An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Panjshir reconstruction team bids farewell to fallen comrades

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jason Lake
  • 455th Air Expeditionary Wing
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan --  The dining facility at Forward Operating Base Lion where Airmen and Soldiers typically exchanged stories and laughter was instead filled with reminiscing and tears as the Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team honored four of its fallen comrades May 31.

On May 26, Air Force Lt. Col. Mark Stratton, the team's commander, along with Army Master Sgt. Blue Rowe, Air Force Senior Airman Ashton Goodman and Abdul Samad were killed when a suicide car bomber detonated alongside their convoy vehicle in Kapisa Province north of Bagram Air Field.

More than 75 teammates and local Afghan leaders, including Panjshir's Governor Haji Bahlol, gathered at the small forward operating base to share stories and remember the sacrifice of their friends who worked to improve life for Afghans in their neighboring communities.

"The Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team is a small, close team," said Tom Kelsey, the PRT's director and U.S. Department of State representative, of the unit located in the Hindu Kush mountain range roughly 40 miles north of Bagram. "We all knew these heroes in different ways."

Colonel Stratton, who received his commission in 1992 through the Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Texas A&M University, volunteered to deploy for the PRT mission from a plans and programs position on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon.

"He believed in his mission of helping the Afghan people," explained Mr. Kelsey who spoke on his behalf. "He often told me and others that this was the best, most rewarding job of his Air Force career."

Mr. Kelsey recounted how the Foley, Ala.-native, strongly believed that the team's centerpiece project to construct a $28 million, 40-mile road through Panjshir to the neighboring northern province of Badakhshan would dramatically improve life for the Afghans.

"He loved talking to the people of Panjshir about the PRT's mission so much that I sometimes worried our interpreters would collapse from exhaustion," Mr. Kelsey said lightheartedly. "[He firmly believed] 'Where the road goes, development will follow'... especially on the 'Road to Badakhshan.'"

While Colonel Stratton guided the team's strategic mission, Army Master Sgt. Blue Rowe focused on the human relations aspect of bonding Soldiers and Airmen together for an atypical mission. Before arriving at FOB Lion, Sergeant Rowe served temporarily as the unit's first sergeant during three months of integration training at Fort Bragg, N.C.

"We were short a first sergeant and he stepped up and started to integrate the team [of Airmen and Soldiers]," explained Army Lt. Col. Steve Lancaster, who previously served as the team's civil military operations center chief before becoming the new commander. "He did everything possible to develop his subordinates to be everything they were capable of. After we arrived here, he turned in his diamond and assumed a support position without question or complaint. He was a consummate non-commissioned officer."

The colonel said the Army Reservist and civil affairs NCO deployed from the 426th Civil Affairs Battalion in Upland, Calif., became infamous just days before his death for his ability to devour a cherry pie in six minutes during a pie-eating contest. The Whittier, Calif.-native was also well known for his devotion to physical fitness and conditioning the team for the rigors of working in the mountains.

"He was loved and respected by everyone who knew him; he was funny and a likeable person," Colonel Lancaster recalled of the 15-year veteran. "When one of his young sergeants was doing pushups to the point of exhaustion, Blue told him 'I'm only making you do this because I love you and you need the training.' No one doubted him."

No one doubted Ashton Goodman's passion either. Just a few days after gathering all the senior airman's belongings to send home to her family, Capt. Stacie Shafran, the team's public affairs officer, reflected on the 21-year-old's can-do spirit.

"She had such a sense of urgency to do it all right now that's common in people of her young age," the captain said of the team's vehicle operator deployed from the 43rd Logistics Readiness Squadron at Pope Air Force Base, N.C. "On May 18, she led a tremendous undertaking to deliver much-needed food and supplies to more than 100 poor women in Shutol district. I'll never forget how proud she was. As she drove us up the narrow, steep, winding road to the village, she beamed with excitement over the chance to personally help these women."

Senior Airman Carl Savoy, also deployed from the 43rd LRS, said he shared a special bond with the Indianapolis-native after the two completed a deployment in 2007 as vehicle operators delivering supplies on dangerous roads throughout Iraq.

"Master Sgt. Limweshe Wright (the PRT's chief of vehicle maintenance) labeled the maintenance section like a family," Airman Savoy explained. "'Where's your sister?' as he would commonly refer to her ... and though at first I didn't like that label, Ashton was really like a sister to me. We could bug each other about anything. My 'little sister' was just shy of her 22nd birthday. Even before this attack, I knew I could never forget Ashton Goodman."

Looking back at their time spent with the team's Afghan legal advisor, Airmen and Soldiers alike remembered Abdul Samad as a man who fought bravely to defend his homeland simply using the power of words. The team said he believed in the spirit of a free Afghanistan and gave his life defending that dream. Mr. Kelsey also commented on his quest to personally contact President Barack Obama.

"Samad was always cheerful and full of good ideas about how to enhance our mission in Afghanistan," Mr. Kelsey said of the former Panjshir judge. "In fact, I understand he even tried to start an e-mail dialogue with President Obama in order to share his ideas. While I don't think the president ever found time in his schedule to write back, he probably would have benefited from Samad's insights as an unofficial presidential advisor."

Mr. Kelsey said all four members contributed in their own way to the rest of the team working together to build schools, medical clinics, roads and other projects to bring peace, security and stability to the people of Panjshir and the rest of Afghanistan.

"Our task now is to honor Mark Stratton, Blue Rowe, Ashton Goodman and Abdul Samad by continuing the work they gave their lives for," he said before the emotional crowd. "They would want us to and we owe them that. The greatest and most enduring memorial to our heroes is the work they have left behind for the benefit of the people in this valley. We will finish the work that our fallen heroes came here to do because there is no higher honor we can bestow upon them."