A Marine from 2nd Platoon, Alpha Company, 9th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, uses a metal detector to sweep a culvert during a route reconnaissance mission of Route Red, which extends from Highway 1 to Shir Ghazay, Jan. 2. The purpose of the mission was to document inclines and declines in the route, sharpness of curves, the shortest width during the route, and where culverts were located or needed to be placed on the route to prevent wash out. Photo by Cpl. Meredith Brown

Marine engineers with 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward) have nearly completed two major route construction and improvement projects in Helmand province.

As of Jan. 3, elements of the Okinawa, Japan-based 9th Engineer Support Battalion completed the road surfacing phases of Routes Red and 611, which each provide north and south passage on their respective sides of the Helmand River. Additional measures are now being put into place over the course of the next month to ensure their permanence, while also marking total project completion.

“We’ll continue minor improvements along both routes, including culvert emplacements,” said Capt. Christopher Kaprielian, a native of San Mateo, Calif., and operations officer for 9th ESB.

The installation of culverts, Kaprielian explained, will allow for proper drainage of rain water, thus preventing the roadways from simply washing away.

Two Marines from 2nd Platoon, Alpha Company, 9th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, use a metal detector to sweep a culvert during a route reconnaissance mission of Route Red, which extends from Highway 1 to Shir Ghazay, Jan. 3. The purpose of the mission was to document inclines and declines in the route, sharpness of curves, the shortest width during the route, and where culverts were located or needed to be placed on the route to prevent wash out. Photo by Cpl. Meredith Brown

Work on the routes began last year with 9th ESB’s predecessors, the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based 7th ESB, which completed nearly half of the work before going home in late November.

“A lot of cross coordination was involved,” said Kaprielian. “The combined effort was truly unique.”

In terms of Route Red alone, he noted expert integration across the Marine Air-Ground Task Force to secure the volatile region through which Route Red intersects. Support from Regimental Combat Teams 6 and 8 was especially critical in allowing the engineers to continue construction efforts.

The enhanced roads are essential to International Security Assistance Force operations, and perhaps most importantly, the livelihoods of Afghan locals in the region due to the proximity of the routes to several major population centers. Safe roadways will present a viable means of transportation and facilitate economic expansion well into the future.

Route Red connects Gereshk and Shir Ghazay, while Route 611 serves as the main thoroughfare through the Sangin and Kajaki Districts.

Not unlike Route Red, the region through which 611 traces was also a hotbed for insurgent activity. Operation Eastern Storm, a major offensive spearheaded by the Marines of 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, launched last October to secure the Upper Sangin Valley from the Taliban-led insurgency. The secured and improved route will now allow ground convoys to deliver equipment and parts required to install a third turbine at the Kajaki Dam, located northeast of the village of Kajaki.

The dam was built in 1953, and according to the United States Agency for International Development, the additional turbine is part of an ongoing project to bring more reliable power and irrigation to the region. Once operational, this enhancement will improve energy distribution through Helmand and Kandahar provinces.

Story by Sgt. Justin Shemanski
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One shopkeeper uses a single solar panel, mounted to the top of his shop, to power his printer. He runs a small-scale photography studio in the bazaar. Prior to the large-scale solar energy project, electricity was scarce in Nawa. Shop owners had to provide their own generator or solar panel to have electricity. Photo by Cpl. Meredith Brown

A single solar panel is mounted above a shop, a wire runs from the panel into the shop and attaches to a car battery, providing the only source of power for the shopkeeper. The storeowner operates a small photography studio, where he takes photos in his shop and prints them out for his customers.

Situations like this are common for the shopkeepers in Nawa district who do not have a central power source.

Many residents throughout the northern half of Helmand receive their energy from the hydroelectric power plant located at the Kajaki dam. However, the power supply does not reach Nawa, which is located in the southern portion of Helmand province.

Now, with the help of a solar energy project in the district, there is a new opportunity for the shopkeepers in the Nawa bazaar. Nearly 150 shops in the bazaar will be able to receive steady power from the project.

Capt. Brandon Newell, Expeditionary Energy Liaison Officer for Regional Command Southwest and a native of St. Amant, La., says this is the first type of large-scale solar hybrid project in Helmand to date.

“We’re not just trying to introduce something that’s sustainable into their community,” explained Newell who also holds an electrical engineering degree from Louisiana State University. “We’re taking something that they understand at a smaller level and trying to provide them an opportunity at a much larger, more centralized capability, which will be much more reliable.“

Two long rows of solar panels were put together, mounted and welded to the roof of the Nawa district governor’s compound and wires were ran to a large storage container where the power is converted into consumable energy. The energy runs to different meters throughout the bazaar.

Solar panels used to collect energy emitted by the sun are mounted to the roof of the Nawa district governor's compound, Dec. 29. Shop owners in the Nawa bazaar will be able to buy electricity on a pre-paid card for individual consumption in their shops. Photo by Cpl. Meredith Brown

At this point, shop owners can wire the electricity to their individual shops, where they will install a separate meter. The district governor will issue the shopkeepers pre-paid cards that they insert into their specific meter. The amount of wattage that the storeowners buy dictates the amount of electricity that they can use. However, once a certain amount of electricity is bought, there is not a time limit on when they must use the power.

Two local Afghans serve as maintenance operators who are responsible for keeping the system up and running once everything is installed. The money raised from selling the power, pays the operators’ salaries and the left-over money accumulates for later maintenance or expansion.

“We’re not trying to dictate what the end product is for them,” said Newell. “We’re trying to facilitate an opportunity for them to take ownership and run the system, to use it for the benefit of individual shops and the benefit the entire community,”

After walking through the bazaar and talking with the local Afghans, Newell said sewing, lighting and running fans in the summer were common uses for the power.

Once the batteries arrive in Afghanistan, the shop owners will also have the opportunity to stay open later. Because batteries cannot be transported through the Pakistan border, power will only be available during daylight. Once the batteries arrive, they will serve as a storage system for extra power collected during the day that can be used throughout the night.

Sarwar Akbari, a renewable energy engineer who has been working on the project over the past few months, said the project is important because it gives the locals a chance to reasonably use electricity.

“Before they were using generators and single panels,” said Akbari. “The shopkeepers in the bazaar are very poor people. They can’t prepare fuel for the generators and purchase individual panels. They are very happy with us that we are finishing our project and are about to install the meters.”

The project is expected to be completed within the next two weeks.

Story by Cpl. Meredith Brown
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At barely 39 degrees Fahrenheit outside, the two women of Female Engagement Team 6 warmed their red, sniffling noses by drinking hot chocolate out of canteen cups. It was early morning and they had little sleep from the cold night before. The Marines began dressing in their body armor, preparing for their upcoming day of work.

Sergeants Jessica Lugo and Autumn Sekely were getting ready to go out in support of Marines with Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, and the Afghan National Civil Order Police during a recent security patrol through their area of Sangin district, Helmand province.

Sergeants Jessica Lugo -left- and Autumn Sekely -right-, of Female Engagement Team 6, walk into a village leader’s compound in Sangin district, Helmand province. Sekely, of Pittsburgh, and Lugo, of San Pedro, Calif., are assigned to support 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, by engaging with the local women and children, building trust and rapport between local residents and the Afghan National Security Forces and coalition forces. Official U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Katherine Keleher

The purpose of the day was to familiarize Marines new to the unit with the area, while also giving Lugo and Sekely the opportunity to interact with local women and children.
While supporting the infantry Marines with 2nd Marine Division (Forward), FET socialized with local children passing by, handing out candy and pencils while sharing smiling faces through the language barrier.

“Establishing a good relationship with the children and their families is very important, and it’s one of our primary tasks here,” said Sekely, a reservist from Pittsburgh. “It helps build trust and rapport. They really appreciate that the Marines make an effort to respect their culture by having FET out here.”
When wrapping up the introduction of the area to the new Marines, 1st Squad made a pit stop at one of the village leader’s compounds while on its way back to the patrol base.

The village leader opened the doors to his home with open arms, allowing FET inside to talk with his wife and children.

“The women, they stay in the compounds while the men are in the bazaars and farming fields working,” explained Lugo, also a reservist who is from San Pedro, Calif. “They hear a lot of things from the people who come in and out of their compounds. So when we get there, these women are just aching to talk. They’re just like we are, and they want their voices to be heard.”

Sergeants Jessica Lugo and Autumn Sekely, of Female Engagement Team 6, walk into a village leader’s compound in Sangin district, Helmand province. Official U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Katherine Keleher

During their visit with the village leader and his family, the Marines and Afghans used an interpreter to discuss the possibility of building a water well in the village, as well as raising money to build a mosque.

“Things like this take a lot of money and time,” Lugo, the FET 6 team leader, told them.

While carrying on the conversation with the adults, Lugo and Sekley played with the children, giving them crayons and paper, showing them how to color.

“We have the capability of talking to one-hundred percent of the population,” Lugo, a military policewoman by trade, explained. “It’s not only engaging the women of Afghanistan for us, it’s engaging with everyone. Like today, the village leader talked to us. You would think in (this culture) the men wouldn’t want to talk to us, but they do. They’re kind of intrigued by having women in military clothing around.

“The (local residents) are very intrigued by us. They see us, the color of our skin, the color of our eyes, us carrying a rifle walking alongside the males. They see that we’re equal,” Lugo added.

Working side-by-side, FET and 3/7 have until spring to continue working together, winning over hearts and minds and helping the Afghan people toward a brighter tomorrow.

By Cpl. Katherine Keleher
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U.S. Air Force medics, Staff Sgt. April Deluna -right-, from San Antonio, assigned to the Paktya Provincial Reconstruction Team, and Tech. Sgt. Rebecca Rose, from Coleridge, Neb., assigned to the Nebraska Agribusiness Development Team, demonstrate proper arm-bracing techniques at the provincial women’s development center, Nov. 1. The medics taught basic first-aid skills to 13 women from the province. U.S. Army photo by Maj. Katherine Williams

Thirteen Afghan women received life-saving first aid training at a provincial women’s development center shura held in Paktya province, Nov. 1.

U.S. servicemembers assigned to the Paktya Provincial Reconstruction Team and the Nebraska Agribusiness Development Team, both located on Forward Operating Base Goode, taught the women how to treat burns, lacerations and abrasions.

U.S. Air Force medics Tech Sgt. Rebecca Rose, with the ADT from Coleridge, Neb., and Staff Sgt. April DeLuna, with the PRT from San Antonio, conducted an interactive training program for the women.

During the one-hour course, the medics emphasized proper hygiene techniques such as hand washing and the use of gloves while treating wounds.

“The women learned the ‘cold, clean’ method,” DeLuna said. “They’d never heard to clean with cold, clean water and were using alternative methods to treat wounds.”

The women shared stories about their previous home-medical treatments during the shura.

“I’ve used cold potatoes on my children’s wounds to stop the burning,” one student said. “Potatoes and egg yolk both help to prevent the burn from spreading.”

Along with l training, the group also received first-aid medical kits, stocked with bandages, a gauze compress, gloves, antibiotic ointment and other supplies.

The shura was coordinated through Khalema Khazan, the Paktya Director of Women’s Affairs and the Team Paktya Women’s Advocacy Group.

The DOWA is an Afghan ministry-appointed position, with the authority and obligation to raise awareness of concerns and advocate for Afghan women.

“I want a common understanding for every woman to know their rights and freedoms under Islam,” Khazan said. “We have shuras in the women’s development center for Paktya women to teach them important skills.”

In the past, Khazan has organized town meetings, or ‘shuras,’ health workshops and media engagements for women in Paktya.

“Education is very important,” she added. “Our center is focused on teaching the more than 40,000 women in Paktya.”

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Afghan utility workers prepare power lines at the Kajaki Dam to receive a new primary switch center. USACE Photo

A small contingent of soldiers play a huge role in improving and maintaining southern Afghanistan’s electric power infrastructure, primarily in Kandahar City.

These non-commissioned officers, deployed from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ only active duty unit, the 249th Prime Power Battalion at Fort Bragg, N.C., are all prime power specialists assigned to Task Force Breshna Barq. Established in the summer of 2010, the task force’s primary mission is bringing more and more reliable power to Kandahar City.

“These soldiers are responsible for electric power outside the wire,” said Chief Warrant Officer 5 Thomas Black, deputy commander of Task Force Breshna Barq. “Locally, four soldiers are based at the USACE-built and managed power stations in Kandahar city — two at the Bagh-e-Pul power station in western Kandahar and the others at the Shurandam Industrial Park power station.”

The initial task force mission was two-pronged: daily oversight and contract management for the installation and commissioning of two $40 million, 10-megawatt diesel-fueled power plants and the validation and assessment of about 40 kilometers of 20-kilovolt, overhead medium-voltage feeder lines. The electric lines distribute electricity to satisfy the industrial, business, agricultural and residential demands of one third of Kandahar City’s 480,000 residents.

- Editor’s note: Keep in mind that all the fuel for these plants has to be trucked into the country. -

“We are here to assist in the development of the Afghans’ outdated electrical distribution networks throughout the region so businesses can thrive and stimulate the economy,” said Staff. Sgt. Mario Sanchez.

Once the two power stations were commissioned, the task force members began overseeing the $10.3-million operations and maintenance contract for the power stations and developing and managing $7.2 million worth of “starter kit” tools and materials for DABS (Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat), the Afghan power utility company.

The starter kits include transformers, medium and low-voltage cable, distribution panels and tools. Also included are electrical test equipment, bucket trucks, and pole truck with a trailer. The kits will provide the Afghan utility with the resources it needs to accomplish immediate, lasting, effective and reliable repairs in Kandahar province so they meet the needs of their Afghan customers.

As the conditions and needs evolved, the prime power team took a mentoring role on as well.

“We work with the utility company to maintain the power systems and train their employees,” said Staff Sgt. Alex Brown. “They really do want to improve their way of life and are willing to work hard at it.”

Sgt. Joshua Strausbaugh agreed and added: “In the United States, there are many codes that must be followed when working with electricity to ensure safety. In Afghanistan, they don’t have these kinds of regulations. Fortunately, the utility employees picked up quickly on the whats and whys that we were trying to communicate to them.”

Safety is an essential component of all USACE projects, said Air Force Col. Benjamin Wham, South District commander. “Our first priority is keeping people safe. We must share that fundamental value with our Afghan partners.”

The team worked hard to accomplish their goal of safely getting more power production and effective distribution inside Kandahar, and were gratified by the appreciation they saw on the faces of Kandahar City residents, said Strausbaugh.

The team’s work has also taken them to the Kajaki Hydroelectric Plant, where they installed special protective switchgear. This relatively inexpensive installation increased the reliability of the transmission lines to Kandahar and Helmand provinces. According to Black, a new diesel plant providing an equal amount of power would have cost $24 million.

A private contracting company was willing to install the switchgear at a cost of $1.5 million with an eight-month lead time. Instead, three Prime Power soldiers, working with and mentoring the Afghan hydroelectric plant operators and electricians accomplished the installation in six weeks for less than $150,000.

“The $150,000 for the primary switch center was borne by USACE as it had the item in stock,” said British Air Force Wing Cmdr. Charlie Allan, Regional Command Southwest development plans officer. “But that said, there was also a benefit to the power house staff who were given on-the-job training by the prime power team during installation.”

“Language barriers and the idea that ‘doing things the old way was fine,’ were issues we overcame working with the Afghans,” said Brown. “But the challenge of doing something that would improve the life of Afghans was worth it.”

From initial conception to completion took just 39 days, but the impact on the electric system was immediate, said Allan. The switchgear protects the two Kajaki turbines where none existed before and prevents hard shut downs of the grid and mechanical deterioration of essential generators. This, in turn, leads to a far more stable power supply to the people of Helmand and Kandahar and far fewer power outages leading to longer electricity availability per day.

“Regardless of how costs are measured, having prime power specialists in Afghanistan is an exceptional value,” said Black. They supervise, operate, install and maintain electric power plant and associated systems and equipment—the 249th is a unique unit with unique and valuable capability.

“The 249th has a really critical mission here,” said Air Force Col. Benjamin Wham, South District commander. “Afghans need electricity to develop and sustain their economy. By helping the Afghan utility company improve and maintain its electric power generation, this small group of soldiers delivers huge benefits. The outgoing crew has done an outstanding job training Afghan technicians and working with our private contractor to ensure Kandahar City enjoys reliable, stable power. I salute the outstanding efforts of the 249th soldiers.”

This team of prime power non-commissioned officers will return to the United States soon and will be replaced by a new team.

“There is still much to do,” said Sanchez. “Substations powered by the Kajaki Dam will need upgrades to increase power throughout southern Afghanistan. The new team will continue the mentoring and contract oversight mission.”

Story by Karla Marshall
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U.S. Army Sgt. Jacob Miller, a cavalry scout for Troop B, 3rd Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment’s Task Force Slugger and native of Colona, Ill., explains to local farmers how an apple presser works in Maiden Shahr district Sept. 20. The hope is the farmers will take unsold apples and turn them into other products to make more money. Photo by U.S. Army Sgt. Brian P. Glass, Task Force Patriot Public Affairs

To improve the economy in Wardak province, soldiers from the Georgia Agribusiness Development Team and Troop B, 3rd Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment’s Task Force Slugger worked together to teach local farmers how to use an apple presser in Maiden Shahr district Sept. 20.

The soldiers already conducted the class in the Jalrez district, which local villagers came to in good numbers. So, it seemed to be a no-brainer to bring the class to Maiden Shahr.

“We mostly used it [the class] as a way to establish a connection with the people,” said U.S. Army Sgt. Jacob Miller, a cavalry scout for Troop B, 3rd Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment’s Task Force Slugger and native of Colona, Ill. “We realize agriculture is the driving force in the lives of people here.”

Miller, who grew-up with an agricultural background, was the primary instructor for the class in Jalrez. He came to Maiden Shahr to teach the people what they would need to be successful.

“We built an apple press to show them methods to save apples that normally spoil,” said Miller.

Miller said the economic benefit for villagers in Maiden Shahr is too great an opportunity for the locals to pass up.

“Several tons of apples go to waste inside the valley, and giving them options to be able to sell these apples and still have a product that is marketable for them will improve their way of life,” said Miller. “Selling this (apple juice and cider) at their local shops will bring in money and also shorten their hunger season.”

Once Miller began demonstrating how to use the apple presser, the locals became interested in seeing how it worked first hand.

“Every class starts out the same way, with the Afghans being very stand-offish,” Miller said. “Then, their interest takes over and before we knew it they are out there grinding out and pressing apples.”

Miller said the apple presser works when apples are ground up, then the ground apple parts are put into a clean cloth. Next, the apple parts are put under a smashing plate and mashed to get all the juice out.

One local farmer was excited about the possibility of having an apple presser for all the apples he has.

“This is very important, this apple presser,” said Ahmed Khalil, a local farmer in Wardak. “I want to make one for my home and use it for my apples.”

The apple presser is easy for the local farmers to make at a low cost to them, said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Steve Kistler, Georgia ADT Wardak provincial commander and Lawrenceville, Ga., native.

“They have the wood,” said Kistler. “Some (local farmers) are carpenters and can do a better job than we can at putting it (apple presser) together.”

U.S. Army Sgt. Nathaniel Smith, non-commissioned officer in charge for the Georgia ADT in Wardak province and native of Dunwoody, Ga., said local farmers can obtain materials for building apple presses themselves and do not need the ADT to acquire such items., “[All] we give them is a step by step [class] on how to build this [apple presser].”

Once the demonstration was over and local farmers sampled the apple cider, the villagers came to Miller with questions about how to capitalize on the opportunity.

“One of the villagers said he can produce one ton of apple juice from all his bad apples that aren’t going to be worth selling whole,” said Miller. “He wants to know how he can bottle them, package them and where to sell them.”

That question gave Miller an idea for the next training class he will teach to Afghan farmers.

“This [class] will extend into canning and pasteurizing training,” said Miller.

Miller and other Georgia ADT personnel walked away from the class confident in the hope their training will help turn around the economy in Maiden Shahr and keep local farmers from siding with insurgents.

“[It would be] an increase in the economy. As they make more money, as they’re able to improve their way of life, the government will be able to draw taxes from it,” said Miller. “The people should become less volatile, because their lives have stabilized, they have food and won’t worry about their children going hungry.”

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Lt. Col. Alison Thompson stands beside a CH-53E Super Stallion just before a mission in the early morning hours of Sept. 10, 2011. Thompson, the commanding officer of Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 464, served as a CH-53E pilot with Task Force 58 during the initial invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Now Thompson is back in the region as the first woman to command a Marine squadron in Afghanistan. Photo by Cpl. Brian Adam Jones

It’s Sept. 12, 2001. The wreckage from the attacks the day before still smolders. An aircraft carrier with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit lies off the eastern shore of the United States.

Several CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters with engines running rest on the deck. The flight lead is a young Marine captain, Alison Thompson. Her freckles and biting blue eyes are veiled by her visor and flight helmet.

She wants to take off.

“We had six 53s turning on the line. I kept calling to get clearance,” Thompson said. “The plan was we’d load supplies, embark the MEU, go up to New York City, provide any support they needed with our helicopters and go straight over [to the Middle East] from there. I kept calling for clearance to take off and at that point all aviation was grounded, civilian and military.”

The mission was ultimately called off. According to Thompson, Rudy Giuliani, then mayor of New York, thought a visible military presence might instill panic among the people.

The day before, Thompson was at home in Jacksonville, N.C., asleep when the phone rang. It was her dad. She sprinted downstairs and turned on the T.V. just in time to see the second tower get hit.

A few short months later, 9,000 miles away, the 53s are once again on the deck of the ship, turning on the line and Thompson is once again in the pilot’s seat.

This time they’re cleared for take-off. This time they will push into Afghanistan.

The Marines entered Afghanistan, some riding in Thompson’s helicopter. They took Camp Rhino and Kandahar Airfield, then pushed north into the Tora Bora mountains, continuing to seek out the enemy.

Ten years later it’s September 2011 and Alison Thompson is back in Afghanistan. Now she’s a lieutenant colonel at the helm of a new mission – commanding Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 464. As the first woman to command a squadron in combat, she leads the only CH-53E squadron in the region.

Thompson’s experiences over the course of her career have prepared her for command. She spent time as a military legislative assistant for former North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole, served as an aide for the Deputy Marine Corps Commandant for Aviation and returned to HMH-464 as the operations officer.

But she said her most cherished experiences came in 2001.

“I felt very fortunate to be where I was when I was,” Thompson said. “It was very expeditionary, a lot of tough terrain, a lot of unconventional things we were doing.”

“It was a strange period, kind of eerie. It was exciting too,” said Lt. Col. Pete Gadd, commanding officer of HMH-463, a CH-53D Sea Stallion squadron adjacent to HMH-464 on the Camp Bastion flightline. As a major, Gadd was part of the CH-53E detachment with Thompson in 2001 and accompanied her on many of the missions. “It was the Wild, Wild West back then. We operated out of a lot of mud huts and thatched rooms.”

“She was a great pilot back then, she’s a great pilot now.” said Maj. Dennis W. Sampson.

Sampson, a CH-53D pilot with HMH-463, and the squadron’s operations officer, also participated in the initial invasion, flying some of the first missions in Afghanistan a decade ago.

“We did a lot of raids and take-downs. She was our tactics officer and it was vital for us to be able to follow her lead back then,” Sampson said.

Now Thompson leads several hundred Marines and sailors – pilots, crew chiefs and aircraft maintainers, among others.

“She’s going to do great things in Afghanistan,” Gadd said. “HMH-464 is in great hands.”

“I just want the opportunity to make a difference,” Thompson said, “whether it be tactically or with the individual Marines. From a unit standpoint I take care of them so they’re not fighting internal friction so they can focus on their job.”

Thompson grew up in Michigan, Nebraska and Kansas wanting to be a pilot but never imagining being a Marine. When she attended the Naval Academy women were not allowed to serve in combat in aviation.

“It just so happened that three weeks before I had to service select at the Naval Academy and I had to decide what I was going to do, congress lifted the combat exclusion,” Thompson said.

As one of the first women to pilot a Marine aircraft, and now as the first woman to command a squadron in combat, she said the feeling is the same – don’t mess it up.

“She’s a great leader,” Sampson said. “She’s got great strategic and tactical experience but more importantly, she cares passionately about her Marines and providing support for the Marines on the battlefield.”

Story by Cpl. Brian Adam Jones
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Afghan National Army Private Mohammed Khaili, the 100,000th BWC graduate to go through literacy training, is awarded a plaque and pen at Kabul Military Training Center in Kabul, Afghanistan, July 28, 2011, in recognition of the Afghan National Security Force's accomplishments in the realm of education and literacy. Basic Warrior Training Kandak 162 graduated 1,287 soldiers, all of whom will continue military and literacy training at various Afghan National Army Branch Schools or the Consolidated Fielding Center in Kabul. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael James

The Afghan National Army graduated 1,287 soldiers from Basic Warrior Training at Kabul Military Training Center, July 28, including a special commemoration marking the graduation of the 100,000 Afghan National Security Force literacy program trainee.

ANA soldier Mohammed Khalil, graduating with BWT Kandak 162, was chosen to represent the 100,000th literacy graduate. He was awarded a commemorative certificate and writing pen.

“Education is vitally important. When we become educated, it gives us the ability to recognize our friends from our enemies,” said Khalil. “Education will take us from the darkness to the light.”

The recognition of the 100,000th graduate of literacy training represents a milestone in the professional development of the Afghan National Security Force, which consists of the Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police and Afghan Air Force.

Literacy training was integrated into the ANSF required curriculum in November 2009 and has been expanding rapidly since. There are currently more than 86,000 soldiers and policemen enrolled in some level of literacy training.

“I am the eldest of six brothers; I do all I can to provide for them,” said Khalil. “I am now able to take the lessons I learned in Basic Warrior Training and share them with my brothers.”

The goal set by Afghan and coalition leadership is for all literacy program students to read at a first grade level by the end of basic training. The literacy education received by such large numbers of young Afghans is expected to have far-reaching effects throughout Afghan culture.

“Literacy is the basic tenant for building partnering capacity and professionalizing an already very capable ANSF,” said U.S. Army Col. Ken Lenig, Force Integration Director, NATO Training Mission Afghanistan.

Today’s graduates of the Basic Warrior Training course will go on to attend branch schools and leadership courses offering specialization in military proficiencies as well as continued literacy training.

NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan
By: U.S. Navy Petty Officer Michael James

Female Engagement Team 13 member Lance Cpl. Jacqueline Veres smiles as she gives a backpack full of school supplies to an Afghan girl at the closing of the Sangin Youth Outreach Shura at Forward Operating Base Jackson, Aug 17. With a literacy rate of seven percent in Sangin, District Governor Mohammad Sherrif has recognized the need for education here. Through his outreach shuras to the community he impresses on the people the need for the children of Sangin to become educated so one day they will be able to assume leadership roles within the up and coming Sangin government. Sherrif realizes and tells the people “children are the future of Sangin.” Veres is from Canton, Ga.

More than 85 children from around Sangin attended the Sangin Youth Outreach Shura held by Female Engagement Teams assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, at Forward Operating Base Jackson, Aug. 17.

“It is important to work with the youth of Sangin because just like the kids in the U.S., they want to grow up to be something,” said Sgt. Juanita Towns, the FET 13 team leader. “So it is just best that we try to start them off on the right path at a young age vice letting them join the (insurgency) now.”

When on patrol with the battalion’s infantry squads the team members spread the word about the youth shuras and have recently had Afghan Uniformed Police officers help them in their endeavor to reach out to the children of Sangin.

The children, ages 1-14, were split into three groups in which they participated in age-appropriate informative stations and activities. This enabled the FETs to reach out to each age group more effectively, and is modeled after the cultural breakdown the children often gravitate towards on their own.

“It’s the first activity in Sangin for the kids, focused on the kids,” said FET member Lance Cpl. Jacqueline Veres. “So we are just trying to get them to see that we are here to help them, they can come to us and they can trust us.”

“The first one we had was a hygiene shura. The shura that we just had was a healthcare, education and activities shura,” said Towns, a Richmond, Va., native. “They played soccer, they did their time tables and the smaller kids just played with educational toys.”

With a literacy rate of seven percent in Sangin, District Governor Mohammad Sherrif has recognized the need for education here. Through his outreach shuras to the community he impresses on the people the need for the children of Sangin to become educated so one day they will be able to assume leadership roles within the up and coming Sangin government. Sherrif realizes and tells the people “children are the future of Sangin.”

“Children are the innocent ones in most cases,” said Towns, a parent herself. “If they are not educated there is just a repetitive cycle of insurgency and drugs. If you educate them when they are small there is an opportunity for them to be better than that and do positive things.”

Until last year, these children had not been afforded opportunities to break the trend and reach new levels. However teaching children how to do this is a challenging task since they lack the focus levels of adults. So the team had to mix things up to captivate their young audience and keep them interested in the shura.

“We know that they have a short attention span and if we talk to them for an hour like we do with the women then we are not going to get anything accomplished,” explained Towns. “If we have different activities and different things for them to do, they are going to participate, we are going to hold their attention longer and they are going to come back.”

Sometimes when the children do come back to the gates of the base they are looking for free hand outs and naturally are not interested in discussion of long term solutions. Other times the children show up wanting just to spend time with the teams. This requires the engagement teams to improvise and make the best of each situation.

“Even in between shuras we go to the gate and have 20 to 30 kids wanting to just come and talk to us,” said Veres a Canton, Ga., native. “We don’t really have anything planned sometimes, but we will just sit down and hold a mini-shura.”

The youth shuras in Sangin will continue to further expand their horizons to a new way of life that breaks the trend that plagues the region. In short, the activities give the youth something better, which is important to developing and educating the next generation of citizens and leaders in Sangin.

Youth shuras take place in several locations across Helmand province including the districts of Musa Qal’eh, Now Zad, Garmsir and Marjah.

“I think as soon as we stop having youth shuras we will see more insurgent activity, because we have actually given them something to look forward to every two weeks,” said Towns. “If they didn’t have that outreach on life then they would just do something bad that we are not ready to take the fall for.”

First Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, is currently assigned to Regimental Combat Team 8, 2nd Marine Division (Forward), which heads Task Force Leatherneck. The task force serves as the ground combat element of Regional Command (Southwest) and works in partnership with the Afghan National Security Forces and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to conduct counterinsurgency operations. The unit is dedicated to securing the Afghan people, defeating insurgent forces, and enabling ANSF assumption of security responsibilities within its area of operations in order to support the expansion of stability, development and legitimate governance.

Story by Cpl. Benjamin Crilly
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Sgt. -then Cpl.- Dakota Meyer while deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Ganjgal Village, Kunar province, Afghanistan. Meyer will be receiving the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for valor, from President Barack Obama in Washington, Sept. 15, making him the first living Marine recipient since the Vietnam War. Meyer was assigned to Embedded Training Team 2-8 advising the Afghan National Army in the eastern provinces bordering Pakistan. He will be awarded for heroic actions in Ganjgal, Afghanistan, Sept. 8, 2009.

Removed from an ambushed platoon of Marines and soldiers in a remote Afghan village on Sept. 8, 2009, his reality viciously shaken by an onslaught of enemy fighters, Cpl. Dakota Meyer simply reacted as he knew best — tackling what he called “extraordinary circumstances” by “doing the right thing … whatever it takes.”

Nearly two years later, the White House announced Aug. 12, 2011, the 23-year-old Marine scout sniper from Columbia, Ky., who has since left the Marine Corps, will become the first living Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor in 38 years. Retired Sgt. Maj. Allan Kellogg, Jr. received the medal in 1973 for gallantry in Vietnam three years earlier.

Meyer is the second Marine to receive the medal for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan. Cpl. Jason Dunham was awarded the medal posthumously for covering a grenade with his body to save two Marines in Iraq in 2004. President Barack Obama will present the award to Meyer at the White House, Sept. 15.

“The award honors the men who gave their lives that day, and the men who were in that fight,” Meyer said. “I didn’t do anything more than any other Marine would. I was put in an extraordinary circumstance, and I just did my job.”

Though bleeding from shrapnel wounds in his right arm, Meyer, aided by fellow Marines and Army advisors from Embedded Training Team 2-8, braved a vicious hail of enemy machine-gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire in the village of Ganjgal to help rescue and evacuate more than 15 wounded Afghan soldiers, and recover the bodies of four fallen fighters — 1st Lt. Michael Johnson, Gunnery Sgts. Aaron Kenefick and Edwin Johnson Jr., and Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class James Layton.

ETT advisor Army Sgt. 1st Class Kenneth Westbrook died at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C., Oct. 7, 2009, from wounds sustained in the firefight.

Meyer charged through the battle zone five times to recover the dead Marines and injured Afghan soldiers, risking his life even when a medical evacuation helicopter wouldn’t land because of the blazing gunfire.

“There’s not a day — not a second that goes by where I don’t think about what happened that day,” Meyer said. “I didn’t just lose four Marines that day; I lost four brothers.”

Sgt. Dakota Meyer with a DShK machine gun.

Author Bing West, a retired Marine infantry officer and combat veteran of Vietnam, detailed Meyer’s actions in the battle in “The Wrong War,” and praised Meyer for taking command of the battle as a corporal — the most junior advisor in this firefight.

West said Meyer should have been killed, but he dominated the battlefield by fearlessly exposing himself to danger and pumping rifle and machine gun rounds into the enemy fighters.

“When you leave the perimeter, you don’t know what’s going to happen, regardless of what war you’re fighting in,” Kellogg, who lives in Kailua, Hawaii, said. “Once you get to a point where you make the decision — ‘I’m probably going to die, so let the party begin’ — once you say in your mind you aren’t getting out of there, you fight harder and harder.”

Beginning his career with the same regiment from which Kellogg retired in 1990, Meyer deployed with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, to Fallujah, Iraq, in 2007, and earned a meritorious promotion to corporal in late 2008 after returning from the deployment.

Before leaving for Iraq, Meyer completed the Marine Corps’ 10-week Scout Sniper Basic Course, and committed himself to preparing himself and his snipers for combat. They attended lifesaving classes taught by Navy corpsmen and honed their skills with myriad weapons systems, such as light machine guns. Meyer also spent time in his battalion’s communications section learning how to call for mortar and artillery fire.

“I devoted my whole life to making the best snipers in the Marine Corps,” Meyer said. “They’re a direct reflection of your leadership. If you fail them in training, it could get them killed on the battlefield.”

In February 2009, Meyer volunteered to deploy to Afghanistan’s dangerous Kunar province and mentor Afghan soldiers as part of an embedded training team, the type of role usually filled by U.S. Special Forces.

“A Marine who seeks the challenge of joining his unit’s scout sniper platoon has to have a lot of drive and determination,” said Col. Nathan Nastase, commanding officer of 3rd Marine Regiment and formerly Meyer’s battalion commander at 3/3. “Being assigned to the ETT was a huge vote of confidence in his abilities.”

Meyer deployed to Afghanistan on the ETT in July 2009.

“Our mission was to help prepare the Afghans to take over their own country and provide security for themselves,” Meyer said. “ETTs make a huge impact on the outcome of the war.”

In Kunar province, Meyer and another ETT advisor would lead squads of 15 Afghan soldiers on patrols. Since he could speak Pashto, the local language, so well, Meyer often separated from the element with his Afghan trainees.

When his patrol fought to rescue another from an ambush Sept. 8, 2009, Meyer’s focus on advising gave way to surviving, and on what he had to do to keep himself and his men alive.

“I lost a lot of Afghans that day,” Meyer said. “And I’ll tell you right now — they were just as close to me as those Marines were. At the end of the day, I don’t care if they’re Afghans, Iraqis, Marines or Army; it didn’t matter. They’re in the same shit you are, and they want to go home and see their family just as bad as you do.”

Thrown into unimaginable circumstances, Meyer said the Afghan soldiers and his sniper training “saved my life” during the battle.

Jacody Downey is a close friend of Meyer’s from Kentucky. He’s seen his friend grow from a fun-loving “jokester” in high school to a driven Marine who deeply respected both elders and subordinates.

“Dakota has always cared more about others than he does himself,” Downey said. “Even if he’s not with his Marines now, he’s still constantly thinking about them, worrying about them and calling to check on them. He still considers them brothers.”

Cpl. David Hawkins grew as a Marine under Meyer’s leadership in 3/3’s Scout Sniper Platoon.

“Meyer was an ideal leader,” Hawkins, from Parker, Colo., said. “He knew everything about the Marines underneath him — how they’d respond to every situation, not only on a Marine Corps level but also on a personal level.”

Hawkins said he was deeply humbled by Meyer’s concern as a friend, especially after being injured in Afghanistan last year. Hawkins was severely wounded by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan Sept. 24, 2010. Four days later, he lay static in a stark hospital room, riddled with shrapnel. After groggily emerging from anesthesia into a blurry reality, Hawkins’ phone rang — the first call from a friend. Without fail, Meyer’s jovial drawl broke through the speaker.

“In the Marine Corps, you always hear that if something’s broke, you’ve got to work to fix it, but you never really see the Marine who does it,” Hawkins said. “Meyer is that Marine. If he had something to say, he’d say it, and he wasn’t really afraid of repercussions for what he said. If it needed to be changed, he changed it.”

Hearing his friend would receive the Medal of Honor didn’t surprise Hawkins. In light of the “character” and “country boy” Hawkins knows, Meyer’s actions were simply the manifestation of how he lived and led.

“Meyer was destined for the Medal of Honor,” Hawkins said. “If you got to work with him, you’d see it.”

At the conclusion of his speech to 350 faculty and staff in Green County High School, Greensburg, Ky., Dakota Meyer, 23, watches them as they leave, Aug. 3. Photo by Sgt. James SheaSmall RSS Icon

Meyer completed his tour on active duty last June. He went home to Kentucky, where he’s found purpose working with his hands in a family business.

“Pouring concrete is kind of like the Marine Corps,” Meyer said. “When you wake up in the morning, you’ve got a job … like a mission. There’s no set standard on how to do things, but you just have to go out there, make decisions and get it done — and that’s like the challenge of the Marine Corps. Once you’re satisfied with what you’ve done, you stop getting better.”

Meyer is the 86th living Medal of Honor recipient, and he joins a small, elite group of heroes, a reality that will often require him to conjure up haunting reminders of the battles he has fought, the friends he has lost and the painful regret he bears.

“I’m not a hero, by any means — I’m a Marine, that’s what I am,” he said. “The heroes are the men and women still serving, and the guys who gave their lives for their country. At the end of the day, I went in there to do the right thing … and it all boils down to doing the right thing … whatever it takes. All those things we learn stick in your head, and when you live by it, that’s the Marine way.”

Though Meyer will receive the Medal of Honor for what he did in Ganjgal, he insists he will wear the five-pointed medallion and blue silk ribbon to honor his fallen brothers, their families and his fellow Marines.

“Being a Marine is a way of life,” Meyer said. “It isn’t just a word, and it’s not just about the uniform — it’s about brotherhood. Brotherhood means that when you turn around, they’re there, through thick and thin. If you can’t take care of your brothers, what can you do in life?”

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Story by Cpl. Reece Lodder

Spc. Christina Alvarado and Sgt. Shanequa Cardona, members of the Female Engagement Team with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, talk to some local women with the help of their interpreter Hayda Azizi, in Subdistrict 6, Aug. 4. “The women have a lot of concerns about their children’s education and medical needs,” Alvarado said.

The Female Engagement Team with 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, is enhancing the ability to gain intelligence from an untapped resource: Afghan women.

“Our mission is to go where the men can’t,” said Sgt. Shanequa Cardona, a team leader with the FET of 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment. “Because of their customs, it is seen as inappropriate for women to talk with men who live outside their home.”

“Without the FET we would have no way to engage the female populace,” said Capt. John Intile, the commander of Company C, 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment. “In some cases we get different perspectives and points of view on things.”

Spc. Christina Alvarado, a Female Engagement Team member with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, passes out pencils to local children in Diwatiano, Aug. 5.

“The women have a lot of concerns about their children’s education and medical needs,” said Spc. Christina Alvarado, a FET member with 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment

Not only do the Afghan women have different points of view on things but sometimes they are more willing to talk.

“The men are targets of intimidation tactics; the women might talk because they don’t have those pressures,” Intile said.

The job isn’t as easy as just going in to talk to the women. An Afghan Uniformed Police officer will go in and secure the premises, then tell the women to all go into one room and if there are men in the home the AUP will question them.

“The men don’t want the females to talk to us,” Alvarado said, “sometimes they will hover around and try to take over the conversation and that can be frustrating.”

Sallamjn, an officer with Police Sub Station 15, Hayda Azizi, an interpreter and Sgt. Shanequa Cardona, a Female Engagement Team member with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, wait at the door of a family in Subdistrict 6, Aug 4. The Afghan Uniformed Police always go into the homes first to secure a location so that the FET may be able to enter and talk with the women of the house.

“It’s challenging to try to get the women to feel comfortable with us and trust us enough to give us good information,” Cardona said.

It’s important to gain a good rapport with the women because they are more likely to confide real information instead of the bland answer that everything is fine within the community, said Hayda Azizi, an interpreter who works with the FET.

“I try and show them that I’m a wife and mother, just like them,” Cardona said. “I carry a family photo that I pass around for them to see.”

“Our interpreter plays a huge role; we would be useless without her,” Alvarado said. “She really knows how to get in and talk to the women and make them feel more comfortable.”

Even with some difficulties, the FETs have proven their effectiveness.

“We have seen great success when we use FETs; they are like any other enabler, you just have to realize how to utilize them properly,” Intile said.

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Photos and Story by Sgt. Ruth Pagan

Soldiers with the 101st Sustainment Brigade listen attentively as they receive a block of instruction on conducting mortuary affairs at the Mortuary Affairs Collection Point at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, in March 2011. The brigade and the 101st Special Troops Battalion provided critical support to the MACP who processed the recent fallen members of the special operations forces team killed this past week when a rocket-propelled grenade struck their Chinook in Afghanistan. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Peter Mayes

The first call came early Saturday morning, Aug. 6, about the 38 U.S. and Afghan troops, killed by insurgents who shot down their CH-47 Chinook helicopter. After getting the call, Sgt. 1st Class Mary Perez said she doesn’t remember getting much sleep from that moment on.

She, along with other senior leaders from the 101st Sustainment Brigade and the 101st Special Troops Battalion, began rolling up their sleeves and headed to the Bagram Air Field Mortuary Affairs Collection Point where they were tasked to provide support in preparation for the eventual ramp ceremony.

“You’re tasked out to do it and it’s your job. But to do something like that, it’s just … different,” said Perez, a brigade military intelligence non-commissioned officer in charge. “It’s not just a tasking anymore. It’s something personal. It’s a tasking that as a soldier, no matter who you are or what rank you wear on your chest, you execute, and you execute to your fullest capability.”

The members of the special operations mission – which included 22 Navy SEALS, three U.S. Air Force airmen, four U.S. Army air crew members and a K-9 unit dog – died after their helicopter was apparently shot down last week as they were flying in to help Army Rangers who were going after insurgents on the ground.

Eight Afghan commandos and an Afghan interpreter were also on board the downed aircraft.

The Department of Defense has ordered an investigation into the incident. According to official reports, the deaths are the highest number of U.S. forces killed during a single event in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The Mortuary Affairs Collection Point at Bagram is tasked with the retrieval, tentative identification, transportation and burial of deceased American and allied personnel. The brigade’s special troops battalion provides staff supervision at the site, which is operated by the 54th Quartermaster Company, based out of Fort Lee, Va.

The senior leaders from the brigade and battalion assigned to the detail are not specifically trained as mortuary affairs specialists. They helped with recovering and transporting the remains from the flight line, getting additional transfer cases, ironing the flags, and cleaning the MACP site.

They also took part in the ramp ceremony, acting as pallbearers and carrying the transfer cases of the deceased to the special operations forces units to load onto the planes heading back to the U.S.

“They provided the logistical support we needed, like the vehicles for transport and additional cases as we needed,” said Sgt. 1st Class Alessa Jose, Bagram MACP non-commissioned officer in charge, 54th QM Company “They also made sure we had additional refrigeration units for the fallen.”

Jose said her team normally receives between one and two remains a day to process and handles all aspects of the preparation. She said her team received the remains on Sunday morning, Aug. 7, and was able to process and prepare all of the remains by Monday, Aug. 8.

“Their (Lifeliners) support was critical because of the time involved,” she said. “If it was just us doing this, the processing would have taken longer.”

“By the Lifeliners coming in and helping with the other part, it allowed us to focus on the processing job and cut down a lot of the time. You’re looking at about a 36-hour time frame. That helped us out a lot.”

Brigade medical operations officer Maj. Dierdre Lockhart was part of the truck team detail for loading and unloading the deceased SOF team members and said the Lifeliners’ involvement illustrated their willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty.

“It definitely showed we were willing to pick up the ball and run with it when we were needed,” she said.

The brigade conducted Leadership Professional Development training on Mortuary Affairs this past March, where they were introduced to how fallen heroes are identified and processed in preparation to be sent home.

But even attending that training did not prepare the senior leaders for being active participants in an actual event.

Perez said she and other senior leaders in the brigade received a call to go to the MACP, but were unsure what their duty was going to be. As time went on, they started to figure it out, she said.

She and two other officers were also assigned to a truck team that loaded and unloaded the remains. It was the first time she’s ever been involved with something like this, she said.

“You come there to do a mission and then the reality hits you: all you could see, smell and feel was death,” she said. “And you have to maintain composure.”

Perez said she noticed the Navy SEALs carrying their fallen teammates to the trucks. “I mean, these guys are tough, they’re in it, they’re the ones kicking in doors, but I’ve never seen them look more vulnerable,” she said. “They’re not just machines. It brings light to the fact that we’re all in this fight together.”

The decision to use brigade and battalion senior ranking leadership to assist the MACP unit was not lost on Perez, she said.

“You don’t want to expose your junior soldiers to that. It’s emotional and disheartening when you’re in this fight to see mass amounts of casualties like that. There were majors ironing the flags and mopping the floors in the MACP, not because it was a task, but because it was the right thing to do,” she said.

The seniors also intensely rehearsed their part of the ramp ceremony, filling transfer cases with bundles of water and practiced carrying the containers on the K-loaders to deliver to the SOF teams.

“We wanted to do this right and give these guys the honor they earned and deserved,” Perez said. “As an NCO, you know what right looks like. These guys deserve the very best we could give them. Everything had to be perfect.”

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Story by Sgt. 1st Class Peter Mayes

They are men used to seeing their deeds pass as unrecognized as their battlefield movements, but Monday five National Guard and one active duty special forces soldier took the limelight here to receive a French award roughly equivalent to the Silver Star.

The six were honored with the Croix de la Valeur Militaire in a private ceremony at the French ambassador’s residence attended by senior leaders including Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the Army chief of staff nominated to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Army Maj. Gen. Timothy Kadavy, deputy director of the Army National Guard.

“I am deeply honored to … pay tribute to six most outstanding American soldiers from the United States Army and the Army National Guard who distinguished themselves while fighting the Taliban and al-Qaida elements in Afghanistan,” said French Ambassador François Delattre.

“Through their outstanding bravery and engagement in combat, they fought at the risk of their own lives to assist French soldiers, their brothers in arms, who experienced a barrage of fire from the enemy.”

The five National Guard soldiers supported a French regiment executing a mission in and around the Uzbeen Valley in Afghanistan in 2009; the active duty soldier was recognized for similarly heroic action in the same region a year earlier.

“They were trying to get at the French operating in the valley,” said Army National Guard Capt. Thomas Harper, one of the awardees. “We prevented that from happening, allowing them to conduct their mission.”

Created in 1956 by the French government to reward extraordinary deeds of bravery carried out as part of security and law enforcement operations, the Croix de la Valeur Militaire – or French Cross of Military Valor – is one of the most respected decorations in the French military, Delattre said.

Those recognized Monday:

* Active duty Army Maj. Richard Nessel of the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne).

“Your courage honors you as well as your country; your exemplary service deserves to be commended,” Delattre told him.

* Army National Guard Capt. Thomas Harper; Master Sgt. David Nuemer; Sgt. 1st Class Ryan Ahern; Staff Sgt. Casey Roberts; Sgt. Ryan Meister.

“You demonstrated the highest military qualities and sense of duty,” Delattre told them. “You distinguished yourselves.”Your outstanding conduct alongside French forces, … your remarkable bravery in the face of danger in the combat zone, and your superb combatant qualities deserve to be commended.”

“It’s a huge honor for all of us,” said Harper, a traditional Guard member who has been on active duty most of the last decade and was joined Monday by his parents and sisters. “They’re completely overwhelmed,” he said. “We don’t normally look for this kind of recognition; I don’t think they’ve ever even been to one of my military school graduations.”

The recognition of the Guard members reflects the Guard’s contributions to the total force, Dempsey said.

“The last three award ceremonies I’ve been to happen to have been National Guard soldiers,” he said. “We’re really one Army. It’s a signal that, as we go forward in a new fiscal environment, we have to maintain faith with all three components of our Army – active, Guard and Reserve.

“It’s a great credit to the young men and women who serve. I couldn’t be more proud of our Army in general – but tonight is a night for five of these six soldiers in particular who happen to be National Guard.”

The National Guard has special forces in 18 states. While they train and deploy just as active duty soldiers, Guard members must also balance civilian lives and careers. There are five active duty special forces groups and two in the National Guard.

“We’re in the right place at the wrong time,” quipped Army National Guard Brig. Gen. Steven Duff, deputy commander, U.S. Army Special Forces Command (Airborne). “We’re everywhere. We can do whatever is necessary, and it shows that the caliber of our soldiers are just as good as anybody else.

“We are part of the operational force. Given the proper predictability in our force generation model, we can accomplish any mission that’s given.”

“It says a lot about our units and our dedication to duty and the training that we’ve undergone, as well as the maturity of our soldiers,” Harper said.

“It’s a great honor,” said Ahern, a laser physicist in his civilian career who has spent four of the last 10 years deployed or recovering from combat-related injuries.

Ahern’s parents, wife and daughter accompanied him. “They see the newspaper stories,” he said. “They hear abstract descriptions of what you’ve done. But they don’t really see it firsthand, nor do they see recognition, so this is a really good opportunity.”

A full narrative of the exact events that earned the six their awards Monday cannot be shared here.

But there is one: It tells of men surrounded, wildly outnumbered and pinned down for hours. Of men who fought on despite severe injuries. Of lifesaving buddy aid under withering, accurate fire – and of declined opportunities to be medically evacuated in order to stay in the fight until the last man was out safe.

None of the Green Berets mentioned any of this Monday.

The silent professionals stepped briefly into the light to accept honors; said almost nothing of battles fought in Afghanistan and in hospitals; shook hands with senior leaders who had come to thank them and, by extension, all they serve alongside; shared the moment with parents, wives and children who rarely get to share what they do – and slipped back into the night as modestly and quietly as they arrived.

“We had kind of a tough fight those last few days in Afghanistan,” Harper said. “We were just happy to be alive. We really didn’t expect this kind of honor. It’s pretty overwhelming, I’ll tell you.

“We’re very quiet in what we do. We don’t expect recognition. We don’t look for it. This has been a little much for us today, … but we’re happy that we could be here and that the French felt they could give us this extreme honor.”

Among those present: Navy Adm. Eric Olson, commander, U.S. Special Operations Command; Army Lt. Gen. John Mulholland, commanding general, U.S. Army Special Operations Command; Army Lt. Gen, Richard Zahner, deputy chief of staff for intelligence.

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Story by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill

A local father rejoiced with overwhelming emotion and relief when members of the Laghman Provincial Reconstruction Team presented him with a custom-made bed for his special-needs son.

Noor Ahmad is the father of Samir Ahmad, 3, who was involved in a life-changing accident in May 2010. Like most Afghan children, Samir was playing near his home in the city of Mehtar Lam, the capitol of Laghman Province. He ventured too close to the busy street and too far away from his family to react as a U.S. convoy moved through the city.

The driver of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle could not see the boy as his vehicle struck the child.

Samir lay on the road motionless. Medics from the convoy rushed to the child and found that he was miraculously still alive. They evacuated him to nearby Forward Operating Base Mehtar Lam. Because his injuries were too serious for local treatment, medical personnel evacuated him to Bagram Airfield where a team of medical professionals worked for hours to save Samir’s life.

It is more than a year later, and Samir’s injuries have changed his life. He has been diagnosed with a form of neurological paralysis, which causes sudden, uncontrollable body movements.

Ahmad still brings his son to the base weekly so the medics can clean the child’s feeding tube and check on his condition. He needs constant supervision and care, especially at night when those sudden movements have caused him to fall out of his bed.

During a recent treatment visit to the medics at FOB Mehtar Lam, Ahmed relayed the story of how his son falls out of bed during his sleep.

Capt. Deana Porter, physician assistant and medical officer for Laghman Provincial Reconstruction Team, recognized the need for a larger bed with rails and more padding due to Samir’s condition. She turned to U.S. Air Force Senior Airman John Fitzgerald, medical technician, to discuss the possibilities of building a new bed for Samir.

He took charge of the project and met with the local carpenter in charge of maintaining the facilities for FOB Mehtar Lam, known only by his first name, Igor. Together, Fitzgerald and Igor designed and built a new bed specifically for Samir.

The six-foot bed with padded rails will protect Samir, prevent him from falling and is large enough to accommodate him for many years to come.

“I got with the contractors, gathered the wood, tools and hardware and, together, we built the child a bed that will keep him safe and last a long, long time,” said Fitzgerald.

Since the child is essentially bedridden, explained Fitzgerald, the new bed will provide him a safe place and allow his parents to rest peacefully, knowing their son won’t fall out of bed in the middle of the night.

Medics presented the bed to Ahmad July 20, which, coincidentally, was Samir’s third birthday. When he laid eyes on it, Ahmad’s face brightened and his infectious smile brought a mixture of smiles and tears to the medical staff.

Ahmad also managed to muster two simple words in plain English, “Thank you.”

He said it over and over as he pulled out a laminated photo of his son to show off to everyone.

“We just wanted to help mend a wrong,” said Fitzgerald. “We can’t change what happened, nor can anyone be blamed for that terrible accident, but we can offer everything we have to make life a little better for Samir and his family.”

The medics carried the bed out to the front gate and helped Ahmad load it into his transport truck to take it home with him. Ahmad never stopped smiling.

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Beekeepers from Gereshk and Kandahar teach nearly 20 Afghan students how to maintain a bee farm during a course in Gereshk, Helmand province, July 26-28. The course was hosted by a local beekeeper with the support of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, British Royal Army and Danish Army.

Beekeeping is the latest buzz in Helmand province, Afghanistan, after a three-day course during which nearly 20 Afghans learned the perks of farming bees rather than poppy.

The course, hosted July 26-28 in Gereshk, took place at the province’s master beekeeping teaching farm.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, British Royal Army and Danish Army have been helping Afghans learn new agricultural skills such as beekeeping in Gereshk, Helmand province. A local beekeeper hosted a class, July 26-28, to teach other Afghans how to maintain bee farms.

Attendees received lectures by Afghan bee farmers from other provinces. These farmers had previously received training on bee farming from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, British Royal Army and Danish Army.

“The farmers wanted to have bee hives to be able to generate income,” said Don Welty, a senior agriculture advisor with the USDA, and a native of Stafford, Va. “They all know about the impact that bees and honey can make because it is mentioned in the Quran.”

The idea of an alternative crop like bees that would not be harvested and sold by insurgents appealed to coalition forces and the local government. The program began in April.

“This is a great program to help the farmers diversify their farming programs and make additional income for their families,” Welty said. “The goal is to have every farmer own five hives and generate up to $1,000 per year. This would generate much more money than poppy. Once the farmers have alternatives then it is possible for them to move away from poppy.”

The course covered several topics related to beekeeping, including hive preparation, pollination benefits, swarm capturing and queen bee management. The session ended with a hands-on practical application of beekeeping for attendees.

At the end of the seminar attendees were given a starter hive, basic beekeeping supply and a set of beekeeping clothes, Welty said.

Honey from northern Afghan cities such as Jalalabad is sometimes available in the Gereshk bazaar and locals hope the demand will increase with local production, said Abdulla, the master beekeeper at the course.

Coalition forces and local government officials hope to have local farmers begin producing their own honey in weeks to come and plan to provide more beekeeping seminars in the future.

DVIDS
Story by Cpl. Katherine Keleher