots side by side running down the center of the tent too. There was about a 12 inches of walkway between the cots.

LTC Velte linked up with Captain Pittard (The civil affairs officer for the area), and I located a platoon of infantry to act as my security for a survey. We had brought along two reporters Janet Killeen our embedded reporter who writes exceptional articles “ZonesofConfict” and Tony Perry from the LA Time. Mr. Perry wrote two short articles on us. Janet lit up with excitement of all of the stories that were up in Naray that hadn’t been discovered.

Wednesday morning came I grabbed my survey team and LTC Velte stood his crew up. My departure was delayed for a while because we needed the Afghan Army to escort us up to the town of Lay Nay. The Afghan army unit assigned to FOB Bostick is one of the newest units in the field and built from people who have very poor family connections which is why they were assigned to Naray.

We waiting at the airfield for a while then finally moved to the north gate where the ANA (Afghan National Army) linked up with us. We were going to cross a swinging vehicle and foot bridge at Naray Kelay (Village of Naray). Crossing bridges is a dangerous event. There is nothing to hide behind and you can be seen from every direction. The agreement was the ANA would secure the far side of the bridge then my team which included a survey team and three personal security from the ADT would advance across take up our positions while the infantry platoon secured the nearside of the bridge. As we approached the bridge we could see that there were some traffic problems. Too many cars wanted to cross over the swinging bridge all at the same time. The ANA moved forward to deal with the traffic issue. We got the signal to cross thinking the ANA was on the far side. Sgt Flynn (Our Forester) and I gave each other a quick nod and ran like the wind over the 100 yard bridge. We got to the other side, and I said “where is the far side security?” (We were suppose to leap frog past them and take up the next key location for security) Sgt Flynn shouted back “Sir we’re it!” With in the same minute the rest of the ADT troops flew across the bridge and secured the gateway to the Naray village than the infantry. The platoon leader told me to wait for the ANA to pass through and follow them.

Soon we were working our way through the village. My interpreter who was very scared he was certain this was going to be his day to meet Allah. The artillery had gone off at 5:30 in the morning firing into the area where we were going. He had learned form the other locals who worked at the FOB that the insurgents were in the hills with mortars. He never left my side. While we were in town he pointed out a little girl who was afraid of me because I would say hello to everyone in town and ask them questions.

We worked our way out of the village back to the bank of the Kunar River on a narrow dirt road that led up to the village of Lay Nay. Lay Nay had just received a new school from the PRT (a US Army unit) and was working on improving the area around it.

Going south on the eastern side of the Kunar River passing through the Village of Naray. December 16th, 2009.

When we reached Lay Nay all we could see was a deep valley with no possible chance of building any type of flood control or water retention system. I told the guys we need to go further back and just validate there is nothing we can do. We set out to go deeper into the valley by walking along an irrigation trench that clung to the mountain wall. We slowly worked our way around a distant spur and noticed a sudden rise in the valley floor. The whole dynamics of the valley had changed. We slid down into the valley and started walking up the river bed to witness some major erosion along the way. While we were working our way up the river the village elder caught up to us and filled us in on the history of the area and showed us the village piping system that was out of service. Turns out they only use the pipe system when the water table is low. Just a head of the pipe system was a granite faced water fall that stood about ten feet above us. We thought it would be a good pace for a retention dam.

Looking down from the Village of Lay Nay at the dry river valley After touring around in the river we returned to the village of Lay Nay and talked to the elder a little more then looked at a few more projects that needed to be addressed. We got back to FOB Bostick in time for a late lunch. The other half of our team had spent their morning meeting with the local battalion commander and some more village elders, so they hadn’t had time to set the VET CAP site up yet.

By the evening my team had recovered from our little hike and I had put all of my notes in order. The other unit that we had shared the tent with had left at 3:30 in the morning and didn’t return so we had the whole tent to our selves. LTC Velte started playing chess with the interpreters and loosing as usual, I found a good pace to read and the troop played cards for the evening.

Mornings at FOB Bostick start with a call for prayer at 5:30. If you’re in the transition tent you can’t miss the call for prayer the PA system is 25 feet from the tent. I could hear the noon time call for prayer up in the village of Lay Nay the day before it was so loud. Getting up at 5:30 doesn’t buy you much at FOB Bostick, their mess hall doesn’t open until 6:30. It is only open during meals not 24 hours like all of the other mess halls. Shortly after breakfast LTC Velte took the tr

When you pass through an Afghan village you’ll notice lots of men doing nothing. This is a status symbol for men, your family can be starving, but you have succeeded in life if you can stand around in town and discuss the greater things in life. Knowing that animals are a key indicator of a man’s wealth one would think that the men of the village would round up their families and their flocks and show up together at the VET CAP. There were a few men, but this was an event for children between the ages of 5 and 11. The kids started arriving with their animals’ right on schedule. Their first stop was the security gate, then to a holding yard while they waited their turn to see the Vet.

It didn’t take long for the kids to realize that they could just circle back around and come to my table again and again. I caught on to the trick very quickly. I would just hand them a sucker and tell them to hit the road. The kids were just kids, but the adults were a different story. There were the men who were very appreciative and just stopped by to say thank you and passed up on the give a-ways then there were the rich folks who were demanding supplies and services for their herds of 100 or more. I had my hands full with a few of them.

Over all things were going very smoothly. Every now and then I would hear a big crashing sound and see a bull bust through one of our cattle chute. The next sound would be the voice of SFC Hanlin “Colonel Kelly I need a dollar.” We had a sheet of plywood and each time we needed a new chute door cut it cost a dollar. Bull and Cow chasing was one of the major events of the day. I had to play rodeo clown a few times chasing after a renegade cow here and there. SSG Bentley (Our medic) thought he would just flip a bull that got away. He grabbed the bull by the horns and the bull shook his head and SSG Bentley lost his grip on one horn and held tight on the other. The end result was the bull used SSG Bentley as a plow as he raced across the field. SPC Lopez (A member of the Ag Platoon) who we call short shot had better luck. He was standing at the chute when a calf broke through the door. He grabbed the calf by the ears as his feet swung out from under him which was all it took to bring the calf to the ground.

As the day grew older the Afghan ODA really started pitching in, the ANP (Police) looked like they would be more comfortable at a donut shop. SFC Hanlin had problems with one young man who the ANP finally zipped up and hauled away. I don’t think the kid was going to have a good night. Homosexuality is quite prevalent in Afghanistan among the men. I saw several public displays of affection between members of the police force.

When the event was finally over that’s when the fun began, people started stealing everything. I was chasing a 3 year old who had one of our shovels; SFC Lucus was chasing the Vet techs that were in training who were stealing our supplies and equipment. Dr. Sofie’s men were professional and on our side. We got loaded up in record time, but what a challenge it was.

We provided dismounted security to our trucks as they moved back to the FOB. Once all the trucks were parked LTC Velte ordered everyone to shower and do laundry as protection against infection.

Friday I had another survey to do and the rest of the troops were going to service the weapons and vehicles. One of the platoons drove my survey team and Janet Killeen our reporter down to OP Pirtle King where we would link up with our security platoon. OP Pirtle King is smaller than a road side rest stop on an abandon highway, but the moral was very high. We talked over how we were going to conduct the survey then loaded up and drove down to Ghazabad.

We reached the ANP station by a small bridge on route California and parked the vehicles and dismounted. We linked up with some ANP troops and crossed over another foot and light vehicle bridge. This time we didn’t run, because of all of our crew serve weapons on the road to protect us, but we didn’t waste any time either. We worked our way through several old grave yards that still had the ancient Nuristani grave markers. These grave markers are almost a pagan era; they are pre-Islam and carved out of wood. We passed the grave yards and came up upon the Village Elder’s house and agreed to have tea with him on our way back. On the north side of his house was a trail that over looked the Kacagal River valley where it met the Kunar. It was quite a drop from where we were standing. The SecFor (Security Force) LT said “there it is how much do you want to see?” I turned to him and said we need to survey a mile or so from inside the river bed. “What?” “You mean you need to go down in there to do your job?” The next thing we hear is the LT on the radio calling out FRAGO, FRAGO which means a change in the mission.

We dropped down into the river bed and started our survey. At first the river bed was nothing more then and sea of boulders. With in 500 meters there was a dramatic change in the geology and we found ourselves scaling granite walls. Funny thing a cat is given whiskers to check if an opening is big enough to crawl through. Humans don’t have such an appendage. We are supposed to rely upon common sense and judgment. I would look at a small ledge and think sure I could make that and get half way out there and remember I’m wearing body armor which adds another 8 inched to my size.

Two possible dam sites in the Kacagal River Valley.

The Kacagal River Valley runs from Afghanistan to Pakistan. Water is not the only thing that flows through the Kacagal valley. The SecFor LT called out 155 incoming up top. We could hear the echo of the impact as if it was only a few hundred yards away, but it was really several miles. Who ever it was up in the mountains was just too quick for artillery. Soon there was a pair of Kiowas flying figure eights along the ridge line. A team of insurgents had been spotted with RPGs. They were far away from us so we really weren’t worried.

Our survey was finally over and the SecFor LT needed to visit a Mosque that was under construction it was one of his projects. We could see the Mosque as we worked our way up the valley there wasn’t a soul near it. Wouldn’t you know it just as we arrived the whole village was working on the Mosque. They were making a good show of it just for us.

We left the Mosque and returned to Ghazabad by walking along irrigation cannels and terraces which was a welcome relief to all of the rock climbing we had been doing. We had about a mile to go when I slipped on a tennis ball size rock and went flying down hill and cracked both knees and chins. I recovered as gracefully as I could and kept going as if nothing was wrong. I knew I had to keep moving or I wouldn’t be moving. For the next mile I was doing really good then it was tea time. Oh nuts! Tea time mean you have to sit cross legged for a long time.

Lucky for me the Village Elder had a bunch of plastic chairs in his patio for us. I had two cups of tea and several walnuts and explained what the next step would be for the flood control project. Then some of the police that were with us started talking about the Taliban. One officer was told to quite his job or be killed the other came home to learn that the Taliban had stolen all of his animals. The Village Elder finally let us continue on our way I could see that the evening shadows were getting long and the temperature was dropping.

We got back in the trucks and headed north towards OP Pirtle King when the MRAP we were in started having problems. We reached OP Pirtle King switched vehicles on the road and kept going in the dark. Another convoy was coming south to meet us at the half way point from FOB Bostick. Once again we got out on the road and switched vehicles. We arrived back at FOB Bostick in time for dinner as they locked the doors. Lights were out at 2100 and I was exhausted but really couldn’t sleep so I just laid there on my cot. At 4:00 watch alarms were going off and everyone got up without saying a word. By 5:15 we were fully loaded and ready to roll but were told we had to stay put until we had air cover in the area. We wanted to get an early start because historically the insurgents didn’t attack convoys before 8:00. We wanted to be through all of the hot spots by 8:00 A.M.

We stopped on the road in front of OP Pirtle King and checked our weapons and answered nature’s call and got back in the trucks. We passed Ghazabad and had a line of seven or eight cars behind us. The radio and intercom system in our truck was not working well. I was in the back running the radios we had two stacks of FM radios that I would switch over to the appropriate frequency as we moved along Route California and a TAC SAT that I called in our check points on. Every now and then the intercom system would ground out and let loose an ear piercing noise. It was all I could do to rip the head set off the noise hurt so much. I tried switching to different jacks but it really didn’t work any better.

We had just passed over a bridge on a hair pin turn when our trailing truck announced that all of the civilian vehicles had stopped. Janet our reporter said you know what that means? I never like to get people worked up or worried especially when there is nothing they can do about the situation. I told her “Yep we’re going to get hit, but not here there are too many people in this village, it will come later.”

Sure enough at 9:00 A.M. we came around a spur and SFC Hanlin called out “there is a man standing up in a cave at my 1 O’ Clock.” The next thing we here is radio traffic we’re taking fire from 9 O’ Clock. SSG Bentley dropped down out of the hatch after having one round ping off the top of his helmet and returned fire. I immediately jumped forward to start handing him ammo only to have my head snap back by the cable to my head set. Because I was having problems I plugged into a jack on the other side of the vehicle. Janet was my angel and un-tangled me and I got a can of 50 Cal. ammo ready to shove up to SSG Bentley.

SPC Lopez who was driving called out “they are in the draw 9 O’ Clock.” Janet was already looking out the side window for insurgents, but we had passed the draw and they were now hidden.

Our truck was now out of the kill zone but we had two more trucks coming around the spur that still had to pass through the kill zone. Sgt Carter the gunner on our fifth vehicle cracked the radio and told SFC Natividad that his driver’s side front tire was flat. SFC Natividad called back I also have a hole in my windshield.

SFC Hanlin then called for a status report. Victor 2 Green over Green, Victor 3 Green over Green, and it continued to Victor 6. I had patted SSG Bentley down looking for blood and he seemed ok. Everyone was OK. (We use the word Victor for vehicle, so Victor 1 is the first vehicle in the convoy)

This is the location on Route California where the 40th ADT was ambushed on December 19th going south bound. This photo was taken on December 15th traveling north bound. Further down the road we met a patrol going north and told them what happened. They were quite excited, they were hunters and now the hunters would be hunted. We had only stopped for three or four minutes just enough time to pass on grids (Locations of the bad guys) and kept going. The patrol moved about 500 meters north and we could hear contact and artillery raining down.

We pulled into COP Monti to check our vehicles and swap out the tire on SFC Natividad’s MRAP. The boys at the shop were more than happy to help us with their wrecker. The wheel had to be beaten off with a sludge hammer because of the intense heat that had been generated from running on the rim flat. (A rim flat is a heavy plastic wheel that is inside the tire that allows you to keep driving at a good clip) We asked if we could have lunch at Monti and their cooks put some more burgers on the grill for us. I noticed that their mess hall was 100% heat and serve once again I’m living at club med.

Our final hour on the road was uneventful, but we still had to unload all of the equipment before we could call it a day.

I hope this give you an idea of what life is life here in north eastern Afghanistan. Thank you once again for the care package.