The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

For Skamokawa's Darren Droullard, the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center were a call to action.

He was 35 years old, with a wife and teenage daughter.

"I felt I should go," he said. "It just seemed like I should serve."

Droullard tried to enlist in the regular US Army, but recruiters told him that he was too old. He tried the Washington National Guard; their age limit was 36 years; he enlisted with three months to spare.

That started a career that has taken him on journeys he never expected.

Serving with the 81st Washington National Guard Brigade, he served in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005. His unit was a support unit stationed in Kuwait; they made occasional trips into Iraq.

His unit returned to Washington, and when National Guard units were activated to go to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, he volunteered for that duty.

With an interest in law enforcement, he had moved into the MPs, the military police.

"We spent 44 days providing law enforcement on the city's Seventh Ward," he said.

After returning to Washington, he entered Officer Candidate School and became a lieutenant. He completed that training too late to head to Afghanistan with the 81st, so he joined the 48th Brigade of the Georgia National Guard, and with that unit, he headed to Afghanistan.

"It fit in with what I wanted to do," he said. "We were a police mentoring team, charged with teaching Afghan National Police (ANP) how to do their jobs."

As an officer, he was in charge of 1200 Afghan policemen and their 150 officers. He also dealt with the political leaders in their districts, which included Kabul and the district of Khaki Jabbar.

As police, they saw much fighting as insurgents attacked them and they sought out insurgents.

The unit also did volunteer work and worked in the Afghan communities to build infrastructure.

Droullard noticed improvements in the soldiers' equipment between his tour in Iraq and in Afghanistan.

In the early tour, vehicles were lightly armored. Troop carriers had plastic doors which made soldiers easy to attack.

In Afghanistan, everything was armored, he said.

The soldiers' body armor had changed, too; it was a bit lighter, and for most body shapes, it fitted the soldiers better. Nevertheless, a soldier's outfit weighs about 90 pounds, and many soldiers return from duty with back trouble including herniated discs.

Afghanistan's culture, tribal populations and lack of economic development make it a difficult place to work, Droullard said.

Road are poor; the soldiers often drove their vehicles on dry river beds or followed paths across the hills to reach towns. In many places, there were no sewers, and human body waste covered the ground.

They knew that the Afghans think differently than the NATO troops, and they saw this cultural difference play out in many ways.

"There's so much corruption among the Afghan police officers," he said. In many cases, they were found using their authority to extort fees from the citizens they were supposed to protect.

People who were arrested for crimes very seldom came to trial. Their relatives would go to the jail, negotiate a fee with the guards, and the prisoner would be freed.

"It's hard to see how there's any profit or benefit in what the NATO troops do," he said.

Because of conflicts between troops and civilians, NATO commanders changed rules of engagement that determined how soldiers could approach Afghans.

For example, Afghans complained the American's dark sunglasses were frightening and threatening, so they were banned. Soldiers were prohibited from firing warning shots at vehicles speeding toward them. That led to soldiers shooting a mullah who came speeding around a corner toward a group of soldiers. The mullah's son was in the car and witnessed his father's death. Some 400 civilians staged a rally to protest, and it was Droullard's responsibility to calm the situation.

"Warning shots into the hood of the car probably would have prevented the situation," he said. "Instead, we had 400 people wanting to kill us, burning tires and demonstrating. So I had to go out with the political chief and try to talk to them and calm them down.

"Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't."

Droullard's unit was involved in an incident on September 12, 2009, in which an Afghan policeman started shooting at his American colleagues.

The unit had traveled to the Khaki Jabbar district, he said, and set up guarded perimeters around a safe area. Droullard was at the gate of the safe area when he heard shots; he thought he saw an Afghan policeman shooting at a dog; then he realized he was shooting at a guardsman. He drew his pistol and fired at the Afghan from a distance of 42 yards.

Droullard hit the Afghan in the right hand; the man dropped and recovered his automatic weapon, jumped behind a waist high wall around a building and kept firing, using his left hand. Soldiers returned fire, and eventually the man was wounded and taken into custody.

Medical helicopter crews arrived to evacuate the wounded. One of Droullard's men had taken rounds in the upper leg. The shooter had been hit several times but survived. As he was evacuated by a French helicopter medical crew, he said he was born and trained to kill Americans.

Later the man changed his story, Droullard said. The man claimed one of the guardsman had done something that violated the Afghan observance of Ramadan, a holy month of daytime fasting and abstinence.

Droullard said the claim was bogus.

"Prior to deploying, I had briefed the men about Ramadan observance," he said. "They were not to eat or drink outside or in front of Afghans. They were not to urinate toward a mosque or defecate anywhere around one. They were not to smoke outside.

"Our men didn't do anything."

Still the Afghan stuck to his claim. When he recovered from his wounds, he left the hospital, three weeks before the 48th returned home, and rejoined his ANP unit, something which galls and worries Droullard to this day.

"He's still there, waiting to shoot Americans," Droullard said.

Droullard attempted to warn the unit which replaced the 48th, but logistics prevented a face-to-face meeting with the new troops. He hopes they get the message.

The incident could have ended worse. The badly wounded American, a Sgt. Krieger, recovered enough to greet the unit when it flew into Georgia.

As an officer, Droullard was able to write recommendations for commendations for some of his troops; he was disappointed that he couldn't recommend that all receive awards.

Although he didn't recommend an award for himself, his superiors awarded him a Bronze Star "for meritorious service" in the incident.

Lt. Darren Droullard of Skamokawa stands in his combat gear while on duty last year in Afghanistan with the Georgia 48th National Guard Brigade.Photos Courtesy of Lt. Darren Droullard

Droullard is remaining in the National Guard; he has rejoined the Washington 81st and trains with them in Longview.

He plans to complete a 20-year hitch in the Guard. He is now studying for promotion to the rank of captain. Meanwhile, he's working on his house in Middle Valley and volunteering as a reserve deputy in the Wahkiakum County Sheriff's Department.

He often practices shooting in the Skamokawa area. He knows that bothers some people, but without that practice, he says he probably wouldn't have been able to hit that Afghan shooter at 42 yards with a pistol shot.

Droullard sees mixed support for troops. He is frustrated when troops are headed out and the road to the airport is lined with protesters.

On the other hand, when they return, there are people meeting and greeting them at the planes, and he's proud to be with the people getting off the plane.

"We serve because we're called to serve," he said.