Same old Same old

I inserted some video for this entry showing one way in which our troops attempt to win the hearts and minds of the Afghanis.  The humming noise heard on the video is the engine of the Stryker just outside the building. In the video you can see the squad leader talking to the village elder about the needs of the village. You can also see the interpreter and a security team with the squad leader. As I said the training is very realistic and it was a fascinating process to watch how it is done today and compare this procedure to how we did it back in the old days. The picture below shows American troops caring for an injured Afghani.

On other news, another semester has ended with the usual race to get every assignment in before the end. It was interesting to watch some of my fellow students try and negotiate themselves out of a corner in regard to missed assignments. The problem they have run in to with this approach is that most of the professors have heard it all before. This is my fifth university degree that I am working on; thinking back, I wonder if I was that ill prepared the first time around. I simply don't remember, it was too long ago.

I will say that this program has taken me places that I never dreamed I would be going. Just recently, as I discussed in the last installment, I spent time with a Stryker unit, going through some of their training prior to their deployment at the end of this year. Without this involvement though the class there is no way I would have spent a day out in the "boonies" with a military unit. Though equipment changes, and training gets more sophisticated, the attitudes and actions of the average soldier does not.

The next semester will see me interning for Borderzine Magazine, leaning the operation from the ground up. Not only will this be a platform for me to dig deeper into areas of interest, but it also gives me an outlet for many of my stories other than through this blog. As you can see, I am also moving more into videos, and some of them will be placed inside these blog entries in the future. This is forcing me to learn more and more about both editing as well as how the blog software works.