SIX MONTHS IN AFGHANISTAN BECOMES KEY CAREER EXPERIENCE FOR CONTRACTING’S MAJ. BOB POOLE

Maj. Poole on station

That’s MAJ Bob Poole, deputy chief of Contracting Branch, talking about his recent six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan. After landing in the war-ravaged nation six days before Christmas 2002, he spent the next half-year helping rebuild it. He saw the borders of both Pakistan and Iran and the Hindu Kush, ranging as far south as Kandahar and as far north as Konduz.

Surviving three fierce attacks by Al Qaeda and Taliban forces, enduring bitter cold, risky travel and seven-day workweeks, the former Air Force enlisted man remains cautiously upbeat about the coalition mission there. He foresees that “a generation or two from now we should reap the benefits of our efforts—but I think we’ll be there for awhile.”

Poole was based in Kabul, at a compound near the U.S. Embassy and the International Security Assistance Force headquarters, the 30-nation peacekeeping force sanctioned by the UN Security Council (now taken over by NATO). The compound’s closeness to such symbols of foreign power made Poole and the Civil Affairs teams, USAID, Special Forces, Corps and other residents “a prime target” for mortar attacks, he said.

It's still a shooting war

Events that have occurred in Afghanistan since Poole returned to the District magnify the importance of the nation-building tasks he performed. Those events also indicate the scope and scale of what he and other Corps team members had to confront on the ground.

During a two-week period in August when Afghanistan celebrated the 84th anniversary of its independence from Britain, 64 people were killed in attacks scattered around the country; 26 were killed when guerilla groups attacked two police stations; and nine police were ambushed and killed by Taliban gunmen.

Officials of NATO, which took over command of the 5,500-member international security force in August, realize that insurgent forces are becoming more active and organized, especially outside Kabul. “The increased violence comes amid reports that Mullah Mohammed Omar, leader of the ousted Taliban regime, has reorganized his fighters into regional commands,” the AP reported from Kabul.

Winter at Ganzi Terminal

Even so, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and other civilian agencies have reduced their medical, food and other operations because of safety concerns.

Poole is sympathetic about the problems. Simply to get to contractors, he flew in C-130s, Chinook, Blackhawk and Russian helicopters and fragile UN Beechcraft airplanes. He also had two Toyota four-wheel drive vehicles at his disposal, but mainly used them in and around Kabul.

Twice while awarding contracts at Asadabad, a town six miles from the Pakistani border, Al Qaeda and Taliban forces attacked the former Soviet compound where he was staying. Lobbing mortars and firing their equivalent of an M-50 machine gun, the insurgents were beaten back by quick-reaction forces made up of Navy Seals, Delta Force, the 82nd Airborne and some CIA officers. In Konduz, a northern city, his compound was hit by overhead tracer fire; then Special Forces teams “went out and did what they do best.”

Winning hearts and minds

As chief of Contracting for the Combined Joint Task Force-180 Kabul office, Poole’s main role was to support the Combined Joint Civil Military Operations Task Force; its mission, in turn, was to win the hearts and minds of the Afghani people. He worked with teams of engineers, project managers, civil affairs officers and soldiers who compiled village assessments--how many women, how many men, how many children under 12, location of the nearest well—to determine the village’s needs.

Once those were established, a civil affairs team would nominate projects, then a committee at Bagram would review the requirements to see if they were valid. “A lot of times some areas would get a lot more assistance based on their cooperation with our soldiers,” Poole recalls. “Sometimes villagers were rewarded for information provided to U.S. Special Forces when they were hunting down Al Qaeda and the Taliban.”

Poole’s job was to listen to local contractors and their proposals for a project. “We’d try to find the best value for the government’s money,” he says. “We wouldn’t have one contractor do all the work.” He encouraged them to use local skilled and unskilled labor so the money would stay in the village, and he sometimes had to give 20% to 30% of the contract’s value up front in cash so the contractors could get materials.

He also helped supply the nascent Afghan army, being trained by U.S. Special Forces and National Guard units at the Military Training Center in Kabul: Uniforms, shoes, boots, bedding, wooden bunk beds, wood stoves. “I witnessed four battalions get trained and placed in remote areas to assist our soldiers,” he says.

SammyJohn the mujhadeen

The other positive came from Poole’s own initiative. Most of the contracts he awarded for schools were for girls’ schools, sadly lacking in the male-dominated Muslim society. “I saw a lot of promise in Afghani females,” Poole says. “There’s hope for those Afghani women who are trained.”

Poole constantly asked his interpreter whether he and other Americans were doing any good. His response is instructive. He told Poole: “You’re not going to get the adults to trust you. They’ve been through the war with the Russians, so many invasions. You can only hope to influence the children.”

Poole short-lists several suggestions for any successors heading for Afghanistan:

--Get in touch with the person you’re going to replace;

--Bring many computer disks (which don’t survive long over there) and zip-lock bags to keep out the dust;

--Take two months’ worth of personal toiletries—some are available but not all;

--Pack an electric razor—water supplies are fickle;

--A warm pair of boots will be handy during the bitterly cold winter.

Besides his Kevlar and weapon, Poole was also never without his digital camera. He made as many as 2,000 photos for himself, and says one of the most satisfying things he did in Afghanistan was to take pictures of soldiers he met in rugged remote areas. “I’d take digital pictures, get their e-mail addresses, download their pictures and then send them back to their families,” he says. “I made some new friends that way.”

And enjoyed a career-validating experience.