Report From Afghanistan
(Host) This week, VPR begins our Report From
Afghanistan coverage. VPR commentator Larry Doane is a Captain in the
Guard. During the year-long deployment, he’s been recording his thoughts
as his unit carries out its mission.
Today, in the first entry of
his audio journal, Larry Doane reflects on the nature of his duties in Afghanistan.
(Doane) My kids often ask me exactly what it is we do all day here. I try to explain the concept of a combat
patrol to them and attempt to fend them off with the usual "finding bad guys"
but I can tell they’re not convinced.
This lack of an answer makes me
ask myself the same question. What
exactly are we doing all day around here, anyway? I could go with the book answer. Protect the Afghan people, support the
government, develop Afghan forces; but words only tell me why I’m here, not
what exactly I’m supposed to be doing.
The actual steps to a patrol are pretty simple. Pack your stuff, check the oil in the truck,
make sure you look at a map and know where you’re going.
When I was in Iraq the
next step was clear. We would drive off
of the base and roll around looking for trouble until we found it, or it found
us. But Afghanistan is a
different war. More often than not our
objective isn’t to capture someone or attack some Taliban target. Instead we conduct SLE and
KLE, or when translated from the Army, Street Level and Key Leader
engagements.
I love the Army, but only an
organization like ours could make an acronym up to mean ‘go talk to
people’. But that’s what we really do
here. We talk to kids on the street,
sidewalk vendors chat us up about security and the weather. Unit leaders, like myself, spend most of
their time drinking chai, the local tea.
We listen to the concerns of local leaders and talk with them about
their problems.
Like my Afghan National Police counterpart, General
Sharsai. He is my best friend here in Afghanistan
despite the nearly 30 year difference in our ages. And we talk often, of security and family and
our shared hopes for peace. It might
seem to the casual observer that a soldier should spend more time doing and
less time talking, but I’m not so sure about that anymore.
Since coming here, I’ve seen
the right few words over a cup of chai have far more impact than a 2000 pound
bomb.
Note: Tomorrow Captain Doane will describe his daily routine as a unit commander. And beginning
Saturday, VPR’s Steve Zind will begin reporting from Afghanistan. Click here to read his Reporter’s Journal.
Click "Listen" to hear Doane’s thoughts.