Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
October 2, 2008
Pg. C5
2,700 soldiers will ship out this month to help train police in Afghanistan.
By David Mercer, Associated Press
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The largest deployment of Illinois National Guard troops since World War II is preparing to head to Afghanistan to help battle a growing insurgency, while families get ready for life without husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters.
The 2,700 soldiers of the 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team will ship out this month - some for pre-mission training, others to their posts in Afghanistan, where they will help train the Afghan national police force, said Col. Scott Thoele, who commands the brigade.
"The Afghan army is getting to be a mature organization; the Afghan police is another story," said Thoele, a 50-year-old Quincy banker. "They are still a fledgling force, and they are going to need the majority of effort."
Thoele's troops were called up last fall, among a group of eight National Guard units from across the country readied for deployment in Iraq or Afghanistan to ease the strain on the regular Army. The brigade is expected to be in Afghanistan for up to 10 months.
This week, Gen. David McKiernan, who leads NATO forces in Afghanistan, told reporters that he needs more troops to battle growing numbers of foreign fighters slipping into the country. McKiernan said more emphasis also must be placed on building the Afghan economy and the type of police- and army-training the Illinois soldiers are expected to do.
U.S. officials have said violence in Afghanistan is up about 30 percent this year over 2007. More American soldiers - 112 - have died in the country so far this year than in any year since the 2001 invasion.
About 200 of the Illinois brigade's soldiers already are in Afghanistan, and two died Sept. 17 in a roadside-bomb attack. The rest are at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Riley in Kansas, and should be in Afghanistan by the beginning of next year, Thoele said.
He talked about the mission Friday, hours after returning from a two-week trip to Afghanistan and just before preparing to attend the funeral Saturday for one of the two soldiers.
The deaths of Specialist Joshua Harris of Oak Park and Sgt. Jason Antonio Vazquez of Chicago will weigh on his other troops, Thoele said, particularly those still waiting to go overseas.
"You can do everything right and just be at the wrong place at the wrong time and it's over with," he said.
Once their work begins, Thoele said, the demands of the job tend to take soldiers' minds off of at least some of the dangers.
His troops, he said, will be deployed across most of the country, including southern and eastern regions where Taliban troops are most active fighting American and NATO troops. The police forces there must be built up from scratch after decades of war to work against an entrenched narcotics trade and deep corruption, Thoele said.
"They don't have a history of good policing over there," Thoele said. "It's going to take a few years."
While Thoele focuses on his troops, the deployment sends long lines of dominoes falling in other directions.
The Illinois National Guard has become accustomed since 2001 to having up to 1,500 members deployed at any given time, but the 2,700 being sent to Afghanistan are a little over a quarter of the state's National Guard members.
The National Guard is preparing for the likelihood of more casualties by, among other things, training more officers to notify families when a soldier is injured or killed, Sgt. Stephanie McCurry said.
For now, the troops are sewing up loose ends while their families prepare to live without them until late next year.
Just outside the small town of Catlin, 35 miles east of Champaign, Tony Wantland talks regularly with his sons, 20-year-old Kody and 25-year-old Jacob, both of whom are training at Fort Bragg to head to Afghanistan.
Wantland and his wife, Sue, are sharing their house with Jacob's wife, Amber, and their grandsons, 3-year-old Hunter and 4-year-old Brockton.
"The boys miss dad," said Wantland, whose family bought a camera attachment for their computer to use for video conferences with the soldiers. "That's the worst part because they talk about 'I miss my daddy' and stuff."
A veteran of the Army's 82nd Airborne and longtime National Guard member who served in Iraq, Thoele calls himself a geographical bachelor. He has been mostly away from his bank and home since January.
"I think everybody's just getting tired of the training," Thoele said. "The sooner we get started, the sooner we get it over with."
October 2, 2008
Pg. C5
2,700 soldiers will ship out this month to help train police in Afghanistan.
By David Mercer, Associated Press
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The largest deployment of Illinois National Guard troops since World War II is preparing to head to Afghanistan to help battle a growing insurgency, while families get ready for life without husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters.
The 2,700 soldiers of the 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team will ship out this month - some for pre-mission training, others to their posts in Afghanistan, where they will help train the Afghan national police force, said Col. Scott Thoele, who commands the brigade.
"The Afghan army is getting to be a mature organization; the Afghan police is another story," said Thoele, a 50-year-old Quincy banker. "They are still a fledgling force, and they are going to need the majority of effort."
Thoele's troops were called up last fall, among a group of eight National Guard units from across the country readied for deployment in Iraq or Afghanistan to ease the strain on the regular Army. The brigade is expected to be in Afghanistan for up to 10 months.
This week, Gen. David McKiernan, who leads NATO forces in Afghanistan, told reporters that he needs more troops to battle growing numbers of foreign fighters slipping into the country. McKiernan said more emphasis also must be placed on building the Afghan economy and the type of police- and army-training the Illinois soldiers are expected to do.
U.S. officials have said violence in Afghanistan is up about 30 percent this year over 2007. More American soldiers - 112 - have died in the country so far this year than in any year since the 2001 invasion.
About 200 of the Illinois brigade's soldiers already are in Afghanistan, and two died Sept. 17 in a roadside-bomb attack. The rest are at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Riley in Kansas, and should be in Afghanistan by the beginning of next year, Thoele said.
He talked about the mission Friday, hours after returning from a two-week trip to Afghanistan and just before preparing to attend the funeral Saturday for one of the two soldiers.
The deaths of Specialist Joshua Harris of Oak Park and Sgt. Jason Antonio Vazquez of Chicago will weigh on his other troops, Thoele said, particularly those still waiting to go overseas.
"You can do everything right and just be at the wrong place at the wrong time and it's over with," he said.
Once their work begins, Thoele said, the demands of the job tend to take soldiers' minds off of at least some of the dangers.
His troops, he said, will be deployed across most of the country, including southern and eastern regions where Taliban troops are most active fighting American and NATO troops. The police forces there must be built up from scratch after decades of war to work against an entrenched narcotics trade and deep corruption, Thoele said.
"They don't have a history of good policing over there," Thoele said. "It's going to take a few years."
While Thoele focuses on his troops, the deployment sends long lines of dominoes falling in other directions.
The Illinois National Guard has become accustomed since 2001 to having up to 1,500 members deployed at any given time, but the 2,700 being sent to Afghanistan are a little over a quarter of the state's National Guard members.
The National Guard is preparing for the likelihood of more casualties by, among other things, training more officers to notify families when a soldier is injured or killed, Sgt. Stephanie McCurry said.
For now, the troops are sewing up loose ends while their families prepare to live without them until late next year.
Just outside the small town of Catlin, 35 miles east of Champaign, Tony Wantland talks regularly with his sons, 20-year-old Kody and 25-year-old Jacob, both of whom are training at Fort Bragg to head to Afghanistan.
Wantland and his wife, Sue, are sharing their house with Jacob's wife, Amber, and their grandsons, 3-year-old Hunter and 4-year-old Brockton.
"The boys miss dad," said Wantland, whose family bought a camera attachment for their computer to use for video conferences with the soldiers. "That's the worst part because they talk about 'I miss my daddy' and stuff."
A veteran of the Army's 82nd Airborne and longtime National Guard member who served in Iraq, Thoele calls himself a geographical bachelor. He has been mostly away from his bank and home since January.
"I think everybody's just getting tired of the training," Thoele said. "The sooner we get started, the sooner we get it over with."