乐播传媒

Take it from someone who knows: To win a war you鈥檝e got to change lives, not just end them. 鈥淲e can kill and capture as much as we want for as long as we want, but it鈥檚 not going to fundamentally change ideological views of extremists,鈥� says Marine Maj. Rush Filson 鈥�92.

By 2001, Filson had been a Marine for about eight years. On the morning of Sept. 11, Filson was at work as a congressional policy officer in Quantico, Va. When Peter Goodrich 鈥�89 died along with 64 others on Flight 175, which crashed into the World Trade Center鈥檚 south tower, Filson lost his best childhood buddy. 鈥淲e pretty much did everything together,鈥� Filson recalls of happy days growing up in Williamstown, Mass., with Goodrich.

Filson went from behind a desk to the front lines. By 2004, he was an infantry battalion operations officer on the ground in Afghanistan, planning and executing military actions in Logar province against Taliban and al-Qaida loyalists 鈥� the people who helped kill 2,973 people on Sept. 11. Still, he says, 鈥渁venging鈥� is not the right word for his mission. 鈥淭here was nothing personal about my encounters with the enemy鈥� in Afghanistan. 鈥淢y service over there was聽one of many聽ways to right a terrible wrong that affected so many people, Afghans and 9/11 victims alike.鈥�

The Marines鈥� mission was also to provide medical and humanitarian assistance wherever they could. 鈥淚 guess you can call it winning the hearts and minds,鈥� Filson says.
One day, Filson met a teacher whose school was a mud-brick compound with three small rooms and a tiny tent-covered courtyard. There was no indoor plumbing or electricity and few school supplies for the 300 students, mostly girls. The teacher was conducting secular lessons despite death threats. 鈥淓xtremists came into his house and threatened his life in front of his children: 鈥榃e will kill you if you continue to teach these girls.鈥� He鈥檇 tell them, 鈥業鈥檓 going to continue to teach.鈥欌��

This gave Filson pause. 鈥淭hat really struck me as incredible…. Just very profound.鈥� So Filson e-mailed his parents back home in Williamstown. Rather than sweets or treats, he wrote, 鈥渨hat I need is school supplies.鈥�
鈥淵ou travel to other countries and kids walk up to Marines asking for candy and toys,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he children in Afghanistan ask for notebooks and pens. The conditions are so austere and so spartan and so uncomfortable, yet they still make an effort. They risk their lives to go to learn.鈥�

A social-justice activist, Filson鈥檚 mother organized the donation of 10 boxes of school supplies from Berkshire Community College, where she was taking classes. She also forwarded her son鈥檚 e-mail to Sally Goodrich, Peter鈥檚 mother, with a note attached that said, 鈥淭his is the real way to fight terrorism.鈥�
Peter鈥檚 parents had founded the Peter M. Goodrich Foundation, , and through the foundation鈥檚 efforts and, eventually, gifts from more than 500 contributors, $180,000 was raised to build a 25-room school in Surkh Abat in Logar province, a few miles from the school Filson encountered.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 going to fundamentally change [extremist] views is education and enlightenment,鈥� Filson says. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 going to take a few generations. And it has to be done with cultural sensitivity. It鈥檚 got to be consistent with Afghan traditions and culture and history.鈥�
Filson, now stationed in Italy, has not been back to Logar. He鈥檚 not even sure if the teacher who inspired him is alive. He鈥檚 seen only photos of a satisfying achievement in the war on terror, one that started with a soldier鈥檚 age-old act: that letter home.

But that accomplishment, mingled with the memory of Peter Goodrich, lives large in Filson鈥檚 heart. 鈥淭his is just me, but what better way to be a thorn in the side of all those individuals who plotted and schemed and executed 9/11 than to set up a secular center of learning right there in Afghanistan?鈥� Filson asks.

鈥淗elping, protecting, and bringing a renewed sense of enlightenment and respect to the Afghans, in the face of insurgent intimidation and religious extremism, does honor Pete鈥檚 memory and what he represented in terms of thought, compassion, and selflessness.鈥�