I received another update from Captain Jeremiah Ellis this morning, again a combination of good news and frustration:
I am sorry I haven’t sent an update your way in some time now. Thus
far, there has not been much to report. The Taliban placed an IED along RTE Senjaray [the road leading to the school] that we discovered and reduced, but in the process, created a crater in the road that we were unable to bypass. This set back out ability to continue with defensive preparation and the refurbishment of
the school.Four days ago the first partnered Afghan National Army Platoon arrived to Pir Mohammad School. This is significant, because to-date, we have only had the local Afghan National Police to partner with and the locals
resent the police and do not trust them. With the ANA Soldiers accompanying us on patrols the public support for their presence has been outstanding. People readily and happily approach the ANA to speak
with them and you can see their level of confidence in security has skyrocketed.Despite the cut line-of-transportation, I have continued on with my petitions to initiate projects for the school. I have had many visitors from the USAID and CIMIC (Canadian), and although the Soldiers no longer
“believe in Santa Claus” I am holding out hope that these agencies will actually come through on a project. It hasn’t happened in the 17-days that we have been at the school, but I have to keep trying.I am led to believe that a road-remediation crew will be down to repair the route in the next three days, which will allow for the movement of the heavy equipment that we need to get started with defensive
preparations of the police station. However, until the road can be repaired, that also means that contractors cannot begin work on the school… thus, pushing the timeline for opening the school further to the right.The project solicited a tremendous amount of attention and promises immediately following the article, and perhaps some people/agencies are still giving full effort, but the progress still carries on at a
tediously slow pace. I am ever optimistic, but with such a short time before my unit redeploys, I feel that if anything is going to be accomplished at the school that my Soldiers and I will have to do it.
Captain Ellis and Dog Company are scheduled to come home at the end of May. I’ll try to keep track of this story after they leave…and especially if the Nato coalition’s summer offensive in Kandahar Province takes place.