Michael Shipe Blog

Here are some recent photos:

guys up at Istalif

Army

Old theater

Wreckage

Kids at distribution

Distribution

Distribution

Big circle in 2003

Same building now

Me in Deshti Barchi

Army at our house

Army

Our team

Distribution pose

Me looking swank

Food

Me and Jennifer

Day before yesterday was women’s day, so to start we went to a school that the military had organized a distribution. They put together little bags of candy and toothbrushes and toys and notebooks and stuff. They were super organized. Like, we were 20 minutes late and missed most of it. They were in and out, which is kind of the way they have to move.

They had the kids lined up and going through the distribution line…it was like clockwork. I think they were there about 45 minutes total. We pulled up and they had there 4 SUVs parked and they had soldiers kind of watching the street, and we went in did the thing and left. Then all the soldiers came to our guesthouse with about 50 locals for women’s day.

We showed the soldiers the roof view, which we all kind of thought was dumb in retrospect cuz…they’re targets and we live here. But then there was food, and an acknowledgement of the women who worked here. Oh and when the soldiers got here, they all piled out of their SUVs and were like. “SARG, are we wearing battle rattle or not?” they all took off their body armor, but they all kept their pistols and some kept their riffles. But the party had two huge cliques, the soldiers and the locals (not surprising). I’ve really enjoyed thanking the soldiers for their service and sacrifice.

Yesterday, the ladies went to a ladies meeting and me and peter stayed here. After lunch we went to the local church service which is really very interesting. There were something like 37 languages there. German soldiers were there, there were kids running around in the grass…there was actually green, mowed grass. It was also interesting because they are security conscious. They don’t let locals come and they change the time each week.

Then we hung out at the guesthouse for a little while, had dinner, and went to the US camp for a small worship service. We were a little late and the chaplain’s bodyguard had already escorted some people in who he thought were us…so we had to stay at the checkpoint for a long time. We stayed in the cold soft rain for like 30 minutes. One soldier let Jennifer stand near the heater, but I didn’t get the same favor.