BAG S1/8 Advisor / Big Eid Sheep Procurement Officer

Capt. Gary Bagley

8th November 2011

2 Rifles Brigade Advisory Group give sheep for EID

Gain and Maintain Popular Support is a key principle of COIN operations. Therefore the decision to buy sheep and donate them to each of the ANA Kandaks for EID is one of many ways we are able to gain popular support and strengthen our strong relationships with the ANA.

Afghans celebrate Eid twice a year and is the equivalent of our Christmas. It is known as the holiday of sacrifice and it is customary for each family to slaughter an animal to mark the occasion. The only animals allowed are sheep, goats, cows, bulls and on occasion camels.

This year I was privileged with the task of buying the sheep to donate to each Kandak. Now, I’ll be honest and say that the task of buying sheep to slaughter for a religious festival is not one of the things I was briefed about in pre deployment training. So when the BAG Chief of Staff, Andy Samsonoff, sent me an email appointing me ‘ Big Eid Sheep Procurement Officer ‘(BESPO), I felt somewhat unprepared.  I had read reports from previous years where gifts of sheep were given to the ANA for EID with great success.  However, my task was to achieve the same effect with less than half the money allocated and try to explain global depression and economic downturn to the ANA.

I soon learnt that sheep in Afghanistan cannot be compared to sheep in England for a number of reasons.  Mainly, the sheep in Afghanistan are an asset to the family who own them and that the price of the sheep is dictated by the care given to these animals.  What price do you put on the need to walk miles every day in order to graze the flock?  It turns out that the answer to this is question is approximately $300 US each.  It was decided that in order to get best value for money we would request that each of the ANA Kandaks should use their local knowledge and ability to haggle in order to purchase their own sheep. 

After weeks in my new role of BESPO I actually managed to buy the sheep and hand them over to the ANA just in time for Eid. The sheep graced the table of those in the Kandaks and Bde Staff on Sunday 6 November

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