Humanitarian Aid

As a part of reconstruction, we also provide humanitarian aid. Our civil affairs (CA) team on the PRT generally leads this, but I happened to be along on this mission because I was assessing some potential construction projects. As you can see from the picture it's straight out of national geographic magazine. We set up constantine wire to prevent the people from mobbing the truck and attempted to get the Afghan National Police (ANP) to organize the distribution. Unfortunately we had to step in to control the crowd and prevent the ANP from stealing more than their share of supplies. A general package that the people receive consists of flour, beans, a blanket, a solar powered radio, hats, gloves, and jackets. Don't get too blown away by the solar powered radio. It was made in China and didn't seem to work very well. It was a cold day to be standing out there for six hours even though there was no snow. Check out the mountains in the background though. We're surrounded by the white stuff.