3. On to Afghanistan

De Tray served briefly on a team created by David Petraeus to review strategy in the Central Command area, which spread from Egypt to Afghanistan and Pakistan. That led to an invitation to participate as a development expert when the 173rd Airborne Division undertook a yearlong deployment to Afghanistan. De Tray describes his training to work alongside the military, learning the jargon, getting used to living on a forward operating base, and adjusting to new styles of communications, briefings, and transport. The author’s first work with the 173rd, in November 2009–December 2009, included meetings with US, Afghan, and international development officials in Kabul and a meeting of a provincial development committee in Puli Alam. During 2010, de Tray took four more trips to Afghanistan to work with the 173rd as the People’s Development Fund program was developed and piloted. On these trips, he met with international development, coalition, and Afghan officials, including some who were implementing the People’s Development Fund. Experiences illustrate the imbalance on the ground between the military’s heavily armed appearance and local settings and the contrast between the resources local military leaders controlled and those local officials had available.