iRead recap: Dr. Buck Smith

The fourth iRead session for Three Cups of Tea featured Cumberland University English Professor Dr. Buck Smith speaking about his first-hand experiences as a Green Beret in Afghanistan following September 11, 2001.

Dr. Smith began by giving a brief history of the Green Beret Special Forces. Their history traces back to Lawrence of Arabia and can be seen throughout World Wars I and II. The modern day practice of wearing green berets got its start in 1961 when President Kennedy visited the Fort Bragg military base. While there, he stated that he only wanted to see the Special Forces if they were actually wearing green berets. The troops obliged and the practice continues today.

The motto of the Green Berets is “To Liberate the Oppressed.” They do this by requiring soldiers to be knowledgeable about culture—speak the language, meet with local leaders, and develop relationships. During the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, there were even some soldiers who trained to become “horse soldiers” by riding with local leaders and learning how to carry supplies while on horseback. This process of learning the culture is the same approach that Greg Mortenson took in Three Cups of Tea.

Green Beret soldiers go through a rigorous training process which culminates in a field exercise in unconventional warfare in a rural part of the United States. Throughout the training, the twelve man groups learn warfare tactics and the ability to work together as a team. When they have completed training, they are a self-sufficient unit that can survive anywhere in the world.

Dr. Smith’s company arrived in Kandahar in December 2001. One of their first missions involved reconnaissance which allowed them to have a birds-eye view of a goat-herding family. During this mission, they observed this family’s daily life, which included the men praying and the children playing. These observations humanized the Afghani people and changed the idea that they were “the enemy” for Smith and the other soldiers. When they developed this attitude, they began to see their mission differently. Like Mortenson, they determined that the Afghani people needed to be able to help themselves in their own way, in accordance with their own cultural traditions, and that the West shouldn't necessarily try to remake Afghanistan in its own image.

Dr. Smith closed with a quote from Capt. Sir Basil Liddell Hart in Thoughts on War: “If you wish for peace understand war, particularly the guerilla and subversive forms of war.” Dr. Smith also provided the following quote from Greg Mortenson, which appeared on the dust jacket of the book Horse Soldiers, by Doug Stanton. Mortenson said: “Their [the Green Beret Horse Soldiers] secret mission against the Taliban was intelligent, brave, and undertaken with great care for the good people of Afghanistan.”

Dr. Smith offered suggested readings for further knowledge on the United States' role in Afghanistan:

• Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton
• One Tribe at a Time by Jim Gant
• The Only Thing Worth Dying For by Eric Blehm
• Steven Pressfield Blog: A Video Blog from Author and Historian Steven Pressfield
• The Ugly American by William Lederer and Eugene Burdick