U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Andy Veres, the Zabul Provincial Reconstruction Team commander and one of three PRT commanders who was raised in New York City, addresses the crowd in attendance for a Girl's School ground-breaking ceremony in a city where there has been no formal female education in over a decade, Oct. 22, 2009, Zabul province, Afghanistan. "It's really easy for me to answer when people ask why I am in Afghanistan," Veres said in an interview in December. "When I look into the eyes of the children of Afghanistan, I can't bring myself to turn my back on the absolutely crippling needs of this society. More importantly, the ideology that is capable of throwing acid on a young girl's face simply because she is going to school is part of the same mindset that carried out the attacks of Sept. 11th on the United States."