Afghanistan Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

May 19, 2002: Sergeant Gene A. Vance Jr. Dies in the Afghan War

Sergeant Gene A. Vance Jr. of Morgantown was killed in combat in Afghanistan on May 19, 2002. Vance was the only member of the West Virginia National Guard to die in the Afghan War, but 14 other West Virginians in active duty also lost their lives in the conflict.

The war was triggered by the terrorists’ attacks on the United States on 9/11/2001. The West Virginia Air National Guard’s Tactical Airlift Wings out of Charleston and Martinsburg flew hundreds of missions for the Air Force. The West Virginia National Guard’s 2nd Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne), with headquarters in Huntington, was one of the first units sent to Afghanistan. Sergeant Vance was a member of this unit.

Reserve and National Guard units were dispatched to both Afghanistan and Iraq to reinforce active military forces. In addition to the 15 West Virginians who gave their lives in Afghanistan, another 24 soldiers and marines from our state lost their lives in the Iraq War. Virtually all elements of the West Virginia Army and Air National Guard were mobilized for at least one deployment to the Middle East.

Official: Killing of W.Va. Soldier Was by Afghan Policeman

An attack on U.S. troops in Afghanistan that killed one American was carried out by a member of the Afghan national police who is now in Afghan government custody, a U.S. official said Tuesday. It was the second so-called insider attack there this summer.

Lt. Col. Martin O’Donnell, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Kabul, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that the American was killed in eastern Afghanistan by an Afghan policeman. Another U.S. service member was wounded; O’Donnell said that person’s wounds are not life-threatening.

On Tuesday evening the Pentagon said the soldier killed was Army Command Sgt. Maj. Timothy A. Bolyard, 42, of Thornton, West Virginia. It said he died of wounds sustained from small arms fire in Logar Province, but it provided no other details about the incident.

Bolyard was assigned to 3rd Squadron, 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade, based at Fort Benning, Georgia. His brigade was sent to Afghanistan early this year as part of a revamped American strategy to bolster the Afghan security forces by placing U.S. military advisers with Afghan troops closer to the front lines.

When the Monday attack was announced, the coalition termed it an apparent insider attack. The new U.S. commander of coalition forces, Army Gen. Scott Miller, called the death “a tragic loss for all who knew and all who will now never know him.”

O’Donnell said in a telephone interview Tuesday that it now has been “definitely” determined that the attacker was an Afghan policeman. The shooter fled the scene but was apprehended by Afghans, he added.

Separately, the U.S.-led coalition in Kabul announced that a U.S. service member died in a “non-combat incident” Tuesday, also in eastern Afghanistan. That service member’s name has not yet been released.

The threat of attacks on U.S. and coalition troops by Afghan soldiers and police is a persistent worry, although such violence is far less common than several years ago. There was an epidemic of attacks in 2012, with dozens of Americans killed and wounded in shootings almost weekly by the very troops the U.S. was fighting alongside. U.S. troops since 2014 have been mainly in an advisory and training roles, rather than combat.

The 2012 rash of killings led to the development of new procedures and precautions by coalition forces, including the use of “guardian angels” — armed U.S. forces keeping watch whenever their fellow soldiers interact with Afghan forces. The reasons for such attacks are often not determined conclusively, but officials have said they sometimes reflect resentment by Afghans of the presence of foreign forces. U.S. troops have been in Afghanistan since 2001.

The previous insider attack this summer was against one such U.S. protective soldier, Cpl. Joseph Maciel of South Gate, California. He was killed and two other Americans were wounded in an attack July 7 by an Afghan security force member at an airfield on the military base at Tarin Kowt in southern Uruzgan province, a Taliban hotbed.

Air National Guard Frequent Flyer to War Zones

As he stood inside a C-130 cargo plane on a tarmac at a West Virginia airport, Chief Master Sgt. Dave Boyles recalled the times he had been strapped in at his tail-window post watching rocket fire rip through the night skies of war-wracked Iraq and Afghanistan.

Boyles is a member of the 130th Airlift Wing of the National Guard, a branch of the military perhaps better known for its role in responding to natural disasters. Since 9/11 and the launch of President George W. Bush’s war on terrorism, however, Guard units have been deployed more often to combat zones — a trend that appears likely to continue as the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq drag on and the Pentagon struggles to reverse previous cuts to Army forces.

“We’ve had people gone every year since the global war on terrorism” began, said the 130th’s Capt. Holli Nelson.

In August, President Donald Trump announced that he would add another 3,500 troops to the 11,000 Americans already stationed in Afghanistan. That likely means the burden on National Guard units isn’t likely to abate anytime soon.

The 130th Airlift is one of the Air National Guard’s 90 wings, which are based in every state and U.S. territory. It comprises 300 full-time personnel and 1,000 part-time or traditional Guardsmen who can be activated and deployed on short notice, Nelson said. Six of the 130th Airlift Wing’s eight planes have deployed to southwestern Asia this year flying missions to Iraq and Afghanistan, she said.

“This unit is the tip of the spear,” Boyles said. “It’s not just the planes that go. It’s everybody that goes. It’s the civil engineers. It’s the security forces. It’s maintenance. It’s the administrative parts.”

Altogether, 7,390 Guard airmen nationally were deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq last year, and 6,578 so far this year, said spokesman Sgt. Michael Houk.

A 2009 study by the Rand Corp. concluded that use of the National Guard and reserve units steadily increased after the first Gulf War in the early 1990s, and was expected to continue throughout the war on terrorism. The study noted that the military was taking steps to make deployments more predictable and limited as the guard’s role continued to expand.

The evolution from reserve unit to an active player in war zones first began with “total force” integration in the mid-1970s, a process by which the Air National Guard’s duties began to mirror those of the active Air Force, Boyles noted. He enlisted in the Air Force right out of high school, working in security, and later joined the Guard full time to become a loadmaster, responsible for the loading and transporting of air cargo.

“It’s been a wild ride,” he said, standing in the plane on the tarmac outside the 130th Airlift Wing’s base, which shares a runway with the commercial airport in Charleston. “You get shot at often,” Boyles said. “It tests your mettle.”

But Boyles, one of the 130th’s most-deployed airmen, said he has enjoyed every minute of his duty. The unit has had only one plane hit, and no casualties from either rockets or bullets, he said. Boyles is facing mandatory retirement in early November at age 60 after more than three decades as a loadmaster, but the tradition will continue: His son is now a firefighter in the Guard.

Boyle recounted some experiences that he still remembers vividly: training flights in Arizona canyons with tight 60-degree turns and heavy G forces, followed by steep climbs and deep dives over mountains; flying at night in the Middle East and western Asia without lights to avoid being shot at, and using goggles to see by starlight.

He recalled landing in the war-wracked Balkans during a lull in the shooting to deliver relief supplies; conducting air drops of food and supplies to U.S. combat bases; evacuating wounded soldiers; opening the plane doors through which paratroopers exited; and dropping information leaflets, soccer balls and candy to Afghan children.

In 1991, Boyles was on one of the first Guard planes to fly into an airfield in Kuwait that had been captured by the Iraqis, where night storms and clouds had them flying low. Noting that oil well fires were burning below, he remarked, “When we popped through the clouds it looked like … we opened up the gates of hell.”

Guard members also have continued their traditional duties as responders to natural disasters, sending more than 1,200 personnel to the recent Southern and Caribbean hurricanes and more than 300 to western wildfires, Houk said. Boyles’ domestic missions have included ferrying Hurricane Katrina evacuees from New Orleans to Atlanta and flying emergency personnel into West Virginia to deal with last year’s deadly flooding.

Boyle still lives in Hurricane, 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the air base.

West Virginia Army Reservists Deploying to Afghanistan and Kosovo

Last month, President Obama announced the end of combat operations in Afghanistan. Some news organizations went so far as to say the war was over.

But for soldiers and their families from the Army Reserves’ 363rd Military Police Company – headquartered in Grafton, WV – the war isn’t over. This spring, some of these soldiers will be deploying to Afghanistan.

The Battle Roster

The U.S. still has over 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. Possible troop assignments include:

Advise and train the Afghanistan army and police (primary role)
Conduct air strikes and provide other types of air support
Protect themselves if threatened
Assist the Afghanistan security forces if necessary

Soldiers from 3rd Platoon listen to the current list of who is deploying. Some members of their families are in the back. Spc. Shane Delong, who is wearing the green uniform in the front row, will be deploying to Afghanistan.

During their December drill weekend, soldiers from the 363 Military Police Company, gathered to hear the names listed on the “battle rosters” which is the list of deploying soldiers. (The Army asked us not to report the names because the lists are still in flux.)

After the Afghanistan battle roster was read, the soldiers heard the battle roster for the troops going to Kosovo. That’s another war you might have thought was over. But the United States has supplied soldiers to the NATO peacekeeping force there since 1999. The U.S. is currently contributing about 750 soldiers to NATO’s 4,500-soldier peacekeeping force.

Sgt. 1st Class Lahomma Fowler talked to her platoon about the deployment. Fowler explained to her soldiers: “If you have vouchers pending for dental, medical, hearing – any of that stuff – when you call to make your appointment, you tell them: ‘I am a deploying soldier. I need to be seen as soon as possible.’”

The News Sinks In

Sgt. 1st Class Fowler deployed to Iraq with the 363 MP’s in 2009. During this deployment she will be the non-commissioned officer in charge of the 25 soldiers heading to Kosovo.

“When you first find out your name has come up to be deployed,” Fowler said, “immediately there’s this thought process that goes through your brain: ‘Oh, I’m going to go do this!’ But when it starts sinking in, it’s that sobering thought: ‘Oh, I’m going to be gone.’”

Sgt. 1st Class Fowler goes on to list common worries: How are my bills going to get paid? How is my house going to be taken care of? Who’s going to cut my grass?

One of the soldiers deploying to Afghanistan is Spc. Jakob Mays of Fairmont. “I’m pumped. This will be my fourth deployment, so this is just another skip in the ballpark for me. I’m excited because I’ve never been to Afghanistan before.”

3 Months Out

During the next three months, the soldiers will get ready for their spring deployment. Like all Reservists, they will refresh and sharpen their skills during once-a-month weekend drills. This March, they’ll put all their skills together.

“When we get to annual training in March,” Sgt. 1st Class Fowler explains, “we’ll be able to run these missions, and do what we call ‘War Fighter’, or ‘War Games’, which is full speed… just like you would be performing these tasks while you were deployed.”

Sgt. Ashley Snyder plays with her son and some of the other soldiers’ children during the 363 Military Police annual Christmas party. Sgt. Snyder will be deploying to Kosovo.

Sen. Joe Manchin Says Our Troops Need to Come Home

West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin continues to speak out against keeping US troops in Afghanistan after this year, and he is questioning continued US involvement in Iraq as well.

Last month, President Obama announced that the current 32,000 troops in Afghanistan will be drawn down to 9,800 by the start of next year. The President plans to withdraw those 9,800 by 2016. Senator Joe Manchin sent the President a letter on June 9th expressing his opposition to his decision of keeping any troops in Afghanistan after this year.

“If the sectarian forces are greater than any, ideologically or philosophical, we have to understand that. We cannot change the culture. We have not been successful with money or military might to change that part of the world, we would’ve done it by now.”

Manchin says both the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost the United States trillions of dollars. More than 6,000 soldiers have died fighting in the two countries. Manchin says unless the people of Iraq and Afghanistan rise to the level of wanting to defend themselves from terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda, the United States can’t do anything else for them. Manchin does not think the US needs to have a permanent presence in a country if we are unable to change the minds and ideas of the people there.

“I’ve said this, we can stay in Iraq or we can stay in Afghanistan for another year, another ten years, or twenty years, [but] unless we intend to stay in perpetuity, forever, to try to keep some type of force because they don’t have the will or the backbone to defend themselves, they don’t have the desire to basically die for their homeland, or fight and die for their homeland, as Americans have for ours, and it’s a sectarian type of war. Only thing we can do is offer help to those who want to help themselves. You can’t force them to enter the fight. If the Sunnis are not going to fight against their own sectarian brothers and sisters, the Sunnis, we can’t make them do that. If it’s going to separate into a sectarian civil war, such as you have the Kurds and the Sunnis and the Shiites, that’s where it’s been, that’s where it’s gonna go maybe, and that’s maybe territorial, I don’t know. We can’t force that to stay together as a country, Iraq or Syria, if it’s not going to be the will of the people.”

Manchin says the US has been at war in Afghanistan and Iraq longer than any war in the country’s history and he says neither have been successful.

Manchin to Obama: Withdraw Troops from Afghanistan

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin is opposing President Barack Obama’s plan to keep 9,800 American troops in Afghanistan after 2014.

In a letter Monday, the Democratic senator urged the president to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year.

Manchin’s letter says the war has consumed 12 years, cost untold billions of dollars, and ended the lives of more than 2,000 Americans.

Manchin says regardless of when American support of the Afghan state ends, it will remain, in his words, a “corrupt narco-state unwilling to abide by international norms or support American interests.”

In a plan announced last month, Obama calls for the current 32,000 in Afghanistan to draw down to 9,800 by the start of next year. The rest of the troops would be withdrawn by 2016.