I returned to Hull for my hearing on Sept 11. The event was anti-climatic and the judge then scheduled my trial date for Oct 25th. Hull was holding a 9/11 service at the Bernie King Pavilion by the beach.
It has been 18 long years since terrorists-hijacked airplanes brought down the twin towers and struck the Pentagon.
It’s a tragedy that’s seared into the souls of most Americans especially those who were directly affected. But with each passing year, there’s less commemoration as if our nation’s wounds have now been healed and the day becomes a distant memory.
In fact the generation of high schoolers today were all born before that fateful day. No longer a lived experience, it has become a page in their history books. How are they taught in school about the tragic events and how will they carry the sacred memories to their kindred.
In attendance for the ceremony were the Hull Police and Fire Department, the local Coast Guard contingent and Congresswoman Joan Meschino. The high school band as well as a local men’s a capella group and a Scottish bagpipe all performed and saluted the fallen.
As an active duty Sailor aboard the USS John C. Stennis watching the towers come down on TV and having to deploy off the coast of Pakistan to conduct air operations against targets in Afghanistan shortly after, the memories are still intensely vivid with me and will remain that way as long as I am alive, hopefully the same for the generations after me.
I lost a couple of dear friends and fellow shipmates to enemy fire in both Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2007, I grieved to hear the loss of my Navy prep school buddy, Phil, who died from injuries from an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion in Baghdad.
In 1986, for 18 brutal months Phil and I persevered and survived a highly intense academic and physical training regimen called Broadened Opportunities for Officer Selection and Training (BOOST).
The rigorous military training proved our mettle and brought us together. I didn’t see Phil that much. We were in separate companies residing in different barracks and when not working out, I was always hitting the books so I wouldn’t fail and get sent to the fleet. I wished I saw Phil more, and I feel especially close to him now. I get especially emotional every time I see or hear about one of our own who didn’t make it back home alive
I also had the pleasure in serving with Florence at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. Daily for nearly two years, I would pass by her office and welcomed her calm demeanor and radiant smile that left an indelible and lasting impression on my mind. For the MEDEVAC operations and throughout the hospital, Florence, a health care administrator was always offering of her services. She took pride in her work and was assiduous in supporting her Chiefs and Corpsmen, both in her department and throughout the hospital.
In 2009, Florence had volunteered to deploy to Afghanistan for one year as an “individual augmentee” to run the medical station that serves U.S. and Afghan troops and civilians. Just like many service memebers in her unit, she was taking an afternoon jog on March 27, 2009 along a well-worn path on the outskirts of Forward Operating Base Shaheen with a fellow Sailor, a Seabee.
This is when an Afghan insurgent who was disguised as an Afghan National Army soldier raised his weapon and shot the two (as well as a 3rd military officer who survived).
Florence left behind a young daughter and a husband who is also a Medical Service Corps officer in the Navy. Florence was a big advocate and supporter for the United Through Reading program ensuring that the troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan had access to children’s books and a way to videotape and send home their extensive readings to their own family. A week after Florence was killed, Florence’s DVDs started coming in the mail. Her husband and daughter were very excited to see them and watched their mother/wife beautiful smile over and over again.
The question now remains: how long are we going to stay in Afghanistan and how many more service members will be killed or wounded? Both Obama and Trump agreed on one thing – steady withdrawal and exit, leaving the security of the nation to the Afghan National Security Force . But if we exit too quickly, we risk have the country destabilize. The Taliban could take over and introduce Sharia Law, and hundreds of thousands of Americans and Afghan lives who supported the US and NATO would be in serious jeopardy.
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I’ve deployed to the Middle East several times aboard a fast frigate, a destroyer and an aircraft carrier. Our ships patrolled the seas of the Arabian Gulf protecting America’s interests in the region, ensuring safety of maritime trade and contributing towards a stable and peaceful region.
In 2009, during my last tour in the Navy, I had an opportunity to visit Afghanistan as part of an advisory group for the NATO Supreme Allied Commander who oversaw the progress in Afghanistan. We would be receiving many briefs and updates during our short visit.
Comprised of forces from over 25 nations, they were part of the International Security Assistance Force. Responsible at first for the security around Kabul, their mission had now expanded to the whole of Afghanistan, a conflict that we had come to observe.
We first landed in a C-17 in Kabul at the International Airport. There were no limos waiting; no meet and greet holding signs — just a thick haze of dust and humidity so thick you could slice it with a saif (curved, 19th century Arabian sword) and spread it on a chapati.
We were methodically whisked away in a convoy of Humvees sandwiched between two armored personnel carriers. NATO Soldiers with machine guns kept a vigilant watch for insurgents or anything suspicious.
Since it’s implementation, the Humvee has served as the backbone for U.S. forces worldwide. Over the years, the Humvee has evolved from a venerable troop carrier in the Persian Gulf War, Kosovo and Bosnia to a more heavily armored vehicle battling bomb-wielding insurgents in the shifting global war on terror urban combat. The Humvee is heavily armored, but it has a flat, vulnerable bottom and its low to the ground making it vulnerable to IED attacks.
Roadside bombs are among the leading killers of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan — a grim statistic that could be drastically improved once the deployment of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles is fully implemented.
We kept our helmets strapped firmly, our body armor tight, like it was going to run away if we didn’t keep it buttoned down. And as I looked out the blast-resistant windows, I could see concrete security barriers, blast walls, deep trenches, barbed wire — all the vestiges of war that provided some protection against the surging insurgency. It was true that these walls added to the congestion and traffic jams. But in this high-terror environment of random and almost weekly suicide attacks, these barriers of limited but viable protection seemed called for. They kept the coalition forces safer, they allowed aid workers to carry out their duties, but also served as a physical and psychological distance from the local population they we were deployed to work with. I felt relatively secure, safe in a foreign land marked by discord and lurking danger.
We drove towards the city center. Normally the majority of the vehicles would comprise of NATO convoys tearing through the city at breakneck speed like it was the Santa Monica Freeway. With all the busses, vehicles, sedans, bicycles, carts, with dozens of round abouts and absolutely no traffic lights, congestion was a grueling finger cramping nightmare. Today, we were given top priority for safety, and ISAF would allocate all resources possible to ensure we were kept safe as we rolled down the streets of Kabul.
However, at this moment, the roads were secure and the only people we saw were busy shopkeepers and the empty look of children waving, begging and staring hopelessly into our humvees. Seeing kids was definitely a welcome sight. They were indigent, many without families or homes, some living in shelters, some not getting a proper education.
But deep down inside, I sensed that they were amazing human souls, displaced, downtrodden but full of spirit and energy. But inside the heavily-armored Humvee, I also felt displaced, almost a world and distant land away
For a striking moment, I wished we could stop in our tracks, get out in the fresh air and give these children a warm, soft hug. Why not, without candy or change, that was the only thing I could offer or perhaps just a chuckle, a banter for hope for a brighter future one day.
I remembered poignant images of The Kite Runner and the unconditional love and commitment Hassan had for Amir, and how Amir eventually made up for his past failures and returned home to help his old friend Hassan, whose son is in trouble.
The chaotic madness of Kabul is surrounded by beautiful, idyllic, barren mountains. From within the green zone, they look like cardboard cut-outs — close and protective. But in reality, they are towering and distant — with long, windy roads and tough, dangerous terrain.
In Kabul, speed is survival. If we are moving fast, the enemy will have less time to target us. I sat erect, scanning our surroundings intently. If we were to get attacked, I at least wanted to get a chance to see the eyeballs of the enemy. Soon and to much relief, we were driving through the main gate. A quick check, then we were firmly inside the the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is headquartered. What a sigh of relief. No where on this land was fully safe, but for now we could unshed our body armor and loosen up our chin straps.
We stayed at ISAF through dinner, and while we waited, we spoke to some young Brits about duty in Afghanistan. They shared their stories, gripes, and victories. They missed their families, their wives and girlfriends, their country, but most ardently their alcohol. Meanwhile German troops could drink beer and wine. British and US forces had to settle for coke or red bull.
At the Headquarters, there are more than 2200 service members from 42 NATO nations. Everyone seemed to work well and even socialize well together. It appeared that they were willing to set aside any cultural differences and even make a strong attempt to learn each other’s norms and nuances.
We also talked informally about the drug problem — no, not within NATO. The Heroin trade was serious in this impoverished nation. Afghanistan is the world’s largest exporter of heroin. It is the country’s main cash crop. There is more heroin that is exported in Afghanistan than cocaine is produced in Colombia. There were even reports that children were becoming addicted to cocaine.
Although some of the three billion dollars annual revenues goes back to the the local economy such as jobs for farmers and reconstruction, the vast majority of the revenue is funneled to the Taliban. Though Opium poppies grow in almost every province of Afghanistan, the problem area is the south. In the Helmand province, where the Taliban maintains a stronghold, they are said to levy a 40% tax on opium cultivation and trafficking. In addition, many of the Afghan security forces have turned into heavy opium users.
My boss firmly believed that NATO should be in the drug enforcement business. He believed that ISAF troops should engage in surgical interdiction strikes against heroin labs. Crop eradication often affects the farmers who have no other economic alternatives, and would no longer be able to feed their families, causing anger, frustration, and protest. Thus, ISAF soldiers on the ground found it difficult to gain the support of the local population for crop eradication and rejected his order. Doing so would be a violation of international law and would result in a massive blood bath they claimed.
Counternarcotics is fundamentally a law enforcement problem and no foreign military has ever been successful in counternarcotics. Colombia, for example, succeeded in gaining partial control of their drug trade only after decades of political and economic development programs. In addition, many of these facilities are embedded in complex environments near civilians.
After the meal and the chat, it was now time to check into the safe confines of the Serena Hotel, a stone’s throw from the presidential palace is situated in the heavily fortified section of the city. It is the modern symbol of capitalism and safety, a bold attempt to flee from and flaunt the suppression of the Taliban and the insurgency.
The Serena’s design is stylish and the service is first-rate superb. When walking in, I felt like I was in the magnanimous confines of the Marriott or a Hilton in Bahrain, Istanbul or any world-class city. The hotel is as safe as you can get. There are two layers of checkpoints, complete with metal detectors and X-ray machines for bags and packages. Then visitors also had to undergo a pat down in order to get through the final door into the courtyard.
Inside the magnificent confines of this 5-star hotel, hosts a beautiful courtyard and a luxurious swimming pool — the only feasible place to take a dip in the whole city of Kabul. The price for a room averages $250 per night, which is very steep considering that Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world. But it was worth every single Afghani.
The Serena Hotel is a an oasis of safety for the many UN workers, contractors, journalists and aid workers. For meals, the buffets are delicious and the fruit juices are divine. There is no alcohol, and some of the guests I talked to took an issue to that. But even this sanctuary can be infiltrated.
Last year, seven people were killed as the Taliban stormed into the Serena Hotel. The attackers struck with grenades, guns and one suicide bomb and were targeting the Norwegian foreign minister who escaped unharmed. That attack closed the Serena down for several months as repairs were made and management installed a new security system to prevent future attacks.
Tonight we will spend a comfortable, restful evening in the safe confines of the most luxurious hotel this city will ever enjoy. Tomorrow we are off to the mountain pass that links Afghanistan with Pakistan, the ancient and strategic Khyber Pass. Hopefully we will see how well the Pakistani and Afghan soldiers are working together against the Taliban.
In December 2001, the world looked extremely different. The US had essentially shocked, awed and terminated the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, and there was talk about how the country would evolve into a pro-American nation providing access easy access for new oil pipelines.
Meanwhile, the Bush Administration focused on Iraq and the demolition of the Saddam Hussein regime. The US wanted to put Afghanistan behind us, so they redeployed many of their forces to Iraq. Unfortunately, the real enemy and the perpetrators of 9/11 was the Taliban.
Sadly, Afghanistan had become America’s forgotten war. America was now tied down and absorbed in the intricacies of Iraq. Meanwhile, in this forgotten country of the Taliban, Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, NATO forces had confronted a resurgent Taliban especially in the southern Helmand province where the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) was deeply embedded.
Would we be victorious in defeating the Taliban without losing more precious American lives, and if so, would we be able to train the Afghan National Security forces in suppressing them and maintaining security in their country long after we depart for good?