CAPT. BRIAN BARTH IN AFGHANISTAN
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 -- 11:45 AM
A Neillsville man is in the middle of a tour of duty in Afghanistan.Capt. Brian Barth is leading over 100 soldiers of the 951st Sapper Company, Wisconsin Army National Guard.
We talked with him Tuesday morning.
The Sapper Company is based out of Rhinelander and Tomahawk. They?re responsible for a number of tasks that help maintain freedom to maneuver for U.S. and coalition forces.
"As an engineer, we focus on mobility...keeping the routes open," Barth says. "Right now, we're part of a route clearing platoon. We focus on IED hunting, looking for bypass routes, recon-specific new routes."
Barth is in charge of platoons in Kandahar and near the Pakistan border.
His first question for us was, ?how?s the weather?? Of course, we had to tell him it wasn?t very good.
The temperatures in Afghanistan have been a bit warmer.
"The previous base we were located at...was approximately 75- to 80-degrees," Barth reports. "Since the move, we're sitting at around 105- to 110-degrees. Pretty warm. The heat definitely has an impact on hydration."
Barth says morale is ?very solid.? When they?re not on a mission, they?re able to take part in a couple beloved Wisconsin traditions.
"Obviously, softball is a very good pastime here. We do some cookouts. They don't have so-called Wisconsin brats here, but they have Polish sausage, which is close," Barth says.
The 951st arrived in Afghanistan in February. Barth says they?re slated for release from active duty in November.
We?ll have more with Capt. Barth later this week. We?ll also play a good chunk of the interview on our In Depth program on Thursday morning at 9 a.m.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.