Commentary: Airmen in Afghanistan doing more than flying

  • Published
  • By Maj. David Kurle
  • 442nd Fighter Wing public affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  There's a lot happening in the War on Terror that doesn't make the front page.

For more than four months I had the honor of serving in Afghanistan, along-side our wing's pilots and maintainers, as part of the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing.

I traveled extensively, covering Air Force stories across the country, from the volatile regions in the South, to the relatively peaceful provinces in the north.

I met hundreds of Airmen - active-duty, Guard and Reserve - serving their country (and the world), conducting their missions with professionalism, honor and compassion.

What may surprise some people is the variety of missions the Air Force is conducting there and the massive impact these activities are having on a country torn apart by 30 years of war.

Of course, Airman are doing what the Air Force is known for - flying combat sorties.
A-10 pilots and maintainers ensure that firepower and ordnance is brought to bear when and where the forces on the ground need it.

Without the aid of artillery, ground forces depend on timely, accurate and effective close air support - and the U.S. Air Force delivers, I saw it first hand.

A-10s from Whiteman and from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, supported four offensives this summer, rooting out terrorists and Taliban extremists from places where they'd been holed up for four years. These four offensives, more than anything, accounted for the increase in Taliban activity over the summer - not a supposed resurgence of extremism that was widely reported in the media.

And the A-10 isn't the only plane in action over Afghanistan.

C-130s, flown by Air National Guardsmen fly missions every day, delivering food, water, ammunition and other supplies to U.S. forces on the ground. The airdrop mission in Afghanistan is vital to re-supplying remote outposts of Soldiers and Airmen scattered throughout the country. In fact, C-130 airdrops have not been conducted on this scale since the Vietnam War.

But some of the most amazing missions are taking place on the ground.

Because the Army is stretched between Iraq and Afghanistan, it relies on the Air Force for manpower to conduct embedded training team and provincial reconstruction team missions, which directly affect the rebuilding of Afghanistan.

Airmen on the embedded training teams work every day with the Afghan National Army to mold it into an effective fighting force that can sustain and support itself - the aim is to get Afghans to protect and serve their own citizens.

Six Air Force-led provincial reconstruction teams perform security, lead reconstruction efforts, assess humanitarian needs and promote good governance by serving as advisors to the governors in the provinces the teams are assigned to.

The PRTs assess the needs of Afghans, advise the provincial governors on the best way to address those needs and manage the funding to make it happen.

One team I covered, facilitated the construction of a bridge over a river that connected a village of more than 1,000 families to health care, education and jobs. By building that bridge, the PRT opened a new world to those Afghans, who are now less susceptible to the propaganda disseminated by Taliban extremists.

Another PRT runs a trade school - teaching Afghans marketable skills and turning them into electricians, mechanics and textile workers. This provides Afghans with an opportunity to re-build their own country, while making a decent living at the same time.
One event during the deployment defined for me, personally, why we went into Afghanistan, and why we need to continue our efforts there.

On Father's day, one of our C-130 transport crews, medically evacuated a 12-year-old girl from Herat, in Western Afghanistan. Suffering from a broken collar bone, broken back and head injuries, she was one of the lucky ones, four other girls were killed and 10 more wounded when Taliban extremists blew up their school while it was in session.

It's the type of atrocity this enemy would commit here in the U.S., if it weren't for Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors and Marines there, taking the fight to the enemy.

All of the U.S. and international military forces in Afghanistan are working toward the same goal: To keep Afghanistan from ever again being a safe haven for the kind of people who would blow up a school for little girls or commit acts of terror in our country.

As we continue to provide security for Afghanistan, the birthplace of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it's important to remember that Afghans make progress every day and that there are Airmen there making sure they can continue.