Afghanistan Elections meet Captain America

The long anticipated Afghanistan presidential election came and went without incident. By all accounts it was a smashing success. It was a historic event – the first truly democratic election to determine a new president since the war began. President Karzai could not be re-elected. While we prepared for the worst, the actual day of the election was very peaceful. There was a record turnout to vote. It may take a few weeks to tally the votes and a runoff is expected. But, by and large, the people of Afghanistan made a statement for their country’s future. What was more significant is that the Afghan security forces were in the lead for protecting the polling stations. In times past we would have expected that to be a recipe for disaster. But the Taliban were practically nowhere to be seen. This meant the election was not only a resounding success, but it was also a boost of confidence to the stability of the country. There was a lot of work that went into making the election a success. The U.S. Forces, Coalition, and Civilians associated with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) could all take great pride in making this history come true for the people of Afghanistan. While the election process is far from complete, the election was a great first step and clearly demonstrated to all that the past decade has not been in vain. We continue to pray for peace and prosperity in the coming months and years. We were here to not only witness history, but also to make it happen.

As the election day was winding down, many of us here on Bagram gathered for a rewarding evening. The good folks at Marvel had received a letter from some Soldiers who had written to remind them there was still a war going on here. Essentially, the Soldiers were asking for a copy of the new Captain America movie. The folks from Marvel were more than happy to oblige. They provided a copy of the movie to Army Air Force Exchange Services (AAFES), who hustled the movie to Bagram for a showing. The Bagram AAFES folks contacted me and arranged to use our large “clamshell” facility to air the movie. We laid on food, music, and prizes to accompany the event and sent out a notice to everyone with the time and location of the showing. There must have been almost 500 people who showed up, including representation from all the Armed Services, Coalition Forces, and civilians on Bagram. The AAFES folks asked me to share a few words before the movie began. I thanked them all for their service, held a moment of silence for our comrades in Fort Hood, praised everyone for playing their part in making the Afghan election a success, and then got off the stage so the movie could roll. It was a great show. Everyone enjoyed the evening and I believe it was one of the best MWR events I’ve been a part of in all of my various deployments. The Afghanistan elections had met Captain America and both turned out to be winners. I wish every day in Afghanistan could be like this one was.