Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
4:19 | He had an Iraq tour under his belt, but Colin Walsh wanted something different and he got reclassified into Civil Affairs. The medical and humanitarian aspect appealed to him. He managed to get into a unit that was slated for Afghanistan and began working to get a plum assignment there.
Keywords : Colin Walsh civil affairs medical humanitarian Michael Trost Afghanistan
He was only in middle school at the time, but the 9/11 attacks sparked an anger in Colin Walsh that never really went away. When he got to college, he was in Air Force ROTC but he felt like he wasn't contributing. The officer path wasn't for him. (Caution: strong language.)
When he got to Afghanistan, he knew the mission was going to be frustrating. Colin Walsh was in a Civil Affairs unit with erratic project funding and unreliable Afghan partners. It was a good team, though, and they decided to make the best of it.
Colin Walsh describes an incident in which an Afghan Police colonel sought justice when a drunk American threatened a relative. He was in the man's office surrounded by Afghan police and he was starting to fear for his safety, but then he spoke to the men like a diplomat. (Caution: strong language.)
He had just returned from leave when Colin Walsh was awakened by the supply sergeant who told him their team leader had been shot. They rushed to the hospital to see if he was going to make it. When they got there they heard him grousing as he came out of surgery and they knew he would be OK. (Caution: strong language.)
The pace declined during his last weeks in Afghanistan and Colin Walsh was grateful when the missions took him away from his new team leader, who just didn't measure up. When he returned home, he put his interest in the medical field to the test and entered nursing school.
The men of the 489th Civil affairs Battalion were having a good deployment in Afghanistan despite mistrust of their Afghan allies and intermittent funding for their projects. That all changed one day when they took an official from USAID with them to assess local schools. Out of nowhere, machine gun fire erupted and a scramble for life began. Michael Trost, Robert Rose and Colin Walsh combine to tell the story of this surprise attack. (Caution: strong language.)
