My visit to DC

[gbsean]

some or you may know that my wife's Mom married an ex Green Beret from the Vietnam Era assigned to General Abrams and also was in Grenada and in Panama during the Noriega campaign...He specializes in intelligence. He just got back from Afghanistan as a private contractor to the U.S armed forces. Had numerous meetings with Petraeus on a weekly basis. He is a retired Lt Colonel.. He was in charge of other ex Armed forces that went out into the field with Regulars  to observe and report back to better inform those in command as to what steps they should take. He was very vague as to what they did in the field.. It was interesting that he contact my mother in-law to order a different flak jacket and holster for his personal side arm. He also mentioned that he had to be re-certified in the U.S. for side arm and automatic weapons... more to follow

[DCEPTCN]

This has just *got* to get good!

[Steve Wood]

see if he will admit to us knowing where Usama was for three years before we acted

[gbsean]

ok I had typed something out last night and forgot to post reply....so lets try again...

He was very vague about the operations he was involved with but did shed some light onto what was going on. His personal side arm was a Sig Sauer P226 do not know what model...was issued gun and belt holster but found it uncomfortable and asked my mother-in-law to order a gun bag he could carry in his brief case. He was also issued a standard issue body amour but as he is a plus size guy he had my mother-in-law order something better to fit... Was also issued a XM8 automatic Rifle that was secured in the car that he was assigned. Now in traveling around he was given a driver a local afghan as well as a armed security detail which would come in handy as more than once the convoys were detained by local's looking for a kick back...He said there were a few times when guns were aimed and tensions were high. Corruption runs rampant... They had a few trusted suppliers of basic items such as printer cartridges...w hat would happen is they would run out...and could not wait for next shipment...now they would send a runner to get some...the seller would inflate the price and split the difference with the runner....this happened all the time for all types of products...unt il they can find the right person and they did. He was also involved in day to day operations such as hiring the cleaning crew...there was sooo much red tape involved that most of the time he side stepped protocol....su ch as the cleaning crew...He said he had never been to a place that was so Dusty so he hired a crew to clean the offices and AC units...when the CO saw what was done he approved the payments

[Top Speed]

They need to nuke the whole place and start over.

[gbsean]

I will say one thing that I am sure most people do not know is that the U.S> Postal service does a great job in getting packages over seas and do not charge an arm and a leg. The U.S bases have special zip codes and once those are entered shipping is only a few $$ I had sent a few packages to him with cookies and photos and notes from the kids. Mother-in-law sent tons of stuff from socks to kettles to microwave  popcorn...  and not one shipment got lost. Now back to the vehicle stops...as wife has left and I am sure my Mother-inlaw does not know this....His car was stopped at a check point by local afghans The SOP was not to roll down the tinted windows as that gives the occupants the upper hand as the check point has no idea who is inside and what armament you may carry...well the rookie driver did not know this and did roll down window...autom atic weapon shoved in his face....and ordered to get out...Dan had already un-holstered his weapon and grabbed the rifle and switched it to Auto and had spare clip on the seat. The Escort was out in a flash with his XM8 and the suburban behind had another six special ops/ contracts jump out with their weapons....he called it a Mexican standoff...he said there was a lot of yelling and screaming and one of the special ops pointed to the sky and said something about the eye in the sky...and that if they did not let them pass all hell would break loose....after a few secs they backed down and let them pass....now ever time they went thru that check point...they were waved on...

[Pyro6]

I will say one thing that I am sure most people do not know is that the U.S> Postal service does a great job in getting packages over seas and do not charge an arm and a leg. The U.S bases have special zip codes and once those are entered shipping is only a few $$ I had sent a few packages to him with cookies and photos and notes from the kids. Mother-in-law sent tons of stuff from socks to kettles to microwave