Example of Peacemaking from LDS Special Forces

I recently received an email from my father, conveying some details of a lecture he attended. I found it very uplifting. I have lightly edited the text of the message to make it suitable for posting. It made me rethink my preconceptions and generalizations of US combatants in today's military. Here is the text of his email:

I heard a compelling talk given by a returned Special Forces commander who served for a year in Afghanistan. His group of 12 special forces personnel was based in Utah and had 6 Latter-day Saints (Mormons). Before they left, they were given a blessing by an area authority that they would be protected if they were faithful in doing their duty.

They worked in a valley northeast of Kabul which was previously a den of militant leaders hiding from the world. The people of the area were famous for providing weapons and soldiers for a price and were known as the most fierce in the country. The short version of the story is that this group of special forces soldiers were able to win the friendship of the local elders that controlled the village and the surrounding villages and raise an Afghan army which was loyal to them. They set up a medical clinic, set up a school for the children including girls, painted their mosques, started a farm co-op so that they could start farming crops besides opium, and generally made a difference in that community.

It was comforting to me to see that at least some good may be coming out of the chaos there. Instead of bringing an engineering division to build their camp, they hired local laborers and workers. This worked to provide income for some of the villagers and earned their trust.

After gaining the trust of the elders of the village, they asked the elders to send qualified sons with their own weapons and a letter of recommendation to train with them to form a local army. While they trained, they encouraged the recruits to observe their religious customs, to pray at the specified times and to take off their holy day on Friday and attend the mosque. This respect for their religion went a long way to helping them be loyal. Brother [name withheld] hired a mullah to give advice on how he should ensure that they observed the religious customs properly.

Brother [name withheld] treated this assignment just like his mission and prayed daily with his team members to seek inspiration about what to do to gain the trust of the people and help them lead productive peaceful lives. All of the members of his special force and any group attached to them were preserved for the entire year. It sounds like the Sons of Helaman from the Book of Mormon. I was inspired by this talk. It makes me want to be a Peace Corps volunteer or something.

Anyway, I thought it was fascinating to take this relatively peaceful way of gaining influence.