Q & A With-Wasilla cop fresh off an Afghanistan adventure

By S.J. KOMARNITSKY

WASILLA — As a reserve officer with the Wasilla Police Department, John James has seen the rougher side of life.

But those experiences pale compared with his time in Afghanistan. A retired U.S. Army Major, James just returned from his second trip to the country.

His first tour four years ago, before he retired from the Army, he did military operations and helped advise the Ministry of Interior in Kabul. More recently he just returned from a year-long excursion as a civilian contractor helping advise the Afghan National Army on how to train recruits.

He stayed in Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif and Darulaman on the outskirts of Kabul. James sat down recently at his Wasilla area home to talk about his experiences and some of the ins and outs of working in Afghanistan, including learning to enjoy tea, not rushing into business talk as is the American way and dealing with 110 degree days. (Hint: being from the South helps.)

Q. So you have a good idea of how to do basic training for recruits in the U.S. How was it over there?

A. You got to teach a guy how to defend himself, how to use his hands, how to use weapons. So the major pieces are very similar. However, the American soldier is, I’m a little slanted here … is the best in the world. They really are. The other thing you don’t understand, at least conceptually, unless you’ve been over there. These guys, most of them, have about a third-grade education. One of the things that I thought was critical and pushed extremely hard to get the program started was literacy.

Q. Were you actually doing the training or were you advising the commander?

A. We were advising the commander on how we would do it if it was our thing. You know, you always want to put what I call an Afghan face on it. You want them to be in charge, you want them to be the boss. It’s their army, not ours. The way to do that is to walk with the commander through the day … and at the end of the day kind of compare notes.

Q. So you don’t want to come on too strong?

A. It’s all about relationships and networking. My technique was — this sounds kind of silly — for about the first three months … I worked extremely hard not to confront a contentious issue … The first thing you want to do is to get to know this person as a human being.

Q. Were there things that surprised you?

A. Yeah, even as a leadership guy, I was like, what life experiences led you to believe this was the correct way to address this issue. What planet are you from?

Q. And they are probably looking at us at the same way. But was there specifically a day where you went out and just had to shake your head?

A. That happened nearly on a daily basis. I’m being a little humorous there, … (but) I mean, marching, OK. They still use the old Soviet style, German WWII goose step. First off, the Soviet Union imploded 10, 20 years ago. Number two, it’s bad for your feet. You’re going to get shin splints, break the little bones in your feet. Third thing, it looks so antiquated, so crazy, so far out there. (But) you got to remember a lot of these officers were in the DRA (the afghan military supported by the Soviets during the Soviet war in Afghanistan) so they think they are being most professional because the DRA, the Soviets, taught them. You know, their mentors taught them to march like that.

Q. Were there other cultural things that caught you off guard?

A. Culturally, the greetings. It’s very impolite to discuss business immediately. It’s: ‘Good morning. How are you?’ How is your family is a very common thing to ask. It may be several minutes before you get to business.

Q. Several minutes!

A. They have a saying in Afghanistan. It’s like ‘You have a watch’ — all Westerners have a watch — ‘You have a watch. I have the time.’ They don’t really care about the time. I’ll see you tomorrow means I’ll see you tomorrow. It doesn’t mean, you know, at 2 o’clock you’re going to be here.

Q. That must have been hard at times. A. It would drive me nuts. As an American, being an organized kind of guy, especially a soldier background. I’m like, ‘OK at 10 we do this, at 10:15 we’ll be into this meeting …’

Q. Will you go back?

A. I have to discuss that with my wife