Brown and Howard: Shoulder to Shoulder - From Hawaii to Afghanistan

Published Nov. 16, 2010
By MC3 Jared E. Walker
438th AEW PA

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Seven thousand, five hundred and eight miles, that's the distance from Honolulu, Hawaii to Kabul, Afghanistan. Honolulu is also the location where Lt. Col. John Howard, Officer-in-Charge of the Thunder Lab, first met Lt. Col. Michael W. Brown, British Army.

At the time Howard was a Major and the aide to the Commander, United States Pacific Command, Adm. William Joseph Fallon. Brown was a Major and the personal staff officer to New Zealand Chief of Defence Force, Air Marshal Sir Bruce Reid Ferguson. Five years later Lt. Col. Howard is now the in charge of the Thunder Lab, Afghan Air Force English Immersion Lab located at Kabul International Airport, Afghanistan while Lt. Col. Brown is the Chief of Staff of the Combined Joint Movement Control Centre, Headquarters at ISAF Joint Command at KAIA, Afghanistan.

"We first meet at the luau at Adm. Fallon's house. Attending the luau were all the Pacific Chiefs of Defense from all over the Pacific. The Four stars from countries such Australia, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea were in attendance" said Lt. Col. Howard.

Meetings and get togethers where the Defense ministers get together and talk strategy are where the aides can build and expand upon their personal and professional relationships. These relationships help towards working out the logistics details which can make the working environment so much easier.

"If John's boss need to talk to my boss then all John had to do was call me. All it took was one phone call. There was no need to explain who you are. I would get the time that the conversation could take place and pass that back and then they would then telephone each other," said Lt. Col. Brown.

The job of the aide is to take care of the little things so their bosses could focus on the big picture. An example for Lt. Col. Howard and Lt. Col. Brown was when Adm. Fallon visited New Zealand.

"When Adm. Fallon came to New Zealand, we worked out the program for the events and activities. We had to be mindful of many things. Questions like what did my boss and his boss want to do? What did Mrs. Fallon and Mrs. Ferguson want to do? We were behind the scenes organizing everything so our bosses didn't have to worry about anything," said Brown.

Later both men would leave their jobs as aides and continue into their career path. They would both meet up in Afghanistan.

"One morning I was thinking to myself it's been a long time since I've seen John Howard" said Brown. "It would be really freaky if he turned up here in Afghanistan. Literally two hours later, I was walking down a corridor in IJC and I ran into him."
At this point Brown and Howard hadn't seen each other for five years. Once they were reunited both men discussed where they had been since they had last seen each other.

Now that both men are located at Kabul International Airport they got to talking about their missions. Howard brought up the idea that their needed to be some British representation at the Thunder Lab due to the fact that some of the Afghan Lieutenants go to United Kingdom for further study.

"Michael is a great officer and I knew from his aide days that he could work as a team player, communicate well along with his professionalism and officer ships which are key tenants to being an instructor at the Thunder Lab. So I asked him if he would come live at the Thunder Lab and teach when the time permits. He could easily had said no but he took on the challenge and came on over and joined us. I'm very lucky that he joined the team," said Howard.

Brown is not the only British officer working at the Thunder Lab. Also working at there are Royal Air Force Flying Officers Lieutenants Matthew Smyth and Lee Southward.
"John was trying to get British officers to work at the Thunder Lab, so when some British [senior] officers came by to visit I stopped by to explain my part. Soon after the UK deployed two British officers who will be here for two months and more British officers are soon to follow. Right now the officers are writing a report saying that is a great program and how we need to support this," said Brown.

Brown emphasized just how important this mission is to him. Brown said that being here in Afghanistan some people never come from behind the wire, but by working at the Thunder Lab he gets to interact with the Afghans, help them learn English and do something on a personal level that makes a difference in Afghanistan. He has enjoyed his time even more since he came to the Thunder Lab.

Howard said that the thing with this job is the road is difficult but the future is looking bright for Afghanistan with the hard work of these Afghan Lieutenants and their enthusiasm which he says is contagious.

"No one likes being away thousands of miles away from their family and loved ones but we have a duty to do. This has to be the best deployment because of its so rewarding and I am here with my friend Michael Brown. I have flown combat missions over Iraq and Afghanistan, we have both been aides and been all around the world, but this has the most impact that I have seen and also the most rewarding," said Howard.

John Howard and Michael Brown have been working shoulder to shoulder for the last five years. They have developed a bond as aides to important men, were stationed in Iraq and now work together helping to mold the Afghan Air Force's officer corps and the future of Afghanistan itself. The work of these gentlemen will be felt for years to come.