Interview with S/SGT Dan Purdy from Jamestown, NY

Vincent J. Curtis

Dateline: FOB Sharana, Paktika province, Afghanistan

Date: Dec 2, 2010

Note:  FOB Sharana is the location of Brigade Headquarters of Task Force Currahee.  TF Currahee is based on 4^th Brigade Combat Team, 101^st Airborne Division.  TF Currahee deployed to Afghanistan in August and September, 2010, and was among the last of the “surge” brigades ordered to Afghanistan under the strategy agreed to between President Obama and General Petraeus.

Vincent J. Curtis is a free-lance journalist who was embedded with Task Force Currahee Nov-Dec 2010.

S/SGT Dan Purdy is a native of Jamestown, NY.  S/SGT Purdy did a quick interview.

“Sir, I work in the tactical operations center for our brigade.  I’m what is called a battle NCO.  I monitor the situation on the ground.  I help the soldiers when they are in the fight, and when they are not in the fight make sure that they have all the proper equipment.  I get soldiers who are injured off the battlefield, whether it’s combat related or not combat related.  I give them the assets they request to win that fight or make their lives a little bit better.”

“I entered the military service in 1994, sixteen years of active duty service with the army.  I’ve been deployed six times:, this is my third time in Afghanistan, twice to Iraq, and once to Kosovo.  I spent four years in Germany prior to coming to Fort Campbell and deploying all the time.”

“I’m grateful that I provide a quality service to our country, and I’m just proud to be a western New Yorker that’s serving our great country.”

“I’ve spent eleven years in the 101^st.  Before that I spent four years at a training center replicating the bad guys, the enemy.”

In response to the question, “what do you think of the Afghan mission, S/Sgt Purdy said, “Honestly?” 

“This is your third time here, what do you think of the mission now?”

“This mission now?  It’s kind of sensitive.  We’re trying to provide a quality, stable government, a good quality of life that these Afghan people have not previously had.  It’s rough; there’s a lot of fighting; some people don’t want us here; some people do; hopefully there is more good than there is bad.  The mission that we have here is to provide a stable government and to give the Afghan people what they have not had.   Instead of tyranny they may have democracy.”

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