Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.

Police officer speaks about time in Afghanistan

Date: 6/1/2009

By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor



LONGMEADOW - It can be tough being a police officer, with the late night calls, the investigations and the apprehensions. It may be even tougher balancing those duties with those of the Naval Reserves, as Longmeadow Police Officer Bill Albano does.

Albano spoke about his most recent deployment with the Navy to Afghanistan with the Longmeadow Republican Town Committee (RTC) at their May 14 meeting. He told the committee about what he did there after being mobilized in December 2007 and answered questions about the state of affairs in the Middle East.

He has been a member of the U.S. Navy for 18 years and a member of the Longmeadow Police Department since 2005. He is a first class petty officer with the navy and a certified sniper. He has been to Afghanistan three times and Iraq once since Sept. 11, 2001.

His mobilization last year was his third trip to Afghanistan.

"The climate is tough," he told the RTC. "The average temperature in the summer is 140 degrees. We never saw a cloud for 10 months."

Albano worked with a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Farah, Afghanistan, near the western border, during his most recent tour of duty. A PRT is a unit introduced by the United States government, made up of military officers, diplomats and reconstruction subject matter experts, working to support reconstruction efforts in unstable states. PRTs were first established in Afghanistan in early 2002.

"We are doing good over there," Albano said. "We're building schools, including a school of excellence for the brighter students." He explained that one of the roles of the PRT is to contract those building projects out to local Afghanistani workers and make sure the Taliban doesn't come in to disrupt that work.

"The Taliban is ruthless," he stated. "Everything bad you hear about them is true and worse. Most of the villages over there love us. The majority really do like us."

He added that all the missions he was involved in were humanitarian.

One member of the RTC inquired as to how much action Albano has seen overseas.

"I've been in about 30 fire fights," he answered. "IEDs [improvised explosive devices] are our worst fear, because you don't know where they are."

Another member asked about the morale of those serving.

"Ninety-five percent of the troops there want to be there," Albano said. "The progress is made with us being there. They're building schools, clinics, they're teaching."

He said he doesn't see the Afghan Army being ready to take over policing the country in the near future, but they are "starting to get more legitimate officers there."

Albano began his military career with the Air Force before becoming a combat engineer with the Navy.

"I enjoy [what I do]," he said. "I'll stay in until they kick me out."

"I thought [his presentation] was just great," Dean Rogeness, chair of the Longmeadow RTC, told Reminder Publications. "Most of what you hear about Afghanistan today is filtered primarily through the TV media. It's good to hear from people who are on the ground. I think it presents a more unbiased view."

The RTC regularly brings speakers into its meetings to speak on a variety of topics. The committee's next meeting will be in September, and Rogeness hopes to get the new chair of the state's Republic Party, Jennifer Nassour, as a guest speaker for a future meeting.

To learn more about the Longmeadow RTC, log on to www.longmeadowgop.com.