Hanscom colonel's uniform donation preserves OEF heritage

  • Published
  • By Meredith March
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HANSCOM AFB, Mass. --  While an armed services uniform from a former Soviet republic may seem out of place half-way around the world in its Cold War enemy's military museum, an Uzbek Army major's uniform now hangs in the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

The uniform, donated by Lt. Col. Michael Davison, 753rd Electronic Systems Group, Net-Centric Engineering Division deputy director, to the museum's Operation Enduring Freedom collection Nov. 9, served a significant purpose in the early days of the war with the Taliban. It represents international solidarity with a stunned nation, an extraordinary experience in an Airman's Air Force career and the ingenuity and determination of American troops.

Colonel Davison, then an Air Force major, was serving as the American air attaché to the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2001, when the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States occurred. Just days later, he was tasked to survey air fields near the Afghan border for a strategic U.S. air base.

"The Americans were coming to Uzbekistan -- to what was eventually Karshi-Khanabad Air Base -- and I was the only guy who had ever been there before," Colonel Davison said. "My being there was an important part of getting that air field established."

Troops arrived rapidly and the base was functional by October, but servicemembers were not allowed to leave, pending intelligence on the Taliban, the colonel said. "[Leadership] wanted information on the Taliban positions along the Uzbek and Afghan border, so they sent me down there to get that information.

"The Uzbek uniform was procured for me so I would not attract sniper fire. If I had been dressed like a Westerner, someone would have taken a shot at me," the colonel said.

Colonel Davison wore the Uzbek Army's hat, shirt, undershirt and pants while observing the Taliban from the Uzbek and Afghan border. He reported his findings back to Karshi-Khanabad and military authorities.

The uniform's inclusion in the museum is meaningful to Colonel Davison because it represents a special time in his Air Force career, he said.

"I was really the only guy who could observe Taliban positions along the border for military authorities, and the most graphic representation of that is that uniform. I had an opportunity to really serve my country in a unique way and use the full capabilities of the combat power of the U.S. Air Force, and I enjoyed that. Some of that will stick with me for the rest of my life," he said.

The uniform also represents a broad canvas of Operation Enduring Freedom, the colonel said.

"One of the things I learned is that the unexpected comes, and you have to go beyond your training and your discipline. You have to use that as a base, then learn to figure out how to get the mission accomplished under some fairly extraordinary circumstances," he said.

"If you listen to the stories of pretty much anyone at that time, be it the fliers at Karshi-Khanabad, the combat controllers who went down-range, the special forces groups or anyone that I worked with, they were improvising. They were doing stuff that was never written down, never in the book. This was a time when you saw the best in American troops, who had the internal discipline to improvise and get the mission accomplished, despite the obstacles we were up against. The uniform saved my life, and, for me, really represents those accomplishments in the early days of Operation Enduring Freedom."