The interior of the Pir Mohammed School, now open, in Senjaray, a town just outside of Kandahar.
In the April 26, 2010 issue of TIME, I wrote a story about the heroic, frustrating efforts of a young U.S. Army captain named Jeremiah Ellis and his men to reopen a school in Kandahar Province that had been closed, mined and booby-trapped by the Taliban. Captain Ellis's unit — Dog Company of the 1/12 of the 4th Army Division — ended their deployment in the town of Senjaray on May 26, and turned over their Combat Outpost to elements of the 101st Airborne Division. This is Captain Ellis's final email to me, plus photos of the Pir Mohammed School. I plan to return to Senjaray in a few months to see how things have progressed, if at all.
I began writing this email five days ago, but a hectic schedule and intense fighting has kept me from responding. Since we last talked two weeks ago the enemy has been attacking the school on a daily basis. Their tactics are now carried out regardless of civilians, as they fire both from and into civilian structures. Fortunately for my Soldiers, the enemy is a horrible shot and we have suffered only one casualty. Not so fortunate are the people of Senjaray, because the Taliban RPGs must fall somewhere when they miss their targets.
U.S. Soldiers clean up the Pir Mohammed School
Despite near-constant enemy activity, the men of Dog Company continued on with our mission until the very last minute of our time in theatre. We conducted a Relief in Place with the men of Alpha Company, 1-502IN and I transferred authority of my battle space at 1300 on 26 May 2010. Before the hand over was complete, and with the assistance of people like, Canadian Warrant Officer Pimeaux, we still managed to complete reconstruction and refurbishment one of three school buildings and improved the traffic ability of the route to the school.
As you know, through great effort and coordination, I had arranged for a grand opening/tour of the school facilities for the express purpose of convincing the government in Kandahar that they should no longer delay the funding for the completion of the school. The meeting was scheduled for 25 May, these photos were taken on the 24th of May. With the help of Tamika Cameron, I was able to arrange for the following government officials to attend the ceremony.
Provincial Governor Wesa
RC-South Senior Civilian, Ruggiero
Canadian Ambassador Crosbie
Kandahar PRT Director Rosewell
Kandahar PRT Deputy Director Harris
LA Times Reporter
The day prior to the ceremony I received an email from my Battalion Commander stating, "We are going to pull the plug on the Pir Mohammad School opening — situation is to tenuous to conduct right now. The I/O victory will not be worth the risk."
Of course, I found this to be extremely disappointing. My men and I had worked so hard to ready the school for the ceremony, but nonetheless, we were able to leave with a sense of accomplishment. Some people will continue to question wither we should have attempted to reopen this school or if we should have pursued another course of action. Those people will always have the luxury of second guessing these decision from another place and time.
Exterior of the Pir Mohammed School
As a Soldier and a Commissioned Officer, I am charged with fighting and winning, when and where my nation requires me to. I know, that in this place and time the Pir Mohammad School is the nexus of everything that is in Senjaray, and for that matter, the center of all that is happening in Afghanistan. We must be successful in endeavors like this, because the people of Afghanistan must be able to envision a future that does not include the Taliban and a time where they can govern themselves and provide their children a better opportunity. I know this all sounds very cliche, but after 13 months in this region I believe it completely, I have seen how much is at stake here. It is worth the struggle.