A longtime member of Special Forces, Master Sergeant Michael D. Coker deployed with 2nd Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne), US Army National Guard, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001-2002. Based initially in Uzbekistan, three teams from 19th Group worked for approximately three months in the joint operations center (JOC) as area support teams (ASTs) for other SF teams that were then currently downrange in Afghanistan. From this vantage point, said Coker, "We saw everything. We saw the negative and the positive." Each AST member, he explained, "got to read all the reports and interaction that team had with the warlord they were working with. We saw early on that we built rapport with the warlords by sending them humanitarian aid, things like cold weather stuff and food for the civilians and their military. We also sent lethal aid as well. Rapport was built that way with the warlords, and of course they were also getting paid money for fuel and for their soldiers. I don't know if from what I saw there was really a loyalty to America," said Coker, "as much as it was just to get all these supplies and maybe some power." After the JOC, Coker moved to Jalalabad, Afghanistan, where his battalion was tasked with "hunting down and killing al-Qaeda and Taliban" forces; developing and if possible destroying enemy hideouts; and also keeping an eye on warlords whom coalition forces had been supplying. Specifically, Coker worked with the warlord Hazrat Ali and shares a wealth of information about him, his motivations, his capabilities and his involvement in the Tora Bora operation. About Ali and other such Afghan figures, Coker cautions that one should not expect them "to be just loyal to you, especially if there's money or power involved. They're working other deals besides the Americans." After Jalalabad, Coker's unit moved to Asadabad where they were tasked with establishing an American presence and identifying some of the local leaders, missions he also discusses in detail. In addition, he talks about the effectiveness of medical civic assistance programs (MEDCAPs) and how developing relationships and being friendly with the indigenous population were important skills to possess, even though, as he said, "the mantra for the full year" they were there was to conduct lethally-focused operations. In closing, Coker stresses the importance of doing things in teams over trying to work on an individual basis.

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