Prairie du Chien guardsman is home safe
By Correne Martin
After spending a little more than six months in Afghanistan, Carter Titlbach says it’s good to be home.
“It’s different, with the whole [coronavirus] thing. Nothing was open when we got here,” he said. “That was weird to get readjusted.”
Before the Wisconsin National Guard specialist returned with 150 soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 128th Infantry, they were quarantined for a month in their Herat Province barracks. Then, to further prevent any COVID-19 spread, they were isolated for nine days at Kandahar airfield in Afghanistan, followed by four days in Kuwait. Finally, they spent two weeks at Fort Hood, Texas, quarantining during demobilization. They were released to inactive status and came home to Wisconsin April 28.
Titlbach started working back home in Prairie du Chien the first week of June. He has been a correctional officer at the Prairie du Chien Correctional Institution for about four years.
During his deployment, the 24-year-old was stationed at Camp Arena, a NATO installation in Herat. His duty was as a security escort for U.S. Army advisers of the 3rd SFAB (Security Force Assistance Brigade), which supported coalition forces, contractors and ANA (Afghan National Army) troops.
“We were basically body guards,” Titlbach explained. “We would drive up to the ANA compound, talk to them and make sure they had what they needed to perform their missions.”
He and his fellow soldiers also drove a mine-rsistant, armored-protective (MRAP) truck. He ensured the vehicle ran smoothly, monitored its communications system and, during missions, kept a watchful eye on areas in the vicinity that his gunner couldn’t see.
They conducted between two and six missions during a typical week but saw no combat. While some days, they had no missions, an average assignment might take them eight hours or more, beginning at 5 a.m.
On their off days, they “went to the gym, the chow hall, and played a lot of video games and bean bags,” he said.
Once COVID-19 cases emerged in Afghanistan, all of the missions were shut down.
In addition to himself, Titlbach was accompanied by about 18 men and women from Wisconsin—based out of Onalaska and Arcadia. There were around 40 overall in his unit. He said they saw and interacted to some extent with the Afghan natives.
“The natives cooked for us on base. It was mostly rice and chicken every day,” Titlbach said. When asked if he got any cheeseburgers, he laughed and joked, “If you can call ‘em that.” He got excited when he remembered one place, on the Italian NATO base, that made delicious and authentic Italian brick oven pizza.
Titlbach said there were people from 13 different countries on base.
“There was definitely a good language barrier. A lot of us just did like a sign language,” he commented.
Aside from the people, he said Afghanistan’s climate is a lot like Wisconsin’s.
“Basically, the temperatures were like being in Wisconsin. There were rocks and sand everywhere though,” he shared. “We did have eight inches of snow one day.”
Titlbach said he’s living at home with his family, who are beside themselves that he is home safe. “You have no idea,” he stated.
Next year, he will have the opportunity to reenlist, but he said he wants to “think about it” before deciding. He is planning to attend electrical lineman courses at Southwest Tech in the near future.
On June 6, a second group of 128th Infantry soldiers returned early from their deployment. According to the Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs, a planned drawdown of forces from Afghanistan resulted in the early return for these soldiers. Approximately 300 soldiers from the infantry remain in Afghanistan.
