“Education Humanizes the Heart”

August 12th, 2008: As Richard Dukes introduced James Smith, we knew we were in for a treat. Even as a member of the House Judicial Committee, he is the recipient of a Bronze Star and Combat Infantry Badge … no small accomplishment in today’s political environment. We’ve lost many politicians who also served in defense of our country as veterans in recent years.

James Smith truly believes in “service above self” as exemplified by his tour as a mentor to the Afghanistan police in Kabul Provence. When James and his nine-man team arrived in country, the Taliban were killing 200 to 300 individuals a month. His team deployed as a full spectrum counter-insurgency effort. Not only did they protect our interests, they built schools, churches, and facilitated an emerging democracy.

James stated, “the best security I saw was the people.” I’m the father of four, they want the same things we want. The Afghan police we mentored made $70/month; when we left, they were making $120/month and we did our best to ensure their pay “didn’t go to a corrupt boss.” The Taliban is full of hate … that’s tough for folks in the US to understand. Once I got there, we didn’t lose another policeman. But every one of the locals were dealing with bad men. We chose to deal with the kids. They are the hope and the future of Afghanistan. They love pictures and will always tell you the truth! “Education humanizes the heart and doesn’t allow it to be cruel.” Seeing a young girl in school is an incredible site … something the Taliban would never allow. If there were a couple of million Rotarians there, we wouldn’t have this problem.

Afghans are courageous. If they hear a gun shot, they head to the fight. But we had to deal with their culture and I convinced them to “not smoke marijuana while we were engaged and not shoot at anybody who didn’t shoot at us first.”

I’m proud to say I left an area less griped by fear and more ready to build infrastructure and tell the truth about the Taliban. I guarantee you, “if that place is safer, then our place is safer.”

Reported by Bill Crowe, Keyway Committee Chair