September 17, 2004 - We had a race here on camp Julien this morning.  About 80 people participated between all the events.  The event breakdown was:2km,5km,10km.You could walk or run, no official time was kept.  The races were held at 6am and another one will be held at 3:30pm today then they will do the same thing tomorrow.  I was the first American finisher (it helped to be the only American participant).  I'm going to be at each race (if conditions permit). My time for the 5km was 24:51,a little off from my last races at home,  maybe the altitude makes a difference.  I don't get to train as often as I did at home due to missions and schedules.  Oh well, no excuses, I'll try harder and get back down to 23:30 if I can.  I'll try to send a few pictures of the races.  We have 8 or 9 countries represented here at camp Julien, Kabul, Afghanistan.

September 17, 2004  - We went to Gardez to help he ANA protect President Karzi.8 of us ETT's and 400 ANA, he also had his Dynacorp security and the local police.  It was a total goat screw (sic).  Around noon his helicopters started showing up, some Apachies and Chinooks.  Then just as one of the Chinooks was landing( total brown out of the LZ) a rocket was fired.  First was the launch explosion then the rocket screaming by then the impact.  The helicopter took off and things got a little tense for awhile but no follow up attacks came.  After awhile we gathered up the ANA and convoyed back to the palace in Kabul.
 No one was killed by the impact that we heard of.
 Sorry I can't personalize this by writing to everyone individually but computer time is limited and I try to spend it writing my wife, Ellie. Hope you can understand.
 

September 18, 2004 - I've finished my 3rd 5km in two days and have one left to go at 3:30pm, then the awards banquet at 5:30 this evening.  I'm still the fastest American (and still the only American).  My times have slowed progressively; 24:51-26:13-26:46.  I guess that's to be expected from a 205 pound man at 7000feet.  I'll try harder for this last race, if my legs are holding up.  Thanks for taking the time to e-mail. Doug Dietrich

September 20, 2004 - Some pictures from the races.  A dust storm was ending as the last race was beginning.  The queens palace in the background at the start.  A blackhawk landing in the middle of the course.

                                                              

September 21, 2004 - I may have sent these pictures to some of you. The first one is of Mazer-e-sharif, that's the place where Taliban Johnny was captured and CIA agent Johnny Span was killed.  I'm in body armor with my weapons, ammo and grenades.  Next is a few of us raising the flag on 11 september 2004.  If you send a flag to me, I'll raise it and fly it over the camp, then send it back to you with a certificate signed by the commander verifying it was flow over Camp Julien in Kabul, Afghanistan.  I would normally buy the flags myself and send them to family and friends, but on my military pay and the difficulty of getting money over here (we are limited to $200 American & $200 Afghany) and at $19.00 for an embroidered flag, I just can't afford to.  The last picture is of me on the grounds of the President's Palace.  Lots of weapons and ammo.

                                                               

October 10, 2004 - I was given some better pictures by the Canadians camp photographer.  Here they are.
I upped my mileage and came up foot sore.  Since the medics are only a few hundred yards away,I went down for an examination.  They x-rayed my foot and found a bone spur.  It's not extremely painful, but it does throb a bit.  Any members with experience with bone spurs and advice?  I could use it!

The national elections were yesterday (9oct04).  It went well.  The media was disappointed because there were no car bombs or major riots against Karsai or the United States.  It was really uneventful, though we had a goat step on a land mine a few miles from our base.  If you remove the media and set aside the Bush bashing, you'd see all the people the U.S. has helped by coming here and staying.  Every country is afraid to say they are friends with us, but once the anti-American sentiment goes away, everyone who participated will be proud to say they were here and we did a good job.  The countries that didn't help and the Democrats that are against it for political reasons will be ashamed they didn't support us.  If Kerry is elected he will bring us home at the first sign of trouble and we will have wasted our time and lose this war for us and the Afghans.  We owe it to them and ourselves to do the right thing and finish this no matter how hard it may seem.  Well I've probably said too much, I'd better go.
  Doug
                                                                                                        


November 6, 2004 - tThis is another pic of the school we took all the things you all donated (I couldn't find it on my thumb drive when I sent the others).  The school is in Kabul, I don't remember the name of it but will find out.
 The soldiers in the previous pictures were-SFC Kingsley from the Indiana National Guard (he has a website for HQ 1st BDE ETT's and I'll get the address soon-it has video for the school and pictures of interest) he's the skinny guy with glasses, SFC Sincterman also of the IN NG, CPT Ogden is in the background ,he is from the PA NG.  I took the pictures so I'm not in them, then pulled security on the trucks so everyone was able to share in the experience. I should have taken better pictures but I didn't want to be like Sally Struthers with the starving children of Africa-you know what I mean?
 The other picture is of kids that hang out at one of the traffic circles.  SGM Wheeler of the IN NG wants to adopt one of them, says they remind him of his grand kids.  We give them candy and now and then a dollar plus stuffed animals.  It's a little tricky because the bigger kids and sometimes adults will take it away from them.  It's the law of the jungle in some places here. That's one of the reasons we need to keep troops here.
                                    
                                                                                        Click Here for Video

March 21, 2005 - Hello,
Thanks for every thing.Especially Sam and Marg.Things are either boring or explosive around here.I'm looking forward to coming home in August.Hope to see you all then at some of the runs.
Doug