An Alabama National Guardsman recently back from Afghanistan addressed a special Veterans Day Assembly Wednesday at the Ritz Theater, discussing some of the challenges that American soldiers currently face there.

The event began with a welcome and invocation from Cleve Jacobs, who acted as master of ceremonies for the morning. The R.L. Young Ambassadors then lead the pledge of allegiance and Tri-M, the honors music society of the Talladega High School Band accompanied Mike McBurnett on the national anthem, then played “Hail to the Chief” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

Sellers, according to Jacob’s introduction, enlisted in the infantry in 1986 and completed officer candidate school the same year. He completed the officer basic course the following year, and has undergone training in numerous fields since then. He also earned a bronze star and the Afghan campaign medal with campaign device for service in that country.

Afghanistan was the primary focus of his remarks Wednesday.

The defining characteristic of that country, he explained, was the astonishing poverty.

“I was not prepared for the scale of the poverty,” he said. “About 39 percent of the population has access to clean water, but 16 percent of those have to travel a mile or more to get to it. Only 28 percent of the population has access to paved roads, and 28 percent of the population overall is illiterate. Only 12 percent of Afghan girls know how to read. The good news is, 48 to 50 percent of children are in school now, so we’ve come a long way there. They are largely agricultural people, eking out a living. They’re good people, and most of them want peace. We want to try and help them achieve that.”

America’s overall mission in Aghanistan is “To provide security until they get a stand-up government. Then we teach them to try and provide that for themselves.” At the same time, they must also pursue counterinsurgency in order to keep the country stable. This is not a simple task.

“Afghanistan is not Iraq,” he said. “You can’t just draw parallels. Afghanistan has never really had a central government, you’ve just had government at the village level for thousands of years. So we’ve really got a monumental task before us.”

After undergoing language and cultural training in Kansas, Sellers said he was deployed in Afghanistan with what he thought would be a 16 man brigade corps that would be training Afghan soldiers. Upon arrival, the group was broken up, and Sellers was sent to train Afghan police instead.

“We were in a 1,500 square-mile province with five districts and 700 uniformed police officers, most of them with two years or less experience. Most of them had been Mujahadin who had fought the Russians and each other. They were used to acting like soldiers, but a soldier has to act very differently from a police officer. We had to teach them that. The police are for handling local issues, and the Army fights outsiders.”

He praised the American soldiers currently serving in Afghanistan not only for placing themselves in harms way but for also having to learn such a broad variety of topics in an utterly alien situation.

“Keep them and your families in your prayers,” he said. “Send them cards, send them toiletries and luxury items, popcorn, whatever. Notes from young children are especially appreciated, that’s definitely a little piece of America. I know we all thank you for that support.”

Sellers then asked all of the veteran’s present to stand up by the war they had served in.

Each was greeted by the audience with a standing ovation.