Sitting in Cambodia, Thinking of Afghanistan

Here I sit, in a small restaurant in Siem Reap, Cambodia, eating a breakfast of eggs and rice, mango smoothie and iced coffee sweetened with condensed milk as I contemplate my future. Two days ago I received an e-mail from a Captain at the Bureau of Naval Personnel. It was to tell me my temporary recall back to Active Duty only requires an Admiral’s signature for final approval. This might seem odd. It was only 18 months ago I was returning from a deployment to Afghanistan. You might ask, why on earth would I consider returning to a war torn country in Central Asia. It was last July when the position was advertised. The DOD is putting together something called the AF/PAC Hands Program. The purpose is to build a cadre of personnel drawn from all services that will become experts in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The tours are 3 to 5 years with multiple deployments to Central Asia. The main point here is to establish some continuity with personnel who know the language, and are in the same position for several years. Wow, what a concept… actually have military personnel, who have a clue about the region and culture work to influence policy and actions on the US side and continuity with our Afghan and Pakistan counterparts. WTF took Uncle so long to figure out this no-brainer?!

When I was in Afghanistan I told myself if I could do anything to help that actual Afghans in any way, even in a small way, I would. Now, I’m not speaking of the Afghan Govt., or the US Embassy, or the UN Mission, or ISAF… I feel obligated to help the Afghan people. This program’s goals, to provide continuity and establish regional experts, something I railed about during my first deployment, seemed a worthwhile reason to jump back into the fray. It has been frustrating though when trying to get details of the program and the specific billet details. The Navy has never been very good at actually providing good billet info. They are entrenched in the idea that personnel will follow traditional career paths. Funny since we are now 10 years into the ear of the Dirt Sailor. Hell, that’s half a career for an active duty sailor!

I have to be honest though, there are other more tangible benefits for me in this foray as well. Every month I spend in-country BOG is a month with minimal income tax burden. Every 90 days mobilized reduces my retirement age by 90 days and three years active will bump my retirement by about 5 ½% (over just drilling in the Reserves). But those have to be balanced against significant time away from home, moving out of the house we rent in Malibu, disrupting the kids school schedules. I’ll finish up three years with the option of going back to work at my civilian job but without a place to live initially. Multiple ,lengthy deployments are very hard on marriages as well. So, I’ve been debating all these factors in my head as this has played out. My wife wants me to take the jump. I’m not sure how my kids really view it. I know my daughter is nervous.

I’m still digging for more details, even as the machinery turns to bring me back on active duty. The first billet title I was provided sounded like an FMS (Foreign Military Sales position). That caused me some degree of soul searching. Selling guns and ammunition to the Afghan Govt. is a dubious way of helping the people. Then, a few days before I left on this vacation, I received a position description. It looks like it is more of a PR job; selling the notion that ISAF and the US are training the Afghan security forces for the betterment of the Afghans. I can buy into that. If the Afghans have more faith in their Army they will be more likely to be effective. The more effective the Afghan Army is the sooner the US and ISAF can get the hell out of Afghanistan and allow the Afghans to run their own country… as they should be.


So here I am, on vacation, thinking, planning, wondering. Life is going to get quite hectic for the next 3 ½ years. Here I go about to jump back on that roller coaster. The one I thought I was finished with. This seemed a fitting time to restart the blog. Thanks for reading.