Foot Patrol Through Qalat, Afghanistan: Pictures
Foot Patrol through Qalat, Afghanistan – Pictures (April 11, 2012)
Lt Davin Fischer of Woodbury, MN walks to the morning briefing in advance of a dismounted patrol through the market at Qalat
Maj Cheryl Wachenheim, a professor at NDSU, prepares to go out to see vendors at the Qalat Market. She is interested to see how products get to market.
Soldiers from the Alaska National Guard, Bravo Company 1-143rd provide security for the patrol
An Afghan man who was in the almond distribution courtyard. Almonds, along with raisins, pomegranates and wheat can be prevalent in Zabul Province.
Lt Col Ken DeGier discusses possibilities of helping make changes in the way almonds are marketed with the proprietor of the almond market.
Afghan men looking on as Lt Col DeGier continues his discussion with the vendor.
After I snapped this boys’ picture he asked to see it; his reaction was priceless. I might bet he has only seen his likeness in a mirror.
Working our way through the market we ended up near Alexander’s Castle and the stockyards. This nomadic man had brought six sheep to the yard; he earned the equivalent of $100 per head. Asked if he broke even, he responded with, “sometimes”.
The market is thriving. Vendors are selling wares, some of the produced locally, however many come in from Pakistan. The goal is to get money circulated through the country, Afghans buying from Afghans. Here there are some chickens for sale.
I rigged cameras to my vest. A 90 minute patrol with a 30 pound vest (about half of what the soldiers wear), at 6,000 feet elevation was a workout. I easily sweated through a couple of shirts.
Your daughter would like to know if you were able to hand out any pencils at the market. It looks like you were pretty loaded down with gear, so maybe not…
Today I was surrounded by kids (I’ll write about it later) I could have handed pens out but it would have added chaos to the scene. The kids here ask pens and watches. I’ll pick my moment wisely. Give her a squeeze for me.
Luke, what a trip of a lifetime! You are seeing and experiencing so much – can’t wait to see the end result. Stay safe!
Thanks Mary…truly is an adventure of a lifetime
So Luke, I see that Maj Cheryl Wachenheim is wearing a head scarf (do they call it hijab there?)… do all the women soldiers wear them? Or just at certain times?
She wears it while she is with Afghans. While I interviewed her she did not wear it, but while we were in the office of a local official she did.
Is Pakistan our China here (loosely metaphorically speaking)? The sheep farmer made me wonder how much a live sheep goes for here. I found on this site http://www.ourfarmtoyou.com/site/StoreType.cfm?Section=store&Type=Lamb it was between $250 ($2.50 per pound) and $395 (for a grass fed one). I imagine not many grass fed ones there?? How receptive was the almond grower in the picture to Col. DeGier? Thanks for all the sweat (literally) in getting us the pictures to connect us in on your journey.
The pictures were very good.It is so hard to describe what you are seeing,however the pics make it a little easier to understand.Thanks again. How much were the soldiers sweating if you went through a couple of shirts?
Thanks for the updates, Luke! Great stories and great work by ADT team there-thanks for sharing and looks like this is a more thriving area with the market than where the Nebraska ADT is. Hopefully someday that part of Afghanistan will have better markets too as a result of the ADT team there!
Indeed Jen; i am glad to report that the MN Guard has seen improvments in the short time they’ve been here…I’m glad the improvements were translated/depicted in the photos I took.
Great blog, Luke.
Can you ask the soldiers about the finer points of presenting arms in situations like this? Maybe you can’t.
Also – this has nothing to do with anything, just an Old Person question – did any of the younger soldiers play FPS games before handling an actual gun?
(Full disclosure: growing up in rural America before digital gaming, it was virtually mandatory by 6th grade to take gun safety lessons and I did. So did the girls.)
ps: there’s a Twins/Orioles Deadspin mashup you should see. 🙂
hi am afghan i like american soljar he is very good people bay
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