Senior Airman Ashton Goodman, U.S. Air Force, was a 21 year old vehicle operator assigned to the 43rd Logistics Readiness Squadron and part of the Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), which promoted stability in Afghan communities by helping provide essential services like education, healthcare, and road projects.
Assigned by her PRT Commander to serve on women’s affairs, Goodman was in the unique position of mentoring the province’s female Afghan leadership. She attended weekly meetings with the Director of Women’s Affairs, where she aided in the advancement of economic and social development of women in Panjshir.
About this experience, Goodman told journalist Melissa Pritchard, “It infuriates me that women here are treated as second-class citizens. I’d like to see a woman with her own shop, a woman doctor. It will take generations, though. They need infrastructure, schools, clean water, clean places to slaughter animals rather than by the side of the road. I’d really like to come back here in 20 years and show my kids how we helped.”
On May 18, 2009, Goodman excitedly led an endeavor to deliver critical food and supplies to over a hundred local Afghan women in need. Eight days later, the day after Memorial Day in 2009, Goodman died from wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device. She was less than three weeks from her 22nd birthday.
Senior Airman Ashton Goodman was the first woman casualty from Pope Air Force Base and the 43rd Airlift Wing in Afghanistan.
In 2024, Fort Liberty and Pope Army Airfield dedicated the Senior Airman Ashton L.M. Goodman Airman’s Center in honor of her service and legacy.
Goodman’s brother, Levi Goodman said, “Ashton was doing what she loved, and her ability to use her service to help people was really, I think, one of the most important things about her time in the military.”
Sources:
A tribute to Senior Airman Ashton Goodman > Air Force > Article Display
https://www.oprah.com/spirit/a-soldiers-story-us-women-soldiers-in-afghanistan_1/all
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