Gov. Jim Douglas returned from a whirlwind five-day tour of Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan late Sunday afternoon. His last stop was Landstuhl, Germany, where he visited soldiers who had recently been injured in the conflicts in Afghanistan.
Douglas met with leaders of the Vermont National Guard – Col. William Roy of Jericho and Gen. John Farnham – and several hundred Vermont soldiers over the course of a two-day visit to Afghanistan, which included a stay in Kabul and a trip a remote village.
In all, there are 1,500 Vermonters deployed in Afghanistan. Vermont National Guard members in the 86th Brigade, commanded by Col. Roy, are fulfilling a variety of different missions across three provinces, the governor said in a telephone conference call with reporters on Saturday.
Douglas said Vermont has the largest number of National Guard forces in Afghanistan. They are located at Camp Phoenix in Kabul, Bagram Air Base, and with the joint forces operations headquarters at Kabul International Airport. There is also a group of Vermont guard members in the village of Sharana, in southeastern Afghanistan.
“I think it was particularly helpful to get out of the major metropolitan area here, which is where most of the folks are, but to see some who are working in the remote part of the country down just about 35 miles from the Pakistan border,” Douglas said.
The governor, who was traveling with a delegation of four other governors, including Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, said morale among Vermonters is high despite a July 3 roadside bomb attack in which Spc. Ryan Grady of West Burke was killed. Grady’s funeral was held just a little more than a week ago.
Douglas spoke with one of the soldiers injured in that attack. “He told me a lot about the specifics of the incident,” Douglas said. “He obviously regrets the outcome, but like all Vermonters he’s determined to get well and rejoin his unit.”
The main hazards for Vermont soldiers in Afghanistan are the improvised explosive devices insurgents use to blow up truck convoys, according to Douglas. Incidents, he said, continue to occur “from time to time when some of our folks are out on patrol.”
“We’ve had a number of Vermonters injured throughout the time of deployment, and I’ve gotta believe there will be some more,” Douglas said.
Douglas couldn’t say just how many have been injured – because the National Guard does not release war casualty statistics.
Gen. David Petraeus assured the delegation that U.S. forces are making progress, Douglas said.
“They believe they are moving in the right direction,” Douglas said. “There are still a lot of issues to be resolved, but the number of people in the Afghan army has increased dramatically.”
Douglas explained that police and security forces are building strength and that the Afghan government is gaining legitimacy.
“The strategy here is to persuade the Afghan people that through an organized society, through a legitimate government, they can get the security they need for their families and their communities and begin to get the education and economic growth that ultimately gets this country back on its feet, and persuade them that it’s not the insurgents who can protect them. That’s really the overall goal for our involvement here and our coalition allies as well.”
According to Douglas, a number of soldiers said they don’t believe the American media are accurately reflecting the progress that’s being made in Afghanistan.
He remarked that there are parts of Kabul and some nearby towns where civilians can walk down the street safely. “We’re slowly but surely making a difference,” Douglas said.
So why was the governor secretly whisked off to Iraq and Afghanistan?
David Coriell, the governor’s spokesman, said the Defense Department invited him, and “when they invite you, you say yes.”
“It’s not like you’re going to get a U.S. Airways flight to Kabul – it’s not that easy to get in,” he said.
The tour gave the governor an opportunity to bolster morale, Coriell said.
“It’s important for the governor to see the troops and understand what they’re doing on the battlefield and to show that support from Vermont and that we’re thinking about the men and women over there every day,” Coriell said. “It’s an important thing to do.”
The governor also had an opportunity to see improvements in Iraq. He spent two days in the country and visited now-deceased dictator Saddam Hussein’s Al Faw Palace and Joint Base Balad where he toured the Combat Support Hospital and Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility, where seriously wounded service members are treated before they are sent to the medical center in Landstuhl, Germany.
The last time Douglas visited Iraq was March 2006. He was in Ramadi for 24 hours. Since then, the Anbar Province has been turned over to civilian authorities. The American drawdown of forces is starting to occur, he said, and equipment is being sent to Kuwait.
The security improvements in Iraq are remarkable, Douglas said, though he noted in an earlier telephone conference call that there had been sustained rocket attacks on the American Embassy in Baghdad over the last few weeks – including one on the Fourth of July.
“There’s a ways to go,” Douglas said.
Douglas also traveled with Gen. Craig McKinley, chair of the adjutant generals association and a member of the Council of Governors, a group that oversees state participation in Department of Homeland Security matters and the involvement of state National Guard members in emergencies.
When asked how he personally felt about the war at this point, Douglas said: “This is a matter for federal policymakers to deal with. Vermonters have answered the call to serve and have done a good job. Vermonters would tell you they see progress being made here.”
