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Last week I sat on another Blogger’s Roundtable about Afghanistan. This one was unique because the person we were interviewing, Marine COL Haynes, was not in Afghanistan. He is back at his normal duty station in Japan, and I think this allowed us to have a much better roundtable than normal. COL Haynes was RCAC Commander for 201st Corps in Afghanistan and is someone I have had the pleasure of interviewing before.
After the interview was over, I definitely felt like he was much more open and more descriptive and honest than I normally hear on these. I am sure it was becuase he was not under the command of Afghanistan anymore and felt more at ease about telling the truth or at least as close to it as he could.My friend Andrew Lubin asked questions about a recent Operation called Golden Spike, while I focused on things like corruption in the Afghan Army, and enforcing a Uniformed Code of Military Justice.
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I spent the entire Conference mostly live blogging and conducting interviews for www.youserved.com, so my report is still coming. Look for the recap in the next couple of days. I am still trying to recover from a weekend of very, very little sleep.
Milblog Conference Attendees acting like, well Milblog Conference Attendees
Well I am here in Arlington, VA (D.C. Area) to attend the 2009 Milblog Conference. It is going to be a great time and I can’t wait to get it started. Of course I really can’t wait to start the debut showing of At War tonight for what will hopefully be a packed house. I have no guess as to how many will attend, but I hope we have to cram them in, and I am praying that everything goes off without a hitch. Of course after the showing of At War we will be having a awesome cocktail party and reception here at the hotel which should produce a lot of memorable moments and incriminating pictures for some. Starting tonight and through the weekend CJ and I will be live micro-blogging and even writing some regular blog posts over at the other site we both write for, www.youserved.com. We will be micro-blogging on the You Served twitter account at www.twitter.com/youserved.
So be sure to follow us, the by the moment happenings, and any other crazy stories that may come out of this year’s conference. I will try to throw up a blog or two here, plus I will also be micro-blogging on my personal account at www.twitter.com/bouhammer
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In this latest podcast, I am again talking with Embedded Blogger and Film-Maker Scott Kesterson. Scott and I cover a variety of topics, to include the feedback he has received of showing the film “At War” in Afghanistan, the surge of forces into Afghanistan this summer and the recent activities in Pakistan. This is not one you want to miss, especially if you are interested in hearing some opinions of people on the ground in the Global War on Terror.
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Kabul, Afghanistan - Members of the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan conducted an unusual mission handover on Monday.
Rather than discussing troop disposition and battle status, the soldiers were passing along information about bottle feedings and sleeping schedules.
For the past few months, the CJSOTF-A troops have been caring for an Afghan baby boy named Ramazan, who is approximately nine months old. On this day, the troops said good-bye to Ramazan as they transferred his care over to a team of doctors at a medical facility in Kabul.
The wide-eyed baby was first put into the care of the Americans after his father brought him to a Special Operations Forces clinic in Shindand District, Herat Province, in late January.
Ramazan was approximately six months old at the time and barely hanging onto life. The infant was unable to eat normally due to a congenital defect that left an opening in the palate of his mouth, making him desperately underweight and malnourished.
The clinic staff at first fashioned a special bottle to help feed Ramazan, but the baby was still unable to gain the nourishment he needed for survival. Ramazan was flown with his father to a military hospital at Bagram Airfield for further evaluation.
At the hospital, Coalition doctors discovered Ramazan had Pierre Robin Sequence, a congenital condition leaving him with an abnormally small jaw, an oversized tongue and a cleft palate, or incomplete closure in the roof of his mouth. CJSOTF-A worked in conjunction with the hospital to arrange surgery for the baby.
"Ramazan had surgery to repair the cleft palate, but complications arose because he was already so fragile and malnourished," said Army Dr. (Maj.) Michael Tarpey, CJSOTF-A surgeon.
After an extended stay at the hospital, Ramazan's care was turned over to CJSOTF-A medical troops, who welcomed the baby with open arms. Ramazan's father, who has five other children under the age of seven, had to return to his home in Shindand to support the rest of his family.
The CJSOTF-A troops are prepared to fight wars, not provide long-term care for babies; however, in true SOF fashion the mission was accomplished regardless of the obstacles. Ramazan needs even more attention than the average baby, as he has a tracheotomy, as well as a feeding tube in his stomach, both of which require advanced levels of care.
"This is a highly unusual situation … we're not really set up for babies. We wouldn't have thought of turning him away though. Ramazan seemed beyond our capabilities, but we found a way to take care of him nonetheless," Tarpey said.
The CJSOTF-A community banded together to create a loving environment to nurture the baby. The medical section provided around-the-clock care for Ramazan, the engineers built a crib and many sections gathered toys and clothing. Still others simply stopped by to play with Ramazan and offer hugs and kisses.
"Everybody I talk to just loves Ramazan … he's the cutest thing ever and so receptive. Honestly, he's a nice distraction from the day-to-day kinetic operations we support. I'm sorry to see him leave us because I've grown attached to him, but the best thing we can do for Ramazan is restore his health and get him back to his family as soon as possible," said a CJSOTF-A soldier who frequently visited the baby.
Even as his troops cared for the baby, Tarpey was making arrangements for Ramazan to transfer to the hospital in Kabul.
"Over the last month we started coordinating with the hospital, and we determined that they have surgeons who can handle the further operations that he needs and a staff that can provide his daily extensive care," Tarpey said.
"Time will tell when he'll be able to have the surgeries; perhaps over the next few months. Ideally he'll stay at the hospital in Kabul to receive the surgeries and restore his health and, from there, go home to his family," he added.
At the hospital in Kabul, the CJSOTF-A soldiers conducted the Ramazan handover with a team of Afghan doctors. One of Ramazan's main caregivers, an Army medic, described the baby's daily habits and needs to the staff, starting off with a warning that he gets unhappy if not fed every two hours.
The medic just laughed when the director of nursing expressed her amazement at Ramazan's already-emerging personality. "Oh, he's got personality alright," he told her. "I probably know that baby better than anybody, and if there's one thing he's got, it's personality," he added.
Indeed Ramazan is as full of life as a baby can be, as if he fully understands how close he came to death and must now live every moment like it is his last. The baby is fascinated with everything and relishes attention.
The medic would not openly admit that he will miss Ramazan, but he gently stroked the baby's hair as he gave him a kiss good-bye. It had been quite the journey for both Ramazan and his caregivers. Ramzan is no longer tiny and malnourished. His months with CJSOTF-A have turned him into a healthy baby with a bright future. His time with CJSOTF-A had also warmed the hearts of many.
"I can say it's been extremely rewarding to see Ramazan's daily strides. He's gained weight and strength … he can also hold his head up now and hold his own bottle. He's completely alert and aware of his surroundings," Tarpey said.
"I know he has a solid future now … he wouldn't have before, but he'll be a normal baby soon because of his time with us and his time at the hospital in Kabul. That makes every minute worth it," the doctor added.
After reading about the outstanding job of 2nd platoon, Company B, 1/26 INF in the Korangal River Valley it reminded me of some of the experiences I had working on the Afghan-Pakistan border of Paktika Province in 2006-07.
I had a joint observation post (OP) comprised from a platoon of my Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers and a platoon from the 10th MTN that was assigned to FOB Tillman. In the early morning hours on June 20, 2006 we came under a well coordinated attack of intense enemy machine gun and RPG fire. In the initial few minutes of the attack, the enemy was able to knock out our heavy weapons with well aimed fires. We quickly went through our claymores as we were soon surrounded by approximately 100 bad guys and they were too close to effectively use our artillery and air assets. As the NY Times article discussed critical times in a battle that can lead to getting out of hand, this was that point in this battle .
What kept the tide of this battle from totally turning against the good guy side was discipline, pure intense will, and a little bit of luck. With the Americans using great trigger discipline and target selection, the intensity of the ANA fires (until they ran out of ammo!), and poor quality of the Taliban’s hand grenades (there were 5 that didn’t explode outside of our bunkers) we were able to hold onto this important OP that is only a few hundred meters from the Pakistan border. This firefight lasted for over 2 hours. We believe the bad guys had also run out of ammo and that was the reason they withdrew from this well coordinated assault. Most of the Americans had less then 10 rounds and some with only their knives left.
Luckily the Americans only had a few scratches and just one of my ANA soldiers was wounded (he would fully recover from his gunshot wounds to the back and hand after a few weeks) during this intense early morning firefight. I respected our enemy before this fight but was impressed even more after this with their solid coordination of fire and maneuver tactics. As they retreated back across the border we counted 43 enemy personnel carrying 8 bodies. Those were the ones we could see and in that terrain, for everyone you see, there is usually 2-3 more around. What really added insult to injury was the route the bad guys took back into Pakistan; they went directly next to a Pakistan Military post, our allies on this porous border. They are our allies as much as I’m the next President of the United States.
