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sgtdub

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

10 April 2007, You think you're confused? You should wear my boots for a day. I must admit that my mind hit on several topics at once, but I told you that in the first place. I just continued with it.
I spent part of today working on gathering paperwork for soldiers who we have scheduled for schools upon our return. It's amazing, I had no problems pulling mine up and getting them printed off. But I haven't had another soldier I'm trying to get done work out the same. I will attempt again tomorrow to tackle this problem.
I mentioned the other day that I was glad that a shopkeeper called the police when he thought another person was suspicious. I told you this was a good sign as it meant the people were giving a little trust to the police, who have been corrupt for too long. We had another small humanitarian drop for a very select and limited group of Afghans just down the street a couple of days ago. One of our mission statements is to "put an Afghan face" on every mission we do. The people need to see Afghans helping Ahghans. Well, we brought along the ANP (Afghanistan National Police) to assist with the drop. What I found out later was that the police were stopping each taxi that the families came in after we gave them food and clothing and were taking a portion of it for themselves. This is unacceptable and hopefully we will get it addressed with the PD commander in the near future. This is, however, almost a way of life for the people of this country. As I mentioned yesterday, there is no easy fix to a problem of this magnitude, but I believe it can be fixed and should be.
The Taliban ruled over Afghanistan through fear and intimidation. One weapon in their arsenal is education, or should we say lack of. A simple way to rule a people is to not let them be educated. If they are only taught what you need them to know, they will never know any better. Freedom to learn was not a right under Taliban rule. Women were forbidden to learn. Women could be executed for things like this. Since 2002, this has been lifted and all children are back in school. I have seen a report that over 300 schools have been burned since 2002. Most are in the outlining communities were the government and coalition forces have not been able to secure yet.
We did a school supplies drop last week here in Kabul.



We brought supplies for the school and each student got a packet that contained notebooks, pens, pencils, markers and a few other items.
Grace at Echos of Grace pulled a nice surprise on me. In case you haven't seen it, I have a link on the side bar called Sgt Dub's Store. I designed one item and never got around to doing anything else with it. Well, she apparently bought a shirt and sported it on her site today. Thank you Grace.
Be safe and have a great day.

16 comments:

Lee Ann aka Dixie said...

It is so wonderful to see the smiles on the faces of those children. You are doing a good thing.

Boy oh boy, Gracie sure does look good in that t-shirt of yours...

Stay safe.

MrsDub said...

Are you sure you can't bring some of those children home with you?? They are so precious!!! I love the T-shirts, and I'm embarrassed that I haven't ordered one yet. I think we all need to get them and wear them to your "Welcome Home" celebration!!!!!

Odat said...

Awwww...

Peace

Barb said...

There is so much good going on over there and I wonder how many people realize it? Those pictures warmed my heart and brought tears to my eyes. Sending you and your fellow soldiers lots of love and appreciation.

Gracie is great :)

Liz Hill said...

Education is the key--absolutely. Where did y'all get the supplies?

Katie said...

those are wonderful pictures.

Flag Gazer said...

Great story and great photos.

The corruption in both Afghanistan and Iraq is definately a problem and an impediment to moving forward. I hope it can be stopped for the success of their futures.

JustMeShann said...

The pictures are wonderful, every child should have a chance to learn... I wish people could see more of this, but our media just doesnt think it is important enough which is so sad in todays world... Thanks for sharing :) and Gracie is just to cute sporting that shirt;I love it!

Anonymous said...

OMG, I cannot believe they were stealing their drop items. Geeeez, how insane is that?

I wanted to tell you that my son read your blog while he was home and said that it was AWESOME. He said he beieves you fairly tell it like it is and he enjoyed it tremendously. I tried to get him to leave you a comment, but he can be kinda shy sometimes, lol.

Anndi said...

Slowly building trust.. I'm glad to hear that.

Those children.. so precious. It's so sad they have to grow up in that type of context. May this make them better men and women.

Stay safe and that t-shirt is VERY cool.

Linda said...

Thanks for the pictures and for the news on how things are going over there. It's nice to know that progress is being made and it's not the wasted effort that Congress is trying to have us believe!

Great shirt with a great model, too!

Desert Songbird said...

I'm with you: education is the key to shaping the thoughts of children, and when that "education" (or lack thereof) existed only to teach a lesson of hate, it will take re-educating them to help them understand that we all inhabit an interconnected world. Our societies overlap - we are all one body.

Kila said...

Loved the photos! Stay safe. Great T-shirt!

Anonymous said...

Good morning Sgt. Question for you? I have been hearing in the news that returns to the state are being delayed for some soldiers, will this affect you in any way? Sure hope not! Have a great day Sgt!

Dean aka Sgt Dub said...

Well, you know, when you have the U.S. Military as your travel agent anything is possible. We haven't heard anything like that, but I would never discount it.

Mimi Lenox said...

SGT - AMAZING photographs of the children. Makes me ever more thankful of what we have in America and reminds me to pray for those who don't. How awful to live under fear.