Patrol Leader

Patrol Leader

Today we were heading to a village called NAXILA which was by GPS straight line 49 kms from our camp. I was offered two ways to get there as I was the Patrol Leader. The one direction was a much longer road route but had better roads and the second was a straight line route that had worse but usable roads. Oh forgot to mention the straight light route was mined. So I consulted 2 of my colleagues and they both agreed that the straight route would be the best and that it had been cleared of mines.

The PAK army suggested the other route as being a much better and faster route. So I followed my colleagues advice (they had been here over 10 months) and chose the most direct route. Within 20min of leaving town we came into a mined area!! We were safe; the local Mine removal company (Rotal?) was busy working in the area. There were hundreds of rocks painted half white and half red. As long as you were on the white side you were ok! We were! It was really surreal to see. I read yesterday that they will clear an average of 11m2 in 6 hours. They only work from 0630am (first light) until 1200noon as it gets way too hot wearing a fully explosion proof suit and poking at the ground waiting for a BANG! There is a job you could NOT pay me enough to do. I will try to get some picks of this area over the next couple days.

As we carried on I couldn’t help to look out the window and every once in a while notice a hidden marker to show where an unsafe area was located. When we stopped for a pee break we didn’t step off the road, not even an inch!!
The drive was definitely long and difficult. One man we passed said no vehicles had been on this road since last season. This was a lie because one of our patrols got lost here 2 weeks ago LOL. Around 1330pm we finally reached our village. Ummm did ya catch the math? 54 kms = 4 hours. What a trip!

The village was small. I was the team leader so that meant that I would conduct the interview and make a report at the end. I combined two interviews I performed a village profile and an electoral process questionnaire. Because we were so late getting to the village we had already decided that the interview had to be quick so that we could have our picnic and get back to base by 1800hrs (UN SOP’s). My interview lasted 13min and all of my questions were quickly and accurately answered. My language assistant appreciated the fact that he didn’t have to figure out what I was asking before he translated it which is something he has to do with most of my workmates as English is neither their strong point nor their native tongue.
Speaking of which 3 of my teams mates had never spoken English until 6 months ago when they attended the Military English Training School at CFB BORDEN, Ontario!!! They loved it there. Except most of the Africans were a little shocked when they arrive there in Dec and had to live 4 months in the SNOW!!!!
So with the interview done we headed home but on the other route. We stopped quickly for our picnic lunch (again curried chicken) and prayer (several Muslims) and then headed off. Before we could leave several children approached us. They were from the nomad tribe FIGULI. I managed to take a few pictures. Note their wearing traditional outfits, all but one. They wear this as their daily dress. They looked so pretty. Some had many bracelets of metal. We gave them some of our leftover food as we left.
The route home was faster, safer and we could get the car up to 50kms at times. I took some pictures of some of the mountains. Notice they are made of boulders. The weird part is some of these boulders are perched on top of other boulders on the top of the hill. It was awesome to see.

A long day and I am tired. Have a good night.