The Xmas Girls of NLD in Uruzgan

[The Bread Guy]

...are all Dutch accommodations with Task Force Uruzgan as cozy as we see in these ISAF photos?

Nine more photos, and you have the calendar?   

 

[Infanteer]

Yup - we'll stick that in with the "three-legged race" contest in KAF as fighting a counter-insurgency....

 

[GAP]

Are good will trips to cheer them up being anticipated?  ;D

 

[vonGarvin]

So, these ladies have decorated their rooms.  Big friggin' deal.  On the board in my office, next to me, I have cards from my mom, a birthday card my sister sent me (about a month before she died), some religious icons, and letters from supportive Canadians. I suppose I should just take them all down and concentrate on my job, right?  Oh, wait, i do.  And there are times when I need to be reminded of my humanity, of my family and why I am here.  Maybe these ladies drive trucks for CLPs down IED littered roads?  Maybe they are medics, who on a normal day patch together bodies that have been horribly damaged?  Who cares?  I mean, they decorate their rooms, so they should be ridiculed right?  Get bloody real!!!!

If you want to criticise "things" that happen over here, then come here and see the real criminality, such as bloated HQs with too many staff officers and NCMs who take up "PYs" from the F echelon!  But don't criticise people for doing things in their off time to keep themselves sane, three legged races or not! 

Makes me sick, soap boxes and all.


(Don't worry, next time I'll post what I really think)  :rage:

 

[Teeps74]

I agree with first part of your post most emphatically Rambler...

Just need to remind you however, that we are all on the same team... Having filled one of those "bloated" staff positions, I can assure you as an inf NCM, that those people are working hard in different ways. Everything from ensuring everyone (including and in priority the F ech) get out for HLTA, get their allowances, keep the mail running, organize the CLPs, and de-conflict the multinational ops. I did not run into any 9-5ers in KAF, PRT or any of the FOBs that I got around to.

Is it possible they exist? Sure, I can buy that.

The reality is, no one is going to care more about those over there, then those that are over there. That bureaucratic nightmare in the form of the HQ staffs is what is keeping things working. The folks on staff here in Canada have Afghanistan as one of many priorities, not as the one and only priority. Thus, things get dropped example:

(This is not a quote from anywhere but myself, just no way that I can see to create a sub para) Reserve contract extensions getting screwed up, and leaving reservists in theatre without a contract and pay... As happened to me. The staff at NCE/NCE actually worked very hard for me, and twisted the system to get me contingency pay so I could pay my bills (at contract end, I was dumped completely from the Reg F pay system, at that time I was technically not in the CF despite going out to MSG that same day)...

When I got home though, I was no where near a priority, and I paid credit card bills with credit cards for a period of a month and a bit... All while some jackass somewhere felt getting off work early on Fri aft was more important the fixing the problem which Ottawa created.

The point of this being, the staffs in Afghanistan did what it took to take care of my financial security, while those in Ottawa obviously did not care one wit about this old WO, and could not be bothered to even give me a straight answer.

Just because, outside looking in you can not see the benefit of an organisation, does not mean a benefit does not exist. Most staffs are invisible until you need them... And when they are working properly, and you get a chance to see the functions, you find quickly their whole function is for the troops and the mission in one way or another.

 

[Good2Golf]

They're just like us...see, the brunette has the US G.I. "How about a nice cup of STFU?" poster.

 

[vonGarvin]

I agree with first part of your post most emphatically Rambler...

Just need to remind you however, that we are all on the same team... Having filled one of those "bloated" staff positions, I can assure you as an inf NCM, that those people are working hard in different ways. Everything from ensuring everyone (including and in priority the F ech) get out for HLTA, get their allowances, keep the mail running, organize the CLPs, and de-conflict the multinational ops. I did not run into any 9-5ers in KAF, PRT or any of the FOBs that I got around to.

You post a good post.  I'm not talking about the seemingly "extra" staff over there, but there is some fat.  And I ignored the A-1, A-2 and B ech's that need troops too.  Anyway, I was incensed by the slant or suggestion of where this thread was going to go, IMHO.

Cheers!

 

[Infanteer]

I guess I'll rephrase my critique.  I have real problems with a strategy that sees us building 30,000 man fortified cities to fight a counterinsurgency when everything points to it being fundamentally flawed.  Bloated HQs, three-legged races and bedrooms that look like I shipped it straight from home are all symptoms of this -  I guess we all pick our favorite soap-box and today bedrooms was mine.

I could care less what these women do for day jobs and I most certainly appreciate their willingness to contribute to the effort (if we want to call the Dutch presence a contribution), but I still stick to my guns on our (probably NATO) notions of "expeditionary".  When I see documents that critique internet connectivity in FOBs, I wonder where our priorities lie....

 

[vonGarvin]

I guess I'll rephrase my critique.  I have real problems with a strategy that sees us building 30,000 man fortified cities to fight a counterinsurgency when everything points to it being fundamentally flawed.  Bloated HQs, three-legged races and bedrooms that look like I shipped it straight from home are all symptoms of this -  I guess we all pick our favorite soap-box and today bedrooms was mine.

I could care less what these women do for day jobs and I most certainly appreciate their willingness to contribute to the effort (if we want to call the Dutch presence a contribution), but I still stick to my guns on our (probably NATO) notions of "expeditionary".  When I see documents that critique internet connectivity in FOBs, I wonder where our priorities lie....

OK, so next time we have CAS TIC support from the Dutch Airforce, I will tell the Dutch F-16s to leave the ROZ.  Next time we have Dutch Chinooks arrive to carry back a Canadian casualty, we'll tell them to never mind. Their apaches? Don't need them.  And as for the families of the following, I'll let them know that their efforts were wasted:
Jan Van Twist  Died 27 July 2006
Bart van Boxtel Died 27 July 2006
Michael Donkervoort  Died 31 August 2006
Robert Donkers Died 6 April 2007
Cor Strick  KIA 20 April 2007
Timo Smeehuizen KIA 15 June 2007
Jon Leunissen KIA 18 June 2007
Tom Krist KIA 12 July 2007
Martijn Rosier KIA 26 Aug 2007
Tim Hoogland KIA 20 Sep 2007
Ronald Groen KIA 3 Nov 2007
Wesley Schol KIA 12 Jan 2008
Aldert Poortema KIA 12 Jan 2008
Mark Schouwink KIA 18 Apr 2008
Dennis van Uhm KIA 18 Apr 2008 *NB: Son of General Peter van Uhm, Chief of the Netherlands Defence Staff
Jos ten Brinke KIA 7 Sep 2008
Mark Weijdt KIA 19 Dec 2008 (NB: just over a month ago)


  And don't worry, I'll take down anything I have around me that isn't CADPAT.  Family photos, cards from home, letters.  I'll just revert to how we fought a REAL war, and break into the vino and fight my way drunk across the Arghandab...

Though internet connectivity in FOBs may seem trivial at home, it is a real issue here for maintaining connections with home.  In the 1940's the connectivity was through the post.  And it was priority, for very good reason.  We still have the post, but though it may seem a luxury, it certainly isn't.

 

[helpup]

I couldn't see the picts, at first I thought it was along the lines of a motivational poster. But after reading I am getting the impression that some feel they have it too soft. Personally each to their own. I have seen my share of shake my head moments but at the same time my job is differant from theirs and each job has its own pressures and perks. I have a inside out side wire mindset but I don't begrudge someone making themselves comfortable. Lord knows the Inf does when it can where it can if allowed.

 

[Infanteer]

OK, so next time....

That's usually not how a majority of the stories ranging from 3 Rotos I hear begin, but anyways....

And don't worry, I'll take down anything I have around me that isn't CADPAT.

...and I'll have the troops pack their pink duvets so we can meet in the mid-ground....

You need to quit taking this like a personal shot.  Nowhere did I say "fucking pogues" or "REMFs hiding in the rear" or that "The only real work is outside the wire".  I made a statement on a mentality - that of rebuilding CFB Gagetown on the Arghandab - and that I don't agree with it.  You were more than happy to launch on bloated HQs when, as I said, they are symptoms of the same issue.

 

[Teeps74]

Gentlemen... Smile, if the troops could find the space in the LAVs, and lift their packs, there would be decorated trenches and everything else.

Christ, I remember my first expereince as a Grizzly gunner. "Lovely girl" stickers all over the inside of the turret (I bought that bubble gum by the case).

We all do what we can to make ourselves more comfortable in the conditions we are given. Those of us living out of a ruck and a LAV have limited space and carraige ability, and thus live a much more Spartan life. Those that live in FOBs have a little more, and KAF is almost like a regular western city.

They have the means and the ability to decorate their rooms, and they should, just as any Canadian soldier should... Period.

I sure as hell would not be stripping Maxim magazines out of the LAVs, nor would I bitch about their pressence (nor any other mag for that matter). It is human nature to use what we can, and any infanteer stuck in KAF would be at Tim's every day, and probably a TV and an Xbox in their rooms now days... There is no space for such comforts at the FOBs, or outside. If there were, our LAVs would not be fit for conventional highways.

 

[Kat Stevens]

I deeply respect and, yes, dammitt, even love my infantry brethren.  However, the trend for self-imposed discomfort has always bewildered me, as does scorning others when they choose not to.  There's a big difference between hard and thick

 

[George Wallace]

:

What's that old saying........"Any fool can be miserable in the Field, but

 

[Jungle]

This is part of the guy/girl differences; guys mostly like their quarters uncluttered and keep things simple; something like "Home Is Where My Rucksack Is"...
Girls like to "feel homely"...

I was on a southern US base just a few days ago, and the (female) MSGT working in Base OPS had so much (what I consider to be) junk hanging off the walls and on the shelves it was ridiculous !!
Everything from pictures, cards, teddy bears to "bling" of all kinds !!!

Did anybody visit the CDN female quarters in KAF ? They are probably set-up in a similar way...

Personnally, I don't care; any idiot can be uncomfortable. As long as they do their jobs effectively, how they live in their quarters is the least of my worries.

 

[PMedMoe]

This is part of the guy/girl differences; guys mostly like their quarters uncluttered and keep things simple; something like "Home Is Where My Rucksack Is"...
Girls like to "feel homely"...

I think you mean girls like to feel "homey" as opposed to homely. 

Here's some pics of my room in Kabul (KAF looked pretty much the same).  I guess it makes a big difference when you're in a hard stand instead of a tent.

 

 

[aesop081]

guys mostly like their quarters uncluttered and keep things simple;

That is exactly how i am. I went to great lenghts on my last overseas OP to keep it that way

;D

 

[George Wallace]

:

You should have at the very least waited until after you took the photo before eating the chocolate mints.









;D

 

[aesop081]

You should have at the very least waited until after you took the photo before eating the chocolate mint.

Now that you mention it, i don't remember there being any mints........

 

[Fusaki]

I guess I like to feel homey too...

At different points over the past few years I've had a photo of Britney Spears in my FMP (hot Britney, prior to K-Fed), the 2006 Maxim Hometown Hotties finalists pinned up in Strongpoint Center, and pics of hooters girls gun taped to the roof of the crew compartment of a LAV.  Lets not even talk about the "porno wallpaper" LAV gunners have redecorated the inside of their turrets with.  We're in too serious a business to take things too seriously.

I've got no issues with Dutch chicks decorating their rooms.  All I ask is that they invite me in from time to time.