Our Man in Afghanistan

We got to know Major Curt Decker as a Power Line reader when he was serving in Afghanistan. He became our correspondent there, and we printed several emails from him. When Curt returned to Minnesota, he and his wife Sheila became friends. We wrote about Curt here, with links to our earlier posts. A few days ago, my youngest daughter, who is in the second grade, got this classroom assignment:

We would like to thank ALL of our military personnel because we know it’s a team effort….If students have family members or friends that have served in any branch of the military, we are asking them to draw a picture of that person….The drawings will be displayed on a Time Line for all to view.

Mrs. Rocket thought that Major Decker would be a good subject for a picture, and called Curt to see whether he would send a photo of himself in Afghanistan that could be the basis for a drawing. In response, Curt sent the great photos displayed below. I told him over the phone that he’d been holding out on us and asked permission to reproduce them on Power Line. As we talked, it became evident that the reason we hadn’t seen them before was that Curt didn’t want to draw undue attention to himself. A typical American soldier: I’ll risk my life for my country; just make sure I don’t get too much credit.
So here they are; click to enlarge. Where appropriate, I’ve included Curt’s commentary.

Curt says:

This is a picture of me with one of my friends from OGA (Other Government Agencies). It was taken on Christmas Eve 2000 somewhere about five miles into the border of Pakistan. I don

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