Khostan...Tawanestan

This past weekend marked a couple of anniversaries.

One was marked by all Americans. September 11^th.

While it was business as usual here (as it is every day, including this past Labor Day), there were special moments.

As part of a routine to obtain a souvenir flag that flew over Afghanistan, I snapped the picture below of an Army Sergeant, who with the help of a Marine Sergeant, just finished lowering and folding a flag that was presented to someone. That someone was me.

The Sergeant, Mayline is her name, works in the Joint Manning and Personnel section, and has two kids at home. The youngest is just over a year old. She talked about her baby girl, having just seen her on Skype the night before.  But Mayline didn’t complain that she was perhaps missing her daughter’s first words, or first steps. She knew she had an important job to do, one that was created nine years ago this day.

The other anniversary is mine. My technical start date with the government is September 10, 2001, although I wasn’t actually in the office until several days later. I took my oath on  September 12, 2001, when I rode an eerily quiet El train into a much deserted downtown Chicago, where I encountered a federal building that was “business as usual.” I stood on the 36^th floor with my back against a window that framed the Sears Tower, and swore to “defend the constitution” as all federal employees do. I never thought I would have the opportunity to help do just that nine years later in the epicenter of that effort.

A more formal 9/11 event was held for all base personnel in late afternoon, around the same time the events in New York started to unfold nine years ago.  And while the event had some of the traditional moments of silence, playing of taps, and patriotic singing by the base choir, it also had something surprisingly different. It had an opportunity built into it for the American military and civilian personnel to thank the local Afghans and third country nationals, who work on the base, preparing our meals, cleaning our restrooms, emptying our trash, and washing our clothes. They work every day, regardless of whether or not it is their national holiday, and quite frankly, they do a good job. They were told that Saturday was their Labor Day.

At the end, the Command Sergeant Major of the compound yelled out for everyone to repeat, the U.S. Forces motto in Afghanistan:

Khostan…Tawanestan!

Khostan…Tawanestan!

Khostan…Tawanestan!

Which translated means, 

We Can…We Will