Soldiers Develop Professional Friendship

HEYRATAN, AFGHANISTAN

08.28.2010

Story by Sgt. 1st Class John Queen 

1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division

HEYRATAN, Afghanistan – The office Cpl. Gary Prager was sitting in felt warm to him – not due to sweltering temperatures of the Afghan summer, or that air conditioning had gone on the fritz, but because of the welcome mood he receives from his Afghan host day after day.

Prager is visiting with Maj. Mohammed Zahir, Head of Travelers and supervisor of the vehicle search area for the Afghan National Border Police at the Friendship Bridge checkpoint bordering Northern Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.

Casually they laugh and discuss how Prager’s fiancé and Zahir’s wife run the show at home. This is usually how their conversations start – family, friends, food, and drink.

Every day is the same as before, yet every day is unique.

“It started easily enough,” said Prager. “Maj. Zahir is a warm and welcoming man. He was open and honest from the start. However, grasping the intricacies of culture differences in regards to talking shop was more difficult than I imagined.”

Prager had to stifle his professional curiosity and open himself to a personal relationship with a man whose culture seemed to be the very opposite of his.

What he found, was a mirror image of himself.

According to Prager, Zahir is a family oriented man with a wife, seven children, and will never tire of speaking lovingly about them.

“His rank, position, and demeanor are very deceptive to the man he is,” Prager explained. “He never attended college, a necessity for the officers. He moved through the ranks quickly by showing an aptitude for leadership. He is supremely intelligent and not easily distracted from his goals.”

During their first meeting, Zahir’s intention was to assess Pragers knowledge and experience.

He questioned the corporal about passports and searching techniques, determining if someone so much younger than he was had the skill set to sit with him.

Prager passed the test, because there was an instant change that first day. The more Prager knew about Zahir, the more he enjoyed his company, and the easier work became.

“It is difficult, at times, to attempt to train a person who is older and set in their ways,” explained Prager. “It becomes a strong game of give and take. The more I can let him see that I learn from him each day, the more he is willing to learn from me. The key to our partnership and information exchange will always be the base of friendship we established.”

Their initial greeting would consist of a handshake and a smile. It progressed to what Prager likes to call, “a handshake to man-hug to kiss on the cheek”.

Some of the cultural differences actually aided in forming their professional relationship explained Prager.

“Zahir found it amusing how much the traditional Afghan greeting of friends made me uncomfortable at first,” he said. “Eventually it became second nature, and our partnership grows more honest because of it.”

According to Prager, a key point to help their rapport came in the form of his Zahir’s beliefs.

“Zahir is not Muslim, he’s Ismaili,” Prager said. “Ismaili is a separate branch of Islam that follows the Quran, but holds different belief sets. Ismailis have holy men, or Elders, that interpret the Quran and preach.”

“They take a very open-minded view of it,” he added. “They are allowed to alter the rules or words set forth in the book so that it fits the times and cultural norms of the day. They do not believe in praying a set number of times each day, nor must they face Mecca. In their eyes, God is in everything.”

Prager explained that whichever way one faces, positions themselves, or what time it is, God will hear you. He also explained they have an urge for peace and acceptance of all religions and creeds.

“They do not fast during Ramadan, as they believe that God would rather they live a healthy life,” Prager said. “This is the same reason they allow the consumption of pork and alcohol.”

When Zahir talks with Prager about his personal likes and dislikes, he refuses to speak of business. When it is time to work however, Zahir’s focus is absolute.

The two will sit for hours and look at passports, discussing ways to detect a forgery. They review records and discuss the methods or cataloging the information while discussing new ideas of organization. At times while they talk about specific items and techniques that will aid Zahir’s operation then the conversation transitions back to family.

Pragers Soldiers, Spc. Shane Orndorf and Spc. Jeremy Winkelman, are in charge of the partnership with the soldiers at the vehicle search area. Together they created a flip-book of photographs of specific areas on vehicles to aid in searching techniques. They added notes to each of these pictures describing techniques and key indicators to look for in each area.

“Together they give classes and training to Major Zahir and the Custom officials in the area,” Prager said. “By allowing input from each party, they have been able to change the standards of the area noticeably."

Each week they plan more training and strengthen their partnerships. They quickly picked up on subtleties such as sensing when to back off and change the subject.

“There is this amazing change since day one,” Winkelman said. “At first they didn’t really want to talk to us. As we learned more about them and they learned about us, it got easier each day. Now when we see them, their eyes light up like little kids at Christmas. They get excited when they see their friends, and being friends with them has allowed us to accomplish so much more.”

“I’ve learned that in this culture, it takes friendships to develop a strong professional relationship.” Orndorf added. “Without that, they will sort of disregard you, and not take in what you have to say. When they can open up to you as a friend, they are more likely to tell you how they really feel about their job and how it should be done. This allows us to take their input, and add to our training; so that we can help them while keeping it from becoming an alarming change to their ways.”

The Soldiers agree there is always more work to be done and more improvements to be made. However, they have all been changed by this partnership. They have learned the value of a friendship and professionalism together, as one.

• Date Taken: 08.28.2010
• Date Posted: 08.28.2010 03:54
• Story ID: 55297
• Location: HEYRATAN, AF