BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – The acting under secretary of the Army, Nelson Ford, stopped at a key hub of the Afghan and Coalition effort Mar. 8.
This stop continued a trip affording him time with troops and operational input for policy improvements.
Two previous stops included two days in Kabul with the International Security Assistance Force and the Combined Security and Transistion Command-Afghanistan, following two days with military training missions in Saudi Arabia.   
The Saudi Arabia leg of the trip featured participation in a symposium at the joint training assistance mission to explore the return of U.S. military family members to the Kingdom.  There, Ford also presented King Abdullah a proclamation heralding the 35th Anniversary of the Saudi Arabian National Guard, a U.S. military supported project since inception. 
Ford presented the king with the proclamation, signed by the secretary and chief of staff of the U.S. Army, after attending the Kingdom’s annual national festival of heritage and culture, along with his wife Cecilia.  
The Kabul leg featured exploratory discussions with top NATO, UN, EU officials and news editors. Ford also attended meetings with senior U.S. military officials to streamline processes for contracting and ways that U.S. Army contracting can better utilize Afghanistan’s emerging merchant class to stretch American taxpayer dollars. 
Ford paid a visit to Soldiers from the South Carolina National Guard, currently leading a mission to train the Afghan National Army, to present awards for their successful effort and hear firsthand what resources stand to enhance it.
Force-wide supply and support systems formed the thrust of Ford’s airfield tour today, with stops at the fuel, air-drop rigging, mortuary, mine-resistant vehicle fielding and finance activity sites.