People who take positions in the armed forces never know where they might end up.

But U.S. Navy Commander Cynthia Kuehner told the Port Orchard Chamber of Commerce last week that even she was surprised to head to Afganistan in 2010 to serve as a senior medical officer with the Khost Provincial Reconstruction Team.

PRTs consist of military officers, diplomats and others who work to support reconstruction efforts in unstable areas. They first were established about a decade ago by the United States government in Afganistan.

Kuehner, 45, said there are 13 different PRT units, each consists of 90-100 people, assigned to territories in Afganistan and each works in nine-month intervals. She said some duties included working with government and provincial leaders along with engineers who reviewed construction projects.

“This all lended itself to making government more credible and sustainable,” Kuehner said.

She said that long has been an issue in Afganistan, which spurred the growth of the Taliban, an Islamist militia group that has controlled large parts of the country since 1996.

“You’re looking at a very uneducated, illiterate audience,” Kuehner said. “The Taliban offered swift justice and that was very appealing.”

That does not apply to everyone, though. Kuehner said many Americans formulate perceptions of Afganistan based on what they view on TV. She said there are plenty of intelligent people there and “they are warm, generous people.”

Despite that, she said making progress often was not easy. Kuehner said PRTs often encountered resistance on projects because locals simply could wait out a current PRTs knowing that a new group would arrive soon to inherit those projects. But she said maintaining consistency through PRT rotations was important.

“You don’t want to reinvent the wheel every time someone comes in,” Kuehner said.

She said that sometimes was frustrating and she would have liked to have accomplished more in her role as Director of Women’s Affairs. But she also said PRTs had to be careful because those visits were “very dangerous” in a culture that oppresses women.

“You’ve just got to know you’re doing a little bit in a very complex puzzle,” she said.

That included work on a provincial hospital that broke group last year. Kuehner said the PRTs served in more of a “mentor role” for those projects. She said it makes more sense for hospitals to be designed to fit the specific needs of a community and also because they do not want to “enable” locals by doing all of the work for them. Kuehner said that sometimes extended projects because “there were a lot of interventions.”

“There is a lot that goes into making a regional hospital sustainable,” she said. “You are an outsider. Building trust is critical.”

Patience might be just as important.

“You may put a lot of effort into building something and it may get blown up,” Kuehner said. “Fear is a very compelling factor in Afghan life.”

She said visiting a school house was an example of that.

“When little children run up to you, you’re fully armed,” Kuehner said, adding that AK-47 assault rifles are common on the streets there. “Children don’t even think about it.”