Jesse Smith of Emporia is a private contractor working in Afghanistan. He sat down for an e-mail interview with The Gazette. Jesse and his wife, Meg, have three children, Marlaina, 18; Kayla, 14; and Ian, 10. The family moved to Emporia from Washington state in July 2004.
Who are you working with?
“I work for a DOD Contracting company. Our contract here in Afghanistan is to mentor at all levels of the Afghanistan National Army (ANA). The part of the contract that I work in is responsible for mentoring and training the Corps staffs of the five major ANA Corps around the country. You see, when the ANA was formed, the personnel position assignments were made without regard to background or previous training. Therefore, many of the officers and their staffs were incapable of preforming their duties. Our military here is in the business of conducting a war and just doesn’t have time to train staffs on how to do their jobs. Realizing the need for experienced prior military people to do this, the military contracted us.”
Where are you stationed?
“My home base is in the greater Kabul area, but my job takes me all around the country.”
For how long?
“I contracted for one year, but extended for a second. Currently I’m in my 21st month and will be home in January.”
How long have you served, including your latest stint?
“I served in the U. S. Army Special Forces for 24 years and retired in 1994 at the rank of Sergent Major. After 10 years of retirement I was informed about this opportunity here in Afghanistan and my wife was gracious and brave enough to allow me to go play with the boys one more time.”
What’s your title?
“My title here is Assistant Director, Corps teams.”
What do you do in this position?
“Because we have people scattered around the country and because Afghanistan is a country trying to recover from decades of war, there are many things that our people just can’t do for themselves. My job is to take care of their professional and personal needs, their resupply requirements, and to assist our director with his operation responsibilities. “
What do you like about your service?
“Thank you for asking that. So little that is good here gets printed.
“It’s so easy to talk about the resurgence of the Taliban or a bomb going off. It’s much harder to find and report the good things that have happened here.
“The Afghanistan of today is much like America shortly after the Revolutionary War. It is still a country of violence and political turmoil. But, in the time I have been here, the Afghan people elected their first representative government, ever. Girls are attending schools, and children are well fed and properly dressed. You can see the results of an infant capitalistic economy with the building of new homes, hotel and traffic jams. Yes, even traffic jams are good.
“The people can listen to music, watch television, and children can play without fear of religious persecution. Many of the younger women are training for careers and have cast off their burkas. The middle-aged women are returning to their jobs and careers, the careers that they were forced to abandon under the rule of the Taliban.
“This country is better, these people are better because of the sacrifices of the young heroes of America, the husbands, wives, sons and daughters serving here in uniform. I am proud to have had a small part in the rebuilding of this nation.”
What is challenging?
“The greatest challenge is understanding and working with the cultural differences. “
What do you miss the most being over there?
“I miss the freedom of movement. In every country I’ve ever worked in, I’ve made it a point to learn as much about the culture as I can. Here, I can’t do that.”
What’s the hardest part about being away from home?
“What I hate the most is not being there to do my part at home. I understand the difficult job my wife has undertaken to allow me the opportunity to serve here. She is taking care of our home and raising three children without me. I love her for her strength and the wisdom that allows her to do that.”
What’s the first thing you’d like to do when you get back?
“Nothing you can do compares to your family meeting you at the airport and sharing hugs. I plan on fully involving myself in the activities of our children. I have some fish to catch, baseballs to throw, sideline cheering at track meets to do, date monitoring, homework helping and I’m sure a couple of other activities. Also, I need to find some way to make up this lost time with my wife.
“And get a dog.”