Happy New Year from Bouhammer

I wanted to take a second and wish all the readers of this blog a wonderful and Happy New Year. 2011 has been a pretty crazy year and I can’t believe it is already winding down to an end. I am also anxious to see what 2012 will bring us. I mean if you look back at where we were on Dec 31st, 2010 who knew that Qaddafi, Bin Laden and Kim-Jong Il would all be dead this year, 2 of them at the hands of Americans, who knows maybe all three?

Between making Bin Laden into fish crap, Arab Spring uprising, Japan almost getting taken off the map (and this time not by us) and the supposed end of the war in Iraq 2011 has been a very eventful year.

In 2011 I was lucky enough to be part of the film project Happy New Year (www.happynewyearfilm.com). I was privileged to host a screening of it at the 2011 Milblog Conference in Washington DC and of course have stayed very close to my friends, Michael, Lorrell and Joe in promoting it and getting the word out. I am also always talking to my good friend Mike Scott from the film Severe Clear (www.severeclearthemovie.com) and am working a couple of different projects with him. I also worked very close with my good friend Matt Goss (www.mattgoss.biz) on an awesome Veterans Day Show I helped host by giving almost 100 Veterans and their guests a great night out with Dinner (thanks to Caesars Palace) and a show in Matt’s theater, The Gossy Room.

Matt and I are already working with Caesars for an even bigger show in 2012. In addition I am working on a new film project in 2012 which promises to be an awe-inspiring full-length independent feature film called Bards of War. Produced and Directed by one of my closest friends, Scott Kesterson it will no doubt be an eye-opening experience for most of America on what the real stories are coming out of Afghanistan as told by the Bards, the soldiers. Tonight at midnight the Facebook page for the project will go live and within days the website should be up and developing also. Until then swing by the twitter page at www.twitter.com/bardsofwar and follow. For anyone that has followed Scott’s work in the past, you will be very pleased with this project and the film.

So as you can see, Bouhammer.com is already very active in several big things for the new year and it has not even started yet. Who knows what else is in store for the site and the blog. Then again who knows what is in store for our country and our military.

Thanks again for taking the time to care and read this blog and I hope you continue to follow it and like what you see into 2012.

Happy New Year,

Bouhammer

Three Wickets and A Bulldozer

I am very happy to announce that there is a great piece of perspective and insight about Afghanistan available now for the entire public to see. My very good friend Scott Kesterson who has had many guests posts on this blog and is the filmmaker of the riveting documentary At War has finally released (along with his co-author COL James Larsen) a white paper called Three Wickets and a Bulldozer.

Without giving away too much of the whitepaper I can tell you that it is a fresh “outside of the box” look into a path forward for success in Afghanistan. I first read this white paper over a year ago and since then Scott and I have had many discussions about it, what it means, what it would take to open minds to implement it, etc. I will be honest it changed my mind on a few things on the way to approach engaging the populous in Afghanistan and making them more accountable and responsible for themselves.

I encourage you to head over to the Small Wars Journal and check out smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2010/09/three-wickets-and-a-bulldozer/

Read the small entry there and then head to Three Wickets and A Bulldozer and download it.

Scott Kesterson Action Figure

Anyone that has been reading this blog for a while knows that I am very close with Afghanistan documentary filmmaker, Scott Kesterson. In fact I had a chance to visit with Scott last week while he was back in the USA. We were able to meet up for a couple of hours in D.C.

I recently got this image from my buddy and fellow blogger, CJ Grisham and I just had to post it as the new Scott Kesterson Action Figure. This picture had me ROFLing that is for sure.

Gardez takes another hit

It appears that Gardez, Afghanistan which has always been a target of IEDs and suicide bombers is once again in the news. This time the bombers took out some important people in the security forces there. My good friend Scott Kesterson has many friends there in the Gardez-based ANA and ANP. I surely hope none of them he knew were killed or seriously injured.

Kabul – A suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a busy market in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing himself and nine other people and injuring 27 more, a government spokesman said. The bomber targeted Baser Ahmad, a commander in the Afghan Campaign Forces that are allied with international troops in Gardez, the capital city of the south-eastern province of Paktia, Rohullah Samoon, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said.
“The bombing killed Baser Ahmad, two of his bodyguards, a border police officer and five civilians,” Samoon told the German Press Agency dpa.
One police officer and 26 civilians were injured in the blast, he said.
NATO in Kabul confirmed the attack in a statement and said its forces were helping evacuate the injured people to the provincial hospital.
“The insurgents have again proven that they are the enemy of the Afghan people,” Italian General Luigi Scollo said in the statement. “We strongly condemn these indiscriminate, cowardly acts of murder.”

1st Bouhammer Roundtable Podcast

I am so honored to have hosted the first ever Bouhammer Roundtable podcast this last weekend. I am joined on this podcast by two regular contributors to the Bouhammer blog, Mike T. and Scott Kesterson.

In this podcast, which is actually #13 on this site (not #12 as I stated in the podcast), Scott, Mike and I talk about a variety of topics dealing with Afghanistan. We cover the use of National Guard and the important role they have played in the war, some of McChrystalâ€™s policies and even the current hot topic of the photo by the AP of the dying Marine last Friday.

As you can imagine, the connectivity from Afghanistan is not always the best but Scottâ€™s connections holds up well until the end of the podcast. I hope you can take some time to listen to the three of us talk about some of the current hot-topic and important issues with Afghanistan.

Bouhammer Roundtable with Troy, Mike and Scott

Guest Blogger: Scott Kesterson-Donations needed for COIN Reference Library

The Counterinsurgenâ€‹cy Academy is located in Kabul, Afghanistan at the base of the ruins of the Queens castle. The purpose of the Academy is to teach and expand the doctrine of population centric concepts for operations in Afghanistan, and beyond. The contributions the Academy is making to Gen. McChrystal’s strategy can not be understated, nor can the challenges of implementing an expanded doctrine of population centric operations.

In an attempt to support the operations of the Academy, as well as the many soldiers that attend and instruct here, I have developed a “wish list” on Amazon.com of books in hopes of creating an Honorary Counterinsurgency Learning Library made up entirely of donations from our communities back home. The intent is to further expand the awareness of culture, methods and operations that promote the end goal of national unity, governance and security for the people of Afghanistan.

To find the list, all you need to do is log into Amazon.com, click on “Wish Lists” and then on the right side of the page in the search window for “Wish Lists” type in:
counterinsurgency.institute@gmail.com
The name of the wish list is: COIN Library – Kabul.

I am continually being asked about donations for soldiers and items of need. This list, though only in the initial phases of development, is something that will have a lasting use and impact on the soldiers here at the Academy and the students of the Academy who eventually take what is learned here and apply the concepts downrange. If the interest is there to support the soldiers by way of donations, I would encourage you become involved in this effort through Amazon.com. The shipping address is listed through the “Wish List.” If you wish to donate another book for the library not listed on the list, or wish to purchase a book from another source other than Amazon.com, the same mailing address applies. For reference, the mailing address here at the academy is listed below:

Scott Kesterson
COIN Academy
Camp Phoenix
APO AEÂ 09320

Thank you all in advance.
Scott Kesterson.

UPDATE of Gardez Situation from Scott Kesterson

This morning I posted an urgent update about this story with links to PJ Tobiaâ€™s blog. Here is another update from Scott to me along with several pictures.

Eight suicide bombers attacked Gardez today. Two detonated themselves, four were killed by Afghan forces before being able to detonate their suicide vests, and two escaped. The Afghan forces performed brilliantly. They received intel early in the day and were able to minimize the damage from the attacks. Unfortunately, four Afghan soldiers were killed in the process, but civilian casualties were minimal to none. Following the attacks, patrols were dispatched to attempt to find the two bombers that escaped.

The attack, by tactical considerations, was a failure for the Taliban. Their inability to effectively fight the Afghan and Coalition Forces has left them with tactics that try to instill fear in the populous. Three to four hours following the attacks, I drove through the markets with the 203rd Corp Afghan Army SGT. Major, and the markets were full and busy. This was a good day for the Afghan forces.

WARNING- GRAPHIC PICTURES BELOW

US Army forces patrolling downtown Gardez

Dead attacker outside of Paktia Province Governorâ€™s Mansion (notice BLUE BURKA laying next to him)

Gardez Traffic Circle near Afghan National Police HQ

Dead Insurgent outside of Afghan National Police HQ

National Directorate of Security (Afghan FBI) building Guard Shack

Dead insurgent outside of National Directorate of Security compound