The Afghan parliamentary elections were held on September 18th, and I must say that is truly humbling to have bared witness to this event. The parliamentary elections I doubt received the attention that the previous presidential election had; but in my opinion, they were much more important. This is the first time in the history of this great country that every person can say that they hold some power and say into the future of Afghanistan. Of course, some of the wrong people will get elected and some bad decisions will be made, but this is expected and hopefully the good in people will win out.

One aspect of the parliamentary elections that is often looked at is the women's role in all of this. Most people are aware that women were able to vote; and seeing a woman in a burka with a purple finger (from the voting ink) was inspiring, but the one aspect that has been over looked is the power that women will have in the Afghan government! Each district was required to elect a certain percentage of women, and while many of the afghans that are stuck in the old mindset believe that they will only hold a mock seat, they are forgetting that each woman's vote is just as powerful as each male's vote and if the women group together, they will become one of the strongest political groups in the parliament!

Another exciting event that occurred in early September happened while I was in Bagram picking up a piece of equipment, while I was waiting for my helicopter to fly me back to Asadabad, I sat down next to a soldier that looked oddly familiar, although I could not place where I knew him from. After sitting for a minute, I looked over and saw his name tape, and it said "HORN", immediately I knew who he was, but I asked if his first name was Brian just to be positive… and it turned out that it was Brian Horn… the founder of AnySoldier.Com that I was sitting next to! I introduced myself, shook his hand and told him how much I appreciated all that he and his family have done for me and my guys. He also told me about a very special AnySoldier project that he is working on in the next few months, but I will keep you all in suspense about that.

While the elections and meeting SGT Horn were both very exciting, they were nothing compared to who I saw in late September and early October… I saw the most amazing person in the world… Lori Cole… my wife! That is right, I got to leave Afghanistan for two weeks and spend every moment of it with my soul mate! We had a great time together, wither it be drinking a Guinness at the Guinness factory in Dublin (a must do if you go to Ireland), lounging around home in "comfy pants" watching episodes of Lost and snuggling on the couch or eating really bad Mexican food… every second of my leave was perfect!

Unfortunately, I had to leave and come back to Afghanistan; although, it was nice to hear how much all of my guys missed me (don't tell them, I missed them too) and to see my dogs again. A lot has changed in Asadabad since I left, there are a surprisingly high amount of new faces and lots of old faces are gone (SGT Tritto and SGT Autrey, both AnySoldier.com members have left). Golden or Mama Dog (it is the same dog, it just depends who you ask) had her puppies (six cute little fuzz balls)… but fortunately, the Asadabad vibe has not changed and it is still a great place to work. …and it is a good thing that I enjoy work, as I have been running a 100 miles per hour since I got back… in one week we did 4 MedCaps (where we got to remote villages and treat people for free) and I have yet to have a day where I have not "left the wire".

It was very nice to come back to a pile of mail from all of you guys, once again, you guys have done a great job! I love the drawings from kids in elementary schools, the snacks you guys send are just what I need and the cigars… well… the cigars are perfect! Thanks. This brings me to something important… I am sorry if you get a package returned to you, while I was gone my address changed and nobody thought to notify us, mail should still trickle through with the old address but, I know for a fact that many of it is being sent back (while I was on leave, I got 5 letters from my wife that were RTS) so here is my new address and once again I am sorry:

[see above]

Here is the most current list of requests from me and my guys:

1) Cigars
2) Under Armor "Cold Gear"
3) Hand Warmers
4) An MP3 Player (we have an uncanny ability to lose or break them)
5) Spam (preferably the singles pouch)[if there is a non-pork variety --Support Team]
6) Cigars

You may have noticed that I left the Slurpee machine off the list this time, this is for two reasons (sadly none of the reasons involve 7-11 actually sending me the machine):

1) A blender that was sent out along with some shaved ice syrup has worked out surprisingly well
2) It is going to get pretty cold here

Thanks again for all of your wonderful support! You guys are the best!

This pictures I have included in this update are

1) Lori and me at the Castle Blarney (yes, we kissed the Blarney Stone)

2) Goofing around with a boy at a school that we helped build in Asmar

3) Treating a little girl on a MedCap in Chowlkay

Enjoy

SSG Scott "Doc" Cole

What we are doing here is good…
…and what we are doing is right!

11 Sep 2005

This is the second time since the 9/11 attacks that I have spent the anniversary of the day the world changed in a combat zone. I have deployed 8 times in my 7 year career, and have spent every holiday away from home, all of which saddens me; however, no holiday fills me with emotions to the level that September 11th does. Christmas makes me miss my family, my birthday brings thoughts of my friends and my Anniversary fills me with heart ache for my wife, but September 11th is different. September 11th fills me with anger, depression and other negative feelings; as I still struggle to understand the motives behind why anyone would want to kill completely innocent people (haves vs have-nots is not a sufficient reason, nor is infidels in a holy land), but it also fills me with pride, honor and hope! I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished in the last 4 years (the toppling of two genocidal, racist, intolerant governments), I feel honored to have contributed to the futures of Afghanistan(2005) and Iraq(2003) and I am extremely anxious to see how these two nations evolve into this new world that we are living in.

When I was in Iraq I received a letter from my friend Mark Z. in which he said the following "The outcome of this war [The Global War On Terrorism] will decide its place in history, it will either be considered the greatest act of selfless service the world has ever seen or just another attempt at claming imperialism as good intentions." For me, the answer to that question is obvious. For me the answer is clearly that these wars are the greatest acts of selfless service that history has ever seen. I say this because we are gaining nothing for us, for the United States of America , by staying in Iraq and Afghanistan, we could leave now and sit back and watch as their weak infrastructures crumble under the man with the AK-47, RPG and greatest amount of will. Or we can "stay the course" and watch as millions of people learn that their lives can have happiness, meaning and freedom.

Making the choice to abandon the course or stay the course is obviously a very difficult one. If we leave, millions of people will lose their basic rights and their human rights for at least another generation; however, if we stay, we will continue to lose more soldiers/marines/sailors and airmen. It is easy to see the complexities in answering this difficult question. I know I do not speak for everyone in the service, but my feelings are this: 1) Never leave a job unfinished, 2) Giving people their basic human rights is a cause worth fighting for and 3) Every death is tragic, but no death in either one of these wars has been for no reason. So needless to say, I believe we should continue on until the job is done.

But, how can we continue on? Most of my friends have spent at least two of the last four years away from their loved ones and this pace does not look to be slowing down. I do not know a single soldier that has made it through these last few years without the loss of someone they called their brother in arms. So what can be done? What should be done? We need to support our soldiers and our nation. We need to stop criticizing every decision and start looking at the bigger picture, we need to put our faith in our leaders and trust that they are leading us in a righteous direction. We must tell these people that can not see this big picture to take a step back and look at all that is available because up close a Van Gogh painting is nothing more than a bunch of dots. We must also quit letting people use our sacrifices as a platform for their personal wars, if I am to die in my 6 remaining months I ask that no one reading this use my death as a reason to protest the war on terrorism or ever even consider saying that my death was pointless. I know that I have made a difference in this world and I know that I will continue to make that difference every day that I am here. I know all this because what I am doing here is good, and what I am doing is right.

SSG Scott "Doc" Cole

I have also enclosed one picture from our September 11th Ceremony (we raised 20 flags to half mast, in the time between the first plane striking the World Trade Center and the falling of the second tower) here on PRT Wright, Asadabad Afghanistan. In the picture I am preparing to hoist the flag to half mast by first raising it up to the top of the flag pole and then lowering it half way down.

19 Aug 2005

Well, I am going to start this letter off with some excellent news... I am just about at my SIX MONTH mark of the deployment, that means I can now start counting how many days I have left (188) instead of how many days I have been here (177) and I am sure that time is just going to fly by; especially since, I will be going on leave pretty soon! That is right, in just over a month, I will be able to see my wife for two weeks! I do not remember ever being this excited in my life.

In other news, things here have been rough and tough in these last few weeks... we have unfortunately lost quite a few soldiers from my PRT/FOB or in the vicinity of our AO... it sucks, but like I said in an earlier email, we will not back down! instead we will push on faster and harder to honor their memories!

Oh, have you noticed anything new about the anysoldier "Where To Send" page? ( http://AnySoldier.com/WhereToSend/ ) If you do not know what I am talking about, scroll halfway down and you will see a link to a video I made out here! The video is the special project that I had refered to a few months ago, and it was because of one of you that it is on the site! The video was the first I made and I must thank SPC Nicholas Richard for teaching me how to make these vidoes; however, that was my first one, the ones I have made subsequently are much much better (and there are pictures of people other than me in it).

As always, here are a few recent pictures... The first is somewhat blurry, but that is me using an afghan store as a treatment center for an injured commrade (he had recieved a shrapnel wound to the lower leg; which I treated while on the move), the next picture is me taking a break while out on a mission and the last is me after an all night patrol with the sun rising in the background.

Oh, I have recieved quite a few emails in the last few days about finally recieving your flag! I am glad that they are getting back to you guys, and believe me, it was a pleasure to carry a flag in my armor for you, it is just nice to know that people believe in what we are doing here. For anyone not familiar with my flag project, let me fill you in quickly: if you send me a flag, I will carry it in my body armor and do a write up about where it went and what I did with it and then I will send it all back to you!

"What we are doing here is good...and what we are doing is right!"

SSG Scott "Doc" Cole

21 Jul 2005

This note has to start off in a sad way... as many of you know, Asadabad has been all over the news lately, everything from a marine dying in our AO to the helicopter crashing and killing many of my brotheren... it has been a tough month for us. HOWEVER, please do not use this as data to support a "bring our troops home now" cause... think of it in this way, we now have that much more resolve to win this war. We will not run from where are brothers have fallen, no, we will instead go to where they fell and continue their fight, because it is good, it is right and to honor them!

Now, on to the less depressing stuff... things here in Asadabad have continued on like they had in previous months... with finding more and more work for me to do! I swear the Afghan day must be atleast 30 hours long, otherwise there is no way I could accomplish all my tasks!

The new team is out here and has got their feet wet, I still miss the old team alot (I hope you guys are having a good time back home, drink a Guinness for me!) but I am also enjoying the new team... they have some great personalities and are all very talented. We have been going out on missions non-stop, I can not remember the last time I spent a full day on the fire base! My favorite misson lately was one where I got to conduct a MedCap (we put drugs in our vehicles, go to a remote area and see patients) with 4 afghan docs and between the 5 of us, we saw over 1500 patients! (I would love to see an HMO work that hard!) My favorite patient was the man that wanted me to fix his leg, you see, he got shot in the leg and it had been causing him pain for quite awhile... by quite awhile I mean over 2 decades... he was shot when the Russians were here!

The dogs are doing quite well, Six The Dog had Parvo; but fortunately she knew a good medic. I really enjoyed it recently when my roommates went away for a few days, so I could let Six The Dog stay in my room... she even slept on my bed! I had forgotten just how much I missed sleeping with a dog on my bed. (I have not forgotten how much I miss sleeping with my wife though!)

The flag project is still going very well, I have about 30-40 flags in my room, sadly I am waiting on a trip out to Bagram before I can send them back to you guys, I am sorry it takes this long, but we are not allowed to send anything more than a letter from our fire base. The other day, my friend Seth re-enlisted in the army (6 more years!) and I got to stand tall and proudly holding a flag that was sent out by one of you during his ceremony!

Now for the part I feel guilty about, here is the list of our most current needs:

1) Cigars.. if you do not know what kind of cigar to get, just go to a smoke shop (there is one in nearly every mall) and talk to the owner and tell them what you are doing (they may even donate cigars if they know it is for a soldier) and ask them to make recommendations

2) Crystal Light "On The Go" packets. It is brutually hot out here, and we drink more water than a fish! All flavors sound great, but my personal favorites are the Rasberry Ice and Peach Tea.

3) Any of the UFC DVDs http://www.ufc.tv (we have 49, 50, 51 and Ultimate Knockdowns 1/2/3) but, I would never ask for anyone to order the pay-per-view UFC 54 on August 20th, Tivo it, and send it out here... that would be wrong.

4) Any DVD is also welcomed, just keep in mind it is for a group of guys, so I must say that I doubt the guys would really go for something like Sense and Sensibility.

5) Underarmor brown t-shirts

6) Did I mention cigars?

The pictures on this update are
1) Me "monkeying" around
2) Seth re-enlisting (that is me holding the flag on the left, and Sean Autrey, who is also on anysoldier on the right)
3) Me eating watermelon with a senior member of the Afghan National Police, during the middle of one of our many joint missions

Well, that is all for now, I need to go rack out as I have a mission tomorrow. Thanks for all your support!

What we are doing here is good...
...and what we are doing is right!

23 Jun 2005
Well, things here are getting hot and heavy! I mean this in the literal sense, we have been above 100 degrees for the last two weeks and I am spending more and more time in all my gear (and I swear someone is sneaking 45lb plates into gear when I am not looking!) I must admit, it is exhausting chasing bad guys through the mountains of Afghanistan (why can't this country be flat? It would be so much easier!)

For all the other times that I have started off an email saying things have been busy, I had been wrong... this is busy! I almost never on camp, but I am always with my friends (I have a great group of guys with me) Speaking of my guys, I have sad news (and I have very sad news latter on in this letter) Brian, Erich, Nick, Hugh, John, Bill, Mark and Heather have all headed back home (hey, that is sad news for me... they were really good guys, and I will miss them a ton) but fortunately they have been replaced by another cool group of guys (I doubt they will measure up, not because they are not a good team (they are a good group) but because the old team was great!)

Ok, enough beating around the bush, here is the sad news (dog lovers, you should probably just skip this paragraph) we recently had atleast two rabid dogs come on to camp, and believe me, I write this with a heavy heart, Killer and Booger did not survive. The camp mood is noticably different without them. Also, as I feared, Itchy fell to the same disease as Scratchy. There was nothing that could be done to save any of the dogs; however, Shiloh, Twix and Six are still doing very well and are in excellent health.

I have three photos to share as always... the first picture is of Cpl Owens (my gunner) and I as we watch close air support deliver the boom to some bad guys, then we have a picture of Twix looking her best, getting ready for a Jimmy Buffet concert, and finally, a group shot of some of us enjoying some fine cigars.

Oh, in other big news, I mentioned earlier about a special project, well it turns out it was easier to accomplish than I though, I will be sending the special product out with each flag I send back from now on and I will also try to get it posted somewhere on the internet... I will put up a link when I get it posted.

Alright, now for the part I always feel guilty about writing, here is the latest list of needs:

1) The Slurpee machine (I am still hoping for this to somehow come through! we have both 110 and 220 power on camp... however, I do not think that was really the big hold up in getting it out here)

2) Flavor-Ice, I do not think we could have enough out here, besides they are a good fill in until we get the slurpee machine

3) Under Armor brown t-shirts in sizes M, L and XL.. I have recieved a few so far, and I kept two for myself and gave the rest out, they are so much better to wear than the normal brown shirt, I would like to get a few shirts for each soldier

4) Cigars (like you did not see this request coming). Smoking cigars has become almost a big mission tradition, as you see in the one picture, I am supporting the habit of quite a few guys

5) Fruit snack cups... I am partial to pineapple, but the guys will eat anything!

6) Dog food, we now have about 50 rope toys and only 3 dogs.

7) Socks that would fit a size 10 foot

8) One of the new guys wants Velvetta for some odd reason... he is a wierd one.

9) Any current events magazine... (Time, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated)

10) Did I mention Cigars?

Well, that is all for now, I have to go rack out, for an early wake up tomorrow.

SSG Scott "Doc" Cole

03 Jun 2005
Hey all, just wanted to toss a quick thank you out to all those that have been supporting me and my guys! Also, I want to fill you in on some of the lastest happenings...

First off, some sad news... Itchy got pretty sick and has left us, she was a great dog and is missed by everyone at the camp and right now we are worried that Scratchy is heading down the same path.

Secondly, the Flag project is going very well, I have some awesome pictures to send back to you all; however, I can only send packages back when either I or one of my friends heads up to Bagram, so it may take awhile for it to get to you. This delay in sending is both a curse and a blessing, the blessing part being that I am working on a special secret project that I will be sending with each flag, as long as I can get this project done.

Thirdly, thank you all for supporting my cigar habit, I know that many of you do not agree with tobacco use, but after a stressful day or mission, nothing relaxes us all like sitting down for a smoke and talking for a few hours!

Lastly, I am only including one picture in this post, it is from a few nights ago when I came under a rocket attack (do not worry, no one was hurt... at least on our side). I had been outside of our camp smoking a cigar (Acid: Cold Ice Tea Infusion, truly a wonderful cigar!) when we got attacked... after the attack I had my friend Brian snap this picture. The flag I had in my armor was from Amanda.

Thanks again for all the support, and here is the most needed items now:

1) CIGARS!!! I have finally smoked enough that I can tell you what I like, so if possible we would really love:
-Acid: Cold Ice Tea Infusion
-A Fuente Gran Reserva
-Romeo Y Julieta Medallas de Oro
-Havana Honeys Blackberry
We are still learning alot about cigars out here so any kind will work and will definatly be apreciated.
2) More shoes/flip flops/Tevas etc... in all sizes
3) The slurpee machine (if not the machine, some Flav-o-ice would be great... I think that is what they are called, you know the long tube of colored liquid that you put in a freezer)
4) Under Armor brown t-shirts M, L or XL... no one here is a small!
5) Little packets of Dog food
6) an MP3 player for Brian, his is definatly beyond repair

On a side note, I have to say that the response I have been recieving from Anysoldier is unbelievable... I now recieve (and share) more mail than most of the camp combined! However, because I am getting such an overwhelming response, I must say that if you are new to anysoldier, maybe you should consider supporting someone else, I am being well taken care of and I know there are soldiers out there at other camps that would love your support.

Thanks again

31 May 2005

Well, I realize that it has been a long time since I have updated my site here, but I have been unbelievable busy lately, I am sure you all are understanding of my situation. Since the last time I wrote, I have gone on countless missions, attended numerous briefings and treated a few of my guys for meningitis! Some of the particular highlights include going to a Women's Shura (afghan term for meeting) where we discussed women's rights and education, I was interviewed for the Kunar newspaper and got my picture in the paper twice! (I am the most famous man in Kunar!) And the last highlight was having another helicopter show up with mail!

This most recent mail delivery, had my second shipment from Anysoldier show up! I got some amazing letters and packages! Thank you all for your support. My guys and I have been enjoying everything that has been sent to us. The shoe project has been go very well, I gave out about 30 pairs of shoes at the Women's Shura and countless pairs at my clinic. I have also got a few of the Children's books translated and have sent them back to the publisher (the first book I asked to get translated was Green Eggs and Ham; however, my interpreter recommended that we not translate this one, as no Muslim wants to read about eating pork!)

Here is the most current list of items that my guys, the locals or I could use: 1)Shoes/Sandals/Flip-flops, for boys, girls, men and women 2)Radios that are either solar powered or hand cranked (no battery powered or electrical radios) 3)Under-armor brown t-shirts sizes L or XL (it is getting unbelievably hot here) 4)Cigars! (I did quit all tobacco use other than cigars, and we smoke cigars only about once a week) 5)An MP3 player (I know this is a lot to ask for, but Brian, one of my guys, had his broke while working out) 6)A Slurpee machine with coke flavored mix (I am still hoping for a miracle here)

Thanks again for all the support, your letters have been great, you have shown me that people do really care about us and believe in what we are doing!

SSG Scott "Doc" Cole

What we are doing here is good…
…and what we are doing is right.

17 May 2005

I had been out for the last few days, but on the way back in we got word over the radio that mail had arrived... and that some of the guys were angry with me! I was really excited to get some mail, but I must admit, my excitement was over-run with wonder about what I had done to anger some of the guys on camp... it turns out that the two issues are related! The guys on camp were upset with me, because they had to unload NINETEEN PACKAGES for me!

THANK YOU SO MUCH ANYSOLDIER!

The packages were all great, I have already sorted them:
1) Dog Toys
2) Dog Food
3) Candy
4) School Supplies
5) Items for Afghan girls
6) Items for Afghan boys
7) Children's books
8) Stuff for me and my guys

I have also begun distributing them, I took the candy and items for afghan girls/boys down to the local clinic that I supervise

The childrens books I asked one of my interpretters to start working on translating them into Pashto (starting with Goodnight Moon)

Killer, Twix, Shiloh, Itchy, Scratchy, J-lo and new camp puppy Six are enjoying the dog toys and food; however, they still have not got the concept of fetch and return down, so many toys have already gone missing!

And of course, I took care of my guys... I did recieve many cigars, but I have not smoked any yet, as I am trying to quit for seven days (day 3 right now) just to make sure that I am not addicted (my wife would kill me if I became addicted). Do not think that I am trying to quit completely, just these seven days.

Onto other news, today was an amazing day, we held an Education Conference for the Deputy of Education for Kunar (the provience I am in) and for the Chief of Education for each of the districts I support (15 in all)... The discussion went very well, we talked about everything from girls in school to getting more teachers qualified to teach... all in all, a very successful meeting (yes, I am aware that in the picture "conference" is spelled wrong... can anyone find the spelling error in the pashto part?) At the conclusion the meeting we gave out school kits to each of the chiefs and I gave out all the school suppies I had recieved too. (in the picture I am the big guy in the back right corner)

As all of you that have written to me know, I am willing to carry a flag in my body armor and take pictures, do a write up and send the flag back... well, with all the packages I got, I had to pass off a few flags to other soldiers... so do not be surpised if you recieve a flag from a Lance Cpl King (he is with 3/3 Marines) and a soldier from the 159th Aviation Company (she is flying the flag all over Afghanistan)... also, mail is already slow, but I promise that I, or one of my guys, will reply to every letter sent, but now that there are 19 packages and a ton of letters (plus I write to my wife every night) it may take even longer. I have been writing in all my spare time, as you can see in the third picture, I am using some downtime after chow on a mission to write a letter to Miss Ziegra's class on the back of an MRE.

Oh, many of the letters asked for some personal details about myself, so here is a real quick bio...

I am 24 (turning 25 next month) I was born and raised in northern Virginia (I even got a letter from someone in my hometown!) I am married, and have been for over 2 years, my wife's name is Lori and she and I are truely soul-mates I am on my 8th overseas deployment (5th since Lori and I began dating)but this is only my 2nd combat tour (I was in Iraq for 2003) I have been in the Army for almost 7 years, and loving every part of it, except for the time it has taken me away from Lori I had been stationed at Fort Bragg (Airborne, All The Way!) for 6 years, but in November I got stationed at Caserma Ederle, in Vicenza Italy. I listen to punk rock (although I never act or dress like the stereo-typical punk) and my favorite bands are Rancid, Alkaline Trio and Dropkick Murphys My favorite books are East of Eden, Grapes of Wrath, A Brief History of Time, and Gates of Fire (I prefer books that Barnes and Nobles would refer to as "Literature", but I read any- and everything)

Well, I think that should give you guys a good idea about who and what I am... and lastly, here is the revised, most current list of items needed out here for my guys, the locals and myself

Me and my guys:
1) Cigars (I am only quitting for 7 days!)
2) Tobacco Products (cigarretes, dip, chew... there is always someone in need of American Tobacco)
3) Batteries AA

The locals:
1) School supplies
2) Hard candy, that is individually wrapped
3) Toys for boys and girls
4) Kids shoes/sandles/flip flops (just please tie the laces together or rubber band them together)

Oh, and if anyone can figure out a way of getting a Slurpee machine out here, we would be forever in your debt!

What we are doing here is good...
...and what we are doing here is right.

SSG Scott "Doc" Cole

13 May 2005

Hey all, sorry it has been such a long time since I have updated, but I have been very busy recently! First off, I have started to recieve my first few packages from AnySoldier.com... Thank you very much Mark from CA and Mike from MI (there is a chance I have that backwards... if I do, sorry about that)

I have also been busy with missions, I have taken a flag out with me on the last two... Mike and Mark, your flags are already on their way back to you with pictures and movies explaining where they were taken and what we did there (the movies are in .mov format, you will need QuickTime to view it, Windows Media Player does not support .mov)

Does anyone notice anthing different about this picture of me? No, I have not lost weight... or got a haircut... I finally got pinned as a Staff Sgt! Although I have had the orders for the promotion since the first of april, I wanted to get promoted while I was out on a mission with my guys... the guys that pinned me were SSG McDonald, a Civil Affairs soldier, and Doctor Shams, an afghan doctor that works in my clinic!

Lastly, here is another picture of me and Killer... she is drinking out of a bowl that my little sister sent me, I then borrowed the engraver from my mechanic and wrote Killer's name on the bowl! In this picture, she and I are just taking a break from a long and hot day (it has already broken 100 degrees Farenheit here).

Thanks for the continual support, you guys have been awesome!

Here is the revised list of what we currently need out here:

1) Hard Candy for the children
2) Shoes in kids and adult sizes
3) Cigars... for me

oh, and this is going to sound silly... but does anyone know of anyway of getting the convience chain 7-11 to send out a slurpee machine? Me and the guys were talking about this as a joke the other day... but then we all seriously began to wonder if it could be done.

And of course, if anyone wants a flag flown/carried in my body armor send it out, I will get pictures and a movie back to you.

SSG Scott "Doc" Cole

26 Apr 2005
Just wanted to share another photo, this is what I do when I have time to relax (which sadly, is not that often). I really enjoy reading (I was reading "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"), but my favorite activity is playing with our camp dogs, esspically the tan one (look under the weight lifting bench), Killer.

We have dogs on camp, Shiloh is the alpha dog, Twix a reddish dog (Twix is also a jerk), Killer (my favorite dog), Itchy (a pup that has allergies), Scratchy (another puppy with allergies) and J-Lo (a third puppy, but she has no tail). As you no doubt noticed, we have a lot of puppies, so last month, we did fix all our dogs. Like I mentioned earlier, Killer is hands down my favorite dog. Killer is not the most talented of dogs, she is without a doubt, the least intelligent of all our dogs, but she is a ton of fun to play with, and I always give her some of my chow!

So, in addition to the items I mentioned earlier about needing out here, I also need dog toys (a rope toy, rawhides, a kong etc...) and as kind of a practical joke, any ridiculous dog costumes would be appreciated, I can not imagine the roar of laughter that would come from the guys seeing Killer run by wearing a tutu.

Thanks again,
SSG Scott "Doc" Cole

oh and expect another posting in a few days, as I recently got promoted to Staff Sgt!

21 Apr 2005
Just wanted to share a recent picture with everybody, I had this picture taken sometime in early April, the picture is of an afghan doc (Doctor Shafi, he works in the clinic I run when I am on camp), his daughter and myself... as you can see we are all enjoying blowpops that my wife had sent out.

Thanks again to anyone that supports me or any of the soldiers at AnySoldier.com, this really means alot to all of us.

Doc Cole

18 Apr 2005
I am a medic that regularly "leaves the wire", I am constantly meeting with the local afghan population. I am busy trying to help "win the hearts and minds" of the locals, so please send items that you would not mind being donated to the men, women and children of Afghanistan. Some suggestions are: shoes for children, tooth paste and tooth brushes, hard candy (no chocolate, it melts in the Afghan heat), Children's books (I am a big fan of The Giving Tree), pens and pencils, cigars (nothing ends a good meeting and builds rapport like everyone lightening up a nice stogie) and feminine hygiene pads.

Also, if you would like to send a flag, I will take it out on one of my missions, take a picture of it (send a CD-R, if you want to get a copy), do a write up about where and when it was flown and send it back to you.

Lastly, if you would like to send something specific for me, well.. I do not need much, I have a wife that supports me; however, she does not support my smoking habit, so my only request is for cigars to share with all of my guys.

Thank you.

SSG Scott "Doc" Cole

What we are doing here is good, and what we are doing is right.