Afghanistan Wars Are Personal: The Story of My Little Brother in an Afghan Firefight

My brother, Sgt. Robert L. Proctor of "A" Battery, 138^th Infantry Kentucky National Guard out of Carrollton, Kentucky, was - according to him - supposed to be going to a hardened fort to guard it somewhere in southern Afghanistan. Between our mother freaking out and his wife being upset, it is understandable that, regardless of what he really knew about his mission, he would minimize any personal danger.

He shipped out with his unit in October, and I managed to be there to see him off through amazingly fortuitous timing. They went to Fort Dix, where they were trained in various specialties that were not shooting artillery - their true specialty - including military police. And then in January, they were all shipped to Afghanistan.

All I really heard after that, secondhand through occasional phone calls, was that he couldn't believe how poor the Afghanis were, and that all he really wanted anyone to send him was wrapped non-chocolate candy and pencils; they, he said, were gold to the kids there. Oh, and Big Red (soft drink) for himself.

I was surprised. Not that Rob's a greedy guy, but he likes his comfort. I anticipated requests for the next Socom or something like that. No, just stuff for the little kids, and maybe pictures of his own two kids.

It was really shocking when I talked to my mother and she told me that Rob and his unit had been in a firefight.

Sunday, May 20, Helmand Province, Afghanistan

We're not hearing anything about it in the news here in the US - our media is much too concerned with whether Paris is going to hate jail and the latest nasty comment from Rosie O'Donnell - but over there in Afghanistan, NATO has largely taken over operations, with a large US presence alongside international troops and a gradually-increasing population of Afghan troops.

Currently, NATO's running an initiative called Operation Achilles. The focus is to cut off the supply of drugs, which is the primary means of funding for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda today. This is primarily in Helmand District, one of the southernmost parts of Afghanistan, and involves all the troops stationed in that area. Helmand is important because it's a heavy opium producer - estimated at about 20% of the world's supply - and is considered to be a test area for Al Qaeda's attempts to drive NATO out of Afghanistan.

The troops there include my brother's Redlegs, doing duty now as straight infantry and military police. (Fortunately, several members of that unit have civilian training as peace officers, including my brother.) As they moved through the area, they came under attack by about fifty or more insurgents, who had gathered to take out the combined forces by foot and boat, using the river running through the region.

The fight didn't last long, and none of the coalition troops were killed - I don't think any were even injured. Rob said one humvee was shot up pretty bad, which implies the insurgent's primary fire was probably intended to immobilize the patrol first and then pick them off once they were trapped.

This was dumb, I think. The coalition group used things called RADIOS to call in airstrikes, taking out seven compounds and three suspected weapons caches. Twenty-five of the insurgents, according to the Associated Press, were killed; according to my brother, thirty-nine died. And Mullah Younus, a fairly important group leader in the area, also died.

It's funny how when you hear about your little brother (okay, he's 35 and 6'2" with two kids, but still . . . ) getting shot at, that all the other news out there doesn't seem so important. Don't get me wrong - I'm a war supporter, and Rob desperately wanted to be there, still does.

But after hearing about that, I just don't care about Rosie's big mouth (though I resent the implication that my brother and his pals kill civilians indiscriminately), or whether Lindsey Lohan is back on the wagon, or even how the suits against the pet food company seem to be going.

I only care about whether my brother is going to be okay in what appears to be growing into a regional hotspot. Or whether he and his friends are going to be attacked tomorrow. Or whether the little kids he's befriending today are going to be allies of the United States in twenty years, working with our children to make the entire world safer.

That's what it's all about. Rosie only lasts as long as the latest scandal. Our kids and their kids - that's the future and our heritage. And that is what we're fighting for: our kids' futures. The kids of the West and the East, all of them.