For most of his January to November 2005 deployment in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, Major Christopher Plummer served as the training and fielding officer for the entire Afghan National Army (ANA), focusing on marksmanship, small unit tactics and fielding combat, combat support and combat service support battalions country-wide to, as he said, "put good guys where there were bad guys." Working under the Office of Security Cooperation-Afghanistan, Plummer was based out of Camp Eggers but his duties took him "all over the country in some of the most dangerous places in Afghanistan." In this interview, he discusses in great detail and with remarkable candor the full range of his experiences. Plummer talks about numerous equipment shortages the ANA had; his poor opinion of the general officer leadership he saw; the extensive interactions and doctrine-related challenges he had with coalition partners - to include the British, French and Germans; his assessments and personal waging of the counterinsurgency fight; as well as his analysis of enemy capabilities and motivations. “They’re not very skillful with their individual weapons, they don’t shoot well and they’re not equipped well,” Plummer said, “but they are absolutely 100 percent dedicated to closing with and killing U.S. or coalition forces.” In addition, he relates the tragic account of the day an improvised explosive device killed four soldiers in his convoy. As for advice, Plummer recommends that future individual fillers (like he was) heed what was said to him upon arrival: “Nobody comes here and does the job they were assigned to do,” he was told. “You’re going to be doing stuff well above your pay grade. We don’t know what it is right now, but come back tomorrow, get your equipment squared away, and we’ll tell you where we’re going to put you.”

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