ADDISON/AFGHANISTAN — Sgt. 1st Class Michael Wojciechowski left behind his wife, Elizabeth, and their three children in Addison last Jan. 8 when he joined his Vermont Army National Guard colleagues in the first stages of their deployment to Afghanistan.
Officials in the U.S. armed forces last week shared photos of Wojciechowski on duty in Afghanistan, and Elizabeth Wojciechowski reports that her husband has settled into his mission there.
“He’s doing great,” she said. “The family is doing good.”
Wojciechowski and his National Guard unit arrived at Bagram Airbase, Afghanistan, in early March. He is a member of the 131st Engineers, attached to the 1-172 Cavalry Squadron of the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain), Task Force Morgan. The task force partners with Afghan National Security Forces to secure Bagram Airfield and to build local forces’ capacity to operate independently and provide a safe and stable environment across the province.
Army officials said Wojciechowski’s task force, along with a range of international and Afghan partners, assists the civilian government in order to bring economic development and opportunity to the people of the province.
Elizabeth Wojciechowski described her husband’s work as a humanitarian, good will mission.
“They build trust with the people in the neighborhood, have tea with them, and try to build a rapport so they can communicate what they need (from the Americans),” she said.
The 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team is scheduled to return home to Vermont in December.
For Wojciechowski, a full-time Vermont National Guard employee, this is not his first deployment overseas. He was previously stationed in Iraq, and his family knows the waiting game.
“It’s his full-time job, we’re used to this,” Elizabeth Wojciechowski said.