Visit from the Bosses

There are good things happening in my province.  And with positive steps forward comes attention from the bosses (NOTE:  forward momentum is completely attributable to the work of the Afghans themselves and my DoS counterpart working at provincial...I just hold down the fort out in the districts).  I had the good fortune to have not only my commander visit for the second time this month, but a fellow AF JAG come in as well (another woman!).  We had a very busy day of meeting with the provincial governor, attending a public trial, Afghan lunch (my stomach has become increasingly strong...), and lots of visits with prosecutors and judges.  Here is a picture at the end of the day.  The Admiral really is happy, I promise!

Spring Is Here

Back in the U.S. everyone "sprung forward" about a week ago so that EST is only 8.5 hrs behind me here in Afghanistan.  The coming of spring also means a celebration of Nowruz, the Afghan New Year.  Happy 1391 everyone!  I haven't been able to gather much about what Afghans do for New Year's.  Some say it's a two week holiday.  Our Provincial Governor said "they only celebrate that in X province" and we went on with the normal battle rhythm schedule.  I am most fascinated by Buzkashi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzkashi  How can you not love a game involving a headless goat?

Spring in Afghanistan makes me miss the U.S.  Why?  Because the country is becoming even more beautiful and when I'm flying around I think "wouldn't it be great to go tubing down that river or hiking those mountains." And of course I don't have the freedom to do such things.  Here are a couple recent pics.

Whoaa I'm Halfway There...

Whooooaaa living on a prayer!  Stolen from my friend Micah's blog as we both mark the half way point in our deployments.  I confess that I have not had Bon Jovi ringing through my head much.  Perhaps too much of a throwback to college.  Perhaps b/c it's mostly Jack Johnson, country, and island music as the current unit packs up their bags.

I have been slacking on the blog lately.  Not because there haven't been things going on to write about.  Every day seems to bring a new challenge, crisis (real or imagined), setback, good news story, or humorous "oh to be deployed with the Army" story to write about.  Sometimes it's best not to put such things into words in the moment or I am too tired or too frustrated to do so.

Looking at my blog I see my last post was on the heels of the Quran burning incident and 48 hrs ago brought the latest crisis in the tragedy in Kandahar.  I have seen it written about in the media as another "incident" following the Quran burning, discussed in terms of the soldier's multiple deployments and TBI suffered in Iraq, and finally as a CIVCAS.  I take issue with the last characterization -- civilian casualties are incredibly unfortunate but a part of war when they happen.  CF here go to incredible lengths to avoid CIVCAS to the point where you frequently read about joes being hampered because of Commanders/JAGs and their ROEs.  This was not a CIVCAS incident, it was a crime.

I had the fortune to have my Commander on the ground for a great meeting with the judicial officials in my province this week.  It was a short visit but I was able to catch up with Chief and snap a pic after we got back from patrol before they headed out again.

Dog Days of Deployment

I am soundly in the heart of my deployment now and I will say that with the current environment over here, it's starting to feel like groundhog day.  I had some pretty good momentum going with the work that I'm doing and then things have just ground to a halt over the course of the last 10 days.  And when you're deployed and not busy and being underutilized, well the days really do drag.  So I have had the Florence and the Machine song stuck in my head for the past day.  Not a bad song to have stuck in your head.  Also Total Eclipse of the Heart starting to creep in (not for blog back story).

I am hoping things will return to a "normal" battle rhythm in the short term.  Here is the latest:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-probe-of-koran-burning-finds-5-soldiers-responsible-afghan-clerics-demand-public-trial/2012/03/02/gIQAwJqYmR_story.html

As I have thought about this today and the discussions of accidental v. intentional and read about apologizing v. not apologizing as well as what, if any, punishment the soldiers involved should receive, I've tried to go back to my own legal training and compare it to what I have seen of the Afghan legal system.  In criminal law you have strict liability offenses in which there is no mental state requirement to be found culpable of having wrongfully committed the act -- think minor crimes and infractions like parking tickets.  For more serious crimes you have to have the requisite mens rea (guilty mind) to be found culpable -- whether it's intentional, knowledge, or recklessness.  The way Afghans view infractions appears to be premised on strict liability -- the act happened, therefore the person that carried out the act is guilty of X infraction.  Just food for thought.  Lots of time to think about these things right now.