Hot milk for breakfast

[Phaedrus]

I was thinking YUM!! Do they give you the recipes at all?

Thank you for the pictures!!

Nope, no recipes. And only one guy who works there speaks English, that I know of.

Tonight was stewed goat, again. I looked for an eyeball, but somebody already got them. They also had steak and smashed flat chicken. Smashed flat chicken has to be seen to be believed. You debone the rear quarter of a chicken, except for the leg and thigh bone, then you smash it flat with a hammer, season, and grill it like a pork chop. You eat it by holding the leg bone, like a chicken pop. In fact, at first most folks think it's a chop, but the flavor is way wrong. It's incredibly delicious, though.

Yesterday morning we had something special. It was a pan of baked red goo. Smelled very rosemary-ey. Being the adventurer I am, I took a good sized helping, and it was delicious. Think rosemary-flavored corned beef hash put through a blender until it's the consistency of spackle. I asked the steward what it was, and he said "lobskavs". Now, I couldn't believe my ears, so I asked him to repeat, and he emphatically nodded his head "yes" and repeated "lobskavs".

Now, MrsPhaedrus and the Phaedrus children are fully aware of what "lobskavs" or more commonly known in anglicized circles as "lobscouse" is. A few years ago, I taught a program in "Historic Food" to a bunch of kids. What we did is every Wednesday night, we would fix a meal for the kids at church, based on the night's program. It started as a "bible food" theme, and then when the program went to a "nautical" theme, we started to do historical naval cookery.

One of the night's meals was "Lobscouse and Spotted Dog" after a Patrick O'Brian inspired cook book. Of course, no-one knows what "lobscouse" really is, except that the Norwegian "lobscavs" means "a little bit of everything" and the word origin is murky with time. My guess is that the Lascars, a group of central Asian professional naval men, brought it back with them as a recipe to this part of the world. Either that, or the Brits we are with demand it as part of their normal menu.

Otherwise, today was a very uneventful day; I went down pretty hard, from some kind of crap that is going around, so I slept for 12 hours. I still don't feel great, but much better than yesterday morning. I did find out yesterday morning, before I left, that myself and a couple of my colleagues are being considered for presentation of papers at academic conferences in Hawai'i and Australia, coinciding with my first leave. The paper subjects are political science general, and "peacemaking" specifically. I'm thinking of writing on unintended consequences and decision management among policy-makers. Either that, or I'd like to write an essay about reframing the debate on insurgency/counter-insurgency and how we approach it as social scientists.

Frankly, I don't think we're, as a polity, even asking the right questions, yet. I'd hoped to do some thinking on that, tonight during my shift. OBTW, I got word tonight that my nights in the TOC are numbered, and I go on operations starrting soon. Perhaps by the end of this upcoming week. In anticipation of this blessed event, and while hopefully not jinxing myself, I give you this representation of my feelings on the matter:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGa70tVYVKo]YouTube - Tommy - I'm Free - Roger Daltrey (The Who)[/ame]

[4VR4CY]

Operations = more dangerous?

Sorry you are ill! I'm sure it can't be great being there and being sick too!

[tec71]

I'm wondering why we don't have more Phaedrus type commentary/blogging going on. Okay I know why but if we had a little more this is what really goes on out there, and a little less "we are killing children to get oil" or "the world depends on us for all things golden" (you pick your propoganda) people would be far more understanding of this whole ball of wax we are mixed up in. Thanks for the insight and the pictures. For some reason I feel like I've learned more in the couple of weeks since you announced your departure than I have in all the years since the "war" the started.

[Phaedrus]

Operations = more dangerous?

Sorry you are ill! I'm sure it can't be great being there and being sick too!

Operations = what I'm here to do. But they're not terrifically dangerous.

I wouldn't leave my wife and daughters to come here and watch radios, at night.

When in doubt, I look at my signature line and remember that.

I appreciate your sentiments, though. Head down, butt covered and all that.

[Phaedrus]

I'm wondering why we don't have more Phaedrus type commentary/blogging going on. Okay I know why but if we had a little more this is what really goes on out there, and a little less "we are killing children to get oil" or "the world depends on us for all things golden" (you pick your propoganda) people would be far more understanding of this whole ball of wax we are mixed up in. Thanks for the insight and the pictures. For some reason I feel like I've learned more in the couple of weeks since you announced your departure than I have in all the years since the "war" the started.

That's a very interesting subject. I've thought about it a bunch, since I started. I have some ideas as to why that is.

First, very few "doers" are interested in writing. My colleagues here look at me with alternating awe and "what a weirdo" when they discover that I write. And I am a weirdo. I am a farm kid, a mechanic, a cook, a writer, a professional military man/contractor, and an academic. I'm also a romantic, a flirt and a faithful husband and devoted father. According to Conventional Wisdom, I cannot be all of those. But, I am.

First, most writers that I know are remarkably short on "real-world" experience. Same thing with academics. Why someone would be drawn to and interested in something, to the extent to making their primary or even sole living at it, yet never get beyond a basic, surface understanding of the subject, is beyond me. And perhaps to compensate for their relative ignorance, they feel that they must sensationalize, and to do that, they have to be unbalanced in their coverage.

I routinely get into peeing contests with a so-called "journalist" named John Stanton. Feel free to Google search this guy and read some of his stuff. He is archetypical of the shallow, new form of "yellow" journalist, that inhabits both sides of the politically segregated style of journalism. Matthew Cox is another name, and since he is a military technical journalist, you'd expect him to actually know something of his subject(s). But, he doesn't. He depends on others to feed him information and "sound bites".

Second, if you search the job boards, almost all writing jobs require a Journalism degree. And I find this to be laughably upside-down, priority-wise. I'd rather teach someone who knows a subject how to write, than to teach someone who allegedly knows how to write, a subject.

And when you consider the semi-literacy and lack of critical thinking that you see in papers like the Des Moines Register, you have to wonder exactly, how bad a non-Journalism major would do, writing about a subject they love.

MrsPhaedrus and I were vacationing in Munich last year, when we bumped into a group of English majors who were touring Europe prior to having to go out into the "real world". They mentioned how hard it was to make a living as a writer, and how they'd prepared for this by picking up alternate degrees to make a living, while they wrote on the side.

I had the bad taste to mention that I was making six figures at a full-time writing job, while living overseas on the company's dime, and was neither a Journalism nor an English major. They looked at me as if I just admitted to some kind of obscene relations with animals.

Back to the original point, though. The first two points I mentioned were primarily in the "innocent mistakes" category. This last one is of the "means to do harm" group. These are the folks who have a predetermined goal, and collect the information that only supports their side, and then massages that information to fit, while pushing their image of the way the world should be.

And this damages the public, because both sides (oversimplified, there are more than two sides) are often proven wrong, which leaves the typical person confused and untrusting of ANY information they receive.

Please, though. No halos for Phaedrus. While I try to keep an open mind, I do believe in some absolutes, and a lot of the time, I just "act nice" when I'm really strongly in disagreement, which makes it appear as if I'm open-minded about something.

BTW, I reviewed the above, saw that it was packed full of writing errors, and said Phah! I don't get paid to write anyway. Editors, btw, earn their pay, and are the most critical part of the writing process.

[4VR4CY]

I wish more academics had real world experience. It is hard to learn from a professor that has 0 management experience, has done tons of research, but cannot relate the research to what is going on in today's world.

I have the above professor right now. Oh, plus he is an *******!

That being said, I have had some good ones too!

[Phaedrus]

I really love Dave Ramsey's quote about business professors:

And I paraphrase: In fact, I probably butcher the quote:

"Business school is good, if you know what you want, but remember, you're probably learning from a guy who went $100,000 in debt to get a $50,000 job, telling other people how to make money."

[4VR4CY]

The only thing is that the business profs at ISU make 125k now! ;)

I do have to say that it is the younger profs that I get frustrated with 29-39. Every class we have, they introduce themselves and say a little bit about their background. I love to ask what their business world experience is! The older profs do more consulting because they are already tenured and have some more time. With the consulting, they run into today's problems.

Plus, don't make me buy a packet of your case studies or papers!!!! FYI for any student that is on here. You can go to the Library and get them for free and actually your prof can post them on his website, as long as it is secured. OH - and this is for any case study and paper. He can request them from the library as most state schools have all HBRs and other journals. (They can post them on WebCT for free for you, but they just don't want to take the time and would rather have you spend $50.)

\rant

[CycloneErik]

The only thing is that the business profs at ISU make 125k now! ;)

I do have to say that it is the younger profs that I get frustrated with 29-39. Every class we have, they introduce themselves and say a little bit about their background. I love to ask what their business world experience is! The older profs do more consulting because they are already tenured and have some more time. With the consulting, they run into today's problems.

Plus, don't make me buy a packet of your case studies or papers!!!! FYI for any student that is on here. You can go to the Library and get them for free and actually your prof can post them on his website, as long as it is secured. OH - and this is for any case study and paper. He can request them from the library as most state schools have all HBRs and other journals. (They can post them on WebCT for free for you, but they just don't want to take the time and would rather have you spend $50.)

\rant

So how do you really feel about it? It was kind of hard to tell from your post

[Cybone]

Please, though. No halos for Phaedrus.

Alright, so no halos. How about a cape and cowl??

I'm Phaedrus, man.

[Phaedrus]

I'd be just as happy with a dolly and a bankie.

[MrsPhaedrus]

[quote=Cybone;924067]Alright, so no halos. How about a cape and cowl??

though he does look great in tights! (he danced in college, too! what legs!)

[Phaedrus]

Ah, yes. Now the gloves come off. Yes, it's true. As the lovely and talented MrsPhaedrus points out in the above post, I did indeed dance at ISU. I was a member of both Orchesis I and II and did two Barjche's.

ISU Theatre

And speaking of legs, I would just say to MrsPhaedrus that hers are much nicer than mine.

And please, keep your homoerotic jokes to yourselves. Mongo not swing that way. Mongo straaaaight....

[CycloneErik]

Ah, yes. Now the gloves come off. Yes, it's true. As the lovely and talented MrsPhaedrus points out in the above post, I did indeed dance at ISU. I was a member of both Orchesis I and II and did two Barjche's.

ISU Theatre

And speaking of legs, I would just say to MrsPhaedrus that hers are much nicer than mine.

And please, keep your homoerotic jokes to yourselves. Mongo not swing that way. Mongo straaaaight....

Yeah. That'll keep the jokes away.

[Phaedrus]

Well, for the last few weeks, I've been offering glimpses of my personal experience, here, scrubbed for military operational security. Vacation time is over, guys, and down to the nitty gritty. I thought it would be nice to reset with a quick Afghanistan primer. And, of course, being fundamentally lazy, I go to Wiki:

Afghanistan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And so should you. Feel free to read it if you like, and I did, but very little really grabbed my interest, until I saw the following picture:

[IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...an_topo_en.jpg[/IMG]

Now, let's see if anyone else sees what the fundamental problem that faces Afghanistan, and by default, our involvement there. Wait for it... All right, I'll give you a hint: What is wrong with Kabul as the seat of Afghan gov't. If you answered, "It's completely isolated, geographically, from the rest of the country" YOU win first prize. So, how effective do you think attempting to strengthen the current, western-styled central government is going to be?

I thought so.

So, should we, as Mr. Ralph Peters recently opined, just abandon the place, and then nuke it from orbit if it ticks us off in the future?

After all, Afghanistan is atypical, and is just another landlocked, small country with no apparent value. That is, until you look at a map again:

[IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...nistan.svg.png[/IMG]

Frankly, Afghanistan, for it's relative small size and small economic worth, is a lynchpin of Central Asia. Not that we're facing a new domino theory, but whither goes Afghanistan, goes Pakistan, and eventually all the 'stans in the former Soviet region and perhaps Iran and Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well.

And that's a big chunk of the world, and at least Pakistan has nuclear weapons.

Now, what, you may ask, am I doing in this part of the world, and where is this Phaedrus-character, exactly? For that, I borrow yet another map from Wiki:

[IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...007_-_2008.gif[/IMG]

You will note the correlation of poppy cultivation and security risk. I am a tiny part of a joint, multinational effort to eradicate poppy cultivation and to improve security in Afghanistan. If you look, you'll see that Helmand Province has the most poppy. That is my home away from home away from home. (My home away from home is Kabul, where the preponderance of my stuff lives in a trailer, and my home is where my heart is.)

Now my purpose for being here is manifold. First, the money is good. Second, as I get older, this is an opportunity to do what I love (soldiering) one more time. The time will come when my body will no longer support this habit, but that time isn't now. (I do have an associate who got into and won a gunfight here on his 72nd birthday, but his body hasn't seen the trauma mine has.) Third, this is a chance to "do" that will support my "know" later on. My post above, concerning folks who "know" but have never "done" is what I'm addressing, since I would like to develop academically, but feel the need to gain more practical experience before that can happen.

Finally, I believe that there is some good to be done, here. If nothing else, my relationship with my language assistant might help both of us in the future.

On a side note, he tells me that he took exams to be admitted to the University of Kabul recently, and expects the results to be back sometime, possibly this week. My prayers are with him. He really is the future of this country.

In future installments, I'd like to make some suggestions on how a nation or nations could effectively accomplish some things in Afghanistan at minimum cost of lives and treasure. My apologies, in advance to anyone who thinks these become political, and I will accept critism off-line and change them as necessary. Would hate to see this whole thread sent to "The Cave".