The danger has been underscored in recent days, with the deaths of eight Americans in roadside bombings and an attack yesterday in which Taliban militants stormed a UN guest house in Kabul, killing at least 11 people.
The brigade, made up of guard units from Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, and Vermont, began premobilization deployments last weekend and will arrive in Afghanistan in stages, beginning in January. For the Vermont National Guard, nicknamed the Green Mountain Boys, it is the biggest deployment since World War II.
The mission is training and mentoring Afghan national security forces, police, and border patrols as the mountainous nation continues its civil war with the Taliban. If an Afghan battalion is conducting counterinsurgency efforts, the brigade’s troops will be alongside them, Roy said.
Roy, 49, a native of Concord, N.H., who has been deployed to Afghanistan three times before, said the fact that his troops will work alongside Afghans bodes well for their security. Still, there are no guarantees.
“A lot of it depends upon where our soldiers are at, which we really can’t speak to specifically,’’ he said. “But I will say, when talking about the hazards, what I believe is our greatest safety mechanism is that we are working as part of the Afghan national security force. These are people who are obviously born and raised in the country who recognize who belongs, who doesn’t belong, what looks right, what doesn’t look right.
“In my previous deployments there, we helped them build up their capabilities in training, their capabilities to command and control, but they also helped us to recognize what was right and what wasn’t, what fit and what didn’t fit.’’
President Obama is considering whether to commit large numbers of additional troops to the war next year in hopes of extending the US military’s reach into areas controlled by Taliban forces. Whatever he decides probably will not affect the 86th’s mission, according to Roy.
“The mission we are about to undertake is the same mission we’ve known since January 2008, and that is for our soldiers to work alongside the Afghan security forces and help them to develop into a stronger, more effective organization,’’ he said.
Tomorrow, a farewell ceremony for a 35-member group of soldiers is set at the Vermont Army Aviation Support Facility, near Burlington International Airport. The soldiers are scheduled fly to Fort Polk, La., before heading to Camp Atterbury, Ind., for training and then on to Afghanistan.
“It’s never easy being away, and certainly some of our soldiers will be in harm’s way, and we will do our very, very best to ensure that we bring them all home,’’ Roy said. “But the enemy does get a vote.’’
