Sparta (WQOW)- When you hear about a deployment to Afghanistan, you probably think of soldiers leaving to fight a war. An Altoona native is heading overseas this spring with the Wisconsin National Guard. But they're teaching the people there not how to fight, but how to farm.
First Sergeant Kent Bauer has served his country honorably for more than 30 years. He's volunteering once again; this time in Afghanistan.
"We are going to be working with the local farmers, trying to assist them in becoming more proficient in their farming practices," Bauer says.
He and 57 other soldiers will go to Kunar Province, one of the most dangerous areas of Afghanistan. Farmers in that region have been under pressure for years to stop growing opium, a major cash crop that is an ingredient in heroin.
"It is a problem, but it's gradually increasing," says Bauer. "But our focus is going to be working on helping them choose to have a more viable crop; more elicit crops, corn, rice, potatoes, that kind of thing."
Bauer says the farmers there don't know proper farming methods. They just scatter their seeds in the soil. So he and the others will teach them how to efficiently get better results.
"When the plants grow, there's no uniformity to it," Bauer explains. "They compete with each other for sunlight. As a result, all of the plants are not achieving their maximum growth rate."
Bauer knows developing a farming friendship could help lead the Kunar Province to a brighter future.
"Our mission is going over there and working with the local farmers; working with the local government; and try to help establish credibility between the two of them," says Bauer. "So then once we do leave, they are able to continue on without us."
Bauer says his wife has been incredibly supportive and that both of them put Skype on their computers so that he could still talk with his family back home. The Wisconsin National Guard will replace a team from Illinois that is currently there. Bauer says they will leave in the spring and will stay there up to 400 days from their deployment date.
