Please help me help kids in Afghanistan

[Major Robert Dump]

deletd

[pevergreen]

Been a fan of you as a person before I knew your occupation, and I support what you are doing.

Lemur, please send the contact info my way.

Get home safe MRD, I miss our late night (for me) unstable hotel net connection L4D games.

[Hax]

Despite having a deep run mistrust against the military, I cannot even begin to express in words how much I respect you and your acts of compassion that try to alleviate the suffering and improve the happiness of the children living there. I will try and find some old toys and forward this mail to my father as well, then I'll be posting here as well.

I just wanted to say "thank you"

[Moros]

My utmost respect for you. I will try to find some stuff together to send. Best of luck back there.

[Jolt]

Great to see you safe and sound, and I am extremely glad to see how humane your approach has been and the support you garnered in your assignment area. You have a deep respect from me as well.

And indeed I would love to read about your interactions over in Afghanistan. I doubt any Taliban or Al-Qaeda supporter might know about this forum (except that Jihad spambot post we had one year ago ), much more about the backroom so for talking about general locations or whatnot (Not so sure about the names of your comrades though), putting your journal in the Backroom (Where it would belong, I gather) would probably be safe as far as "search engine bots" go (As in, you can't pick what you write in the backroom using google or yahoo, etc.)

You are doing a great and honorable thing, and you personify everything that the US and allies are doing of good to Afghanistan and its society.

Btw, you do know why you aren't allowed to give stuff to kids right? A college colleague of mine went on a peace-keeping NATO mission to Chad, and his unit had the same idea as you and one of the my friend's mission colleagues gave some candies to the kids when he was also distributing water and food. Turns out one of the kids who ate a candy apparently had diharrea because of it (Those kids metabolism couldn't cope as easily as ours to the ingredients and chemicals that are components of the candy), and in those parts of the world, that means certain death. Afterwards, the story is pretty standard. The family and village accused "the evil Western devils" of killing the family's child and to avoid further trouble with the locals, he was rotated out of the mission earlier. It struck me as a pretty sensible reasoning, but I can certainly understand why anybody would brake those rules (Heck, I probably would too.)

[Major Robert Dump]

Ice, I don't know what you mean by "not allowed to give stuff to the kids." It is encouraged here.

Furthermore, Pakistan and India mass produce junk food and send it over here. 80% of the fare available in the markets is crap like soda, crisps, cakes and candy. Many of the children who bring their lunch to school bring something like a piece of fruit, a soda and a bag of crisps.

As far as the journal goes, not gonna happen. Not until I get leave at least.

The thing you have to understand about a unit like mine is that while all of our peers tease us, try to screw us with crap jobs, try to pick apart our unit to reassign us to other jobs etc and generally give us a hard time, they are the first in line to try to claim credit for our good deeds. I am part of a small unit that is a division asset, while being attached to a brigade, while being in the battle space of a battallion. In other words, brigade and battallion try to boss us around all the time (doesn't work), and when we score a success they try to claim credit for it (doesn't work). We answer to Division.

That being said, my journal will have some things that in order to be placed into context may very well reflect poorly on certain elements of the 101st and the 172nd Vermont.

I will likley post some pictures and nuetral stories here and there, but the meat will hae to wait.

[Ibrahim]

I honestly don't know exactly what to send ye-I can't really send food, as I usually don't buy it canned (canned food would work for Afghanistan, since you can store it better), have little money, and even fewer clothes.

however, I will try to see what I can get for them-rest assured that.

[Prince Cobra]

I've just found this thread. I can not say anything but

[Major Robert Dump]

I am happy to announce that after burning 6 bridges, torpedoing a promotion and placing myself in harms way, I have talked myself out of a BS desk job and back to the same FOB doing the same job I did on this last deployment. I am stoked.

[drone]

"Everyone gets everything he wants. I wanted a mission, and for my sins, they gave me one."

[Hooahguy]

Major, if you are doing this thing again (the "send stuff to me to give to kids" thing) please let us know, Id really love to participate.

[Major Robert Dump]

I will try to get the backroom thread updated within the week

[Marshall Louis-Nicolas Davout]

hey,who deleted my reply?

[Gregoshi]

hey,who deleted my reply?

Takeda, this thread is about one person trying to help some children by asking for donations. There are no politics in this and therefore, political views do not belong in this thread. There are other places to do that, but in this thread it is solely about helping others so your reply was removed from the thread. I hope you understand.

[Prussian to the Iron]

Major, if you are doing this thing again (the "send stuff to me to give to kids" thing) please let us know, Id really love to participate.

2nded

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

Major, if you are doing this thing again (the "send stuff to me to give to kids" thing) please let us know, Id really love to participate.

I 2nd this.

[Prussian to the Iron]

No. you 3rd it. I already 2nd it.

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

Whatever.

[Major Robert Dump]

Major, if you are doing this thing again (the "send stuff to me to give to kids" thing) please let us know, Id really love to participate.

Obviously, nothing has gone as planned. I havent updated the backroom picture thread in 2 months or more, I'm currently not at the location in Afghanistan I hoped to be, and things are looking bleak in terms of renewing my former role as Uncle Bobby in the Paktya Province, but rest assured I am still trying as my name is attached to many projects that would not have happened, both civilian and military, were it not for me. So at the least I may get some trips to my old AO. Meanwhile, I have located pockets of kids at the place I am currently at, but I am having a hard time reaching them due to both my position and politics which I cannot go into. Hopefully I will have work/living space soon and can contionue BR updates.

[Hosakawa Tito]

Keep your eyes open Uncle Bob. No unnecessary chances.

[Hooahguy]

I might actually rejoin the BR just to read these updates.

[Populus Romanus]

There has not been one in a while, I believe.