While this is her 3rd deployment, it's the first time she’s been deployed with her husband, Sgt. Anthony Hughes, Jr. He's an S-2 clerk in TF Falcon, 10th CAB. Anthony admits that deploying with his wife makes some things easie, and said that he's proud of Autumn and her sense of duty.
“I'm extremely proud of what my wife is doing for our country,” said Anthony. “She has decided to stay in the Army, despite us having a child, and still wants to serve. I think that it takes a very dedicated person to do this when given the opportunity to get out, because of us being dual military,” he said. Autumn said she enjoys her job in the Army, because it allows her the opportunity to meet and get to know a variety of people. As a signal support system specialist, she helps set up the unit’s computer systems. She runs cables, connects printers, manages share portals, and sets up radio sets. It's her responsibility to take care of most things that deal with communication. With more than 7 years in the Army, Autumn is familiar with facing challenges and learning to overcome them. “I take challenges on with a positive attitude,” she said. “If I don’t know how to fix it, I ask questions. I’m never afraid to ask questions.” The Hughes left behind their 11-month-old baby girl, Summer, with Autumn’s mother. It's a new challenge this Army Family is facing, but Autumn maintains her positive attitude. “This is the first time I’ve had to leave my daughter, and I’m going to admit it's hard, but I know what I’m doing for our daughter, and one day she'll understand why I had to do it,” she said. “There are times that are harder than some, but I have to push those feelings onto the back burner, and keep my head in the game – not only for myself, but for my Soldiers.” Anthony, who enlisted in 2002 with the intent of completing 20 years, misses his daughter as well. He acknowledged that he focuses heavily on his job to complete the mission. He said he knows photos and videos of Summer are being taken for them to watch when they return home next fall. His head is fully in the mission here. The Hughes said they know it is not easy to have a dual military Family, when they both plan to support and defend the country for 20 years. However, they said they completely support each other in their career goals.
“It was a great cause to run for … our 13 fallen heroes,” said 1st Lt. Jeremy Hamilton. “It’s cool to see the whole FOB come together, honor our guys, and support the bn.”
The engr bn has the tough task of performing route clearance in the northern, eastern and southern command regions. The Army Engineer School defines route clearance as the detection, investigation, marking, reporting and neutralization of explosive hazards and other obstacles, along a defined route to enable assured mobility for the maneuver cmdr.Directing tribal affairs is no small task, as there are 3 or 4 different tribes represented in each village. The first topic of discussion was Orgun District’s new sub-governor, Khushid Rehman. “The new sub-governor is a great man,” Salim said. “He invited ANA and ANP to keep security.”
Salim asked Butler to attend their weekly shura, a meeting where tribal leaders, village elders and govt directors can discuss issues within the prov. "Rehman is also planning to attend the shura," Salim added. “I hope it won’t be any trouble for you to attend,” Salim said. “It would be a huge help to see what the people are thinking. People are hoping for the sub-governor to work to rebuild Orgun.” Salim said education is a priority. “It’s good to keep the young people busy, to keep kids from getting into trouble,” Salim said. “Unfortunately in this culture, especially in these villages, they don’t care about education. I feel, as a govt leader, it's my duty to make education important.” As the meeting with Salim came to an end, Sadim Zoy, the dir. of the Orgun Youth Cultural Union, waited outside to meet with Butler. Butler shook hands with Salim and expressed his thanks for meeting with him, and then welcomed Zoy into the room. Zoy began by describing the nongovernmental org. that he founded. “It started 8 months ago, and we already have 400 members. We aren’t just trying to help local,” he added. “We're trying to bring youths togethe, by starting sports teams, and bringing them education.”Currently, those 400 members are men aged 18 and above, but, according to Zoy, they also have programs for children and women in mind. Zoy claimed that the Tribal Liaison Org. has agreed to build a cricket stadium at a cost of about $80,000. However, the union is having trouble finding the land.
Zoy explained that the people of Orgun usually go to the district sub-governor for help with their problems, but that his org. assists as well. The union has plans for a radio station and magazine, according to Zoy, who thinks education and communication are the keys to addressing corruption in the prov. “The main way we want to educate is through media,” he explained. “We want to talk to people through the radio. We already got the license and approval, but we’re waiting on the name and frequency.” Zoy told Butler that he's seen positive changes since CF arrived in Afghanistan. Butler thanked them for meeting with him. With the info he gathered from both meetings, Butler explained what steps he would take next. “The tribal affairs meeting was for discussing the upcoming shura for elders from eastern Paktika,” Butler said. “With the youth group, we’re going to reach out to the ANA to see if they can help them obtain land for their cricket field. That’s going to be a little tough.” A couple of days after these meetings, Butler met with Mohammed Alam, Orgun dep. dir. of finance. Alam was a refugee in Pakistan for 19 years, and said that there are still about 100,000 to 150,000 Afghans living as refugees in Pakistan. “Little by little they're coming back to Afghanistan,” Alam said. “This is our country. We have to serve our country and our people. We're all brothers.”Butler spoke to Alam about what his top priorities are for Orgun in the realm of finance. “My main goal is to bring rule and regulation on how to collect taxes,” Alam said. “There are about 500 stores in the bazaar, but right now I don’t have anything on paper that will allow me to collect.”
Noor Alam is the dep. dir. for rural reconstruction in Orgun, and also attended the meeting.
“We ask the people what they need, or what they want, and we tell the govt,” Noor Alam explained. “We know what people need is to fix and build things like clinics and schools.”
Op Check Dam led Reps from the 3-19th ADT, Khowst PRT, USACE, and a civilian forestry expert into a mountainous border region, only 1 km from the Pakistan border. Village elders had voiced concern over a growing wadi in the area, and requested a retaining wall.
Members of the 3-19th ADT called upon the experts from outside agencies to assist in a site survey, as part of a follow-up mission the 2-19th ADT began in May. Army Col. Walter Colbert, 3-19th ADT cmdr, stressed the importance of working closely with all the partners in the area of ops.
"While the 3-19th ADT possesses a broad range of internal agricultural related expertise, including a hydrologist; a project of this magnitude is better served by calling on the engineering experts located within Khowst (PRT),” said Colbert. “This type of cooperation creates an incredible synergy between the 2 teams, resulting in an increased footprint.” Professor Dr. John Groninger is currently working as a part of a USAID-funded Afghanistan Water Agriculture and Technology Transfer Project, in which he travels throughout eastern Afghanistan in an effort to gather samples of native trees. Through the use of a specialized increment borer, Groninger extracts a cross-section of a living tree to take home for further research. Results of this research assist engrs and agricultural experts in planning future projects. Hydrological data is not currently available for many parts of Afghanistan, but through the work of Groninger, "future projects in this region should have a better understanding of hydrological impacts," he said.The specific area surveyed by participants of Op Check Dam consisted of a wadi in which heavy flooding in the past was evident. According to Groninger, “overgrazing of livestock has made it difficult for water to infiltrate the ground, thus resulting in more devastating floods for the entire watershed.”
Also speaking at the event was Dep. Gov. Mangal. “The Director of Public Health and the midwives are decreasing the number of women dying during childbirth,” said Mangal. “I want to congratulate you for continuing to decrease this number.”
Following Mangal’s remarks, various govt officials and prominent members of the local community handed out certificates to the graduates. They were also given several gifts from govt officials, instructors from the Midwife Training Center, the PRT and family members. Mangal said that the people of Paktya have come a long way in creating a stronger govt, addressing medical needs and increasing development, but there's always room for improvement. “We've done a lot for healthcare and development in our prov.,” said Mangal. “We finished 180 kms of roads and have 80 kms of roads in progress. I hope, in the future, that we can solve all problems in Paktya.”"We provide installation engineering and light vertical and horizontal troop labor," said Lt. Col. Laura Johnson, sqdn cmdr of the 467th Expeditionary Prime Base Engineering Emergency Force. "Our Facility Engineer Teams use their technical expertise to execute master planning and surveying."
"We're surveying the area that the ISF will eventually be housed," said Tech. Sgt. Andrea Romero, Lead Engr Asst with the Kalsu FET. "We have to account for the total space, to include force protection measures, as well as living and working space."
The Kalsu FET's efforts extend beyond the camp's gates. The engrs are working with the 3rd ACR on a mission plan that will breathe new life into a courthouse in the city of Hillah. "We're surveying and making plans for this courthouse," said Johnson. "It'll get needed refurbishing, and then be turned back over to the Iraqis who will use it."
The courthouse in Hillah will serve as a hall of justice, where Iraqis will be able to exercise rule of law. "I take my job very personally," said Romero. "I know that I've contributed to Iraqi sustainment, and their ability to stand on their own. I can leave here knowing that I made a difference for the Iraqi people."
By Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Smith, 1st ID PAO
"Of course, you've got Little Big Horn, and being in the military, we study some of the Native American wars that we went through, and battles that happened in history." Wells isn't the only one taking more of an interest in Native American history, over the past month at least, as Americans celebrated Native American Heritage Month in November.
Although Wells has taken an increased interest in his Cherokee heritage, he says an unfortunate aspect of his upbringing contributed more to his desire to succeed. Wells, now one of the most senior enlisted Soldiers in the 1st ID, said that his success comes partly from the common socio-economic status of his people.
"Where I grew up, it's not uncommon for many Native American Families to live a little bit below the poverty level, so it always makes you strive for more," he said. "That's not Native American, that's any human being - you always want more than you came up with."
Sgt. Maj. Wade Wells. (Army photo by Sgt. Jason Kemp, USD-S PA)