Sgt. 1st Class Buddy Croy stands about 1,800 feet above Kabul, Afghanistan
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Centralia Police Officer Buddy Croy each summer trains ROTC cadets at Fort Lewis as a member of the U.S. Army Reserve.
The 40-year-old is back on patrol duty in Centralia after a year-long mission in Kabul, where his instructor skills found him mentoring young men who will become leaders of the Afghan military.
Centralia Police Department Officer Buddy Croy
“These guys are the future, the future officers of the Afghan Army,” Croy said as he browsed on Wednesday through photographs taken during his deployment.
The husband and father of three was mobilized in May of last year and joined three other U.S. Army Reserve instructors, first at Fort Riley in Kansas and then at the National Military Academy of Afghanistan.
The four-year school opened in Kabul just five years ago, but this year saw some 3,000 applicants, with only 600 being chosen to enroll, according to Croy.
The Centralia resident, as part of NTM-A (NATO Training Mission Afghanistan), worked the first few months with non-commissioned officers, teaching such skills as firing range qualifications. But his final six months were what he was most enthusiastic about sharing.
Sgt. 1st Class Croy trained with 10 cadets, chosen to represent the country at an annual military skills competition held at West Point, the United States military academy in New York in April. He called them “normal kids” who liked to laugh and joke, who came from a variety of regions in the war-torn country.
“They’re very competitive guys, like, you know, they’re young,” Croy said.
His men, ranging in age from about 19 to 23, did great, although they didn’t place high among the some 40 teams competing, Croy said.
He pointed to the language barrier as probably the primary reason they didn’t finish higher. U.S. soldiers get a “crash-course” in Dari and work with interpreters, but the cadets don’t all necessarily even speak the same language or dialect, Croy said.
His group did really well in shooting and weapon handling, getting no penalties, Croy said. And the rope bridge, they just “flew across”, the Centralia resident said.
“There were several things they did much better than the other teams,” Croy said. “There were comments like ‘wow, look how fast they did that’.”
Croy described one task in which participants faced two huge tires in the back of Humvees and were instructed to move them a distance, without the tires touching the ground. Retrieving the key to the vehicles required lighting a fire to burn a string.
His team, using materials available for the exercise, stuck two long four by fours through the tires and carried them over the finish line. “Their ingenuity kicked in,” he said.
The goal is to get them trained into more of a Western-style Army, according to Croy.
“They’re coming along, it’s gonna take a couple of generations,” he said, noting the country’s educational system is just now getting put back together.
Croy joined the military at age 20, put in three years of active duty and now has 16 years in the Army Reserve.
“I would tell them, ‘look, our Army’s only been around 200 years’,” Croy said. “Hopefully, theirs can change a little faster, ’cause they can learn from our mistakes.”
The two-week trip from Afghanistan to the United States included a day in New York City and another in Washington D.C., where Croy and his co-workers got to share their culture, as Croy had been absorbing the young mens’ in Kabul.
The 10 Afghan military cadets who trained with Officer Buddy Croy visit Washington D.C.
Very hospitable, he said.
“The people I met, they’re very family oriented,” he said. “They always wanted to give you food or tea,” he said.
They are not so different, he said. “They want peace for themselves, peace for their families,” he said.
Twice, on Friday’s the locals’ holy day, Croy and other members of the U.S. military hiked up a nearby peak, almost 1,800 feet above the city. They carried golf clubs and balls to the top and got a thrill out of using them.
“It was like a release, we were in a combat zone,” he said.
Croy said he didn’t encounter close calls, except for one blast he measured by GPS at 450 yards from their camp. And he recounted a suicide bomber and the death of 21-year-old soldier he didn’t know as among the awful incidents that occurred while he was there.
Croy arrived back home in mid-May and was back on patrol duty on June 1.
The five-year veteran of the Centralia Police Department earlier this week, returned to the city its flag, which he took with him to Kabul.
Croy flew the flag on Sept. 11, 2009, over his temporary workplace, the National Military Academy of Afghanistan, he told those gathered for the city council meeting on Tuesday evening. He presented it back to Police Chief Bob Berg and Mayor Harlan Thompson.
He was thanked for the flag, for his service and accepted the applause of some 50 individuals gathered at City Hall.
Then he told the group Chief Berg had sent with Croy a coin, and instructions to give it back when he returned.
“I carried it in my wallet,” Croy said, as he handed the piece back to Berg. “It’s back to the chief now, so it’s probably good luck.”
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter