One last trip

With my relief just a week or so away, I think my trip to Regional Command West this past week will probably be my last outside the wire. My time is getting short and there's no reason to take any unnecessary risks in my final days in Afghanistan.

The goal of the trip was to help my friends over at US Forces Afghanistan escort a CNN crew to a place called Shindan. That's where insurgents started a firefight with US forces last year that resulted in the death of dozens of wedding party guests. The insurgents purposly posted themselves ontop of the wedding party to cause mass casualties. We were going to do a story on the incident one year later.

Long story short, we got all the way to Herat when the skies opened up and rain cancelled all flights to the area. We only had a small window of opportunity and it turned out to be opportunity lost. Perhaps it was a sign the Big Guy didn't want us down there in the first place. This is one of the MOST DANGEROUS areas in Afghanistan and this trip has now been cancelled four times for various reasons.

While it turned out to be a three day wasted opportunity, I had a great time hanging out with Col. Greg Julien and LT Adam Clampett.

Leaving a mark

A couple months ago I had the chance to go to a local TV station and lecture to the news department on how the western media put stories together. Yesterday, I had a chance to talk before a group of Afghan public affairs professionals and offer my insights on how they can, "use the media to their advantage." That's the name of a seminar I've given several times to different PR groups back in the states.

This is a developing nation and everything here is becoming more modern, more advanced, more westernized. It's pretty cool to thing I played a VERY SMALL part in that change.

A big part in my lecture is buying your own camera and laptop editor and shooting your own stories. This way you can drop off a tape at TV stations instead of waiting for them to show up and cover your event. This gives you more control over your message and most stations will use your material if it's shot properly. The cost is only a few hundred bucks for the right gear. Next time, however, it would be nice if someone would remind me these people only make a few hundred bucks a year!!!!

A sad day for the Navy

Ventura County Navy Lt. killed in Afghanistan
The Associated Press

VENTURA, Calif.—A 26-year-old Navy lieutenant from Ventura County was shot to death in Afghanistan just days before he was to return home to see his wife and relatives.

Francis L. Toner was killed Friday by an Afghan insurgent dressed as a soldier at a base in northern Afghanistan, the Department of Defense said Saturday. Toner, who was in Afghanistan for five months to train Afghan soldiers, was scheduled to come home Wednesday, his aunt Linda Moosekian said.

Moosekian said Toner, known by his friends as Frankie, enjoyed working with the Afghan soldiers and even tried to teach them how to play baseball. In one of his last e-mail messages to family, Toner appeared optimistic about the situation in Afghanistan.

"There are still hundreds of recruits for both the police and army, almost on a weekly basis," he wrote. "This shows the insurgents are not having as much impact on the local communities."
Toner attended Westlake High School where he played football. He decided to attend the Merchant Marine Academy in New York after being offered the chance to play for the academy's team, his high school football coach Jim Benkert said.

"He wanted to continue to play," Benkert said. "He was really proud to be a Merchant Marine and proud to be a warrior."

Although he attended the academy and served in the Navy as a garrison engineer, Toner was assigned to a blended military unit called Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan.

A fellow sailor, Navy nurse Florence B. Choe, 35, of El Cajon, was also killed in Friday's attack.

Toner requested to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

It works, it really, really works!

A couple of nights ago, President Obama told the nation on live television his strategy for winning the war in Afghanistan. When the president speaks, the media will always scurry for reaction, so it's no wonder after his address that we got a call from CNN wanting to do a live interview from ISAF HQ.

Before the new studio, it would take us a minimum of an hour just to set up for a live interview. We have to hook up the satellite, run cables, move furniture. But not anymore.

CNN's call came in at 8PM. I had the guys in the studio at 8:15PM. We were tuned into their satellite by 8:19PM General Blanchette was talking to their producer at 8:25PM and we were on the air worldwide at 8:30PM.

If I've left any mark on Afghanistan, it's the studio. I'm very proud of this.

A front row seat to history

The life of a Public Affairs Officer gives me a front row seat to watch history in the making and yesterday was one of those exciting days which makes serving here in Afghanistan bearable. I caught a ride on a Blackhawk with a dozen media to cover the graduation of the first class of the Afghan Public Protection Force. This is a brand new program so I got to see the first 250 young men swear an oath to serve the people of Afghanistan and receive a certificate of completion. They’re not police officers nor are they members of the military. This program is basically an armed neighborhood watch. If they see insurgents doing bad things, it’s their job to call in the authorities. This first class came from Wardak Province and they’ll return to Wardak Province; they won’t be deployed to other regions of the country. It was actually very exciting to see such enthusiasm and devotion to their country displayed by the graduates.

As you can see from my pictures, Gen. McKiernan was on hand and offered encouragement to the graduating class. "I applaud the courage of these men to step forward in representing the community; but they know that if they run into problems, they can call the Afghan National Police, Afghan National Army or international forces that are out there. So they're not on their own," he said.

I enjoyed hanging out with the media including Conor Powell, a freelance reporter for FOX News. I’m envious of this young guy. It was nearly 20 years ago Walter Cronkite told me if you want to be a reporter kid, buy a camera and go where the stories are, don’t bother with the local affiliates. I didn't listen and look how my career ended. But that’s what Connor did and he’s making a real name for himself. I’m envious… but I’m still trilled how my story is going.

If you're interested in seeing some of the video I shot at the graduation, click here: http://www.dvidshub.net/r/7w5v3h

From one side of the planet to the other!

For the past six months I have been planning to return to my old job in Tennessee when my mission here is complete. Let’s just say Navy life is NOT short on surprises. But the surprise I just got turns out to be a good one, a very good one.

I received a call last week asking me if I would be interested in a position as the public affairs officer for the USS George Washington based in Japan. There is no US aircraft carrier with more international press focused on it than “GW.” GW just arrived in Japan a few months ago and this is the first nuclear powered carrier to be stationed there. I consider this opportunity a massive honor and I’m blown away by the confidence my peers have placed in me. To all those involved in the detailing process, THANK YOU!

I talked it over with my wife and it didn’t take long for the Hecht family to say “YES” to this next assignment.

I will return home from Afghanistan in May as scheduled. We’ll enjoy a fun summer and then in August, we’re off to the Land of the Rising Sun. The tour aboard GW will be for two years. After that, we're hoping to return to Tennessee. My family is very excited about this big change in our lives and I hope you'll join us in our enthusiasm.

Sayonara!

Another 5K

Staying fit in a combat theater of operations is critical. You need to be strong to carry your body armor and all your equipment. Staying fit also helps you to remain alert and reduces your day-to-day stress.

Over the weekend I ran another 5K marathon with about a dozen other service members. By the time I leave Afghanistan, I will have run/biked a distance equal to the circumference of Afghanistan; 1,750 kilometers. Not being the most hard core athlete, this is an accomplishment I'm very proud of.

The list

It was six months ago yesterday that I left my family. In retrospect, time has moved pretty fast and much of the credit for that goes to my wife and children who have kept my spirits up with their care packages and long conversations on Skype. It’s the time I have left in front of me that seems to be moving at a snail's pace. To help kill some time, I spent much of this Sunday building a list of things I have not done in six months. As I am a faithful husband, I’ll leave the obvious off.

In six months I haven’t:
- Taken a shower without shower shoes
- Had a drink that contained ice
- Driven a car or (yipeee) paid for gas
- Listened to the radio
- Gone to the movies
- Slept in a room without at least one other grown man
- Eaten good food
- Done my own laundry
- Worn anything other than a uniform or workout cloths
- Gone a day without carrying a gun (luckily never had to use it)
- Seen grass or a single flower
- Gone a day without see an Afghan digging a hole on this base
- Recycled a damm thing
- Been in a “western standard” clean bathroom

The list could go on and on, but it will only make me that much more homesick. 35 day to go!!!!!!!!!!!

The most important box

I received a VERY important box in the mail yesterday for my cause to help the Indirah Gandhi Children's Hospital. This box came from my daughter's kindergarten class. While each box has brought a smile to my face, this particular box had me grinning from ear to ear all day long.

The goal of my fundraiser for the hospital hasn't been to just raise donations for the suffering and needy children of Afghanistan. I also wanted to open the eyes of parents and children back home by having them take a little time at a pharmacy looking at a shell of medical supplies and realize how incredibly blessed we are as a country. It's wonderful to know all of my daughter's peers have now experienced this lesson.

During my years in television news, I loved using the power of the media to help people in need. I must have coordinated a dozen different on air fundraisers. Now that I'm no longer in the business, it's wonderful to see I don't need a television station to make a difference.

Thank you Mrs. Addison for your donation and helping me spread the word about people in need!

Goodbye TSgt Nipper

Today, Tech Sergeant Nipper loaded her bags into a truck and headed to the airport for the long flight back home for a much deserved reunion with her son. It was bitter sweat watching Brenda leave as we became good friends over the course of this deployment. At the same time, her departure does mean that I am the next to leave, along with MC1 Nelson and MC2 Ramirez.

It will be hard not having Brenda around. Her replacement is a great guy and more than capable to fill her shoes, but it's like being the catcher who followed Johnny Bench or the guy who played Trapper John after Honeycut left M.A.S.H. It just won't be the same.

As Brenda is Air Force and I'm in the Navy, odds are we'll never work together again. But hopefully we'll stay in touch. I wish her the best and send her a huge thank you for helping me to become a better officer.