The great majority of our brave men and women serving in Afghanistan support the war and are proud to serve. We have made great strides in building new infrastructure, training and rebuilding the Afghan military, ensuring the safety of the citizens and clearing land mines.
We have begun to win the hearts and minds of the people through increased medical care and more access to jobs and education. We are steadily eliminating the Taliban and we will continue to win as we educate the young people, particularly the young women, who increasingly realize that the Taliban is not working for their best interests.
I have spoken and worked with many locals. We are changing people's opinions. We are doing good things. It may take decades to eliminate the ignorance and establish a safe haven for true democracy and for education to flourish, but we should stay the course and we can win.
I personally performed almost 700 surgeries, mostly on local nationals and on Afghan and Taliban soldiers. Our military physicians help train Afghan surgeons and we have started transferring medical responsibility for the care of civilians and Afghan soldiers to those Afghan surgeons with success. Creating a self-sufficient medical infra- structure is not glamorous news but is equally as important as death tolls in understanding what we are accomplishing as we rebuild a nation.
Our soldiers are not stupid; we are well-educated, well-trained, well-equipped, well-mannered diplomats for democracy. We are proud of what we are accomplishing. We put our lives in danger daily from car bombs, small-arms fire and mortar attacks.
However, despite the danger, we soldiers believe in the cause and believe in our leadership, including the commander-in-chief. We do not regret or doubt our decisions to serve. We need the support of family and friends and the public.
It's time for the media to support us by reporting our successes as we work to do what no one else has ever been able to accomplish in history - win in Afghanistan. We are winning because we are not there as conquerors but as liberators.
One of my units had the motto "De Oppresso Liber," free the oppressed. That is truly what we are doing, and we can win.
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* MAJ. SHAWN F. HERMENAU, a native Utahn and University of Utah graduate, is a U.S. Army surgeon stationed at Fort Polk, La. He served in Bagram, Afghanistan.
