Afghanistan. My soldier "The Hubs" is still there, part of a medical team that provides trauma care for the soldiers and locals. These Forward Surgical Teams work day and night under conditions that are hard for most to comprehend. Yet, the Internet has done much to provide a glimpse. In addition to email and the occasional chance to Skype, we have photos to drive their stories home in ways that mere words cannot.
Winter has hit in the Hindu Kush. It's getting dark, wet, and cold. The region described in the classic travel book A Short Walk In The Hindu Kush by Eric Newby has been marked by wars, but this much is probably the same.
"...where the mountains seemed like the bones of the world breaking through, I had the sensation of emerging from a country that would continue to exist more or less unchanged whatever disasters overtook the rest of mankind."
Though the days are short, work is always at hand.
Children make up a large number of the patients who are seen in their clinic (held daily) for locals. Eighty percent are under the age of twelve. The children come in sick or wounded. They are war's smallest victims, getting sick from the elements or malnutrition, suffering from severe burns caused by cooking accidents, or needing trauma care for injuries caused by IEDs.
Here, a young boy is rushed into the FST accompanied by a medical team and his father. The boy has suffered serious burns and will be initially treated here, then flown to a bigger air base with a hospital with more facilities. The father will stay with him throughout – in this case probably all winter and into the spring. The little boy and his father will not be sent home until the boy is ready.
Article comments
1 - Ruvy
Kanani,
If your husband is stationed in the Hindu Kush, the folk he is helping are most like Afridi Pashtun - or those who are there with the consent of the Afridi Pashtun.
Your article is a remarkable one compared to another recent piece pretending to tell us about Afghanistan that appeared in the Politics section. Keep sending the truth, and we'll hope the stupid stuff from others who don't know gets ignored....
2 - Kanani
Hi Ruvy, Yes, my husband has learned Pashto! Thank you for the thumbs up. I run a milblog called The Kitchen Dispatch. It's one of many military "mil" blogs out there. We all center on a different aspect: some are political, some report on the day-to-day events happening during their deployment, and I try to mix in news from The Hubs, with yoga and literature --all with the intent of tossing some culture into the military blog mix.
Still, one of the frustrating things is when I run across an article in the MSM, or a political blogger who is simply taking stuff off the MSM. I think military blogs are very important: if a person doesn't read milblogs in addition to everything else, it's hard to get a read on the war.
3 - Christine
Quite the tear jerker, Kanani. The children are so innocent and it saddens me deeply that they have to go through so much. Godspeed to you, your husband, those children, and our soldiers.
4 - kanani
These are the kinds of stories we don't see enough of in the mainstream media. Instead, we are constantly thrown into the mix of politics from either side. In the meanwhile, men and women from armed forces from many countries work quietly, with duty and honor and are rarely recognized. That's why I post here. To help tear down the stereotypes of the military that those on the other side believe in and repeat, only because they prefer to live behind a curtain.
5 - mason vaughn
Thanks for sharing this story with us. There are many people who need to hear the ACTUAL goings on and not just the sound bite from some TV station.
6 - Kanani
Well, I think most people are just too set in their ways to seek out the other side. I see it with both sides, actually.
I'm glad you've enjoyed it!
7 - Christine
The problem with the media, when they cover the war, is that they do it from a partisan, political standpoint. Not from any type of experience or full comprehension of what is going on with all of its complexities and heartache. They fail to capture the realities and personalities of the soldiers who are not only risking their lives but doing other extraordinary things. And they rarely give us an honest insight into the faces, like these children in your article, that are affected both good and bad by what is going on.
I liked it when they had the embeds; at least they had a much more honest perspective. Like David Bloom, who I really liked...God rest is soul!
Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour get down in the trenches from time to time, and give it some justice.
But then again, we have you K, and we can get a real sense of what is going on.