About Operation Soccer Smiles

The History of Operation Soccer Smiles:

One of the officers of the ETT here in Zabul received some soccer balls from someone back in the States. On patrol we had the Afghan National Army soldiers we were with pass the balls out to the children we encountered in the villages. The soccer balls were a great success with the kids and they really enjoyed them. An Afghan National Army officer mentioned that it is "better to have the children learning to play soccer than learning to fight."

We believe that soccer balls are a great thing to provide the young people for a couple of reasons; first, they are something that kids can play with collectively, secondly, they provide the young people with something to do and a distraction from the normal occurrences of their day-to-day lives. Lastly, when they are given to them by fellow Afghans serving in the Afghan National Army, the children see the balls as coming from the legitimate government of Afghanistan, helping to promote the government in the eyes of the young people.

About the ETTs

We are assigned to the 2nd Bde, 205th Corps of the Afghan National Army. Our mission is to coach, teach and mentor the 2nd Brigade, 205th Corps in Zabul province to become capable of conducting independent military operations. We live in close proximity to, train with and fight with our Afghan brothers. There are a total of 14 mentors currently working with the Brigade staff and headquarters. In addition to the mentorship we provide, we can also assist the Afghans by providing coalition effects when we get into a fight. These include such things as Close Air Support (CAS) or Medical Evacuation (MEDEVAC). MEDEVAC can be essential to moving any wounded Afghan soldiers off the battlefield and to care very quickly. There are ETTs assigned with each of the subordinate Kandaks or battalions of the 2nd Bde. These ETTs live and work with the Kandaks they are mentoring. Generally each of these Kandak level ETTs consists of approximately 13-15 Americans. These Americans are deployed on small Forward Operating Bases throughout the province.

About the 2nd Bde 205th Corps Afghan National Army

The 2nd brigade consists of five subordinate battalions or Kandaks. Each Kandak has approximately 600 soldiers. The first, second, and third Kandaks are all rifle Kandaks. The 4th Kandak is a Combat Support (CS) Kandak and has an artillery battery, an engineer company, and a recon company. The 5th Kandak is the Combat Service Support (CSS) Kandak and has all the associated logistical support assets for the Brigade.

About Zabul Province

Zabul Province is a rural province located in Southern Afghanistan. It is approximately 17,500 square KMs of harsh terrain, with a population of around 365,000. The province is very poor and about 96% illiterate. The population of Zabul Province is also very young, with approximately 50 % of the province under the age of 18. The climate here is also very harsh, with much of the area of Zabul consisting of high desert or mountains. The elevation here is approximately 6000ft in the valley, and much higher in the surrounding mountains. The province also has shares a 64KM long border with Pakistan. The predominant language spoken in Zabul Province is Pashto.