Reminiscions

I was going through some old pictures of mine that I took while in Afghanistan and came across this picture. I smiled as I looked at it and reminisced. This was a picture of the wall next to where I slept at nights. This was my corner of the world--my wall, a place to come home to. As I look at this picture a flood of memories poor out. You see, no matter what happened each day I came back to this same wall and these same pictures and they were always there--day after day. I never grew tired of them. They always were a welcomed image to my eyes. I was so proud them. I would grin from ear to ear when people would see and comment on my beautiful wife. I remember a few times I had Afghan workers in my room and they would see the pictures and comment on my wife and congratulate me. That would just make my day. They were good people. I liked the Afghan people. They were my good friends. I really felt like they were my brothers. Their circumstances were so humble and meek. A man I particularly liked was one of our workers on base who was a graduate from Kabul University with a degree in library science. He was the only worker who wore tennis shoes. Most of the workers wore the typical Middle Eastern sandals but he was wearing tennis shoes. The shoes were given to him through some relief agency. He was so proud of the 2nd hand tennis shoes. He had a large family next to the base and was very proud of them too. His children were in the local elementary school that had been reestablished after the Taliban had been kicked out of the country. He always had a smile on his face. This attracted me to him and always left me curious. He had become a day laborer after the economy had gone bad and was living off of about 40$ a month. His home had a dirt floor and only a few rooms but he seemed like the happiest man in the world. I had a lot of respect for him and always had a better day after I would see him. I was lucky during my deployment. The latest technology allowed me to have a daily telephone conversation with my wife through my computer phone. She would usually call me in the mornings when it was after 9:00 pm her time. She would call when she had free minutes on her cell phone. We would talk every morning just before I would go grab a bite to eat--usually a bagel, some scrambled eggs, and a few slices of bacon. I liked breakfast sandwiches. The mornings were always bright and beautiful. The air was fresh and the base was full of energy. Sometimes I would pull my phone line outside and sit in front of my door and watch all the people start their day as I talked to my wife. We would talk about everything but what I was doing in Afghanistan. I enjoyed hearing about her and what was happening back home. There was little I was able to say about Afghanistan because of security reasons. At times the internet would disconnect and I would sneak over to the PRT building and get on their wireless internet if that didn't work I would borrow someone’s satellite phone. I had it all figured out and rarely missed a day talking to my wife. Being in Afghanistan was like having an 84 hour work week back home except you didn't go home at nights you slept where you worked. I managed the prison facility on base and conducted all of the interrogations of prisoners captured in the Northern Provinces of Afghanistan. Interrogations were interesting. I learned a lot about the people through the long hours I spent at the facility trying to get the prisoners to talk. They all talked but not about the information I needed. They would always tell me how they loved the Americans and how they were framed by some local tribe who had a vendetta against their family. Sometimes they were framed and I got to talk to them anyways and learned a lot about them and their community. By the time I left Afghanistan a prisoner could tell me the village they were from and I was able to name off a handful of prior prisoners to them from the same village and ask how they were doing. It seemed so unusual but that is how it was. That was an unsusual year--a year of yearning, a year of challenges, and a year of opportunities to make a difference somewhere else. I am proud of that time and grateful to have served. I appreciated the support of my wife, family, friends, and those special people in the country who just cared about the service men and women in far off lands.