Hawai'i-based inspector on customs duty in Afghanistan

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

Creighton Goldsmith calls flying into and out of Afghanistan on military transport "attention getting." Perhaps most so for those on board.

Creighton Goldsmith, chief inspector for U.S. Customs in Honolulu, flies in and out of Afghanistan to train military police and brief Air Force and Army officials on Customs requirements for wartime souvenirs as troops rotate home. Creighton Goldsmith

Goldsmith, a chief inspector for U.S. Customs in Honolulu, has traveled with blindfolded and shackled Taliban on a C-130, watched Special Forces fly out of Bagram in Blackhawk helicopters in the night, attended a wedding in Uzbekistan with lots of potato soup and vodka, and witnessed U.S. troops and equipment arrive daily in 110-degree Kuwait.

A typical day at the office it's not.

For more than a month the sole Customs officer in the Afghanistan area, Goldsmith has been criss-crossing the region to train military police and brief U.S. Air Force and Army officials on Customs requirements for wartime souvenirs as troops rotate home.

Prohibited are firearms, drugs, explosives and even the sand that Goldsmith said soldiers hate but seem to want to bring back (it could harbor insects, mites or other pests). Rugs, blankets and old Soviet memorabilia like wool hats, on the other hand, are OK.

Goldsmith's travels in the region come at a time when the combat role of U.S. troops is diminishing in Afghanistan and the United States girds for possible war in Iraq.

About 9,000 Americans and 9,000 coalition troops remain in the country to seek out Taliban and al-Qaida forces and train the Afghan national army. Goldsmith said one of the first things that struck him is how much of the war is being supported by part-time soldiers.

"Many of the troops are reservists and National Guard who never expected to be here, but they impress me with their professionalism and their good nature in the face of what is less than luxurious conditions," Goldsmith said by e-mail.

Special Forces — distinguished by the beards and polo shirts they can wear — and soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg, N.C., make up the bulk of troops in the field.

Many of the "MPs," meanwhile, are state troopers, federal agents or local policemen "who carry their professions proudly from civilian life to military life."

Goldsmith said Army civil affairs officers are working with Afghan officials to build an infrastructure of freshwater wells, schools and roads.

"It does not look like we will be leaving soon, especially based on the construction of more permanent buildings and the reconstruction of former Soviet buildings destroyed in the war," the Nu'uanu resident said.

"Troops are always ready to go home, but morale seems to be high with significant support from home," he added. "What distinguishes this war from Vietnam is that these are all troops who volunteered to join the service or National Guard, and while they aren't happy to be away from home, they are sucking it up and being good troopers for their 90-, 120- or 180-day assignments."

The situation in the south in Kuwait, Qatar and Oman — staging points for what could be the next war with Iraq — was much different, Goldsmith noted.

"There is apprehension of what is to come," he said. Personnel and equipment was moving into the sector at "a very vigorous rate." The tempo was high, he said, with the elite of various services in the country and training daily.

Three Mainland Customs officers served overseas before the arrival of Goldsmith, who left for the region Oct. 15, and is expected to be home for Thanksgiving. In Honolulu, he's in charge of the anti-smuggling branch.

The 31-year Customs official, whose past included training Laotian counterparts in 1974 on drug control issues, as well as assignments in Paraguay, Malaysia, Thailand, Cyprus and Slovenia, arrived in Kuwait on Oct. 21. From there he flew to Qatar via Oman.

His stops also included Kyrgyzstan and Ganci Air Base, where about 1,000 American troops and an equal number of coalition forces support fighter, tanker and cargo operations into Afghanistan.

Among the troops from Hawai'i he ran into were several Air Force members from the 502nd Air Operations Squadron at Hickam Air Force Base. Officials said the squadron members have been in the country for 60 days serving as command post controllers, with duties including monitoring incoming communications traffic.

In Afghanistan, the majority of U.S. troops are housed at airfields at Bagram in the north and Kandahar in the south. Blown-apart tanks and old Soviet MiG aircraft have been pushed into what Goldsmith calls a "surrealistic salvage heap" in Bagram.

At the western edge of the runway, A-10 attack planes and Marine Harrier jets are lined up with Apache, Chinook and Blackhawk helicopters. The area still is a large tent city and soldiers use "porta-potties," but there is warm water for showers, and a field of wooden tent frames on elevated floors is under construction by engineers. Goldsmith said the area only recently finished the "Wind of 120 Days" that makes the air thick with a talcum-like dust, while the temperatures are in the 80s during the day and 50s at night and falling.

On a night flight from Bagram to Kandahar, Goldsmith found himself onboard a C-130 with three "Persons Under Control" who were suspected of al-Qaida or Taliban involvement and had been swept up in operations along the border.

The three men, in orange jumpsuits, handcuffs, leg shackles and with blacked-out driving goggles to prevent them from seeing, were seated cross-legged on the aircraft floor and secured with cargo straps for the flight, Goldsmith said. Six heavily-armed MPs guarded them.

In Uzbekistan, meanwhile, Goldsmith said he had "done everything there is to do in Kharshi town — that is, visit the World War II monument and the mosque." But in the cotton-growing town of about 200,000 and lots of MiG fighters, Goldsmith did get invited to a wedding featuring "lots of vodka and potato soup."

Goldsmith said what has amazed him the most is the sheer waste of war in Afghanistan — scores of damaged or poorly-maintained Soviet aircraft laying around — and the enormity of the financial and technological commitment to the war by the United States.

"Beyond how well trained and fine the men and women are, the United States has a simply overwhelming advantage by virtue of our satellites, our C-130 electronic surveillance platforms and real-time information to commanders in the field," he said. "We rule the skies with A-10s, F-15s and F-16s (there's a whole fighter squadron in Kyrgyzstan), and can move tremendous amounts of material in hours."

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.