Celebrate Iowa's 'Dirt Warriors'

Gazette Editorial Board

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One of the lasting impressions from the long U.S. military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan will be how citizens of those countries perceive and remember the Americans they encountered. Needless to say, it won't all be good. How could it, given that the stage was war, the mission became controversial and horrible stuff happens in combat - including unintended mistakes that cost civilian lives.

But certainly one of the more positive experiences for some Afghans and our soldiers was the Iowa National Guard's recently completed agribusiness development mission.

The special unit of 64 Iowa troops spent 10 months helping local, small-scale producers improve crop yields and the health of their livestock. Another goal just as important, if not more so, was to improve their trust in and perception of Americans.

Iowa's “Dirt Warriors” reportedly had a positive effect on all of those things. The Afghan people they worked with came to regard the Iowans as “honest, hardworking people who care about them and want to help them build a positive life for themselves,” Ankeny's Col. Craig Bargfrede, commander of the Guard's 734th Agribusiness Development Team, told a Gazette reporter.

Maj. Loren Adams, a New Liberty veterinarian, led the vaccination of 41,000 livestock animals, but said how the soldiers came to be perceived was even more important.

The hope is that the relationships nurtured will pay continuing dividends and a half-dozen demonstration farms and other projects established will improve the quality of life for many Afghan families for years to come.

Measuring the “success” of the Afghan war is difficult and won't be accurately defined until well after U.S. troops are gone. Nonetheless, the Dirt Warriors' efforts appear well received. Iowans on all sides of the war issue can take pride in that.

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