Assistant AD tells his story of Afghanistan so far

UM’s assistant athletic director of fiscal operations has a lot of plans to make.

But his planning sessions these days have nothing to do with scholarship distribution or budgetary concerns. Instead, Maj. Ed Wingard must make decisions about how to rebuild the nation of Afghanistan.

Wingard, who has served in Afghanistan with the Army National Guard since February 2005, gave a short presentation to UM staff and administrators Dec. 4, during a 15-day leave to the States.

Wingard came to UM after working at Portland State University and was here little more than a year before shipping out.

He is part of Task Force Phoenix, an inter-service group that focuses on rebuilding and promoting education systems in the war-torn country.

“Girls can go to school now,” Wingard said. “Boys can learn on computers.”

In a country where the Taliban ruled with harsh oppression and where the average lifespan is still only 43 years, Wingard said international forces there are making a real and important difference.

“It’s the right fight,” he said. “You don’t often get to go around the world and make an impact like that.”

But in a country that endured Soviet occupation before the Taliban regime, challenges are everywhere, from landmine-littered roads to the booming opium industry and accompanying corruption.

In fact, it is the corruption and opium production that proves to be one of the most difficult things for the Task Force.
“Why opium?” he asks. “Other crops require hope.

“It would take five years to get another crop growing, opium grows in one,” he said.

Photographs Wingard took in Afghanistan showed a mountainous, often-desolate country with a vibrant and colorful culture.

He included photos of his home away from home, half of a steel shipping container measuring 7 x 8 feet in Camp Phoenix in Kabul.

Wingard’s stay in Missoula ended the day before the Griz met the University of Massachusetts in a semifinal football game, so he said he would be doing what any true Griz fan might do: praying his flight will be delayed.

“I’ll be doing a fog dance,” he said.