Made my first visit to Ministry Of Defense (MOD) today, to see the route in and get familiar with the layout. The meeting at which I was to have been introduced to my counterpart was cancelled at the last minute, so I tagged along with two others and sat in on their meeting. Can’t report too much on the content of the meeting, but I will say it was illuminating, and I remember well all the stories I’d heard from Marines (and others) about the crucial value of the interpreters. We can’t do this without them.
On the walk from base to MOD (yes, we can walk, but it’s in full gear), we got to see two gruesome landmarks. The first was the iron rings driven into a stone wall, across from the presidential palace, where the Taliban used to shackle victims. The second, right across the street,was the streetlight pole they hung Najibullah from. (Apparently it’s stoutly built, because he was a big fat fuck, and it didn’t appear at all bent.) I didn’t take pics of either site, because I was informed that it this is a particularly unwise spot for casual photography.
Anyway, things are progressing here and I will soon be knee-deep in my primary duties.
Hmmmm…. I take it the interpreters were needed for understanding regional brit accents? :-)
An ex-brit officer I worked for a few years ago in the Aussie reserves served on BAOR (British Army Of the Rhine) in the mid-80s. I recall him telling me that radio security in brit infantry battalions was pointless, because if the russians tuned in it was obvious who was working by their accents. It doesn’t take much to pick (say…) the Durham Light Infantry from the Scots or Welsh Guards….
Although to us colonials they might as well have been talking swahili….
Wilbur, that’s interesting stuff