Fathers Day Weekend

Wow, almost a month since my last blog.  Training for the 2 Georgian battalions is going fairly well, some problems they need to work on, some problems we (the US) bring on ourselves.  Frustrating.
So my weekend was good.  Saturday about 15 of us went on an embassy sponsored white water rafting trip.  I'd say it wasn't true white water but just some good fun rapids, good enough for all of us to get completely soaked.  (Good thing I decided to leave my camera in the van.)  Here's a link to the company.

http://travel-in-georgia.blogspot.com/2008/07/tours-around-tbilisi-white-water.html
After the rafting we had a great bbq picnic.  Fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, bread, sulgumi cheese (Georgian specialty) pork, beef, and sausages.  And beer, wine, and water. 

Sunday I went for a walk.  At least that's how it was sold to me; 'C'mon Sir, we're just going for a short hike to a monastery.'  We started in the morning at a roadside cafe with Turkish coffee and Georgian cheesy bread.  In the pic below, the taller tower (actually a cross) at the top of the mountain is our destination, the St. Something Zedazeni Monastery.

Our first attempt had us on the wrong approach, but had a nice view.

After an hour and a half circling around to the right hill we started up again on a dirt & gravel road.  And I'm wearing my Sketchers loafers, yeah, good.  In the pic below is one of the many refugee villages set up after the 2008 Russian invasion.  The ethnic Georgians live here while ethnic Ossetian, Abkhazian, and increasingly Russian people are staying in the occupied territory.

Finally we reached the top, here's the iron cross and the monastery.

 Back down again to meet our driver, thirteen miles total, and tired feet. 

INDEPENDENCE DAY

May 26th is the Georgian Independence Day.  Georgian independence has its roots in the tumultuous events of WWI.  The Bolsheviks were running rampant, Russia pulled out of the war, and nationalism was building in all areas, even in the Caucasus.  Georgia and a few other countries were part of the Transcaucasus Union or Federation, but it only lasted a year or so when it declared its independence on May 26th 1918.  And then the Soviet Union strong-armed it back in, but still the 26th is considered it's independence day.
So, what's an Independence Day without a parade?  For years the parade was held in the capital city, Tbilisi where the President and Parliament are.  And Tbilisi still had street festivals & displays.

But the President had a new Parliament building constructed in Kutaisi, about 3-4 hours west. So President Saakashvili addressed Parliament in its first session in the new building yesterday, then went out to see the parade.  I'm not sure if it's an attractive modern design or an ugly glass wart.

Like I said a 3-4 hour drive with only some of it on a US style superhighway.  About 30 minutes outside of Kutaisi we told our drivers to pull off somewhere so we could change into our uniforms, and we expected they'd find a gas station, roadside restaurant, etc.  Nope.  They just pulled off the side of the road into a field, maybe 30 feet from the road.  And we had our female interpreters and a female Air Force officer from the embassy just watching a half-dozen men stripping down to underwear in a field. 

But the parade was nice, we were placed in a section with a lot of other people so most of what we saw at first were sun-umbrellas with Georgian colors.

Most of the Georgian Army's five brigades were there along with a sampling of their hardware; artillery, tanks, rocket launchers, etc.

And then a few sections of aircraft; helicopters & jets.

On the way back we stopped for dinner, traditional Georgian food.  Then back in the vans for the torturous ride back to Tbilisi.  Good times....

And from a Georgian website that covered the event.
http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=24815

UNEVENTFUL WEEK

Sorry, not much to talk about.  Lots of training, which is good since that's the reason we're here.
A buddy of mine came down from Germany to see how things are going.  We talked about all the problems and the good points.  We went out to dinner and I found a great bar, The KGB Bar - Still Watching You...   I'll have to get the t-shirt.
I just googled it and found the KGB Bar in NYC.  Yeah, I think the one here is probably a little more authentic.  Speaking of KGB...
On the way out to one of our training areas, we pass by a huge open area with a hundred or so antennas near a once nice, now abandoned, tiny village.  It was a KGB listening post back in the day.

1st post for May '12

I haven't posted in about two weeks now.  Cuz I'm busy.  Doing work.  Werk.

Gratuitous, self-promoting photos from race day

Me, pre-race in my uber-cool USMC running suit.  Our medical officer is on the far left.

After I finished the 10k I had a little water then grabbed a beer and headed out a quarter mile from the finish line to cheer on the half-marathon runners.  A half hour later an Army SGT on an ATV brought me another beer.  Running 10k (6m) + standing in hot sun + drinking beer = 1 stoopid Marine.

Rustavi Races

Early this month a MSgt approached me about setting up a simple half-marathon (13m) here on our small-ish base.  He's a runner, he likes to run.  I said sure, but let's engage with the Georgians too, I'm sure some of the soldiers would want to run with us.  And let's include a 10k (6m) as well, we'll get more participation.
My overall guidance was 'think big and prepare for success'. 
Three weeks later, on Sunday 22 April we had over 300 runners from US military, US embassy, Georgian military, and local civilians.  The nearby City of Rustavi hosted what we hope will be an annual event.  The MSgt worked with the embassy for security notification and participation, with the Rustavi mayor's office for police cooperation and media, with a new Georgian brewery for sponsorship, with a local electronics shop for prizes, with a printing shop for t-shirts, and with a local restaurant for food.  I of course supervised.
It was a pretty simple course beginning with the 10k which ended at the starting point.  Those half-marathon runners circled back out for their remaining 7 miles. 

 ABOVE: Registration table
Running isn't a big exercise for most Georgians, not like what we're used to in the US.  A lot of the Georgians who were probably in their first race had an odd strategy of sprinting for 100 yards then walking for a few seconds, then sprinting again.  Every time I would catch up to a sprinter on his walking cycle he'd take off again.  This lasted for a mile or two then they pretty much realized slow & steady worked a whole lot better.

ABOVE: This is a race strategy?
What does it matter?  It was a beautiful day and the races went off without a single problem.  Really unbelievable for an event like this that had never happened before and was put together in about 10 days.

See, what a nice day.

I ran too.  Look at the HMMWV, and look at the guy to the left of it.  That's me.  I had to pee about 1/2 mile into the race.  Hey, when ya gotta go....ya gotta go.
But don't think that the Georgians are all slow.  Look at the next pic.

Georgians took 1-2-3 in the 10k.  1st prize was a Samsung Galaxy tablet, 2nd prize was a Nikon camera, 3rd prize was a MP3 player.  A Georgian also took 1st place in the half-marathon, a Marine Capt took 2nd place, and a DoD analyst took 3rd place.
OK, that's it, I'm tired.  The embassy has more photos on it's FB page.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150742855042954&set=a.10150742854562954.421118.55448127953&type=3&theater#!/tbilisi.usembassy

Kakheti pt2

Saturday we woke up and had a typical eastern European breakfast; meats & cheeses, bread & coffee. 
The day was beautiful with the Caucasus mountains in the background, here's me with Maj Birney, my deputy. 

Then back in the vans to the local castle in Telavi.  Begun in the mid 1600s Batonis-tsihe was a fortress built for the local tsar back in the day.  Unfortunately it was closed for renovations so we could only walk around the outside.

Next stop was the Gremi church, begun in 1517.  Built on a small hill it's still in operation.  I walked by the 'front door' and could see a service going on and smell the incense.  It's obviously been renovated, several times, but still interesting to see some of the original works including an incredibly steep, and dark, winding stone staircase leading up to the bell tower. 

Last stop was back to the winery.  It's one of the few winerys built into caves, a network of about 150 km (seems like a lot but that's what the lady said) Originally they made wine the traditional way in the big jugs buried in the ground but now they use regular wood barrels or huge steel tanks. 

We had a late lunch with great food, and wine of course, then back in the vans for the drive back to base.