Patrick B. Allen - My Year in Afghanistan

Sharbat Gula "Afghan Girl"
1985 Photo by Steve McCurry

To All Those Struggling For Peace In Afghanistan, Know That Our Thoughts
Are With You.

Please consider
donating
to the
Afghan Education Fund

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever has."

...Margaret Mead

"When it is dark enough, you can see the stars."

...Persian Proverb

"When you take the time to actually listen, with humility, to what people have to say, it's amazing what you can learn. Especially if the people who are doing the talking also happen to be children."

...Greg Mortenson

THE MOST AMAZING YEAR of MY LIFE

Fulfilling A Dream Of Service; My Country And Afghan Girls’ Education

This summer I returned from an adventure of a lifetime; serving a one year military tour of duty in Afghanistan. As I was nearing the end of bringing to closure a very fulfilling military reserve career something was missing. I knew that I wanted to spend my last year in the Army Reserves in a more active role and to serve in Afghanistan with my Special Operations Forces brothers. It was the challenge of a lifetime and the fulfillment of a long held desire to do my best to help with the most urgent foreign policy challenge facing our country in a generation.

The muddled war in Afghanistan is now in its tenth year, and has become the most urgent foreign policy challenge facing our country. Afghanistan faces enormous problems: a violent, spiraling insurgency that is hampering the rule of law and development efforts, the growth of record crops or poppies, extreme poverty, criminality, homelessness, joblessness, lack of access to clean water, continuing problems with the status of women, and a central government that has struggled to protect its people and provide basic services. I am convinced that books, education, school supplies, and the tools of socioeconomic well-being will be a major influence with stabilizing Afghanistan.

Serving With the “Best and The Brightest”

Our country’s senior military leadership knew the importance of the Special Operations Forces role in Afghanistan and that it could be key with determining a successful outcome. U.S. Special Operations Component Command a new military command to help support and resource the Special Operations Forces fighting in Afghanistan and that the new commander -Brigadier General Edward M. Reeder - was personaly selecting his staff.

I knew of General Reeder’s highly regarded reputation within the U.S. Military’s Special Operations community and heard of his respect for and accomplishments of working with the Afghan people. General Reeder also had an excellent reputation of selecting individuals who were in the top-tier of their fields and for leading high performance work teams in a manner that ensured an optimum outcome. There was no doubt that I knew that he was the leader and that this was the team I wanted to serve with in a hostile combat environment. After convincing my wife that I needed to do this, and receiving her support, I sent General Reeder a formal military, and personally compelling, request for assignment. His timely response confirmed that he was the leader I wanted to serve with for my last year of my military career.

I was deeply honored to be selected for a senior military staff assignment with the Combined Forces Special Operations Component Command in Kabul Afghanistan. My principal responsibilities were representing Special Operations Forces at the U.S. Embassy and coordinating USAID civilian-military infrastructure and economic development programs in remote areas of Afghanistan. Working with engineers and technical professionals in my civilian profession definitely helped me make this complex assignment doable.

SAVE AFGHAN CHILDREN - Hazara Girls Orphanage

Whenever I had free time I helped support one of my command’s humanitarian outreach programs, a girls’ orphanage in a poor Hazara neighborhood on the outer edge of Kabul. The Hazaras are descendants of Genghis Khan, the great Mongol warrior of 13th Century and are considered an ethnic and religious minority. The Taliban brutally repressed the Hazaras when they seized control of Kabul in 1996. The Taliban also invoked a cruel state of gender apartheid in which women and girls were stripped of their basic human rights. Prior to the Taliban's arrival, women in Afghanistan were educated and employed: 50% of the students and 60% of the teachers at Kabul University were women, and 70% of school teachers, 50% of civilian government workers, and 40% of doctors in Kabul were women.

In the photo above, I am with some of the young girls who live at the orphanage. Throughout the year, friends, neighbors, business associates, and many other Americans sent school supplies, clothing and donations to support these orphans. Representing the American people by helping bring some goodness to Afghanistan is an awe-inspiring experience which I will always cherish.

The girls who live in at an orphanage in the poor Hazara tribal neighborhood on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan gave me the Dari name of “Baba”, which means elder, a deep honor in the Afghan culture. On my last day there, near the completion of my one-year tour of duty as a Colonel in the U.S. Army Special Forces, the girls picked wild roses that grew outside the orphanage. They showered their blonde-haired, blue-eyed Baba with rose petals while singing me traditional tribal songs. I was moved to tears. I am staying in contact with the orphanage and working with others to continue to make a difference in their lives - as they did in mine.

Coming Home - It Will Never Be The Same "A Whole New Zest For Life & Relationships"

I have experienced firsthand how vitally important it is to our country, and to the downtrodden people of the world, to receive meaningful humanitarian assistance from caring and talented professionals. It is a matter of life and death—not just for those suffering in impossible situations, but for us here at home, who will be much safer as life improves in places like Afghanistan. This truly was the most exciting and challenging year of my life. Those with whom I had the privilage to have served with, I will always consider "brothers".

It is great to be home and reconnecting with my community. I am especially thankful for all the support I have received from my business clients and friends. Relationships and helping others, whether that be an organization build a team of professionals or assisting a professional with their next career move is something is more important to me than ever before. There is very little that I take for granted..

"COL Patrick Allen is the single best (#1 of 31) Colonels in the 4,000 member Special Operations Task Force in Afghanistan. In fact, he is the single finest Special Forces Officer (#1) that I have worked with in 28 years."

- Brigadier General Edward M. Reeder, Commander, CFSOCC -Afghanistan.

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