PRT unit makes 'a difference beyond the berm'

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Tammie Moore
  • U.S. AFCENT News Team
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan (AFNS) --  Every group, every mission here in Afghanistan is designed for a purpose. It's no different for the Kapisa and Parwan Provincial Reconstruction Team.

The 91-person joint-service team has a goal of improving security and government capacity in its area of responsibility, an objective its members believe can be achieved through reconstruction efforts.

The team first came together in Fort Bragg, N.C., for two months of pre-deployment training. Capt. Peter Hughes, PRT information operations officer, said he believes the training provided an opportunity to glimpse how talented other team members were.

"When you take that training, and you apply it in an environment like this, you realize just how vast everyone's capacity is to learn; how quickly they can recover from things; and just how well they can adapt to an environment that is really nothing like what the average American citizen could even fathom," he said.

The team commander, Lt. Col. Bill Andersen, said he believes the tone for their deployment was established during that training.

"I think individuals and units strive to the levels of expectations set for them," said Colonel Andersen who is deployed from Hurlburt Field, Fla. "We have the advantage in a PRT; we come together as a team, and we set our own expectations from day one. The expectations I set for them is that we were going to be an elite unit. And I can tell you they have taken that, and they have risen to that challenge day in and day out."

The team commander said respecting one another's strengths and backing one another's weaknesses was the key in forging this elite unit.

"My men and women took that for action. They have learned from each other, we respect each other and I think everyone is pleasantly surprised with the capabilities our sister services bring to the fight. I mean they are very, very complimentary and work well together," Colonel Andersen said.

During the pre-deployment training, the team came up with the motto, "Making a difference beyond the berm."

"Frankly, they are living up to that every single day," Colonel Andersen said. "They are making a difference by increasing the capacity of Afghan government leaders to support the Afghan citizens and to improve their quality and way of life." This, he believes, will improve world security by ensuring Afghanistan remains a stable and secure place as a fledgling democracy.

Although assigned to Bagram Airfield, the group frequently travels from the base's safety, striving to make a difference in the lives of those in the Kapisa and Parwan provinces.

"The most impressive part of this job to me is working with these [Soldiers] who provide security, who get us from point 'A' to point 'B' day in and day out with no complaints," Captain Hughes said. "They sit in the truck baking in the sun for hours on end, and then we ask them to go to another location to do the same thing over again. I know without a question, without a moment's hesitation, they are going to be there to provide for our safety."

After being in the country for almost nine months, Captain Hughes said this team extends outside of the PRT.

"Afghanistan has some people who want change as bad as we do," he said. "So my team, I think, extends beyond the Airmen, Soldiers and civilians who are part of the PRT and into the lives and the families we work with day in and day out."

Once the team established relationships in the villages, they began to look at the best ways to influence change.

"[Being United States Soldiers and Airmen], we have a passion for democracy. We want to share that, and in the case of Afghanistan, a fledgling democracy, our ideas are often very well received," Colonel Andersen said. "What we saw when we first arrived here was that some of the elected officials were under empowered in the process that was being used for provincial governance."

The team implemented a new contracting process. The change provided provincial council members -- the people's elected officials -- a voice on what they want built, the execution of those projects and the power to select the contractor for the construction.

Capt. David Scott, PRT civil engineer, said he has found his work during this deployment very rewarding. All of the construction projects he has worked on before have been located on an installation. He said he enjoys the opportunity to work directly with different specialties, villagers and government officials here.

"You have the opportunity to meet new people and experience the culture," said the captain, deployed from the Defense Intelligence Agency, Washington, D.C. "It is the most exciting work I have ever done in the Air Force. I never envisioned being able to develop some of the relationships we have been able to develop."

When Captain Hughes returns to his job as a Reserve Officers' Training Corps instructor in upstate New York he plans on sharing his deployment experiences with his cadets.

"What I look most forward to is going back to that ROTC detachment and talking to those cadets who I saw advance and grow over the last several years. [I want to] share with them [the story of] a 21-year-old Airman [preserving] our freedoms and our democracy by helping with this fight in Afghanistan," he said.

Colonel Andersen has also noted the accomplishments of those he works with.

"It is unbelievable what we ask these men and women to do every day," Colonel Andersen said. "Every day they meet and exceed the expectations and the standards we set for them. It is truly remarkable."

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