July 31st

Some of the Sikhs think I am crazy when I say we got a lot to do. I can freaking proove it......wink

1. When a Private from Afghan Army thought I was a Talib.....lol

2. When a civilian from US working in a remote area called me Talib

Its very interesting dealing with  different kinds of people. My personal mission was to work myself off until I get exausted. I guess I am getting there but still got a lot of time left in my deployment. There are folks who are very thankful for what I do to help and there are those who after recieving their successful treatment still have the courage to question my existence in the Army. Its hurtful, but I believe in what goes around comes around and on top of that I have earned my share of selfless service.

It feels nice to accumulate selfless service points, I feel that God is watching over me just because I am being nice. I had the pleasure to visit another FOB(Houzi-m-Dad) for a mission. Its interesting to see how smaller the FOB's get people generally gets nicer or atleast mind their own business. What strikes me the most and I believe I have mentioned this in my previous blogs.  If people/soldiers have hard time dealing with my existence in the Army then how is their behavior towards the locals of Afghanistan. Afterall, our mission is to win the hearts and minds of people. But in the end I do realize that we are in the middle of a war.

At Houzi-m-dad, I was told to go check in for a sleeping tent. The civilian (American) lady who was suppose to help me called me a Talib and after I said excuse me, she had the audacity to repeat. I tried to contol myself and was very successful and asked her name with furious bottle necked eyes and went straight back to the Aid station and yelled at the poor seargent for not doing his job. There is usually an email sent out to places I visit which tells about my visit and my appearance being a Sikh. Anyhow, I worked from 5pm till midnight that day and it was one of my most exausting days here in afghanistan.

The month of Ramazan, the holy month for muslims is approaching and insurgents are suppose to go back to their families for a fulfulling, holy time with their families. Its interesting how people who like to kill innocent kids and women also end up going back to their families to rest and pray and relax. I wonder what Allah has lined up for them for all the innocent people they killed.

I have almost 2.5 months left until I get back home to my family. I can truly say it out loud that I have worked my behind off in Afghanistan and served my people as well as their people same.

July 14th- blog after almost a month

I am sure some of the reader of my blog must be waiting to hear new things. A lot happened since the last time I wrote in this blog. I manage to treat hundreds of soldiers (American as well as Afghans). I saw things I have never seen before and also enjoyed the hospitality of some Afghans living in the same FOB as myself.

About 2 weeks ago, I travelled to a FOB which very much looked like a COP about 40 minutes from my FOB. Initially, it was kind of nerve recking because getting outside the wire can mean anything. Being part of the medical staff here at my FOB, I believe I have seen a decent amount of trauma coming through and most of it deals with the war. I would consider the experience priceless because all the dentists who deployed with me are not going to get the same experience. My journey started early in the morning where myself and my assistant had to attend the convoy briefing. I got to meet the gentlemen who were running the convoy and the convoy commander knew I was a Sikh. He seemed excited to talk to me because he read about my existence in Army times, apparently thats a big deal in the Army community.

His welcoming nature was very pleasant and we all sat in a big hall and the convoy commander and NCO discussed the potential threats and dangers and few convoy manuvers. About a few hours after the brief everyone was assigned a vehicle and we all got to out assigned seats. Everyone was laughing and talking about our everydays business until the convoy hit the road and we were out of the wire. Everyone locked our magazines in our weapon and for some reason everything seemed caffinated and we were wide awake. Afghanistan is a poverty stuck country and the mud houses, literally the mud houses seemed like the houses we see during Christmas times which are made to reproduce biblical times. The terrain in Afghanistan is interesting, some areas are green and some are dusty. Whats cool about the houses is people actually got creative and started designed their mud houses with fancy doors, windows and from far they look very impressive and clean.

On our way to our destination we had to take a detour because the insurgents blew up a good chunk of the highway with improvised explosive device a few days ago. On our way the local kids were waving at us and there were orchards of pomegranate in the backyard which looked delicious. Unfortunately, there was no way we could get to those orchards. After passing a few villages we got to our destination. My unit made me a "Doc in a Box", connex which was utilized to take care of our soldiers and others. I met a whole bunch of our soldiers living in that facility which was kind of run down and remote but it still had showers. The food was horrible but you learn to appreciate it when you see everyone cherishing it. I stayed there for 2 nights and my command called me back to our facility because the line of patients was getting longer than usual.

It is humbling to see our soldiers work day and night when they are deployed. Some are staying within the FOBs but still working their tails off building and fixing stuff. Contrary to that Afghans are been here for years and years and they still were living in Mud houses and had handpumps for water.