Paul Guillaum
CNHI News Service
AFGHANISTAN
November 02, 2009 08:07 pm
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The five mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) trucks that would carry 1Lt. David W. Marck’s platoon to its mission in Khan Abad lined up in front of the gate of Forward Operating Base (FOB) Kunduz, Delta Company 1/121st Infantry’s dusty, three-acre base atop a plateau outside Kunduz Afghanistan, at dawn. Crews readied weapons and put on body armor and helmets in the hazy light.
The humanitarian assistance (HA) mission Americus, Ga.-based First Platoon, Delta Company, 1/121 Infantry, conducted Friday illustrated the progress and frustrations of their mentor mission to the Afghan National Police (ANP) force in Khan Abad, Afghanistan.
“The purpose here is to increase the security in Khan Abad by distributing the HA as an incentive to local people. The whole reason we’re doing this HA in Khan Abad right now is because Khan Abad is secure. The chief of police has done a good job of securing the city, so as a way of saying good job … we’re going to bring in 300 personnel worth of HA drop, and allow him to distribute it to people he has picked out,” briefed Marck, 29, of Athens the afternoon before the mission.
Marck’s goal for the mission, in keeping with his role as a mentor, was to observe only. “(The Khan Abad police chief) has developed the security plan, he has developed the list of personnel who are going to receive the HA. This is the first chance I’ve had to really see how the chief handles command and control over his guys in an operational type of environment. In my experience these things tend to turn into unruly mobs. At the end of the day, you’ve got a bunch of people who are pissed off because they didn’t get anything, they weren’t invited, or they just think you owe them more.”
The hour and a half drive from the FOB to Khan Abad was uneventful. The convoy of wide bodied military trucks pulled over several times to allow oncoming traffic to pass on the narrow roads as part of a focus on respecting the Afghans’ ownership of the road in their country.
Upon pulling into the gate of the police headquarters SSgt. Dexter L. Cooper, 24, of Cairo, Ga., directed the parking scheme for the platoon’s trucks inside the walled, gated police station. Marck detailed Pfc. Ashley T. Howard, 20, of Jesup, Ga., and Spc. Michael Wilson, 23, of Tifton, Ga., to guard the white sacks of donated goods. “(We are here) making sure the ANP don’t take it for themselves,” explained Wilson. “(The ANP) don’t seem to understand that (the goods are) not for them,” said a concerned Marck.
Looking out over the crowd gathered at one end of the street from a platform that allowed him to see over the wall, Marck quietly voiced his approval of the ANP’s execution of their plan for blocking the road fronting the station’s walls, and funneling the recipient Afghans through a primary checkpoint at the corner of the station’s wall and then carefully searching everyone who came through the gate.
Once inside, the recipients were lined up, given their HA, and ushered back out the gate. The sole female ANP garnered the praise of watching Georgia Guardsmen for her fierce demeanor in moving the recipients along when they failed to move with sufficient alacrity. Pushing was not tolerated by the ANP executive officer running the gate either. Both officers quickly confronted and suppressed attempts to rush the distribution. Marck was especially pleased at the police chief’s use of fingerprint ink to mark the fingers of those recipients who had received their allotted HA.
Spc. Justice T. Bailey, 23, of Newnan, Ga., joined Sgt. Leander N. Williams, 42, of Griffin, Ga., watching the front gate from across the street. “ANP did a good job keeping (the recipients) back when we told them to keep them back,” he said.
First platoon second in command, SFC. Mark A. Kassum, 35, of Valdosta, voiced his satisfaction with the execution of the HA drop. “Security was handled very well. They, (the ANP), had a good plan. They took the initiative and had it set up before we got there. They ran the show.”
While the organization and execution of the distribution was consistently exceeding expectations, discontent began to mount among the soldiers under Marck’s command about the recipients of the HA.
“I saw more wealthy appearing people going first, and later I saw the less (wealthy) people cycle through,” said Spc. Kent Butler, 28, of Albany. “I was getting sick of seeing wealthy people getting (HA) and needy people being told to go away. It was (supposedly) for the locals who needed it,” said Howard.
While part of the perception was shaped by the police chief’s plan to first have village elders, the leading citizens of outlying villages, collect HA for distribution back at those villages, many of the following recipients looked reasonably prosperous.
“Initially a few elders got items before anyone else. I was told that they were getting it for their poor people. The people getting in (later, but before the impoverished) were better off than the people not getting in. The first up were the ones who needed it least,” said Williams from his vantage point outside the gate. “A lot of people got (HA) that didn’t need it,” said Bailey who was on watch next to Williams.
Marck, in his monitoring of the situation, was first confronted with complaints about iniquity by his Afghan Language Assistant N. As N. was making the point, however, several workers in torn clothing were allowed a turn at collecting HA. “I’m as hands off as possible,” explained Marck. “I want to be standing back in the background and looking.”
Marck did, however, go outside the gate into the street to better appraise who was being admitted. As he walked down the street an angry Afghan began shouting. N. translated his diatribe as an indictment of the ANP’s choice of recipients. The angry Afghan accused them of admitting friends and family as the truly needy were ignored.
Marck strode to the crowd seeking admission and was met by Sgt. Jason M. Kimbrel, 34, of Albany, in front of the razor-wire barrier blocking the street. Kimbrel and N. spoke in turn to Marck about their strong feelings regarding the obviously needy, including amputees displaying their stumps, and gaunt, dirty children, being excluded.
“I was at the gate trying to get the older people who were needy (in),” said Kimbrel. “I wanted Marck to see my point that now we need to take over.” Having considered their points, Marck decided to shift from observing mentor to commander. He gathered the amputees and dirty children into a group and ordered the ANP to insert them into the flow going into the HA distribution.
When asked how much influence N. and Kimbrel had in changing his role from mentor to commander, Marck admitted, “(My getting directly involved) wasn’t planned at all. I was swayed (by them) quite a bit. At the end of the day you do what seems right.”
Once Marck finished addressing Kimbrel and N.’s concerns by ensuring a level of parity, he was confronted with Cooper’s observation that an ANP had taken an HA bundle and locked it in the station jail. “I was looking out for crooked ANPs taking (HA) for themselves,” he said.
Marck went to the door of the jail to find it locked. When he made his intent to enter the jail clear, an ANP waved a finger in a dismissive gesture that Marck met by loudly insisting that he gain entry. Once inside, he found the bundle and threw it at the feet of the police chief, who was sitting in the wooded area between the station and the police barracks. Clearly upset, he accosted the chief as to why American generosity was being met with theft.
“What is this? Why are we bringing this to you only to have your officers steal it?” Marck asked indignantly. The chief tried to make the excuse that his officers were poor, but Marck would have none of it. The chief finally expressed his disappointment at his officers’ behavior and promised to punish the culprit. Marck apologized for his anger without apologizing for the frustration behind it. “You’ve got to hold them to some kind of standard,” he said later.
Cooper took the bundle and gave it to a woman and her children with obvious satisfaction. “These people need the (HA, I) took (it) from the ANPs and gave it to them. We really showed them that we’re trying to help them,” he said, beaming,
First Sgt. Walt M. Kegley Jr., 40-something, of Nashville, Ga., the senior non-commissioned officer of Delta Company who observed the mission summed up his impressions. “Overall I think the mission was a great success. Marck’s intent was for the police chief to plan and organize and provide security. (The ANP) did a better job on the tactical side than the political side.”
Howard, the junior-most soldier concurred. “Their overall (tactical) technique was good, the purpose behind it was bad. They were letting in friends of the ANP. (The female officer) was loading kids up and then letting them back in for another load. There were kids in the compound who were family of the ANP who where wearing the stuff we gave out.”
When asked if the mission’s purpose was to politically strengthen the police chief or humanitarian, Kimbrel summed up succinctly: “It’s politically humanitarian.”
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