Keith Wolahan
On his second tour they did more shifts during the day which is riskier but at the same time enables them to achieve more as they can get a better understanding of what they are dealing with. When leading a mission he has up to 80 people under his control including a significant medical team including; 2 doctors, an interpreter who was also a medical student, army nurses and paramedics.
Afghanistan has a very strong local identity where different regions have different interpretations on religion, laws and other matters. However through the constitution the power is very centralised in Kabul which does not work for a country that identifies locally. Afghanistan is often described as being like the moon with oxygen, but there are beautiful valleys with rivers running through them. The temperature is extreme and can range from 50 degrees to minus 30 degrees. Living in these sorts of conditions makes the people more resilient and tougher.
Keith believes the key turning point with Afghanistan was a result of a hostage siege in Mecca in which the hostages were given all of their demands and as a result schools have been set up teaching a very strict religion with no other educational merit.
He is trying to make sense of it all but can't. He has friends who died so he wanted to go because they did. Overwhelmingly his experience has been positive. Whilst he does not have any answers, he believes that we need to analyse the ideology, demographics and technology of the region.
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13-Jun-2017