Marine units in Afghanistan continue to task-organize in the quest to beat the insurgency:
HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan, Dec. 29, 2009 – Throughout Afghanistan’s Garmsir district, Marines and sailors of 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, interact with key leaders and locals to learn the needs of local Afghan villagers.
However, there is one gap that is hard to bridge — the interaction between Marines and Afghan women.
This is an issue that female Marines and sailors of the U.S. military engagement team worked to solve as they conducted patrols through the village of Tajik Khar Dec. 16 through 20.
With help from male Marines and members of the Afghan National Army, female Marines moved from compound to compound, hoping to speak to Afghan women to ascertain their medical and humanitarian assistance requirements.
“This is extremely important,” said Marine 2nd Lt. Carly E. Towers, the officer in charge of the engagement team. “Our mission out here is to talk to and work with the locals to build cooperation and security.”
This is not new– we used it with similar success in Iraq– but it shows a continuing drive to win, and to use every tool at our disposal. Well, done!
