Navy RIP

This week has been another busy week, as our Navy personnel are under-going a RIP, (Relief in Place) meaning, it is time for them to go home.... In a few months, this entire place will look different. My group is the next group scheduled to leave... WOW, time has really flown by. I am so proud of what we have accomplished since we have arrived here. The guys pictured above make up my J-6 section. It is all about the team... They really helped to make my deployment a success.

Most of the local Afghans live by an abundance of bread, I recently visited a local bakery. It is amazing how they continue to make bread, as they did hundreds of years ago....

Just not too sanitary though, sometimes you just wish you did not know where and how your food is prepared... but it was interesting to see how it is made... I just pray over it and hope for the best, that it doesn't tear my stomach up..... Below ARSIC-S CSM Bobby Albert talks to the troops about the deployment, thanking them for their service.





One of the guys RIPing out is CWO2 Vincent Avera who served on my staff. Avera is a quite man, but truly a team player and one that I have the utmost respect for. I will really miss him....Below he is pictured with me and LT Hampton McNeil.




Also receiving awards were SPC Cassandra Jolly and SPC Derrick Scurry, both are comms personnel working at the RPAC, (Regional Police Advisory Command). They helped manage the communications infrastructure as well as tactical communications. They really did an outstanding job for me.

Petty Officer Kuehn who works in my automation section also received an award for all his hard work during this deployment. My staff was mixed with civilians, (MPRI), Navy and Army personnel. Below Kuehn received an Army Achievement Award for his outstanding performance of duties assigned.



This deployment as it winds down has been quite memorable.. I have met some of the most amazing people. I have also fostered a relationship with the Afghan people that has not only given me a better perspective on how and why they live and act the way they do. Prayerfully, I have shown them a better side of Americans than what they once believed. Together we have given them food, clothing, helped build roads and schools, created jobs, so that they can enjoy a better life than they had previously. I know we have made a huge difference here, no one wants to be controlled by a renegade organization like the Taliban, but they really had little means to fight such a huge organization. We offer them security and freedoms that they have never known, but they are afraid that we will abandon them and they will once again be at the mercy of the Taliban. Hopefully our leadership will do the honorable thing, give the Afghan people a reason to hope again, by remaining steadfast to our commitment to these people.