Air Force colonel assists Kabul girls' school

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Carolyn (Viss) Herrick
  • Public Affairs
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-Hickam, Hawaii --  Returning from Afghanistan for mid-tour leave April 14, Col. Bob Wicks was excited to share his experiences as the only Air Force O-6 to command one of six Regional Support Commands under the NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan.

Although the mission and the military accomplishments he's seen in the last eight months of his year-long deployment have been some of the best of his career, one thing that really excited the colonel was sharing his support of a Kabul girls' school there.

"It's a personal project we took on as individuals, not in an official military capacity," said the 13th Air Force director of space forces, deployed from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. He is now commander for RSC-Capital, Afghanistan.

The girls' schools in Afghanistan had pretty much all been shut down by the Taliban, but a few have recently been re-opened since the Taliban government was removed from power, Colonel Wicks said. They're poor, run-down, second-rate facilities, but the school they are helping has an enrollment of 3,500 young women.

"If you saw it, you'd be surprised. Its two buildings don't have windows. It's run down, and in the middle is a big rock yard that we put tents in for them," he explained. "We have given school supplies to every single one of those girls through care packages we've received."

He has personally e-mailed his family and friends who want to help in a tangible way, and they've sent flat-rate postage boxes packed with notebooks, pens, scissors, and other necessities to the school, which lacks even a septic system.

"It's amazing," Colonel Wicks said with a smile. "I got a call just yesterday (the day before I got here), saying I received 25 boxes in the mail, from someone I went to school with. His son wanted something to do for an Eagle Scout project, and they got it all together."

Several times per month, a team that's already outside the wire on a mission stops by the school to deliver the supplies. Diverting to the girls' school is one of the most rewarding parts of the mission, and they always make sure they bring a female military member with them to the school.

"Females in their culture don't associate at all with men because of the Taliban, so when the girls first saw us they stayed away," said Colonel Wicks. "We look like military -- we carry guns, have IBA (individual body armor) on."

Having a female with them enabled them to build the bridge they needed to get these supplies to the girls and talk with the principal, Ms. Mazifa Stanikzai.

"After a while, we would just set up a line and the girls would flock to us," Colonel Wicks said.

For more information, or a mailing address anyone can use to send supplies to the girls' school through Colonel Wicks' organization, check out the group "Support US troops fund an Afghan all-girls school" on Facebook.