My Afghan stuff ...

[Dat Nguyen]

Ahhh ... Camp Bastion. I call it a very nice suburb next to Hell. That place is absolutely miserable. My utmost respect to the soldiers serving at that hot dusty hell hole.

During my last trip there, I offered good money for any Afghan medals and order ... I even offer $20 to buy any ribbon for the KhAD medal. None. Unless you were able to go to the shops in the city of Kabul, you will not find any medals/badges at the bazaar on the military bases. The vendors makes more money selling trinkets, rugs, gem stone (real and fake), cheap souvenir. They don't want to waste their time looking, buying Afghan medals and risk not making their money back. We, as collectors, are concern with the condition of the medal, does it have the proper ribbons and so forth. They really don't understand that and don't want to waste their time on us.

Now that the supply of medals has dried up, prices for the remaining stuff are crazy high. I have no clue how they come up with the asking prices. Well .. I can of do ... Most Afghan vendors don't understand the concept of a repeated buyer. You offer your items at a fair price, I will buy them, come back to buy more and bring my friends with me to drum up more business for you. Nope, the vendors want to make ridiculous profit on everything. Eventually some unsuspecting soldier will pay for that medal.

v/r
Dat