General Doug Pritt: May 2007 Update

Dear Family and Friends,

I am sorry it has taken me so long to provide another update. Right after my last update I left Afghanistan to go on leave and when I returned from leave I was only in Afghanistan a few days before I left for the United States for two weeks.

Susan and I elected to take our leave in Europe and visit our Dutch friends, William and Elaine, who have been to the US many times since we met in 1981. We on the other hand had not been back to Europe to see them since we left in 1983, so it was a perfect opportunity to see them and their new home. Susan met me in Holland and we stayed several days with William and Elaine and then left for the outskirts of Paris where we spent a week in a timeshare near Disney, Paris. William and Elaine went with us to Paris for the first few days which proved to be a big plus as they both speak French and have been to Paris many times and were very familiar with how to get around in the city. The weather was fine, the food terrific and the sights and sounds of the City of Light were perfect. We used the train and subway system to get around and found it easy to navigate throughout the city. I had some business meetings while we were there with the French Minister of Defense Staff and the Commander of the French Police Forces assigned outside of France. A French Colonel who had served with me in Afghanistan escorted Susan to Napoleon's Tomb and some other part of the Invalides museum while I attended meetings.

In addition to visiting Paris we also toured the countryside to find castles, great restaurants, street markets and one of our favorites, chocolate éclairs. We managed to consume at least one chocolate éclair from a different bakery or restaurant every day we were in France and Belgium.

After our week in France, we returned to Amsterdam via Brugge, Belgium where we had a wonderful time touring the city called The Venice of the North. Brugge is a beautiful walled city with an extensive canal system and a place we plan to visit again when we have time for a longer stay.

William and Elaine were perfect hosts. They even moved out of their master bedroom suite to provide us privacy and pamper us more than we deserved. I slept at least 8 hours each night and it was the most sleep I have had since I was mobilized in January 2006. Once we were back in Amsterdam we were able to visit many interesting sites. Including the area where William grew up and where he and Elaine lived when they were first married. Amsterdam is such an old and beautiful city we felt like we could spend many days just window shopping in the many unusual stores. We were mesmerized by the shops, restaurants, canals, crowded streets, bikes and an endless supply of interesting people. We also found time to go to a golf show, a classic car show, a Sotheby's art auction and take a trip to the countryside to visit a small fishing village and see the windmills Holland is so famous for.

While we were in Amsterdam we had dinner at two great restaurants, including one where the servers sang opera and classic hits between courses of the meal. We also had the opportunity to have a very special dinner with Elaine's family. It was a wonderful evening and so enjoyable to finally meet people we have talked about for so many years. Every day of our vacation was delightful and made more special because we were able to spend it with dear friends. Our vacation was over all too fast and the reality of returning to Afghanistan hit me when I left to take Susan to the Airport for her flight back to the US.

We also spent some time making preliminary plans for retirement and picking a date for our departure for New Zealand. Actually setting a date for Sue's retirement and my retirement from the National Guard makes the reality of finishing our working careers seem much more real. Retirement is no longer an abstract idea or concept, it is a concrete reality now in the 25 meter target range. Susan has been building our retirement home in Central Oregon and construction is almost complete. We are very fortunate to have our close friends, Bob and Pug, helping her with the process. I can't imagine attempting such an undertaking without their assistance. While I have seen pictures, it will be an exciting day when I actually get to see the reality of our dreams in person. Our plans are now solidified and we will spend the summer and early fall in Oregon and leave for New Zealand on 7 November. We plan to be there about 5 months and then return to Oregon for spring and summer so we can continue to enjoy our new home.

When I returned to Afghanistan, I was asked to go to the US and work with the unit from South Carolina that will replace us in late May. The original plan was for me to be in Afghanistan for about 9 hours and then leave for the US. I didn't think too much of that idea so I changed the plan and sent the rest of the team, eleven people in total, on ahead and then joined them 24 hours later. We spent a week at Camp Shelby, Mississippi providing briefings, insights and suggestions on how to make their training for the mission in Afghanistan better and more realistic. It was interesting to see the South Carolina team going through the same training we completed last year. The visit brought back many memories of our Camp Shelby experience.

When the rest of the team returned to Afghanistan, my Aide and I went to Washington DC for meetings at the National Guard Bureau and the Pentagon. Susan was able to fly out and join me for the weekend and we had a great time just relaxing and going for long walks and enjoying the peace and tranquility of everyday life in America. We had a great time in Europe but I will admit I enjoying reading the signs, menus and newspapers in English.

As luck would have it we arrived at the peak of the Cherry Blossom Festival so on Saturday we were up at O dark hundred and drove into the District to see the sunrise at the Tidal Basin. We headed for the spot with the largest concentration of Cherry Trees, and thus the blossoms. We arrived about 30 minutes before sunrise and found the last parking space in the area that provides the most convenient access to the Tidal Basin. It was a very special morning and our pictures of the sunrise with the Washington and Jefferson Monuments in the background turned out rather nice. A big thank you to Dy and Wayne for loaning us their digital camera to capture those pictures.

Tom and Linda, our long time friends who live in Northern Virginia, were in Florida for Spring Break so they gave us use of their house and car. They have a beautiful home so the choice of staying there or in a hotel was an easy one to make. We have visited them so many times in the past 18 years I can't even remember how many times we have stayed at their home. I know it feels like our second home so we are very comfortable being there even with
them gone.

On Monday I attended meetings and Susan took my aide, Tim, to see some of the sights. I met them at Arlington Cemetery where we went to visit the gravesite of a Soldier killed in Iraq. Susan works with the Soldiers uncle and she had told him she would go by to pay her respects. The cemetery remains a beautifully serene place and the pageantry of the funeral service being conducted near the gravesite was an impressive yet sobering sight.

One of my meetings in Washington DC was with LT General Blum, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau. During a trip to Afghanistan in the fall of 2006, General Blum asked me to assist with the training of the 27th Brigade from the New York National Guard who will be deploying to Afghanistan in 2008 to perform the Task Force Phoenix mission. I agreed with his request so I will be making several trips to New York in the coming months to assist as much as possible with their preparations.

General Blum has been a great supporter of the Task Force Phoenix team and certainly understands the complexity of our mission for two reasons. First, he has visited Afghanistan many times over the past 5 years and seen the changes to the Phoenix mission and the great performance of the previous teams. Second, his son Mark, a Major in the Maryland National Guard, just finished a tour as one of our embedded trainers with the Afghan National Army. Mark has done a terrific job and came away with a rich and rewarding experience. I am sure he has shared his thoughts and insights with his family.

Susan's time with me was over all too soon and she departed for home on Tuesday and I concluded my meetings and left for Fort Riley, Kansas where I visited some of the Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen being trained to come to Afghanistan to be part of our Task Force. This was my first trip to Fort Riley and I was very impressed with the history of the post. In March we sent 10 of our Soldiers from Afghanistan to Fort Riley to assist with the training and help make it more realistic to the Afghan environment. Our Soldiers were having a very positive impact and the personnel at Fort Riley were very quick to respond to their suggestions.

After completing my visit to Ft Riley, we departed for Afghanistan ready to complete the last 60 days of our mission. We arrived back in Afghanistan just in time to attend several meetings, a going away ceremony for the US Ambassador and catch a flight to Kandahar for even more meetings. I remember thinking; welcome back to the reality of service in a far away land. In the blink of the eye it was back to operations on the run from early morning to late at night. There were some significant changes to our mission while I was gone and it reminded me that change in our mission has been constant since our arrival here. At the same time there are some things in Afghanistan that don't seem to change at all. As we have observed on many occasions you can go from the only 5 Star Hotel in Kabul to a Third World Country environment to Biblical Times in a ten kilometer distance.  After only a few hours back in Afghanistan, in many respects, it felt like I had never left.

I did manage to take an early mourning off, on Friday the 13th of April, and climb a small mountain named The GAR. The GAR is located on the Kabul Military Training Center about 5 miles from Camp Phoenix. The area is secure so we are allowed to climb without our body armor, which is a big plus. The start point for the climb is at 6,000 feet elevation and the summit is at 7,500 feet. Only the very top of the climb is difficult and the views of Kabul and the surrounding snow capped mountains are well worth the effort. We started early to beat the heat and were back at the base of the mountain before 9 AM.

There is no doubt we have been busy with our mission of training the Afghan National Army, however the additional requirement to train the 62,000 and growing police force has taken our level of activity to a new dimension and increased our pace significantly. The change is exciting and exhilarating and comes at a good time for us as it forces us to focus on the new
requirements and not become complacent.

On 15 March, we were officially designated a Combined Joint Task Force by the CENTCOM Commander. For all practical purposes Task Force Phoenix has been operating as a self proclaimed CJTF for some time, but we were the first to ask for and receive approval for the formal designation as a CJTF. Being officially named a CJTF allows our personnel to receive awards and special assignment credit that will help them with career advancement. Because the designation came so late in our deployment we won't be able to submit any of the Oregonians for joint awards but the South Carolina team will be able to recognize their personnel with joint awards and that is a success story in my eyes.

The arrival of our replacements has also brought additional excitement into our daily lives. In the past two weeks we have started to focus on making the transition with our replacements as seamless as possible. Many members of the South Carolina team have already arrived with more inbound every day. Soon we will be conducting the Transfer of Authority ceremony and depart Afghanistan. As we begin making our way back home many of us will see the US with a new perspective based on our experiences of the past 12 months spent in this amazing land called Afghanistan.

For many of our Soldiers, like me, this mission is the perfect ending to a long military career. Having trained for a mission like this for so many years it is very gratifying to see the team perform at such an exceptional level in a difficult and challenging environment. An environment of mission expansion, limited resources, an adaptable enemy, geographical separation and constant change. Our commander, Major General Bob Durbin, said it best "CJTF Phoenix has the most difficult and complex mission of any Brigade Combat Team in the United States Army, bar none." For other members of the Task Force this is just one of many deployments they might have during their careers. In their case this experience will make them better leaders, commanders and Soldiers. They have been challenged and they measured up to the test and in most cases exceeded the standard. We are all better for the experience and will be able to tell our families and friends that we made a positive difference to the people of Afghanistan.

Love Doug