Inside, the dark, dusty building, called a qulat, was filled with farming tools and hay. Searching further, they found a machine gun hidden in a blanket under the hay pile, evidence enough to continue the search. In another adjacent storage qulat, an AK-47 was found the same way, wrapped in a blanket and under a hay pile, with a box of ammo and a mag.
Troop C cmdr, Army Capt. Chris Shepherd was happy with the quick and motivated response by the ANA and the ANP. “They’ve always been the lead since we’ve been here,” said Shepherd. “When we had to shift into searching for weapons or personnel they were pretty good.”Shepherd met with the village elder in a field surrounded by villagers and kids who were anxious to hear what the American cmdr had to say. The focus of the discussion was a proposed road-improvement project, that will run through Kwajangur to the Kherwar district center, as well as getting the villagers to ensure local security for the workers on the project.
“Security has to come first, and it has to come from villages actually taking responsibility for it, because we can’t be everywhere at once,” said Shepherd.After some talking, the villagers and village elder finally agreed to provide local security for the project. “The biggest success story was securing the agreement on the road,” said Shepherd. With violence increasing in the area, the presence of armed insurgents was no surprise, but the success of the overall mission, and the cooperation of the local villagers were unanticipated. “A lot of towns have been threatened not to interact with any CF or govt group,” said Army 1st Lt. Timothy Miller, info ops officer for Troop C. “Some villages we go into are ghost towns, and we have to knock on the door to actually talk to somebody.” However, throughout the soldiers’ visit, the town was bustling with activity. Farmers tended their fields and villagers walked around, talking to the troops of the ANA and ANP. Afghan Army Sgt. Atal agreed with Shepherd, and was happy with how the mission went, and proud of how well his troops performed. “I’m very happy that we got the weapons of people who are against the govt,” he said. “The guys did a very good job.”
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Eidemiller mapped out every village in the district, and then reorganized them into 4 zones based on population centers, common issues and tribal relationships. Each of these zones became the new CDCs.
A shura, an informal meeting, including each district village followed, in which each central development committee was identified, and the committee leaders verified. Eidemiller ensured that each village belonged to a CDC before they left that meeting. “The last thing you want to do is birth an org. that doesn’t have full representation,” Eidemiller said. “If a single village feels left out, the new org. can break. The enemy can then use it as an insurgent haven.” CDCs met once a week to discuss the needs of their villages. Three reps from each CDC then met bi-weekly for DDA meetings. Here, they presented project ideas that were needed in their respective CDC’s. Development Authority members voted on and ratified projects with signatures and thumbprints. The Noorgal DDA submitted 13 projects since December 2009. Much of the progress is attributed to the participation of enablers such as civil affairs, PRTs and ADTs.“It’s about creating a system that’s homogeneous with the tribal system and the tenets of a fully representative democracy,” Eidemiller said. “If you can marry these 2 things, it gives the people a system that they want to maintain and embrace as their own.”The outgoing cmdr chronicled myriad accomplishments, and expressed confidence in the capability and capacity of the Afghan partners. “The true authority for the peace and prosperity of Afghanistan rests in the ANSF, the Afghan govt, and the people themselves,” Scaparrotti said. “Their presence and commitment is enduring.”
“It’s truly an honor to be here today to reflect on the incredible accomplishments and sacrifices of the Soldiers and civilians of CJTF-82, and to assume responsibility of RC-East,” said Army Maj. Gen. John Campbell, 101st AD and CJTF-101 cmdr. Referring to the storied history both divs share, Campbell said what was true nearly 70 years ago at Camp Claiborne, La., when the 101st and 82nd stood together to form the first 2 ADs and 65 years ago at Normandy is still true today. “We're a band of brothers and sisters who've fought and bled together, across generations, in defense of our nation and the universal principles of freedom, justice and peace,” Campbell said. He said the coming year is vital to Afghanistan’s future, and CJTF-101 will build on past accomplishments, to further combined and unified action, to help facilitate enduring Afghan solutions to Afghanistan’s challenges by, with, and through its Afghan partners. “Our success is measured by our partner’s success, and their success isn’t measured by the number of projects or missions we conduct, but by the faith and confidence the Afghan people entrust in them,” continued Campbell. After what marked the 3rd transfer of authority between the 2 divisions, CJTF-101 began its newest rendezvous with destiny by assuming control of 14 provs in eastern Afghanistan.“It's a program to help judges and lawyers to keep up-to-date on the latest changes to the law,” said Army Capt. Hana Rollins, judge advocate rule of law attorney. “It ensures that they understand what's going on, and still be relevant to anything that might have happened since they went to law school, because there're always constant changes in the legal field.”
“This was the first one of its kind where we had all the judges come to one location, and then have the top people instruct them,” said Rollins. Though this program is new to judicial leaders in Afghanistan, it's the mirror image of a program in the U.S..
“In the U.S., the American Bar Association also has a Continuing Legal Education session; this is the Afghanistan version of that,” said Rollins. “In this event, this is the first time we had Supreme Court justices instruct the judges. We invited 50 judges, including 5 defence attorneys from Jalalabad, 20 from Nangarhar, 10 from Kunar, 10 from Laghman, and 5 from Nuristan. Four additional students came from the Supreme Court voluntarily; they're probably future judges.”The court still faces a continual threat of corruption. One of the major threats is various figureheads using bribes to lighten or omit a sentence. “Some sub-govs are interfering with our decisions,” said Kunar Judge Mawlawizada. “This should not be allowed. When a judge does not agree with a sub-gov., that judge is reassigned to a new district. If we remove a judge because he's bad, we should prosecute him.”Judicial members stressed the importance of practicing law, throughout the conference. Without it, the judges feared that there would be little to no improvements to a better Afghanistan. “We should not be afraid of any insurgents. We should just apply the law and defend against the enemies of Afghanistan,” said Dep. Gov. Ishaqzai. “To have peace in Afghanistan, we must apply the law.”Though the results of JAG’s endeavour may not show immediately, Rollins believes the session has much promise for the country. “If you can get a good group of judges who're willing to go back, who are motivated, excited about doing their job, going out and conducting fair public trials, that will spread like wild fire. You just have to keep pushing it to make sure they'll carry it out. So I think it was very successful, but the benefits for Afghanistan will be long term.”Getting judges excited about doing their jobs depends upon their security. Judges often find themselves faced with a choice: uphold the law and face political harassment, or become influenced by corrupted officials and letting the unjust go free.“I'm concerned about safety for judges. If judges are not safe, how can we apply the law?” said Mawlawizada. “We're scared for our safety while traveling to our districts and offices.” Developing judges with the courage to conduct fair trials also plays into one of TF Bastogne’s ultimate goals. “Our goal is to try to get public trials to avoid corruption; you can’t pay a judge off when the whole public is listening to the facts of the case,” said Rollins. “Our goal is to make them public, so we can step out of the picture and let the Afghans take care of their own judicial system.”Soldiers with the 4th Stryker BCT, 2nd ID, pet dairy cows purchased by their unit for the University of Baghdad’s Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture programs, during a visit to the college, May 26, 2010.
“This project has been our priority,” said Mr. Hamza, Dean of the University. This project included 22 dairy cows, divided equally between the University’s Veterinary and Agriculture Colleges, as well as feed.
While each college campus has their own herd of 11 cows to work with, partnership and the sharing of knowledge, training and resources is encouraged between the 2 schools.“The students will learn how to clean, feed and maintain these animals,” said Hamza. “They will use the same equipment that students at American universities are using.” He explained that he feels the best way to improve the economy and standard of life for the people of Iraq will come through good education.With each cow producing an average of 6 gallons of milk every day, the school can also capitalize from this project by selling milk collected by students. “We can sell milk to raise money for the school,” said Hamza. “Getting the books and lab equipment that we need will be easier now.”As the Raider Bde prepares to depart Iraq later this year, they will leave with the knowledge that they've helped ensure that institutions like the university, and its agriculture and veterinary colleges will be successful in the future.“We want to leave the university with more than just dairy cows,” said Lt. Col. Darron Wright, dep. comm. officer. “It's the partnership of the 2 colleges that will remain.”
Sgt. 1st Class Esther Elliott, an intel planner with Army III Corps, celebrates from Camp Victory’s Al Faw Palace as her daughter, Elizabeth White walks across the stage to receive her high school diploma in Texas, June 5, 2010. Thanks to a partnership between Fort Hood and the area high schools, deployed parents are able to watch their children graduate live, via a video telecast of the event. (Army photos by Spc. Britney Bodner)
“I wanted to jump out of my seat,” said Elliott. “In my mind I was saying ‘hurry up and walk across the stage so I can see you.’ It was a great, great moment. I was sitting on the edge of my seat. I just kind of scooted up to the edge, just waiting for her to come out. I almost fell off. I knew it would be exciting and I’d be happy to see her, but I didn’t’ think I would have all those emotions run through me at once.”
“It’s really special. For that one split second you actually forget where you are,” she said. “For me, it was like I was there. I was so into it, that I tuned everyone out.”Thanks to “Gradcast,” a joint venture between the Killen Independent School District and Fort Hood, Texas, Soldiers and DA civilians who are deployed or training away from the area, are able to watch graduation ceremonies live via video teleconference. Elliott said that the fact that the school district and Fort Hood community cares enough to make the extra effort for deployed Soldiers means a lot. “It’s a huge, huge deal to me,” she said. “It’s really important to think that someone actually cared enough to do something like this for us. It means more to us than anything.”Elliott said that her daughter has been to several different schools, and has moved about 8 times during her life. Each move brings with it transition; adjusting to new friends, a new educational system, a new life. “I think it made her a stronger person,” Elliott said. “It made her more outgoing. It made her more independent than she would've been if we would've stayed in the same place.”With the ceremony complete, Elliott left the conference room with a new memory of her daughter, the high school graduate. “That couple of seconds meant so much to me,” Elliott said. “It’s going to be a couple of seconds that I’m going to remember for a long time.”