As the U.S. prepares to deploy an additional 30,000 troops to the war in Afghanistan, the eyes of local veterans and active duty military are watching.

Some may eventually join those 30,000. Others will see friends deployed.

The Golden Triangle is already established overseas. Approximately 300 Army National Guard members from Columbus” and Starkville”s 2-114 Field Artillery Headquarters Battery, a division of 155th Brigade Combat Team in Tupelo, which has close to 3,000 soldiers deployed, are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Columbus Air Force Base has 70 active duty service members currently deployed to undisclosed locations in the Middle East.

Capt. Fred Shelton of the Columbus Police Department spent 45 days in Iraq in early 2008 training military police. The U.S. Army Reserve staff sergeant later trained officers on their way to Afghanistan while at Fort Benning in Georgia.

“I train them in the task and work they”ll be doing over there. The main thing is security patrols,” Shelton said. “They may have to detain a suspect, secure them and process paperwork. How to identify contraband, make an arrest, patrol a street, respond to a domestic disturbance, respond to a shots fired call.”

The troops Shelton trained will be tasked with teaching Afghan police to perform the same functions. The lack of centralized government in Afghanistan means rural areas of the country have operated without an organized police force to this point, making the mission much more difficult than that in Iraq, he said.

“We have to get them established as a government so they can provide services to the people. Iraq had organizations and bureaus in place,” said Shelton.

Sgt. Darrin McDaniel, who”s served for 20 years with the 114th from Columbus, recently returned home from a tour in Mosul, Iraq. Security duties are increasingly being turned over to the Iraqis, and the U.S. will soon be in a position to leave the country, he said.

“We”re just there to back them up if it gets bad,” he said.

Added troops needed

Shelton said the surge will provide the manpower necessary to secure areas of the country held by American troops and reduce casualties.

“The main thing is that our troops need to be safe to perform the mission,” said Shelton.

For now, McDaniel is detached from the mission in Afghanistan. But he empathizes. On his way home for the holidays, he met other servicemen who are stationed in Afghanistan.

“I told them I wish we were there to give them a break,” McDaniel said. “What they”re doing now, we did in ”05 — knocking on doors, talking to the people, walking through the city streets, taking the bad guys off the road.”

Staff Sgt. Natashea Coleman-Brown, who works for the CPD, spent 11 months in Iraq in 2003 as part of the National Guard”s 1st 185th Aviation Unit out of Meridian. Coleman-Brown served as a petroleum supply specialist refueling helicopters.

While she believes the surge will be successful, she continues to hope for a more diplomatic solution.

“If we could handle this without going to war then I”d be all for it,” said Coleman-Brown, who admits to mixed feelings toward the surge.

The negative side is based largely on the anxiety she faced during her tour and her sympathy for those walking into that environment: “I”m thinking about the young men and women over there fighting and the effect it has (on their families and friends) in the rear.”

The U.S. military presence is needed, said Shelton.

“I think we do need to be in Afghanistan. There”s a real danger there. If we”re not there, (terrorists) would make their way over here,” he said.

However, Shelton believes President Obama must clearly define America”s mission in Afghanistan as well as set a timetable for the departure of U.S. troops.

After Iraq

Retired Master Sgt. Henry Washington of Aliceville, Ala., experienced Iraq firsthand while serving a year-long tour in 2004-05 with the Army”s 2101st Transport Unit. The former Omnova employee”s unit transported fuel all over the country.

“It was quite an experience, one of those lasting experiences that you”ll never forget. It”s quite trying being in a different environment like that, being tasked to do things in a war zone,” he said.

“It”s scary and dangerous at times,” Coleman-Brown said of her time in the city of Balad. “Mortar rounds every day. Bombings. I was on a C-5 (airplane) that almost got hit. All we could see were the tracers.”

Tracers are chemically treated bullets that burn brightly so the shooter can follow their path.

Washington felt the effects of war in several ways. He lost members of his unit to vehicle accidents and combat. When he returned home, he struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Spurred by a sense of duty, Washington said members of the U.S. military will do their jobs as asked, but they deserve the full capacity of military resources, including experienced leadership at all levels.

“I feel the top echelon (military) people are doing a good job. I feel like where it falters is the lower echelon, at the company level. We, a lot of the time, have to be subjected to inexperienced people. They haven”t been around and they”re in charge. It”s quite an experience dealing with someone who hasn”t been around the military that long, but they”re Johnny-go-get-it,” Washington said.

Members of the 114th may return to war if the conflict lingers. The unit is scheduled to redeploy in 2013, this time to Afghanistan.

While the 114th is eager to return home, McDaniel said they”ll be ready and willing if called upon again.

Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.

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