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PAKTYA PROVINCE, Afghanistan – U.S. Army Reserve Soldiers in from the 808th Engineering Company out of Houston attached to the 3d Cavalry Regiment are responsible for ending completing the contracts the U.S. has in Regional Command-East. The 808th also trains Afghans to maintain engineering projects, and facilitates the transfer of bases to Afghan security forces.
Capt. Travis Shahan, commander of the 808th Engineer Company, has been in Afghanistan for seven months devoting his time to improving the upcoming transition. He and his Soldiers have prepared the Afghan National Army, 203rd “Thunder” Corps to take over Forward Operating Base Lightning once U.S. forces complete their retrograde.
“Our primary goal is to remove any type of infrastructure off the National Operations and Maintenance contract,” said Shahan. “We are responsible for closing these contracts and making sure the Afghans start their own.”
He added that locations like the waste water treatment plant were previously funded by U.S. dollars.
Afghans have taken American training and used it to build projects suited to their needs instead of copying the American way of thinking.
“Now the Afghans are contracting and building infrastructure all on their own,” Shahan boasted.
When in need of an observation point outside of FOB Thunder the Afghans flattened the top of a hill, dug a 12 foot hole in its center, used the removed stone for construction and built the sleeping quarters in the security of the hollow.
The underground sleeping space affords the soldiers protection from explosions in addition to naturally regulating the temperature. The observation point is able to function on only one solar cell and a small generator.
“We never would have built like that,” said Shahan. He noted the Afghans completed the project on an impressively low budget, while allowing for security and comfort of their troops
The U.S. engineers witnessed the growth of the Afghan National Army in the time they worked with the 203rd Corps. New people have been brought in with brighter vision and new ways of thinking are flourishing, Shahan commented.
Staff Sgt. David Austin, 808th Engineering Company, team noncommishioned officer in charge, “When we first got here they didn’t really plan ahead. They made decisions only thinking of ‘now’ and put little thought of the future.”
A large part of that progress is having the right people in influential positions. “Lt. Col. Mohammad Nazir, facilities engineer for the 203rd Corps and Lt. Ali Madat, Mobile Maintenance Officer for 203rd Corps, are proactive and have caused so much growth,” Austin adds.
Nazir is dedicated to the success of Afghanistan and has made a clear difference within the ANA. He brings a practical, realistic view of solving problems and guiding Thunder Corps in the right direction. He believes in the mission and knows that when the Americans leave, the Afghans will continue to be successful.
“Over the past 10 years, the U.S. has proved that it is a big supporter of Afghanistan and its people. I know that when America pulls out its ground forces it will not end its support for the country,” said Nazir. “We understand that we will be faced with challenges as the U.S. lowers its physical presence but we have been conducting a lot of training and I am confident that we will be able to solve the problems on our own.”
| Date Taken: | 08.20.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 09.11.2014 07:32 |
| Story ID: | 141770 |
| Location: | PAKTYA PROVINCE, AF |
| Hometown: | HOUSTON, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 1,429 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 808th Engineers the future, by SSG Erik Warren, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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