Episode 05 - Hearts and Minds
A soldier tries to bring help and health care to a remote village in Afghanistan, but the Taliban make it hard to know who is friend or foe.
Afghanistan is more than combat. If the Canadian-supported government is to beat the Taliban, the local population has to be on side. Enter Sergeant Nichola Bascon, a CIMIC (Civil-Military Cooperation) operator at the forefront.
Nichola is based at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Martello, the sole NATO presence in the remote and Taliban-infested Shah Wali Kot District of northern Kandahar in 2006. And the Sergeant’s task of winning hearts and minds in the local village of Elbak is not an easy one. For one thing, it is hard to know who is friend and who wants to kill you.
The FOB is commanded by Maj Geoff Abthorpe, and he and his men have to disrupt the Taliban and provide security even as Nichola tries to help the locals. The work is conflicted and deeply frustrating. Supplies cannot be delivered due to IEDs, nor, like the sparkplugs needed to repair Elbak’s water pumps, can they be found locally. American Special Forces, operating independently, detain an Elbak man, further straining relations with the community.
Nichola does manage to organize a highly successful Village Medical Outreach (VMO) and treat people who rarely see a doctor. But in late December Sgt Bascon and her comrades are abruptly moved from Martello south to the Panjwaii District. Sgt Bascon is upset. The FOB is abandoned -- and the area later reverts to Taliban control.
