Most of the young women who attended the course ranged from 14-17 years old. Drinken said that the goal of courses like these, and the FET in general, is to ensure young women of the prov. are learning skills that will enable them to improve their quality of life. “We want to ensure that they're learning something that will help them better provide for their family,” said Drinken. “If they learn how to pickle vegetables, that helps the family, or they can take it to the market and sell it. They’re getting something out of the course, something that will help them in the future.”
Sgt. Kacie Kremer, a veterinary tech with the 358th Medical Det., assigned to the Iowa Army NG’s 734th ADT, said that it's rewarding to work with women from other cultures and backgrounds. “It’s just amazing seeing them and talking to them,” Kremer said. “Just seeing the diversity in the culture, and experiencing the language barrier, yet they're so willing to work with us. I think they’re as excited as we are. They want to learn.”Drinken said that she appreciated her experience of working with the women of Kunar Prov., through the FET.“Just seeing in their faces that something clicks, that they're learning, makes it worthwhile,” said Drinken. “Even though there's the language barrier, facial expressions are universal. Knowing that they've learned something that will benefit them in regards to themselves and their family, makes it rewarding.”
The mission objective was to provide artillery support for 3rd BCT, 1st ID, TF Duke Soldiers from the 6th Sqdn, 4th Cav Regt, and the 1st Bn, 26th Inf Regt, as they located and cleared enemy forces in the area. Btry A’s 1st Plt. accepted the challenge knowing their role would be crucial, if those forward troops encountered strong resistance.
“The entire plt. felt honored to be a part of this event, and to be selected to do it out of all the plts. in the btry,” said 2nd Lt. Benjamin Sasaki, leader of 1st Plt. Besides being ready to provide artillery support at a moment’s notice, and working on position improvement for their howitzers, they also pulled regular guard shifts on the outpost. “We fired 15 high-explosive rounds and 18 illumination rounds,” said Sasaki. “Although we didn’t get to fire as much as we would have liked, we were always ready to provide artillery support for anyone in the area of ops that called, and I believe that constitutes mission success,” he added.Capt. Joseph Mroszczyk, Co. A’s cmdr., said that the mission produced many good results. “The plt. did an outstanding job, working through austere conditions at an extremely high elevation. I’m proud of their contribution to the fight,” he said.“The Soldiers performed extraordinarily, and morale was high for the entire mission. The plt. sgt. and I are extremely proud of all of them,” said Sasaki.“This is a critical mission, because it's a significant first step in opening the Gwashta Pass to provide logistical support to FOB Wazi Kwah,” said 1st. Lt. George Kane, mortar plt. leader. “It also lets the people in the region observe a strong coalition and ANSF presence, which has been absent in the area for quite some time.”
The forces cleared the pass of IEDs and secured it. Once cleared, a convoy of more than 400 U.S. Army and ANSF personnel traveling in nearly 100 vehicles moved south to FOB Waza Khwah. “Opening up those ground lines of communication is important, because FOB Waza Khwah had been an ‘air only’ FOB, meaning that supplies could only be brought in and out with aviation assets,” said Capt. Todd Tompkins, HHC, 1st Bn., 506th Inf. Regt., cmdr. According to Tompkins, the biggest challenge of this mission was moving through the terrain, where reports indicated insurgents placed more than 2,000 IEDs. “Once we have a clear path to and from FOB Waza Khwah, we can start bringing in new trucks, and moving out old ones that no longer work, and other equipment that's simply too heavy to be moved by helicopter,” added Tompkins. “This is also important for us to be able to transfer these COPs and FOBs over to ANSF control. We have to be able to bring our vehicles out for them to move theirs in.”The 4th Attack Recon Bn., 4th CAB, TF Gambler, 4th ID, TF Currahee, out of FOB Sharana, provides all military aviation support within the prov. “Gambler is great, and they do an outstanding job of supporting the Currahees on the ground, but if we can take back some of the logistical responsibility, that will free them up to provide support in other areas,” said Tompkins.TF Red Currahees identified the most dangerous stretch of route Viper that connects FOB Waza Khwah to the closest base to the north, and then identified different key terrain points within that area, where Red Currahee Soldiers could provide overwatch and security for the convoy as it rolled through.The Mortar Plt. was assigned to an area identified as Key Terrain 4 for the duration of the mission, centrally located so their mortar system could reach the north and south ends of the pass. “The 81mm mortar system is an impressive weapon,” said Staff Sgt. Bo Lathrop, the plt. sgt. of the Mortar Plt. “The Reapers have the ability to change the way a battle is going in a matter of minutes because of this weapon.”Throughout the night, the Reapers received instructions over the radio as to when, where and how many of which type of round to fire. Over the 5-night period, they fired at all hours, sometimes waking up from a dead sleep. They never missed a single mission. “It’s incredible how quickly the Soldiers can go from trying to eat a meal, or changing out their wet socks for dry ones, to being up on the gun making adjustments and hanging rounds in the tube,” said Lathrop.Despite the challenge of such high-tempo of ops, the Reapers said they developed a form of internal motivation.“Our plt. has adopted a motto: ‘Beast Mode.’ It began early in the deployment when we were attempting to traverse some difficult terrain, while conducting a mounted patrol in Yaya Khel,” said Kane. “Ever since, the men have utilized the phrase as a source of collective motivation when facing adversity, as a light inf. plt. in combat does on a daily basis.” The phrase can often be heard throughout the day, as Soldiers are faced with filling sand bags after staying up all night, or climbing a mountain to get a better vantage point. "The Reapers are tough, and they have to be to do what they do," said Lathrop. On day one, the Reapers air assaulted into Gwashta, climbed up to their objective, dug in and prepared a hasty mortar pit. There, they stood ready for the inevitable call for support. The first call came in just after night fall, and they continued to hang mortars steadily through the night, firing nearly 20 rounds.“We fire illumination rounds above where we think the enemy might be. The rounds burn a bright light, and are slowly lowered down by a parachute over that area. Even if we don't see any enemy, at least they know we're looking for them,” said Kane.After 4 nights of firing nearly 100 rounds mixed between high-explosive rounds and 2 types of illumination rounds, the mission met its exfiltration criteria. “Even though we didn't get into a direct engagement with the enemy, they knew the Reapers were there waiting with the 81 mm. Sometimes that's enough of a deterrent to keep the bad guys away,” said Kane.
Soldiers and police officers met with the principals of both schools and teachers, to discuss the school’s needs and opportunities for coalition support. Agnieszka Hejduk, education advisor to the TF White Eagle District Development Team, attended the meeting. “The most common problems of schools are the lack of sufficient equipment in classes, and the lack of sustainable access to water,” said Hejduk. She also drew attention to the small number of adequately trained and educated teachers.
During visits to Shakra-e-Kohn Secondary School and Sanayee H.S., Polish and Afghan patrols gave the students basic school supplies and radios. “It's a great feeling when we see how much joy the children gain from the little things the ANP gave them in the school,” said Polish Army Sgt. Siewert.“We're very grateful for your help to students Shakra-e-Kohn Secondary School. Through such joint efforts, our service will be easier, and the favor of people to the officers of the ANP will continue to grow," said ANP Lt. Nasrat, cmdr. of the Ghazni’s ANP Station No. 1.Using the training they learned in the CSI class, the students established specific roles for the investigation, collected biometrics of the witnesses and a victim, and obtained evidence from the crime scenes, including weapons and fingerprints.
The students split up their roles in the investigations to include the photographer, evidence collector, witness interviewer and sketch artist. The teams used investigation kits provided by the rule-of-law office, to accurately pull up fingerprints and collect all evidence found.“For the actual time in class being so short, those in attendance were very eager to learn new investigative skills, and how to use the kits,” Brown said. “This is the first investigative training that went a little more in depth into lifting fingerprints, taking better crime scene photographs, and info about ballistics from weapons.”Following the review and evaluation of the investigations, ANP Brig. Gen. Jangalbagh, the Panjshir Provincial Police Chief, joined the class to pass out certificates during the graduation. “I appreciate the instructors for having this crucial training,” said Qasim, through an interpreter. “It's very beneficial, and I hope for more crimes to be solved with the knowledge of these new skills and resources.”Three more classes will be held to train more than 60 ANP members. Investigation kits will also be signed out to individual units of the members that attended, including the Criminal Investigation Div, Afghan National Directorate of Security and Counter-Narcotic, and Intel units.“When many of us started as investigators, practical training was never given,” said ANP Deputy Daber of the CID dept at the Provincial HQ, through an interpreter. “Now that we all have had more hands-on practice with professionals, we’re confident that we’ll be able to catch guilty suspects, using the knowledge and kits we attained from the class.”After villagers spoke to the local Community Development Council about the issue, the CDC brought the idea to the PRT civil affairs team. “We were concerned more villagers would become sick from the conditions of the water,” said Idi Mohammad, a CDC member, through an interpreter. “We asked for help from the PRT so this village could have the clean water they needed.”
To determine how much water each household is using, engrs. will install meters to track water usage. “The villagers will charge a small fee for the amount being used, and apply the money toward the maintenance of the meters and piping system,” said Togul. “They made their own contribution to the upkeep of this project, with no prompting from the PRT. This shows great initiative by the village, and it makes me very happy to help.”Laborers from the local area dug and placed the piping. After more than a month of planning and construction, the project is in its final stages of completion. The village expects to have access to clean drinking water within 2 weeks.“The Panjshiris are proud people and are concerned about their community,” added Togul. “We've a great working relationship, and seeing their dedication to serve themselves to develop their prov., shows great initiative."“About 5 minutes after they pulled out, we heard shots ring out, and our guys at the LP/OP came running back toward us,” said Schaffer. “Once that happened we opened fire, and they did too.”“We bounded back to shore and called for an immediate extract,” he said. “The boats came flying in to get us, while we were engaged.” During all the chaos Schaffer realized that his leg was severely injured. He still doesn’t remember how he hurt it, but he does remember it being twisted back behind his body, and hobbling into the water.“As the boat came in it hit a sand bar about 15' out,” said Schaffer. “My leg wasn’t working, and I had 60-lbs on my back. The guy in front of me was about 6-foot-1, and as he got in the water it came up to his neck. I hit the water and I’m 5-foot-5; I went under. I remember trying to move through the water, and really couldn’t swim,” he said. “I stuck my weapon up out of the water, and I was yanked into the boat.”Two surgeries and 13 months later, Schaffer was back in the fight in the city of Ramadi, conducting mounted and dismounted patrols. “I remember rolling down a road and turning around to go back down the other way,” said Schaffer. “I looked at my driver, and we were discussing how it was a bad idea to go back down the same road;
then a boom,” he said.The explosion was powerful enough to knock Schaffer unconscious from inside his vehicle. He sustained additional injuries to his leg and traumatic brain injury. The next thing he remembered was landing in the U.S., and looking up from his stretcher to see his father helping to carry him off the plane.Despite his injuries, Schaffer continues to work with wounded vets, to not only give back, but to cope with his personal injuries as well. “To help myself heal, I work with the Veterans Affairs,” said Schaffer. “I struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) quite a bit, and being with other veterans helps. I also spend a lot of time with my kids; it helps me remember why I did what I did, and what all of us do.”
Schaffer has also worked at call enters for veterans who have PTSD, or just need someone to talk to. "When going back home, struggling with the emotional wounds of war is something that shouldn’t be done alone," said Schaffer. “It’s just like going on patrol alone; you’re going to get killed,” he said. “You have to combat the emotional pain with all the things we have at our disposal, from the VA to Veterans of Foreign Wars programs.”
“If you keep it inside, then it’s going to eat you alive like a poison,” he said.