Chastain thought she would serve her ROTC commitment, then move on to other things. She had wanted to be a veterinarian for as long as she could remember.

But she wanted to see the world, too. Chastain soon realized she had a better chance to see the world as a soldier than as a veterinarian.

“I was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army on a Saturday and graduated from Purdue the next day,” Chastain recalls. “I was off to see the world.”

Her first mission was to Italy. She’s also been to Slovakia, Bosnia and Kosovo, as well as all over the U.S. But with this mission, which Chastain calls “my last hurrah of military service,” she will see parts of the world few outsiders have ever seen.

“Our mission in the province of Khowst, Afghanistan, is to help Afghan farmers improve their lives by improving agricultural productivity,” says Chastain, who is deputy commander of the operation.

“National Guard soldiers are better suited for this mission because our soldiers have civilian jobs and experiences in agriculture.”

Kevin McNamara, professor of agricultural economics and leader of Purdue’s efforts to work with Afghanistan’s Kabul University in improving its agricultural education program, says the National Guard operation is modeled after the Cooperative Extension Service in the U.S.

Chastain says: “This mission ties into and is a part of the strategic goal in Afghanistan, helping the country move toward economic and political stability. We are thrilled to be partnering with Purdue in this mission.”

But that mission meant each soldier in the unit had a nontraditional military training regimen to undertake. The unit spent a week at Purdue in November getting a crash course in agriculture from some of the top teachers on campus.

“It was kind of tough,” says entomology professor Rick Foster. “I had 90 minutes to teach them what it usually takes students an entire semester to learn.”

A week, it is hoped, is just enough to give each of the soldiers broad enough knowledge so they can be helpful to the Afghan people. Or as Copes says, “So that our knowledge base is a mile wide, if only an inch deep.”

“Animal sciences has always been my passion, but I’ve never really done anything with it,” Chastain says. “That’s why this mission and all this training is so exciting.”

The unit also spent two weeks in December at Indiana University in Bloomington trying to learn a passable amount of the Pashto language to improve communication skills necessary once their boots hit the ground in Khowst.

While the mission is humanitarian in nature, Chastain frequently reminds herself, and her troops, that Afghanistan is still a war zone.

She says that message was received loud and clear during two trips into the region last July and October, when she and other military personnel laid the groundwork for their mission.

“We’re only 12 miles from the Pakistani border,” Chastain says. “I’m not sure it is the safest place for us to be. On the first day we were there in July, an American soldier was killed a few miles from where we were attending a meeting. We watched his remains being loaded into an aircraft. On our second trip in October, we flew from Afghanistan to Kuwait with the flag-draped coffins of four American soldiers in the plane. That is a very sobering reality that this is a very serious mission. It’s not one of the things I told my mother about.”

The team expects to be in Afghanistan until sometime in November or early December, when a second wave of soldiers will replace them to carry on the mission.

“This is a long-term project that we’re just starting,” Chastain says. By the end of the year, she knows her dream will have been realized and she can return to Indiana to begin her next career as a 14-acre farmer.

“By then,” Chastain says, “I’m pretty sure I will be ready to retire.”

Contact Chastain at cindra.chastain@us.army.mil