The troops that the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (Fwd) aircraft supported, TF 528, is a CF, formed primarily of British Army and ANA soldiers. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Billy Roth served as a crew chief aboard one of the CH-53D Sea Stallions during the mission. As crew chief he was responsible for preparing the aircraft before take-off, and making sure all passengers and cargo coming aboard were positioned correctly and safely secured during the mission. Roth and the other Marines and sailors of HMH-463 are deployed from Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.“We inserted and extracted the troops on the first run with no issues,” said Roth. “All the players were on board and spot-on with the time line.”
“It was great to see the kids play and have a good time,” said Lt. David Cheetham, organizer of the Seabee volunteer group. “Our Seabees enjoyed it too,” he said.NMCB 26 and 25 NCR Seabees set up a Pinewood Derby race track, and began helping the boys assemble the pre-formed derby cars. “I was up at 4 a.m. this morning finishing the track,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Dale Wheeler, builder. “I also had some help earlier in the week to make the cars and wheels,” he said.Wheeler and other Seabees hewed the cars out of wood and helped the boys assemble them at the school. The wheels were made out of Plexiglas and attached by nails. “We spun the wheels on a drill to get rid of the burrs, and we used sandpaper as a finisher,” Wheeler said.The boys used markers to add color to their cars. Then they raced them on the track, starting at the top. They ran down to the end to retrieve them and soon started again.Petty Officer 1st Class Richard Watson, culinary specialist, donated bright white and red nylon 550 cord, which the boys used to weave bracelets. “It was great to see the enthusiasm of the boys,” said Chief Petty Officer Charles Hill, utilitiesman. Several Seabees had experience weaving macramé bracelets with the Girl and Boy Scouts. Unfortunately, being in Afghanistan added an extra challenge to the project – there weren’t enough buttons. “We had to use buttons from our uniforms,” said Senior Chief Petty Officer Kathleen Nyquist, logistics specialist. They had to use so many buttons, that by the end of the morning, many uniform sleeves were flapping open in the breeze. The soccer game, pitting the volunteers against the Afghan boys, was no contest. The boys won 3-0. “It was a lot of fun playing soccer with the kids,” said Chief Petty Officer Andres Rojas, construction electrician. “They were pretty good.” The game was played on a dirt field in front of the school. Soccer goals were made from wood frames with desert camouflage netting. “The game is always the highlight for the day,” said school military coordinator, German Army Sgt. 1st Class Camillo Teichmann. The base also caters a lunch for the boys, which the volunteers helped serve. “Lunch consists of beef and bread,” Teichmann said. “Also, we put in candy bars and pudding, popcorn and soft drinks.”At the school, an Afghan teacher teaches the boys English, native Pashto writing and some math and science. The boys can attend the school through their 16th birthday. “They're very bright and quick learners,” Teichmann said. “We provide backpacks for all of the boys, and all of the supplies are donated from civilian groups, in Europe and America.”This wasn’t the first time the Seabees volunteered at the school, and it won’t be the last. “The first time we came, we made and flew kites,” Cheetham said. “I’m looking forward to another craft project with the Afghan kids.”NMCB 26, a reserve bn from Harrison, Mich., is part of TF Overlord. 25 NCR, from Gulfport, Miss., is the command and control element for TF Overlord, which is responsible for all construction engineering and engineering support in southern and western Afghanistan.
"The segregation of the 2 sexes is very normal in Afghan society," she continued, but Afghans don’t really know that int'l communities consider the segregation of men and women to be discrimination. “The training should not take place in one session; it should take place continuously with the same audience, because it's not easy to change the people’s attitudes,” said Song.
Education has 3 components: acquiring skills, transferring the knowledge, and changing attitudes. Among the 3 components, changing people’s attitudes is the most difficult, according to Song. “The gender seminar is to change their attitudes,” said Song. “That’s why we have to have the capacity building seminars with the same audience.”