2008 Woodie Awards
Serving his country
A Webster alumnus in Afghanistan talks about distributing clothes and medicine, close scrapes with warlords and the rewards of rebuilding a nation
By: Ryan Martin
Issue date: 12/8/05 Section: News
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Johnson is currently at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, north of the capital Kabul. He has been stationed there for nine months and has three months left.
Johnson joined the Marine Corps in 1988. He has traveled to 36 different countries during his service including Somalia, Rwanda and Kuwait.
"I've served in the military for over 13 years," Johnson said. "I've always thought that serving in the military was an important part of service to your community. I'm very patriotic. When 9/11 hit, I decided to volunteer for the Army National Guard."
A frightening experience occurred when Johnson was at Kabul University on May 12, 2005, on his way to meet with the dean of agriculture. The false story about American troops abusing the Koran as part of their interrogations broke earlier that day in Newsweek.
"As we merged into heavy traffic in front of the entrance to the university, a large crowd gathered and we started taking small caliber weapons fire," Johnson said. "We were stuck due to the traffic and couldn't engage the gunmen, because they were dispersed in the crowd. It seemed like we were stuck there forever. Looking back though, it was probably 30 to 45 seconds. There was a break in traffic and we were able to make a U-turn and get out of there. Luckily they weren't very good shots and none of our personnel were hurt."
Johnson is the captain company commander and the information operations officer for Task Force Eagle. He said his companies' main goal is to drive a wedge between insurgent forces and the general population.
He also travels to local villages to distribute food and clothing to Afghanis. He said he helps build the country's infrastructure.
"We're in a high altitude so the people need warm clothes," Johnson said. "We get warm clothing from different organizations like churches, private citizens and companies."