Commentary: A deployment can teach you many things – especially flexibility

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Evyn Helber
  • 71st Medical Support Squadron commander
VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  As I approach the one-year anniversary of my return from deployment, I catch myself reflecting on the trials and tribulations of my 201 days in Kabul, Afghanistan.

All deployments are not created equal, even within the same area of responsibility. Some have more austere conditions, some missions have higher threat levels and some have responsibilities very different than your "normal" job and what you've been trained to do.

While for many of these reasons, I found my Kabul experience extremely challenging, one of our core tenets always presented itself as the answer -- flexibility.

It is flexibility that enables progression and although flexibility is the key to Air Power, it can also be the key to success no matter what role one fills, whether by land, sea, air or in the deployed environment.

In early 2009, I volunteered for a deployment opportunity scheduled about six months out. As the target date approached, I was notified that the requirement had changed. Over the course of a year, my tasking changed three times.

Like any good military member, we tend to like punctuality and prefer to at least know "when and where." Constant changes, not to mention the training that needs to be re-accomplished for exceeding the deployment window, can be extremely stressful for the member and their families.

Therefore, it's vital to remind ourselves often of the importance of flexibility and understand the greater cause.

When my deployment day finally arrived, the journey to my new duty location required a great degree of flexibility. When trying to embark, the Iceland volcano "Eyjafjallajokul" eruption was causing delays and re-routing of air travel.

Many military travelers know what it's like to show up at an Air Mobility Command terminal with way too many bags, just to be turned away and told to come back tomorrow.

Once airborne, the re-routing required stopping at six locations in five countries, with anywhere from one hour to three days of layover. Almost a week later, I arrived at the nearest airport just to crawl into an up-armored vehicle for a convoy "outside the wire" to my final destination.

As part of the Combined Security Transition Command, it was our job to build-up, train and equip the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police -- an amazing yet difficult experience.

Unless you're a foreign area officer, attaché or some specialized subset, you have not had the opportunity to conduct meetings, training and everyday correspondence via an interpreter. This is a difficult task. It is also difficult for the Afghan mentees, especially the colonels and generals, who get a new mentor every six to 12 months. Relationships and information must be re-established again and again and again.

AfPak Hands, a new "all-in" language and cultural immersion program designed to build trust with the military and local populations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan will hopefully help relieve some of those challenges.

On the other hand, we have learned that other factors such as literacy rates, tribal and clan differences and societal and historical perspectives play vital roles in our ability to accomplish our mission.

The challenges of modernizing hospitals, clinics and training can be difficult. Even with nice equipment, we learned that "unclean" electricity can kill highly sensitive hardware, rendering it useless.

We have the very best intentions to provide state of the art medicine capabilities with excellent equipment, facilities and highly trained doctors. However, we were faced with transforming what is literally 1940s "little black bag" medicine into the technology driven entity of the western world. Think about the pipeline time it takes to develop a doctor in the U.S.

We have been charged to create a self-sustainable force that can secure their borders and promote peace and stability, so we can bring everyone home. With that in mind, we helped build strategic plans and sustainable programs while building their leadership and confidence.

The task has been, and will continue to be, challenging. But it will progress and evolve because of great amounts of perseverance and flexibility.

When my deployment to Afghanistan came to a close, I reflected on the transformation during my short time there. I made many good decisions and would like to think I made some good improvements as well. It is always important that you learn from the experience.

With the holidays upon us, think about the folks still in harm's way. And especially remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.