Security forces provide protection on, off Bagram (+ Afghanistan Update)

Security forces provide protection on, off Bagram
by Master Sgt Jeff Szczechowswki
455th Expeditionary Operations Group Public Affairs

5/5/2004 - BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (AFPN) -- Besides their more traditional role of providing installation security, security forces Airmen here have taken on two other important combat-related responsibilities supporting the war on terrorism.

Airmen assigned to the 455th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron are providing security for convoys that maneuver over the rugged and potentially hostile Afghanistan landscape outside of the base. Also, a newly created 455th ESFS tactical security element provides cover for Air Force Office of Special Investigations agents in the field. The agents conduct counterintelligence missions and weapons searches, and they apprehend suspected anti-coalition forces.

Security forces Airmen have been running convoys for years, but not in deployed combat zones, said Tech. Sgt. Earl Rogers, 455th ESFS superintendent of convoy operations and tactical security element operations.

“The convoys are initiated to deliver humanitarian assistance to local villages in need,” he said. “Participation is strictly volunteer, and I train all security members prior to their acceptance to this team.”

When escorting a humanitarian assistance convoy, Airmen are the resources being protected, not the mountains of clothes and other goods being delivered to the Afghan citizens.

“Our resources during these missions are the (Airmen) themselves,” Sergeant Rogers said. “The cargo is expendable.”

Like the team that provides convoy security, the tactical security element is also made up of 455th ESFS Airmen, he said.

Airmen on the team are hand-picked, and Sergeant Rogers provides them with specialized training. The team, in turn, conducts additional training with the OSI. The concept of a tactical security is a totally new mission for security forces, Sergeant Rogers said.

He said he is inspired by the younger Airmen who have bravely accepted the risk of “going outside the wire,” to be a part of the convoy security and tactical security operations when it is not required of them.

“The thing that has made me most proud is to see the young Airmen step up and volunteer to conduct these risky missions off base,” he said. “When we go outside the wire, it is no joke. There are people out there who want to kill coalition forces, but these young troops see the need for the missions and are willing to participate.”

One of those volunteers is Senior Airman Derek Wagner, a security response team leader deployed here from Misawa Air Base, Japan. He is a member of both the convoy operations team and the tactical security element. Airman Wagner said he wanted to be a part of both details “to gain some real experience and to make a difference in an area where I could see the results.” He also said he is glad to be here.

“I’m proud to be a part of Operation Enduring Freedom, because I truly believe that the efforts being put forth in Afghanistan will make a difference in the lives of the people here in the long haul,” Airman Wagner said. “I know that later in life I will be able to look back and be proud that I was part of that effort.”

The security forces Airmen assigned here come from McChord Air Force Base, Wash.; Misawa AB; Sheppard AFB, Texas; and Spangdahlem AB, Germany. They have meshed nicely into one cohesive unit, protecting people and equipment critical to OEF, said Master Sgt. Joseph Ramos, 455th ESFS operations superintendent. Besides their off-base missions, he said they ensure a secure environment here so that the aircraft maintainers and fighter pilots can effectively generate combat sorties.

“The troops provide security for resources vital to the worldwide war on terrorism,” he said. “These resources, in turn, support our ground forces on the battlefield. Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors and Marines are working together to take the fight to the enemy.

“The troops understand they are performing an important job, fighting the global war on terrorism” Sergeant Ramos said. “They also know the potential for danger is always there. Those two things keep the troops motivated.”

“(I am) very proud to be here conducting the mission that we are involved in,” Sergeant Rogers said. “The best part of this deployment is seeing all the good we are doing. When I can facilitate the delivery of supplies to a local orphanage that has kids sleeping almost on top of each other, in a building that is bullet-ridden from the Taliban occupation, it puts a whole new light on the war on terrorism.”

May 5

Team Aids Burn Victims; Civil
Affairs Units Deliver Humanitarian Aid

KABUL, Afghanistan, May 5, 2004 — After a fuel tanker explosion at a gas station in the Aziz Abad Village near Herat on May 2, the Herat Provincial Reconstruction Team medical staff assisted in treating the burn patients and delivering basic trauma supplies to the Herat Hospital, according to Combined Joint Task Force 180 officials. In addition, the team purchased burn treatment supplies through local medical suppliers and delivered them to the hospital for immediate use on the remaining burn patients.

On May 3, the Asadabad Civil Affairs team donated school supplies to the Qamchai School and to the Fatima Girl’s School.
Also on May 3, the Parwan Civil Affairs team attended the ground breaking ceremony at Tokchi Village for the road bridge renovation project. They also helped Korakdana Village set up donated tents to be used as a temporary school until a permanent structure can be built. While at the school, the team also distributed 15 new bicycles donated to the village elders and teachers by the Army and Air Force Exchange Service.
Coalition forces provided Tezin villagers school supplies and clothing items on May 3.

While on patrols near Tarin Kowt, coalition forces found three caches of weapons and munitions, May 3.

On May 4, the Parwan Civil Affairs team delivered humanitarian aid to the Golbahar Orphanage.

On May 5, the Gardez Provincial Reconstruction Team will participate in an Afghan National Army recruiting center opening ceremony.

May 4

Afghan Teachers Train in Nebraska

WASHINGTON, May 4, 2004 — Although hampered by shortages of teaching materials, equipment, and even school buildings, Afghan elementary school teachers say they are dedicated to improving the education system in their homeland and sharing what they have learned in a five-week teacher training program in the United States.

In a conversation with the Washington File, Fraybaa Faayiz and Zarmeenah Sherzai, both from Kandahar, said there is a marked contrast between the "very developed system" of education in the United States and the situation in Afghanistan, where they teach classes of up to 90 students in makeshift classrooms housed in tents.

The two are among 12 Afghan women teachers participating in an intensive training program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) to enhance their English and teaching techniques, acquire basic computer skills, and learn how to conduct workshops for other teachers in Afghanistan. The program is part of the Afghanistan Teacher Education Project, launched in 2002 by the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs' (ECA) Teacher Exchange Branch. ECA estimates that by the end of 2004, some 500 teachers in Afghanistan will have completed training provided by fellow teachers who have studied in the United States.

"Teachers represent a vitally important exchange group because they shape the future of a country," said ECA's Assistant Secretary Patricia S. Harrison. "What they do now and in years to come is critical to our communities, our countries, and our world."

Faayiz and Sherzai said they were especially struck by the freedom students enjoy in America. "In Afghanistan, the teacher has total authority over the class," Faayiz explained.

"The students can hardly speak or even move without the teacher's permission. Here it is more like a family atmosphere.

There is friendship between teacher and students. That will be one of the best experiences we can take back, to give our students more opportunity to choose what they want."

The teachers said they were also surprised by the small class sizes in the United States and by the special attention to students with handicaps. At home, they are struggling just to keep up with the demand for education in post-Taliban Afghanistan.

Especially with many young girls now coming to school, "we don't have enough buildings for them," Faayiz said. "Most of our students now are sitting in tents or just in open air on a field or somewhere. We don't have chairs, tables, textbooks, or whatever is needed. We have students who must walk for an hour or more just to get to class because we don't have enough schools."

Sherzai added that she teaches in a large tent with a cotton curtain dividing her 93 students from an adjoining class of 80 students.

The teachers noted several cultural differences between U.S. and Afghan students. They said they were surprised to see American children come to school in casual clothes and girls as young as sixth grade using makeup. In Afghanistan, all students wear uniforms, and makeup is strictly forbidden until a girl graduates from high school.

But there are similarities, too. "It is common for almost any child in the world to always try to find the answers to questions," Faayiz said. "American students ask us are we married, how many children we have, how life is in Afghanistan."

Like many other teachers in their group, Faayiz and Sherzai secretly taught Afghan children during the years of Taliban control, when women were not allowed to teach openly and schools focused solely on religious studies.

"Life under the Taliban was very tough for me as a teacher and as a woman," Faayiz commented. "Education is a part of Afghanistan's culture, and it was very difficult for me to see my children not be able to go to school and for me not to continue my career doing what I loved to do. But at home we were teaching our children and the children of relatives who would bring them to the house secretly."

For two years, Sherzai secretly taught math and the Pashto language to 150 girls at a Taliban-sanctioned religious school. "One day when I was in class, the Taliban secret police walked in, and the students quickly hid their papers under the holy books. The police asked who I was, and the official teacher and students told them I was the mother of one of the students, there to visit her child. But about two weeks later, the Taliban completely closed the school, even for studying religious subjects, and the rest of the religious schools in that area also were closed."

During their stay in the United States, the teachers visited schools throughout Nebraska and spent a week in Washington, where they visited a school and the Embassy of Afghanistan, met with officials at the White House and the State Department, and toured the city's monuments and museums.

Faayiz and Sherzai said they wish the schedule allowed more time for studying English and computers. Both expect to use their new laptops, which each of the 12 teachers will receive, to e-mail their newfound colleagues in the United States.

Reflecting on their experiences in this country, Faayiz and Sherzai agree that the highlight of their stay was the opportunity to know average Americans, especially the host families with whom they stayed, and exchange information about each other's culture and customs.

"Our American friends admire our social family lifestyle, which includes aunts, uncles, cousins," Faayiz noted. "And they are surprised when we tell them almost all our marriages are arranged. They ask how we could be happy with someone we don't know, and our response is that since our parents are older and wiser, we know they will choose right for us. That's why most Afghans are happy families, and the rate of divorce is only about two percent."

Asked what they see for the future of Afghanistan, Faayiz and Sherzai, who have 10 daughters and one son between them, said they look forward to "a very good future" for their children and expect their daughters will be able to pursue education as far as they wish.

"We have come out of a very terrible situation, and now we have the freedom to choose our destiny," Faayiz said. She noted that the Afghan people are proud of playing a role in bringing down the Soviet Union and helping "to open the door for a better and freer world. We are proud to be part of that new era. Therefore, we ask the world, especially the United States, not to forget us and to help us in our efforts to reconstruct our country."

http://www.defendamerica.mil/afghanistan/update/may2004/au050504.html

(Cool guy with a cool job:)

U.S. Air Force
Staff Sgt. Jason Cry

Joint Terminal Attack Controllers
Vital to Terror War

By U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Jeff Szczechowski
455th Expeditionary Operations Group

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, May 6, 2004 — Air Force Staff Sgt. Jason Cry is a joint terminal attack controller with the 682nd Air Support Operations Squadron supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. During a recent ground confrontation, he demonstrated the importance of all JTACs to the war on terrorism.

In the early morning of March 18, in the village of Miam Do, coalition and Afghan national army soldiers came under fire of anti-coalition militia. Cry was the JTAC assigned to the Army ground forces, and for the next 34 hours, he was responsible for coordinating close-air support for the embattled coalition forces.

“We’re the link between the Army and the Air Force when the need arises for close-air support,” Cry said. “Without us, there is no (close-air support), only firefights.”

In Miam Do, Cry unloaded 60 to 100 pounds of gear including radio, batteries, and enough food and water to get by for several days. When the situation intensified at around 6:30 a.m., the commander determined that close-air support was needed and he called on Cry to swing into action. When he made his first radio request back to the air support operations center here, his responsibility was enormous.

He had to decide what actions to take to properly control the ensuing air operations and how best to maximize the support, what type of weapons to use, and where to direct the hits.

Anticipating what type of aircraft would be used, and how best to use each one, is part of the entire thought process, he said.

Cry also needed to analyze how close any friendly forces were in relation to the positions to be targeted. With the incredible amount of firepower, a miscalculation could lead to a terrible mistake. Because lives are dependent on how the controller performs, he said this is a job that might not appeal to too many people.

“It’s not for everyone,” Cry said. “You have a lot of lives depending on you -- ones that you can take out and ones that you have to protect.

Cry said an interesting part of the recent combat experience is the variety of aircraft available to him. For this operation, he had

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jason Cry is a joint tactical air controller with the 682nd Air Support Operations Squadron. He provides ground-based air support for Operation Enduring Freedom. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Jeff Szczechowski

four A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, four AH-64 Apaches, an AC-130 gunship and, to his surprise, a B-1B Lancer.

In this situation, more aircraft can be good, but it also means that the decision-making process becomes that much more challenging, he said. “Everything happens fast when you’re out there; there’s not much time to think, so your mind is always racing,” Cry said.

During the second stage of the battle, his battalion commander requested support from the AC-130, and Cry brought it in. After making sure that no coalition forces were in the line of fire, he had it let loose with its 105 mm cannon, 26 potent rounds in all.

Next, the B-1B moved in, dropping three, 2,000-pound joint direct attack munitions right on target. But when enemy gunfire persisted, Cry turned again to the 354th EFS, leaving it to two A-10 fighter pilots to deliver the decisive blows.

The lead fighter attacked with two, 500-pound MK-82 bombs. Cry summed up the results: “Man, was she accurate!” Her wingman followed, dropping both of his MK-84s “right on point.” They then followed up with two 30 mm cannon passes.

In a battle that ultimately cost the lives of two U.S. soldiers and one Afghan soldier, coalition forces killed five anti-coalition militia. They uncovered Taliban propaganda, about 1 ton of ammunition, and weapons including rockets, mines, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

With “bombs on target,” which Cry listed as the most rewarding part of his job, and the battle over, he demonstrated how his mission helps the war on terrorism.

More Profiles

http://www.defendamerica.mil/profiles/may2004/pr050604b.html

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