Command Sgt. Maj. Cindy Pritchett of Michigan is in charge of all the troops in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. She travels the country, making sure they have the right equipment and support.

She has been in Afghanistan 18 months and has seen more of the transition to self-rule than perhaps any other soldier. In a recent interview with Tribune editorial writer Jim Beamguard, she shared insights into the challenges of making Afghanistan stable and free.

Now, when a local village leader tells her the area is safe, she trusts him and takes off her body armor. "People probably think I'm nuts," she says, but "they're very serious about wanting peace and security. If they tell you it's safe in their area, they pretty much know."

On her assignment:

I'm the command senior enlisted leader in Afghanistan. I work directly for the commanding general of combined forces, command Afghanistan. [I am responsible for] health, welfare, morale, also that they have the right equipment to get the job done. The right force structure out there, the right makeup of troops on the ground.

The troops in Afghanistan are getting what they need. We have about 18,000 U.S. forces. We average somewhere around 20,000 forces on the ground. That's not counting the international forces from NATO that are in a separate mission.

I am stationed in Kabul. The insurgents are in and around, but we pretty much move through the city unhindered. You've just got to stay vigilant.

My friends know that for me to get around the country and see the troops, I have to fly. This year we've had a lot of incidents with helicopters. I usually get an e-mail after there's been a news story about a hard landing or a crash. A little one-liner: "Are you OK?" I usually try to get to them before the story hits.

I talk to them about the number of schools we're building, the number of roads. That the people of Afghanistan really are tired of 25 years of war. They want peace and security. They're like, "Why don't we hear more about that?"

On the Afghan army:

They're not quite capable of standing on their own yet, but every mission that we do, there's always Afghan forces with us. We're making sure Afghan units are married up with U.S. units so they can see what right looks like.

They are very good fighters. In fact, sometimes it's disciplining them not to just, you know, take off and run after the enemy, but to have a plan on how to fight the enemy. They will not turn and run. Now it's just getting them to understand planning and how to request supplies. Their combat service support -- maintenance, supply -- is a little bit behind. But we're getting them up to speed.

They're now about 43,000 strong -- probably the best news story and the strongest institution within the Afghan government right now.

It pulls all of Afghanistan together. They're a very tribal society. The way we built the Afghan national army, each battalion or unit has to have a certain percentage of each of the different tribes, so it's a very multi-ethnic mix. No matter where the national Afghan army goes throughout the country, they will recognize somebody from their tribe. So they're very accepted.

All the way down the line, these commanders have a U.S. counterpart mentor. We're teaching them not only how to be fighters, but the proper human rights, democracy, the difference between right and wrong.

They don't quite have a female counterpart [for me]. They have just assessed over 230 women into the Afghan national army. Most are in the medical, logistics and administrative field. Kind of where we were when I joined in 1973. The point is they're putting women in their army. This is a society that didn't let women work. Some are coming in as officers. They're being assessed based on their skills and capabilities. That's a very good news story for the Afghans. This was just a recent development.

On Afghanistan's progress:

I have really been able to see the progress from May of 2004 to November of 2005. Just before I left, I actually saw an Afghan woman driving a car. You're starting to see the burqa come off. They may still cover their heads, but their faces are now being shown. I've seen some women walking in Western clothes in the big cities.

When you get out to the very rural parts of the country, sometimes they ask when we show up if we're Russians, because they're just so out of touch. The country's about a third larger than Iraq -- doesn't have a lot of radio stations or television stations. It is the fourth-poorest nation in the world. There's no power system like we're used to, no road network, no water system. We're helping them rebuild all that. We've helped them build radio stations.

You do see progress. As you start getting out in the provinces, they want to know, where's our reconstruction dollars? They're going to be coming to the table here in December when we seat the parliament, wanting to know, "OK, where's our money for roads and where's our money for reconstruction?" It's a very positive story.

Don't judge them by our Western standards. Remember the 20 percent literacy rate. We just elected 234 people to the parliament. How many do you think can really read and write? We'll be fortunate if 20 percent can read and write. We have to train them how to govern. You can only do it one step at a time.

On the worst days:

The worst for me is when we lost the helicopter that crashed in Ghazni, and we lost 18 folks. And we lost the Special Forces folks in their helicopter crash. And we just lost five in another helicopter crash or a shootdown. Those are my worst days. There's some family now that's not going to have a son or daughter return to them.

On the best days:

The best thing is going to an orphanage or school to visit the children and bringing supplies that soldiers have written home for. Just to see the looks on these little kids' faces when you give them something as simple as a pad of paper and a pen. To see the smiles on those children's faces is probably the best thing that has happened to me.

From 2002 to 2004, over 4.4 million kids have gone back to school.

On what Afghans fear:

The biggest fear of Afghans is that the U.S. will leave too soon. Are we going to stick with them for the long haul?

The answer is yes. As we talk about this transition to NATO, people are worried, but actually that's a good thing, because NATO brings the staying power of 26 nations. It's not just falling on the back of one or two countries. The United States is a part of NATO.

NATO has already taken over the north and the west. Starting around May of '06, we'll start the transition in the south. By the beginning of January 2007, the whole operation will transition to NATO with U.S. forces a part of that mission.

On troop morale:

We're out of the news a lot. Folks tend to think people have forgotten about us. I always tell the soldiers it's not necessarily a bad thing if we're not making the front pages.

The thing that gets them down is the good-news part of Afghanistan is not in the news. When you see them at a school opening or helping police build a jail, they really feel they are accomplishing something.

The men and women over there are doing a great job. They are very appreciative of all the letters and boxes they get from home.

On retiring to Florida:

I've got about two more years before I retire. I'm retiring in Florida, somewhere between Tampa and Lakeland. I haven't figured it out yet. I'm 50 years old, been in the Army 32 years. I think I'm going to float a resume over at Disney World. Maybe I want to go work at the happiest place on earth.