KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — In a new grass-roots efforts to cultivate positive U.S.-Afghan relations in the region, Army Sgt. Ted Wychowski has started reaching out to the local community by offering the free construction of front doors so that they can later have them kicked down in no-knock night raids.
"Not everything about the war on terrorism is about violence. It's also about building communities and bridging communications gaps between two vastly different cultures," Wychowski said as he removed the heel of his boot from one of the new doors and zip-tied a family of seven. "I used to go on these raids all of the time and we'd just walk through burlap flaps, or, in some really bad cases, nothing at all. We'd just waltz in, and if we didn't have any flashbangs it was almost impossible to scare anyone."
According to sources, Wychowski began the self-funded effort just a few months ago, and has already seen incredible changes in relations with the local populace. Materials can be scarce in the more remote regions of Kandahar province, but that hasn't stopped the soldier from doing his self-proclaimed duty of improving the livelihoods of the local population. In some cases, Wychowski recovers doors that have already been kicked down and refinishes them so that they're suitable to be kicked down again in another home.
