ISAF Continues Improvements to Afghan Hospital, Officials Say

By Amaani Lyle

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON – The International Security Assistance Force has made significant improvements to save what had been a “broken” medical system for treating Afghan security forces, Defense Department officials told a congressional committee today.

David Sedney, DOD’s deputy assistant secretary for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, and Kenneth Moorefield, DOD’s deputy inspector general for special plans and operations, testified about the Dawood National Military Hospital in Kabul before the House Armed Services Committee.

Sedney and Moorefield underscored the need for the Afghan military to maintain a capable and accountable medical system. ISAF’s NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan has strengthened Afghan health systems and will continue to do so, they said.

“Thanks to the response and effort in reforming the health care and medical systems, we are now helping to turn around what had been a broken system -- introducing accountability, standards and stewardship at all levels,” Sedney said.

Over the last several years, Sedney said, coalition medical mentors and advisors highlighted “gross deficiencies” in the system and neglect in operations and basic medical care at Dawood.

Coalition medical mentors and advisers reported these findings and elevated the concerns to NTM-A senior leaders and then- commander Lt. Gen. William Caldwell.

“Recognizing the enormity of the situation, General Caldwell took action,” Sedney said. “He requested the involvement of the DOD IG, Office of Special Plans and Operations, to assess the nationwide medical logistics system in Afghanistan.”

Moorefield testified that the gravity of the matter and complexity of the issues has spurred the DOD IG to undertake a succession of oversight initiatives. Since its February 2011 inspection of the hospital, he said, progress has been made in several areas.

The most significant changes occurred in 2010 and 2011, Moorefield said. Those changes included removing then-hospital commander Afghan Gen. Ahmad Zia Yaftali, developing clearly defined multitier standards and implementing new processes and procedures, he said.

Since executing these changes, there have been no complaints or evidence of patient maltreatment or neglect as of last August, Moorefield added.

The senior leadership of the training mission and the medical advisory group “recognized the critical importance of enabling a system that could provide adequate healthcare to the Afghan security forces,” he added.

ISAF Chief Lends Support to Afghan High School

You think you know what happens on the front lines in Afghanistan?  Check out these books written by the heroes who were there.

By Natela Cutter

Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center

KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 23, 2011 – Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, the commanding general of International Security Assistance Force, visited an art exhibit featuring the work of gifted Afghan students near here last week.

The exhibit was partly organized by Marefat High School, located west of Kabul, whose students had their artwork published in a book of Afghan proverbs through a project funded by a U.S. Embassy grant.

“You can really see the soul of the country in these pictures,” Allen said at the exhibit.

To show support for the education of Afghan children, Allen wrote a $1,700 personal check to fund 10 annual student scholarships. In response, the children and the high school’s principal, Aziz Royesh, presented Allen with a large painting.

“Some of this work reminds me of the places I have been,” said the general, as he examined the painting of Kuchi nomads in Afghanistan.

Allen’s attention had been drawn to the high school’s fundraiser by Navy Capt. Edward Zellem, an Afghanistan Pakistan Hands program member and director of the ISAF Presidential Information Coordination Center detachment at the presidential palace here.

Zellem started to collect Dari proverbs while learning the language as a part of the program that was initiated in 2009 by Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“Proverbs are a very important part of the Afghan culture,” said Zellem, who had worked with Marefat High School students to illustrate the book of 151 Dari proverbs that were collected and translated over the past 18 months.

The book’s initial publishing run and distribution is funded by a U.S. Embassy grant, with the first 40,000 complimentary copies distributed throughout Afghanistan as a “gift from the American people.”

To support Marefat High School, which enrolled 2,600 boys and girls this year, Zellem provided the school with a copyright license to republish and sell the book for profit in Afghanistan, with proceeds going to assist students with their annual tuition.

“This school is progressive and independent thought is strongly encouraged,” Zellem said. Marefat High School, he said, was founded in 1994 in Pakistan by Afghan refugees, but after 9/11 it was moved to Kabul.

The school teaches its young female students to think of themselves as individuals who will have future working careers. In 2008, the school was attacked by mullahs because of its progressive curriculum.

“I want to be a journalist,” said Jahira Jakari, a 15-year-old girl who sold several of her paintings at the exhibition.

The ongoing relationship with Marefat High School is a direct result of the Afghanistan Pakistan Hands program, which aims to build trust with the military and local populations and to speed the transition of responsibilities to Afghan forces.

Zellem’s job is to provide and coordinate timely and accurate information on strategic-level events to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and to facilitate understanding between the Presidential Palace and ISAF leadership.

Before departing the event, Allen patted Zellem on the shoulder and said, “You are not leaving until I finish my tour.”

Allen’s painting is displayed in the halls of ISAF headquarters here.

Face of Defense: Service Comes Naturally for Squad Leader

By Army Spc. William A. Joeckel

U.S. Division Center

BAGHDAD, June 2, 2011 – Army Sgt. Marcus Chatman, a U.S. Division Center distribution squad leader with the 1st Infantry Division’s Company F, 1st “Vanguard” Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Advise and Assist Brigade, has consistently lived a life of service to the United States in one way or another.

From serving in the Marine Corps, being a police officer in his hometown of Detroit, to deploying twice with the Vanguard Battalion to Iraq, Chatman has worked a variety of jobs that have not always been the safest. However, he is determined to continue his service to his country.

“I have always been employed in a job that had an ‘us versus them’ mentality,” he said. “I never had what civilians call a ‘normal’ job.”

Chatman joined the Marines in 1992 as a maintenance management specialist and served at El Toro, Calif., for three years. His first deployment came in 1994 during Operation Vigilant Warrior to Saudi Arabia. He left the Marine Corps in 1999 and returned to Detroit.

In 2000, Chatman joined the Detroit Police Department and, due to his military background, was assigned to one of the most unruly precincts in the city.

“They put me in the worst precinct on the midnight shift because I was a Marine,” he said. “My first form of combat happened in the city of Detroit, not while in the military. All I had was my pistol and my partner. I didn’t have air support, protection or a team to back me up like I do today in the Army.”

Chatman left the police department after three years because he missed being a Marine. He returned to the Corps in the same job he previously held.

After another four years as a Marine, Chatman returned to the Detroit Police Department, then joined the Army after a year in his old precinct.

“I had a friend who always talked about the Army, so I gave it a shot,” he said. “I have never been scared to do what I wanted to do. If I wasn’t working somewhere that I liked, I’d change it.”

Enlisting as a motor transport operator at the age of 36, Chatman was sent to Company F of the Vanguard Battalion in November 2008. He was then deployed to Iraq in 2009 with the unit, and was awarded the Combat Action Badge when a rocket-propelled grenade was launched at his vehicle.

Chatman is now serving in his second deployment to Iraq with the Vanguards as a squad leader in the ammunition section. He said he enjoys being a member of the unit because he doesn’t feel held back from being an effective leader.

“This unit is the first and only Army unit that I’ve been to,” he said. “The leadership in this unit is so squared away and hardcore, I benefit from being a part of this team.”

His soldiers have great respect for him. Army Cpl. Lonnie Worley, a petroleum supply specialist with Company F and a Seneca, S.C., native, said Chatman is hard to describe.

“Sergeant Chatman has stories for everything,” Worley said. “He’s very competitive, in that he wants his squad to be the best at what they do.”

Army Pfc. Christopher Rivera, a member of Chatman’s squad and a Waipahu, Hawaii, native, said working with Chatman makes it pleasurable to come to work, due to his sense of humor and his dedication to his soldiers.

“He always keeps us going through our days with his funny sense of humor, but also keeps pushing us to be the best we can be,” Rivera said.

Chatman attributes his success in being a leader to his unusual life experience.

“Being an older [noncommissioned officer] makes it is easy to communicate — I have seen a lot of stuff,” he said. “It is important to find your soldiers’ motivation and then exploit that to help them maximize their potential. Troops will follow you if you are willing to break a sweat with them.”

Chatman has been serving in the military for one-third of his life, and plans to continue his career in the Army.

“I figure that I’ll be working until I’m 100 anyways,” he said. “You have to love what you are doing or you won’t be an effective leader.”

Face of Defense: Airmen Help to Make Iraq Cleaner

By Air Force Senior Airman Andrew Lee

U.S. Air Forces Central

KIRKUK, Iraq, May 17, 2011 – After six straight days on the job, people usually use their day off to rest and recover before their week starts again. That's not the case with a group of airmen deployed to Contingency Operating Site Warrior, Iraq.

As areas of the base got dirtier and more polluted with trash, members of the 321st Expeditionary Logistical Readiness Squadron’s vehicle maintenance flight created a volunteer project called Operation Kirkuk Regional Air Base Cleanup.

On any given Sunday, the program allows anyone from any unit to spend a few hours walking around the base to pick up trash with fellow airmen.

"I have enjoyed doing this, because while I'm working, I'm hanging out with everyone," said Air Force Senior Airman Troy Jenkins, a volunteer with the project. "We all have a good time together working, so it makes time fly."

Airmen of all ranks who wanted to make a difference and create a cleaner atmosphere have assisted in making the program successful by engrossing themselves in it and helping to contribute toward impressive results: more than 7,500 pounds of trash and debris collected in less than three months since the project began.

"It's nice helping out," said Jenkins, who is deployed from Altus Air Force Base, Okla. "Any time you can put something in a better spot than it was, it's good."

The volunteers recognize the impact they have in keeping the grounds clean and kept up until Iraqi forces assume control of the base.

"In the future, we will be giving back this area to the [Iraqis], so we need to keep it in good shape," said Airman 1st Class David Moseley, a founder of the project. "We're trying to show that it may not be our country, but we do want to take care of it as much as we can."

'Red Bulls' have helping hand in building of all-girls school in Afghanistan

By Army Spc. James Wilton

Task Force Red Bulls

PANJSHIR PROVINCE, Afghanistan (5/6/11) – Members of the Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team attended the grand opening ceremony of the Baba Ali Girls School in Dara District, Afghanistan, May 1.

The school can host more than 150 Afghan female students and is a part of a three-school complex which includes a boy’s school.

The Dara Community Development Council, a group of Afghans who address the needs of their community, proposed the school to their local government, but there was no money to fund the project.

Hearing this, the PRT decided to take on the endeavour.

“I am very excited and happy that the Panjshir PRT opened the Baba Ali Girls School in this remote district of the Panjshir valley,” said Abdul Matin Mubashe, a math and sciences teacher for the Baba Ali School, through an interpreter. “The young girls of the Dara District now have a place to study and learn.”

The PRT contracted a local village contractor, the Raz Tanha Construction, Road Building and Production Company, to build the 8-classroom school.

“We have an Afghan-first or Panjshir-first policy, if we can find someone capable of doing a project within that community, then we use them to do the work,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Joseph Blevins, the Panjshir PRT commander. “The communities really tie in with the PRTs.

“Our ability to get out and get around and talk to people, and the effectiveness of the government officials really allow us to get a lot more done in Panjshir.”

Keeping the money from projects like this in the community helps to rebuild and reinforce the infrastructure.

Education is also an important part of that rebuilding and reconstruction effort; it helps increase the knowledge and abilities of the future leaders and builders of Afghanistan, according to the province’s education director.

   

“Education is important to the children of Afghanistan, because they are the future builders of Afghanistan,” said Abdul Makim, the Panjshir Province education director, through an interpreter. “That is why I am trying to support the children of Panjshir Province to study and for education. Then they can help to improve the country and our future.”

He said the effort is most needed when it comes to educating the females of Afghanistan, as they are often overlooked.

“Education isn’t just important for Afghan society. It is important everywhere around the world, especially here in this very fundamentally religious society,” said Makim. “Female education is one thing that was heavily impacted especially during the war years, therefore, rebuilding female capacity here in Afghanistan is one of our big pushes.”

Makim said the PRT’s and Afghan government’s efforts are making great strides in the fight to rebuild this devastated country, and they go beyond just the construction of schools.

“We are also helping our teachers to learn and grow and become better teachers, through continued education and classes to help them educate our students in modern subjects,” said Makim. “These programs and others, both here and outside the country, will make them more knowledgeable and better teachers for the children of Afghanistan.”

Improving education of teachers as well as students, both male and female, puts Afghanistan on the right track toward a positive future, said Abdul Rahman Kabiri, the Panjshir deputy governor.

“Schools like this are the first step in the right direction for the people of Afghanistan, and the solution to a problem which is in the education system of Afghanistan,” said Kabiri.

“Projects like this school are very important because the children are the foundation of a society, and in America we say the children are our future,” said Blevins. “So as long as Americans are welcome in Afghanistan and Panjshir as friends and guests, we will work with you shoulder-by-shoulder, hand-in-hand to do projects like this.”

In an uncertain future, hope is what drives a people, and the people of Panjshir have one hope and one request for their children.

“I make this request and hope for the children of Afghanistan, that they will study more and harder so they can improve their country because they are the future builders of Afghanistan and offer a new generation for the community,” said Makim.