There are plenty of non-profits who do great things for our troops, but there is one that makes a powerful & direct impact to the war effort in theater, Spirit of America. They just infiltrated two operatives to help the Marines in Helmand engage the local populace. After much delay due to weather and other obstacles, the pilot edition of the Commander Support Program is up and running. Matt and I landed at Bastion Airfield at Camp Leatherneck yesterday morning and have already been integrated within the I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) Civil Affairs Office (C-9). Once Matt and I settled into our living arrangements, we were able to conduct a couple of meetings with the Marine Female Engagement Team Officer in Charge and the Gender Affairs Officer. Both officers are excited to have the support of Spirit of America and its donors working side-by-side in order to create more and better opportunities for the women of Afghanistan. We also sat in a Civil Affairs staff huddle and were formally introduced to the civil affairs team here at Camp Leatherneck. I had a chance to meet Matt Valkovic and have dinner and a few drinks with him while they were fighting their way through the bureaucracy in order to deploy out w/ the Marines. He is a stand up guy and i could not support this mission more fully. If you don't know about SoA and the wonderful work they have done in both Iraq and Afghanistan go check 'em out.
Read the complete post at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Blackfive/~3/ePDtq7aqKE8/spirit-of-america-in-afghanistan.html
Posted
Dec 17 2010, 01:20 AM
by
BLACKFIVE