Sgt. Jack William's Essay

The following essay was written by my good friend Jack Williams.  It has been printed by a few newspapers (mostly armed forces papers, but also a few smaller community newspapers).  It is reproduced here with his permission.  


He and I discussed getting his message out via the internet.  Please link to this post and share it with others.  Jack's perspective is that of the soldier at the tip of the spear.  It is important for folks back here (in the states) to hear how many in Afghanistan feel about their mission.




By STAFF SGT. JACK A. WILLIAMS

U.S. Air Force

As an active duty, Air Force medic, my four years' time in service, serving on the ground with the Army in Zabul Province, Afghanistan, has changed my perspective on combat, military sister services and my role as an Airman.

As my team approaches the halfway point of its deployment, I've been given an opportunity to demonstrate that an Airman on the ground can be a strong asset to the joint expeditionary team.

Here is my story.

The past four months have been both challenging and rewarding. I have learned and applied a lot of skills, leadership and personal restraint. I have performed cricothyroidotomy's (an emergency surgical opening, in the neck, used to establish an airway), needle decompressions, MedEvac'd critical patients following attacks, covered the bodies of my friends and leaders, performed detainee exams on the people who were responsible, pulled security on dismounted patrols, trained on a .50-caliber machine gun, treated both U.S. and Coalition soldiers, all on top of executing the mission of a Provincial Reconstruction Team.

In February 2009, I had just returned from a deployment in southwest Asia. I was deployed as an aerospace medical technician assigned to the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing. At the time, I had only been in the Air Force for three years as a medical technician but I had been an EMT in civilian life for the previous 10 years while going to school. I entered the military after 9/11, when I finished my college degree in recreation management at Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania. My family has always been involved in public service; the military, law enforcement, firefighting, counseling, nursing, etc. and it is a path that I wanted to continue to pursue.

I had only been back in the states for three weeks when my supervisor, Master Sgt. Stacy Pilgrim, talked to me about deploying again in the near future, this time to Afghanistan.

I really wanted to go to Bagram Air Base in northern Afghanistan and work in the emergency room or intensive care unit. After being deployed to a location where the military populace was relatively healthy, I wanted to deploy and do my job, like I was trained extensively to do, and maybe learn a little more along the way.

I was almost done with six weeks of Airman Leadership School, an in-residence course for future non-commissioned officers, when MSgt. Pilgrim asked me how I would feel about deploying again at the end of the year, even though I had just returned from deployment weeks ago.

"It would be an Army tasking to Afghanistan, as part of a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT)", she said.

I was a rather young medic- with regard to time in service- and it was comforting to know that both MSgt. Pilgrim and my leadership had confidence in my abilities for a sister service tasking with the Army. It would be confidence I would need in the months ahead.

It is my opinion that our PRT commander, Lt. Col. Erik Goepner, unknowingly shares my beliefs, has a strong passion for the mission and vision of the PRT, and expresses that by wanting us to succeed and maximize our efforts within the province.

Our team would try something that has not been tried, to my knowledge, in the past. We would be forming two smaller PRT elements and operating out of coalition force FOBs (Forward Operating Bases) at key locations within the Province in order to better facilitate the development and maintenance of the Zabul Provincial Government, as well as expand its infrastructure and capabilities- all while increasing the legitimacy of the Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) in the eyes of the populace.

By moving to these locations, we would become the area experts, something that was not possible when commuting to the area several times a month in the past.

In support of this effort to maximize our effectiveness, Capt. Maxwell Pappas was chosen to develop the first team for "Operation Shagardahn Awakening."

Team Shagardahn, which means "student" in the local Pashto language, is a group of specialists with knowledge in military leadership, civil affairs, civil engineering and medicine. An additional 10 security forces (SecFor) members from the Pennsylvania National Guard platoon, assigned to our PRT, completed our team.

Less than one month after being in country, the effects cell consisting of CPT Pappas- Team Leader, SFC Michael Didonato- Civil Affairs, TSgt Clifford Monroe- Civil Engineer, SrA Kyle Woodard- Communications Specialist and myself- Medical, moved to the largest population center in the province to begin our operations.

Shah Joy has a population of approximately 71,000 people and is comprised primarily of Pashtun tribes. The district sits at around 1800m (6100 feet) above sea level on a central plain with mountains running along the north and south.

Each member of the effects cell has their own respective key tasks to perform; my task would be the lead for all medical projects within Shah Joy District, including identifying, developing and managing medical infrastructure, medical programs and medical capabilities.

My plan to accomplish this is broken down into six focal areas. These include hospital expansion, development and implementation of a First Responders Course for the ANA/ANP (Afghanistan National Army/Police), maintenance and continuity of current hospital programs for QA/QC (quality assurance/quality control), enhancement of hospital education and training, legitimization of local pharmacies within the bazaar and reduction of the amount of biohazards (needles, syringes, medical waste, etc.) on the streets by creating "OPERATION Clean Streets."

As an NCO medic on the FOB, I would also inherit some additional responsibilities to provide care to U.S. and coalition forces, become the environmental officer for the FOB and set up and operate a medical aid station.

On 29 March 2010, after only a week and a half at our new FOB, I had the first of many opportunities to utilize my medical and combat training.

We had an incoming wounded ANA (Afghanistan National Army) and upon entering the aid station I found him with a gunshot wound to the head and shoulder. He was overall in noticeably poor condition.

My skills kicked in from memory, knowing bleeding, airway, breathing, and circulation were what mattered. Bleeding was controlled using gauze and pressure dressings. I performed a cricothyroidotomy (cric), an emergency surgical opening in his neck, which allowed for breathing, and was the first I had performed outside of a training simulation lab.

We continued breathing for him using a bag-valvmask and giving IV fluids for the blood he lost. Once bleeding was controlled and his airway, breathing and circulation were managed we wrapped him up in a hypothermic wrap and reassessed.

This was my first real experience in the combat zone, as a medic without a medical provider watching over me. I knew at that time my job was about to get harder with the summer months rapidly approaching.

I just didn't know how soon that would be.

As the days passed, we were now actively involved with our missions and started implementing our projects; Capt. Pappas was meeting with the District Chief and village elders on assessments and needs within the area, TSgt Monroe was working diligently on improving the infrastructure of the schools, wells, bridges and speed bumps through the bazaar, SFC Didonato was working on civil affairs and I with the medical projects.

In the following months I would take part on a quick response force to a suicide bomber attack in the bazaar, assist in the recovery of a U.S. Soldier killed in action and treat Afghan forces injured during indirect fire attacks on our FOB, all while ensuring the safety and security of myself and those around me in these situations.

During the ensuing days, it became more and more obvious to me that the Taliban was getting desperate and were now attacking their own countrymen, innocent children and destroying property to instill fear in the people. They know that it is only through fear that they can continue to intimidate people into doing what they want.

We continued carrying on the mission, making a stronger impact and influencing the people and elders within the Shah Joy bazaar and surrounding areas. We realized that we must have been making a positive influence in the local community because now the indirect fire (IDF) attacks on the FOB were starting to increase and the ANA/ANP have started finding some IEDs planted along our routes of march.

Even though the enemy activity in the area had been increasing and intelligence of suicide bombers and IEDs being placed were substantial, we continued our missions and maintained a heightened level of awareness where we were performing our mounted and dismounted patrols.

There were 3 days that were probably the hardest on me since I have been in country. On 9 June 2010, at 0430hrs we were abruptly awoken by the sound of an explosion that sounded like it was in our backyard, a QRF responded to investigate and they found that a goat had tripped a pressure plate IED along a known route that only the PRT has been operating on in that area.

On June 10, my father's birthday, SFC Didonato, TSgt Monroe and I were at the District Center, next to the FOB, unloading school supplies to be delivered to the children of Shah Joy, when we took IDF and a rocket landed on the exterior wall of our location.

When we returned to the FOB that night I called my father to wish him a happy birthday, but the hardest part of the conversation was lying to him and telling him I was fine. I couldn't bear to tell him that I had just experienced a rocket attack and he almost lost his youngest child on his birthday.

On June 11, we realized that our Provincial Reconstruction Team, doing positive things in the community, was unmistakably being targeted by the Taliban.

On this day, we were conducting a dismounted patrol to the local bazaar to purchase 500,000 Afghani (approximately $10,000) worth of medical supplies and medications to be donated to the local government hospital and distributed in surrounding villages. We had a predetermined route with three selected pharmacies in the bazaar where we would stop to purchase medical supplies/medications, place them into an ANP pickup truck and then deliver them to the hospital for distribution. One of our main goals as a PRT, in Shah Joy, is to help legitimize the government. With the school supplies at the District Center and medical supplies at the hospital, we could allow the government agencies to deliver the supplies, subsequently gaining the support of the Afghan people.

While we were finishing up with our first pharmacy, exchanging money and receipts, my team was hit by a suicide bomber. I quickly exited the pharmacy and scanned the road.

All I could see was a cloud of white smoke and dust and within seconds I could see civilian casualties in the road, one man lying lifeless and another, a child. It was surreal, I couldn't hear a noise but I could see that the child was screaming in pain.

As my senses started to return I heard TSgt. Monroe, yelling "Man-down, Man-down." I continued my scan and saw what appeared to be one U.S. soldier lying on the ground unconscious, I quickly and cautiously approached the uniformed soldiers and realized I had not one but two U.S. soldiers down - SFC Robert Fike and SSG Bryan Hoover.

One of the soldiers showed no signs of life; the other passed within seconds of my arrival after attempting to treat his life-threatening injuries.

A third team member, Spc. Anthony Spangler, in close proximity of the blast, had been blown back 20 feet and suffered some minor injuries and his weapon was unserviceable. Cpl. John Scavitto had only been a CPL for one week on that day and was now the squad leader, as an E4, for our SecFor. His ability to distinguish himself as a leader, reposition the security element and maintain situational awareness is a direct reflection of the exceptional leaders we had just lost.

PC Mauk, was filling in as acting communications specialist on that day, and showed no hesitation on calling up a situation report and getting us reinforcements. SPC James and SrA Henderson, pulling rear security, continued to perform with limited communications and diverted all traffic away from the site. We loaded the bodies of SFC Fike and SSG Hoover in a nearby ANA truck and TSgt Monroe escorted our soldiers back to the FOB.

All members of Team Shagardahn performed remarkably while maintaining professionalism and personal restraint. After an incident of this magnitude some people have an urge to lose all control and start doing things they will later regret, such as discharging a weapon on an innocent civilian or showing excessive force. Our team had just suffered the most significant event of our deployment, we lost two of our leaders and close friends, and still maintained our ground, mitigated any additional threats in the area and waited for our QRF to arrive and allow us to go home. We arrived back at the FOB, paid our respects with prayers and tears to our fallen soldiers, placed them onto the "Heroes Bird" and saluted them as they departed.

At this time, I have been an EMT in the civilian life for 12 years and a medic with the Air Force for less than 5 years.

I can tell you after all of the trauma and death I have been exposed to, when you see an American service member lying on the ground, knowing that you can't do anything to save them is a gut-wrenching sight.

There were a lot of mixed emotions in the passing days, as there should be.

We found ourselves questioning, Why are we here? How can we help these people if they don't want to help themselves? How can we fight against suicide bombers and IEDs when there are no apparent indicators and those responsible are masked among the innocent people?

Every person will go through the stages of grief in their time. What helped me get back on my feet was my personal belief in the mission - the sense of belonging and knowing that the majority of the people in Afghanistan are looking for help and to rid the country of "douche menan," literally translated, "enemy," in Pashto.

This was my sense of purpose.

Though a majority of my deployment still lies ahead, I am staying confident in the mission and will continue to perform my duties to the best of my abilities. I can do this because I know that my family supports me, I believe in the mission and I believe that God, with the help of the men and women around me, will keep me safe and successful for the remainder of my tour.