A different war: Vermonter prepares to lead Afghanistan deployment
Col. William Roy will lead Vermonters in Afghanistan using a friendlier strategy.
Toolbox
By Peter Hirschfeld
VERMONT PRESS BUREAU - Published: July 12, 2009
JERICHO - On a simple white wall in Col. William Roy's Camp Ethan Allen field office - nearby pictures of his wife, his four children, and three Bronze Star certificates - is a small, framed poster of Arabic lettering.
"It means 'Insha'Allah,'" says Roy, who will lead 1,500 Vermont soldiers into eastern Afghanistan next year. "It's Arabic for 'God willing,' and it's very much a part of Afghan culture."
The Arabic calligraphy, a prominently displayed souvenir from one of his three previous military tours in the Islamic republic, assures frequent pause for reflection as Roy prepares for the biggest mission of his life.
"When we talk to the Afghans about something as simple as making plans for the next day, the answer will be 'Insha'Allah.' It's just part of their mindset," Roy says. "For me, it just keeps me focused on this mission. And understanding the people is a very, very big part of this mission."
Roy, a longtime Jericho resident who has served full-time in the Vermont National Guard since 1985, will command a 10,000-troop task force slated to arrive in Afghanistan early next year. Task Force Phoenix will include 1,500 Vermont soldiers from the Green Mountains' own 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.
Make no mistake - "This is war," Roy says.
But not the kind most soldiers are used to. In a mission designed to bring security and stability to a country beset for decades by violence and unrest, Vermont's citizen soldiers will play the delicate roles of warrior-diplomats.
"The best weapon we have is a wave and smile," says Roy, who last toured the country in 2004 as the commander of Task Force Mountain. "Since 1973, the people of Afghanistan have been in a constant state of turmoil ... When we'd go through a village and the Afghans would see us, we'd wave and smile. There'd be an initial bit of shock, but before long we'd see them smile ear to ear and give us a huge wave."
Roy, a wiry man in his desert Ranger fatigues with a young face and dirty blond hair, doesn't downplay the dangers his men and women might face. Armed resistance to the American military - evidenced by the record number of improvised explosive devices planted by Taliban insurgents in June - could be severe.
"A lot depends on how well things go in the next six months," Roy says. "For me to say absolutely we'll be conducting missions where we will have direct contact with anti-Afghan forces - it really depends on how well things go in the six to eight months ahead of us."
If they do see combat, Roy says, the Vermont soldiers will be prepared. Since the Pentagon issued alert orders last June, guardsmen and women here have been drilling in Camp Ethan Allen, a Jericho training center transformed in recent months to mimic the small Afghan villages in which Vermont soldiers will be embedded with members of Afghan army and police forces.
"This is war, the enemy gets a vote, and we can't control everything that happens," Roy says. "That is why we have such a comprehensive training program for our soldiers. And if in fact we do encounter resistance as we work with the Afghans, if we're fired upon as we work, our soldiers are trained to effectively respond to any eventuality they'll come across."
Vermont soldiers will be dispatched in small groups to cities, villages and tribal compounds around eastern and central Afghanistan. If all goes according to plan, they'll be relying on their wits more than their guns.
"Every soldier is a diplomat in this mission," Roy says. "Our soldiers' training is teaching them, and will continue to teach them, how to intermix with the Afghan culture."
Under no circumstances, for instance, is a male soldier to interact with an Afghan woman without first winning permission from a male representative of the family.
Sunglasses, Roy says, are to be removed before addressing an Afghan.
"It's just generally considered rude," he says. "And if the situation allows, you should remove your helmet. It's conveying to them there's trust there."
Roy speaks rudimentary Dali - one of Afghanistan's two national languages - and his Vermont soldiers, now undergoing crash language courses, will also be able to communicate basic phrases and greetings in their "hosts'" native tongue.
With six months still remaining until they ship out, Roy says, soldiers are already acclimating to the foreign land they'll inhabit. What soldiers see, and where they live, will depend on the assignment. Some will remain at the Task Force Phoenix headquarters in Kabul, a sprawling urban landscape with many of the same features as Western cityscapes.
Others will depart for small, remote villages inhabited only by members of an extended family.
"It could be a series of compounds - mud-hutted compounds eight-to-10-feet high, two-to-three-feet thick," Roy says. "And that's it - just a compound where an extended family lives. It all really depends on where you're operating at."
Roy says the duties his soldiers are called upon to perform will depend in large part on the circumstances on the ground, and also the will of the Afghans in whose villages they'll temporarily reside. The Vermont soldiers ostensibly are being deployed to "train" and "mentor" Afghan forces.
"Every single situation presents different variables. They key is how you react to those variables," he says. "Ultimately this is Afghanistan. This is their country and we're there to help. It needs to be an Afghan solution. And we'll help them in whatever solution they come up with."
Roy says the unconventional constitution of Vermont's military force will be especially useful. He talks, perhaps euphemistically, about the "more seasoned," "more mature" nature of his guardsmen and women. They're regular people with regular jobs, he says, and they carry a mindset that will help endear the American military to the Afghan people.
"In my opinion, the Guard is so well suited for this mission. They have a life outside of the uniform. So when they go into the Afghan communities, they know what it's like to be a part of that community," Roy says. "We're not talking about 18, 19, 20 year olds from high school, or lieutenants out of college. The maturity they bring to this mission is what will really separate us from other units that do this type of mission."
It's also part of what makes this deployment - the largest of the Vermont National Guard since World War II - so difficult. The departure of family men and women, who feed local communities and economies, will exact a toll, Roy says, on such a small state.
"This deployment will touch virtually every community in Vermont in one capacity or another and we know that," Roy says. "So we're trying very hard to make sure people understand what this mission is and what we're doing."
The importance of the soldiers to their families and communities, Roy says, underscores his work as their commander. He will be promoted to the rank of brigadier general before the 2010 deployment.
"It's our moral obligation to ensure we do everything possible to return our soldiers to their families," he says. "That doesn't mean we hide on a forward-operating base because we don't want to expose our soldiers to danger. It means we execute the mission to the highest standards, leave Afghanistan a better place than we found and, God willing, we're going to come home with all our soldiers in at least as good a condition as we found them."
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