Army colonel salutes Butler County roots
Afghanistan's eastern border with Pakistan is one of the most godforsaken spots on the planet, never more so than in 2009, when Jason Affolder commanded an Army battalion that defended that stretch of barren, rocky ridges and deep valleys from al Qaeda infiltration.
Affolder, who grew up in Butler County, says it was an honor to tackle such a tough assignment.
Affolder, 44, was a 1992 graduate of Seneca Valley High School, where he was student council president and a member of the National Honor Society, track and cross-country teams and the Junior ROTC. He went on to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, graduating with an engineering degree in 1996.
After West Point, he went to Air Assault School at Fort Campbell, Ky., where soldiers learn how to drop from helicopters to attack enemy positions. He became a member of the 101st Airborne Division (“Screaming Eagles”) and a platoon leader from 1996 to 2000, responsible for resupplying the entire division.
“I loved being around soldiers,” he said. “My soldiers were tough, smart, resilient can-do types.”
The ensuing decade brought alternating stints of training and command, each assignment more involved and demanding than the previous ones.
“The Army is all about education and advancement,” he said. “You go as far as you're willing to go, as long as you keep working for it.”
[naviga:h3]Road to leadership[/naviga:h3]
And work for it he did. West Point led to advanced officer training; then command of a heavy equipment transportation company with 96 vehicles and 300 soldiers; a return to West Point for graduate-level company tactical officers training; a master's degree in counseling and leadership development; then an assignment as a tactical officer to 130 cadets at West Point.
“My time as a tactical officer at West Point was very rewarding,” Affolder said. “You're helping a cadet reach their potential in becoming the best person and leader they can be.”
Next came Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and a promotion to the rank of major and assignment as executive officer for a support battalion with the 25th Infantry Division. This was the battalion he would command in remote Afghanistan.
“My battalion supplied 41 bases across three provinces,” Affolder said during a recent interview. “This was before the troop surge started, two years before the Navy SEALs raid that stopped Osama bin Laden. We faced contact with the enemy and IEDs (improvised explosive devices) regularly on the road.”
He was headquartered at Forward Operating Base Sharana in Paktika Province, south of Kabul. It featured an airstrip, medical facility and USO — and not much else. The primary USO and U.S. outpost for three provinces hugging the Pakistani border, it was dismantled at the end of the troop surge in 2013, although the air strip is still used commercially.
Today, Affolder is a colonel working in the Pentagon, preparing to take command of a brigade next summer. A brigade is made up of three to five battalions, typically 1,500 to 4,000 soldiers. Senior officers hesitate to talk about promotions — like baseball pitchers not talking about a no-hitter in progress. That said, the next promotion would be to the rank of one-star, or brigadier, general.<h3>County roots</h3>Affolder grew up in Cranberry Township, where his mother, Janet Affolder, still lives. His father, Martin Affolder, a Vietnam War veteran, lives in Prospect. Both of his grandfathers fought in World War II.“When I was young, all the men I looked up to had volunteered,” Affolder said. “I was taught it was your sacred duty to serve your country, though none of them had made a career of it. I looked at the decision as a way to improve my life and pay for college.”Seneca Valley's Junior ROTC and civics instructors recognized Affolder's patriotic spirit. They encouraged him to consider enrollment in a service academy. Retired Army Lt. Col. Jim Lauer, his JROTC instructor, was particularly instrumental in influencing his career path, Affolder said.“It sounded interesting,” Jason said. “I had no idea how tough it was, but I really enjoyed the academy. I liked the people, followed the rules and did what I was told.”It was during his high school years that Affolder started to become aware “that this world is a dangerous place.”Operation Desert Storm, of the first Persian Gulf War, commenced in January 1991, during his junior year of high school. Another seminal event was the U.S. bombing of Libya in March 1986, Affolder said. He was 12 years old at the time.<h3>Sacrifice of others </h3>There was one additional motivation and inspiration: his cousin, Nicholas Tomko, a 24-year-old Army Reserve sergeant from Allison Park, was killed Nov. 9, 2003, in Baghdad when his convoy came under small-arms attack.“He was an MP (military police) on patrol. They sustained enemy fire. A bullet hit him. It missed his body armor,” Affolder said. “I never learned much of the details, except that it sounded like a well-planned attack.”Affolder said he dwells on the sacrifice of his cousin and many others each year as Memorial Day approaches. He said it makes his own sacrifices seem small in comparison — things like moving his family 11 times in 22 years.Affolder has five children. The oldest just graduated from college and is pursuing a doctorate in pharmacy. The youngest is in sixth grade. They've done their best to make a positive out of an itinerant lifestyle that many would regard as a negative. The Affolder children excel in running, which helps when making friends in their many transitions.“My kids love the chance to see new places and make friends,” Affolder said. “They learned to be resilient and adapt well to new situations — this will empower them as adults.“Being an officer and living the life of a soldier is not something that I have to do. It is something that I get to do,” he said. “The military lifestyle is filled with fantastic people who are focused on doing their best to serve our nation. What a privilege!”
