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FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan (May 21, 2008) -
Every day, provincial reconstruction teams roll out of bases in
Afghanistan with mixed bags of services and skill sets, bound by
the necessity of their mission.
"Many would think it would be difficult to coordinate, but since
we have unity of effort and a common interest in the welfare of the
Afghan people, it isn't," said Army Capt. John Madia, Task Force
Currahee fire support officer.
Madia is busy with a wide array of duties here. However, by his
lighthearted demeanor, it would be hard to guess he's working far
from his natural element. More often than not, this is the case for
troops working in PRTs.
A West Point graduate in the Army's artillery branch, Madia has
deployed before. In Iraq, he was an artillery platoon leader, but
his platoon fired very little artillery. Instead, they patrolled
the streets daily, initiating one-on-one contact with citizens who
came to know them the way people in a U.S. neighborhood get to know
a city cop patrolling a beat.
Madia said he became mildly famous for the effect he had on the
local kids, who came to know him and his unit so well they would
nearly jump in front of their Humvees as they rolled down eastern
Baghdad alleyways. Now, in the Ghazni and Wardak provinces of
Afghanistan, he has the potential to have a long-lasting effect on
another population.
To generate the effect he desires, Madia relies on soldiers like
Sgt. Al Walkowiak, a Pennsylvania National Guardsman, to interact
with the Afghan people on the streets.
Walkowiak, a West Pittstown, Pa., native, said he takes great
pride in his work. His military occupational specialty says he's a
tanker, but Walkowiak hasn't had the chance to operate many tanks
here. Instead, he has worked with military police in Iraq, and now
with a PRT in Afghanistan. He's not disappointed, he said.
"It's good to see the changes that take place with the PRT,"
Walkowiak said as he handed out lollipops to the children who come
running whenever the team's trucks come within sight. "It's not bad
here. Pretty friendly. Most of the places we've been to, it's been
pretty friendly."
Walkowiak said he has a lot of respect for the Afghan people. He
related a story about visiting an area where the people live in
abject poverty, even by Afghan standards, which is beyond the scope
of the imagination of most residents of developed nations.
He said he was amazed by the way the local people shared food
and tea so liberally, taking from what little they had to make a
man far from his country feel a little more at home.
"They're very generous people," Walkowiak said with a mixture of
admiration and amazement.
The amount of construction going on in Ghazni province is
phenomenal, considering that under Taliban rule the area was
considered one of the most backwater areas of the country. The PRT
is responsible for helping to guide much of this construction. From
roads to bridges, and schoolhouses to clinics, the Ghazni PRT works
in concert with the Afghan government in an effort to aid in the
area's success.
Army Col. Pete Johnson, Task Force Currahee commander, applauded
the efforts of the Ghazni PRT and its work with the 82nd Airborne
Division's Task Force Fury, his unit's predecessors in the
region.
"No matter the challenge, the forces working toward the success
of the burgeoning democracy never flinched," Johnson said.
Outside of the half-built district center in Kwaji Omarie, the
PRT members realized they still have a long way to go. There is no
telling when the center will be officially finished to the
standards that the engineers know are necessary. Local contractors
sweat in the sun to build bridges to connect a maze of dirt streets
that are difficult to navigate.
If there is a light at the end of the tunnel, it's the one that
can be found in front of soldiers like Walkowiak, or in the eyes of
the Afghan children who marvel and plead not for the weapon in his
hand, but the pens in his pocket.
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