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Oklahoma Soldiers Deliver Books, Equipment to Gardez University, Afghanistan

By U.S. Army Pfc. Christopher McKenna

PAKTIYA PROVINCE, Afghanistan - Soldiers with the Oklahoma Agriculture Development Team delivered a final shipment of textbooks and teaching aids to Gardez University, Paktiya province, Afghanistan.

The project, initially started by the Tennessee ADT, equips Gardez University with about 1,700 textbooks and other agricultural education resources.

This project will help the university shape its future curriculum and will provide the students access to the most up-to-date agricultural practices, said U.S. Army Col. Amos Chase, Oklahoma ADT commander.

In addition to the book delivery, the ADT conducted an assessment of the University's power supply, computer lab, and satellite system.

The current satellite system has the capability to run only two computers on the Internet at one time.

Chase said that the satellite system needs to be upgraded to a commercial system large enough to run more than 30 computers on the Internet simultaneously, while the power supply requires further assessment by an engineer to determine the needs of the university.

The availability of quality higher education is directly dependant on the availability of the latest teaching materials, training models and tools. This project will increase the capacity of the university to provide quality higher education to its students in agricultural training, said Chase.

Chase also said the ADT will continue to clarify and assess the University's needs such as the power supply and satellite system to determine how to increase their overall capabilities.

Editor's note: WE don't get many stories from Afghanistan, so we thank Bob Calvert, from Talking With Heroes for passing this on.