Ask A Woodbury Soldier

Have you ever wondered what life is like for American soldiers deployed overseas? Now's your chance to find out.

Greg Schlichting, a , is currently in training at Fort Polk in Louisiana and will soon with the U.S. Navy.

He will provide Patch readers an inside look at what he's up to in Afghanistan. If you have a question for Schlichting, email kris.janisch@patch.com or leave it as a comment below this story.

Have you ever been in battle or killed anyone?

No, I have not been in a direct fire fight, or had to kill anyone. 

There certainly are many combat advisers that do go on patrol with Afghan security forces and engage in direct combat, sometimes with violent results. 

These adviser teams and partner units are led by younger field-grade officers (often majors or captains). My role was instead to advise the senior planners and commanders on the conduct of these operations, and therefore my battle exposure was limited to campaign planning and battlefield circulations.

Battlefield circulations are a method used by military commanders to assess and manage the effectiveness of field units.

As the Deputy Commander, I used this method to assess the conditions and progress of units engaged in operations to ensure that they had the needed resources and were as effective as possible in executing their missions. 

One such circulation was to the Alah Say Valley of eastern Afghanistan (see photo). 

Our Afghan forces, with their U.S. Marine Corps advisers and French Army support, had completed the first phase of a clearing operation in this critical valley. 

The forces had completed the operation the prior day and were busy setting up an outpost to bring a permanent government presence to this remote area. 

By bringing Afghan commanders to observe this operation, we hoped that they would better be able to lead similar operations in the future. Despite an abundance of insurgents in the area in the days prior, the area was substantially secured before our arrival, and as a result, there was limited risk.

Although the exact nature of this new deployment is not yet fully defined, I anticipate a similar role with its limited exposure to battle or direct fire fights. 

Inshallah.