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Entries tagged with 'Jim Landers'


Farewell glimpses of glory in Afghanistan

Editor's note: Reporter Jim Landers is leaving Afghanistan after spending several weeks with U.S. forces there. BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan -- To reach this base from the U.S. outposts in eastern Afghanistan, the Army's helicopters have to chop through the...


Army trades blankets for biometrics

ZORMAT, Afghanistan -- Handing out food, blankets and clothing has been part of the American military mission in Afghanistan and Iraq since the beginning of those two wars. But charity now comes with a price. Soldiers of the 1-61 Cavalry...


Army radio connects with Afghans

COMBAT OUTPOST ZORMAT, Afghanistan -- In this badly undermanned post, one of the more successful battle strategies for isolating the Taliban has been what the U.S. Army calls RIAB -- Radio in a Box. Radio Zormat started as a 50-watt...


Rough weather confines troops in Afghanistan

COMBAT OUTPOST ZORMAT, Afghanistan -- There may be brilliant sunshine bathing the snowpeaks around this base, but if the weather's bad elsewhere in Afghanistan, U.S. troops here could well be confined to base. One of the limitations on the U.S....


Afghanistan blog takes a break as reporter goes on patrol

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan -- This blog is going dark for a week. I'm off in the morning for an extended patrol with Plano anthropologist Audrey Roberts and her Human Terrain Team. The teams, known as HTTs, are a...


Women with the Texas Guard in Afghanistan

FORWARD OPERATING BASE GHAZNI, Afghanistan - Along with 50 men, there are two women with the Texas National Guard's Agri-business Development Team. Sgt. Gabriela Flores of Houston handles the unit's payroll and other finances. Lt. Nicole Teasdale of Austin is...


Day in the life of the Texas National Guard Agri-business Development Team

GHAZNI, Afghanistan - The Texas National Guard Agri-business Development Team toured several sites in Ghazni Tuesday. It was a reminder of how hard it is to do anything in this country. The trip involved visits to a site for a...


Battling pests on Afghan farms

FORWARD OPERATING BASE GHAZNI, Afghanistan - Bugs and blights have a field day on Afghan farms. Apples, apricots and other pitted fruit trees are covered in fire blight. Wheat fields are choked with weeds and a disease called wheat rust....


New power sources for Afghan farmers

FORWARD OPERATING BASE GHAZNI, Afghanistan - Sgt. Anthony George of the Texas National Guard had one of those moments last week when you really feel you're making a difference. He was showing an Afghan contractor how a pair of oil...


Police still the weak link in Afghan security

FORWARD OPERATING BASE GHAZNI, Afghanistan - One year ago, I was here in Ghazni Province visiting a U.S. Army team training the Afghan police. Capt. Robert Bailey of Plano lead a team of eight trainers who were trying to help...


Polish commander stresses nation building

FORWARD OPERATING BASE GHAZNI, Afghanistan - NATO's top soldier in Ghazni Province is a swaggering colonel of the Polish Army who talks of keeping the talons sharp of his Task Force White Eagle. "The Taliban, they will not sleep well,"...


Texas Guardsman's greening plan for Afghanistan

FORWARD OPERATING BASE GHAZNI, Afghanistan - Afghanistan is a naked country. The mountains, the fields, the valleys - they all seem denuded of grasses or trees. What you see in all directions is dirt, sand and rock. So when...


Texas Guardsmen share homegrown skills with Afghan farmers

FORWARD OPERATING BASE GHAZNI, Afghanistan - Four inches of snow fell last night on the 50 volunteers of the Texas National Guard's Agri-business Development Team. The snow hides the potholes, ice slicks and mud where gravel was pounded into the...


The information war in Afghanistan

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan -- The artillery battery a couple hundred yards away fired 12 bunk-shaking rounds into a fight with the Taliban in the predawn Thursday. The insurgents had attacked a U.S. Army outpost near Sabari, several miles...


Afghanistan briefing with sound effects

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan -- Maj. Pat Seiber, a big, hulking Texas A&M graduate (class of 1994), is the public affairs officer for the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division. These soldiers trace their heritage to...


The danger and darkness at Camp Salerno near the Pakistani border

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan - When darkness takes hold of a high desert, the armada of stars reaches from one horizon of mountain silhouettes to the next. You cannot see the mud slicks and post holes that your boots...


Role of Red Cross seen again with ceremony for slain soldier

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan - A Fallen Comrade ceremony quieted Bagram today as the casket of a slain soldier was taken from the mortuary down the road to the air terminal for the flight back to the United States. The...


Central Texas College in Afghanistan

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan -- For the 35,000 American military personnel in this country, Central Texas College in Killeen is one of the most popular places in the Lone Star state, though they may never see it. Each year, about...


Veteran pilot shares the struggles of trying to navigate Afghan airfields

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan - Waiting days for a flight home or to the next assignment is part of the American soldier's experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. But it's more of a challenge here in the mountains and snow in...


National Guard units advise Afghan farmers

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan - Uncle Sam wants farmers. In Texas, Nebraska, Missouri and other farm belt states, the National Guard is seeking volunteers willing to spend a year in Afghanistan. An Agriculture Development Team of seven Cornhusker farmers and...

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