Oklahoma Guard next in line for Afghanistan ADT mission

By Sgt. 1st Class Darren D. Heusel
Oklahoma National Guard

Sgt. Brad Smith of the Wisconsin Army National Guard supervises the movement of detainees at the theater internment facility on Camp Bucca. The detainees are transferred to other TIFs in Iraq, where they will either continue serving their sentence or be released. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Tyler Lasure)
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OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla., (9/18/09) -- Agronomy, animal husbandry, veterinary medicine, agriculture marketing, soil science, pest management, forestry and beekeeping are just a few of the unique jobs performed by members of the Oklahoma Army National Guard in their civilian lives on a routine basis.

Now, a team of more than 60 Oklahoma Army National Guardsmen will take these skill sets and more to Afghanistan for 10 months to help educate and empower the Afghan people as part of a rotating Agribusiness Development Team (ADT) initiative.

“This is actually a mission where we’re going to give back and train rather than secure,” said Master Sgt. Bobby Howard of Depew, Okla., who will serve as the unit’s command sergeant major once deployed. “It’s more of a humanitarian-style mission.”

Howard said the Afghan people have lost three generations of farmers due to decades of war and oppression and the 1-45th ADT hopes to “bring them 30 years into the future” by advancing their farming and agricultural production capabilities by providing assistance and advice.

The 1-45th ADT will attempt to do this in a number of ways, including conducting classes, creating demonstration farms, providing seed and other materials while also exposing their counterparts to the latest technological advancements.

“The objective will be to teach them new farming techniques,” Howard said. “We’ll work with a number of non-governmental organizations such as USAID and other agencies to help improve their entire agricultural process.”

He said their mission could be based on the old adage that you can give a man a fish and feed him for a day, or teach him to fish and feed him for a lifetime.

Although, 1-45th ADT Commander Col. Mike Chase, of Chandler, is quick to point out that the mission is not necessarily about “giving” the Afghan people something, rather it’s about empowering and teaching them new and improved ways of conducting business. “When you give someone something, there’s not a lot of ownership in that,” he said. “When you empower them and teach them, they tend to be more responsive.”

The ADT mission in Afghanistan began in 2008 as a National Guard Bureau initiative.

Agriculture makes up 80 percent of the Afghan economy and about 85 percent of the population is engaged in some form of agriculture.

Former Secretary of the Army Peter Geren said in a January briefing that the concept for the ADT mission came from National Guard members themselves adding, “We’ve got extraordinary agriculture experts, some of whom come out of academia, some who’ve grown up on a farm.”

“They’re taking this expertise and this experience and working on the ground at considerable personal risk and going into the rural areas, going out into the under-populated areas to share their experience and skill,” Geren said.

The aim is to help Afghan farmers enhance their industry and bolster their farming economy.

Some of the first states to volunteer for the mission were Missouri, Texas, Nebraska, Indiana, Tennessee, Kansas, Kentucky and Oklahoma.

Retired Lt. Gen. Clyde Vaughn, former director of the Army National Guard, said earlier this year the plan is to have 10-15 teams in Afghanistan at one time once the plan is fully developed.

Missouri Guardsmen, the first to volunteer, were sent to Nangarhar Province. In May 2008, a Texas team went to Ghazni Province and was later replaced by another Texas team.

Oklahoma will replace a team from Tennessee in Paktia Province near Gardez and a follow-on team will replace them in late 2010. Chase said the 1-45th ADT will also spend time in neighboring Paktika Province.

“We bring a very practical element to the mission,” Chase said. “We have a variety of skills and expertise. Not that you wouldn’t find that in other elements, it’s just that most of our folks do this kind of work on a regular basis.”

Oklahoma’s contingent is broken down into a headquarters element, an agricultural element and security element.

In addition to the skill sets already mentioned, the agricultural element will consist of a civil and construction engineer, agricultural processing specialist, a veterinary technician and agriculture education specialist.

Heading up the agriculture team is Lt. Col. Jackie Sanders, owner and operator of two of the state’s largest nurseries in Tahlequah and Inola.

Sanders, who lives in Inola, said by conducting soil samples to determine the amount of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium present, his team can suggest what needs to be added to bring the soil to a more productive level.

“The goal is to produce the highest yield possible for a certain crop,” he said. “These tests can be performed on just about any crop.”

Some of the more prominent crops the team can expect to encounter in Gardez include wheat and a variety of fruits such as apples, peaches and grapes. They also raise a variety of nuts including walnuts, almonds and some that are only indigenous to that part of the world.

Gardez is also renowned throughout the Middle East – if not the world – for its honey, which is why the team has a beekeeper in Sgt. David Bowman, of Foster, Okla., who will also double as a combat medic.

Bowman said pollination is critical to producing fertile crops and that honey bees have become increasingly important to the pollination process world-wide.

“About one-third of our food world-wide has to be pollinated and one of the main insects used for pollination is the honey bee,” Bowman said.

Bowman said one of his main roles while in country will be to study the bees and see what he can do to develop more keepers.

“What we want to do is educate the Afghans on what they can do to improve the bee population and how best they can market their products,” he said. “What it basically comes down to is education.”

In addition to working with various non-governmental organizations, the 1-45th ADT will also work the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The team also has an agreement with Oklahoma State University for “reach-back” support in helping to solve problems with animals or plant life.

Dr. David Henneberry, director of International Agricultural Programs at OSU, said he has had a number of students study abroad in various countries before, but this marks his first time to work with the military.

Henneberry described the experience as a “unique opportunity for partnership” and one of “having so many dimensions.”

As part of the project, Henneberry will have three graduate students working under him who are responsible for providing support and research regarding the challenges the ADT faces in Afghanistan.

The OSU students assigned as part of the reach-back program will earn college credits toward their master’s degree. The university is also working with several Oklahoma Guardsmen to allow them to earn credits toward a master’s during the deployment.

Henneberry said the mission will provide the students with a realistic approach to learning as well as give them “a connection with the real world…as opposed to only theorizing ideas in a classroom.”

Examples of the support the reach-back team will provide include improving the nutritional growth and development of animals based on resources available as well as researching and providing remedies to things like a specific plant fungus that might be damaging crops.

Henneberry also mentioned the goal of implementing a “Student Success Center” at Gardez University, the closest university the 1-45th ADT will have access to while in country.

It is the hope of OSU officials that they can develop a partnership with Gardez University to assist in the agriculture education and development of the local farmers.

“On a global scale, it is very unusual and unique for a university to work alongside the military,” he said. “It is a very unique opportunity to immerse our students in real-world situations and to prepare them for life after college.”

While in country, Chase said the 1-45th ADT will work side-by-side with the Gardez Provincial Reconstruction Team, but fall under command and control of the 4th Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.

Whenever issues involving agriculture or livestock arise, Chase said they will be passed to his team from the PRT.

Chase said his team will also work closely with “all other stakeholders” to include the Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, provincial governors and police chiefs to provide the maximum support possible.

The 1-45th ADT is scheduled to report to Camp Atterbury in Indiana for post-mobilization training in October and is expected to make their way into Afghanistan by the end of this year.

In the meantime, the team has been training since Aug. 22 at the Camp Gruber Military Training Site near Muskogee, Okla., where they will remain through mid-September.

While at Camp Gruber, the team has been able to rehearse a number of different scenarios they might encounter while in country such as going into a village for the first time and meeting with local leaders to determine what their issues are and how they might be able to help solve them.

Making the training more realistic is a group of native Afghans employed by a New Hampshire contractor to help serve as role players and interpreters during the military readiness exercise.

The 1-45th ADT Soldiers also spent a week learning the basics of the native Pashto language from instructors with the Defense Language Institute located in Monterey, Calif.

“Everyone is on this mission because they volunteered,” Chase said. “You don’t have any reluctance. We’ve purposefully done some things to ensure it comes together. I couldn’t be more pleased.”

Chase went on to say he’s received great resource support from the state.

“They’ve made the commitment to support the team and the mission and I think we’ve made great progress to becoming just that – a team – like the ADT name indicates,” he said.

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