It was cold in the mountains of Afghanistan during a mission last fall and U.S. Army Major Douglas McKewan, a former Peters resident, climbed into a body bag so he could get some sleep.

The vinyl body bag that had been dropped by helicopter originally contained a little water and food but no blankets. The men were stranded and their rations and water were running low. The helicopters intended to transport them to another mountain ridge for a different mission failed to arrive.

"We air assaulted onto a mountain top in the middle of a fight in order to set up a blocking position. It was only supposed to be for three hours, but it ended up being three days. We froze because we didn't have any supplies. It was an experience," Maj. McKewan said in an e-mail.

His use of the body bag for sleeping was mentioned in an October Time magazine article, "War in the Shadows," describing the combat experience of Delta Company, an infantry company in Task Force Gun Devil that Maj. McKewan's unit, 492nd Civil Affairs Battalion, supports.

Maj. McKewan's job is to work as civil affairs officer, helping military commanders by working with civilians. Normal routine consists of exercises, mission planning, weapons training and military briefings, meetings with Afghanistan leaders and inspections of civilian building projects under construction.

"My job varies Big Time," he wrote.

He arrived in Afghanistan in June and his first assignment was to escort 15 doctors to six different districts in Kandahar to provide medical treatment to civilians.

"They did everything from treating broken bones, performing inoculations, de-worming and pulling teeth. They were basically a travelling hospital but with no surgical capabilities."

His unit has conducted numerous missions like that, he said, with five nations represented on the medical teams: Romania, France, Canada, Great Britain and the U.S.

"It shows joint cooperation between coalition forces and the local government and assists an extremely poor population with no medical facilities," Maj. McKewan wrote.

When a friend wanted to send him something special over the Christmas holidays, the major asked him and others -- individuals, organizations and companies from across these United States -- to send children's winter clothing.

"The winters here are brutal and many children freeze to death," the soldier said.

He received more than 6,000 items of clothing that were distributed to needy children.

The major also said that troops "are always at danger, every day, every mission."

Even during the medical mission five Afghan national police were injured by enemy attack.

Maj. McKewan particularly remembers "one 3-year old girl having trouble breathing and her father carried her to us from a village five miles away. She had become lethargic and bed-ridden.

"He didn't understand what had happened to his little girl who had been so full of energy and then one day couldn't play and stopped eating. The doctor removed a rock from deep in her throat that was blocking her from breathing and eating. He said she would have died in another month or two. That one always stays in my head."

No one was quite sure how the little girl got the injury.

Such projects "help the Afghanistan government get to a point where they can manage themselves and the Americans can leave once and for all,'' he said.

"In other words, I am trying to work the American military out of a job there."

Maj. McKewan, son of William and Eleanor McKewan of Peters, graduated in 1987 from Peters Township High School, where he played varsity ice hockey and was captain of the team during his senior year.

Then he attended Duquesne University on an ROTC scholarship and graduated in 1991 with a degree in business administration.

Although he has spent 17 years, both active duty and reserve time, in the Army, including a previous tour in Afghanistan, Maj. McKewan has a civilian job in Scottsdale. He is branch sales manager for Technisource, an information technology staffing company. His bosses "have been extremely supportive,'' he said.

He and his wife, Shannon, formerly of Centerville, Ohio, have two children: a daughter, Scotland, 3, and, a son, Liam, 1.

He has been impressed with the Afghanistan people who "are very proud, deeply religious and very family oriented. The family unit is the most important thing to the Afghans next to religion. I love that about them. How many Americans can tell you the names of their third cousins and have an average family size of 11?

"My troops are true professionals. I have a lot of fun with them. A lot of respect as well.

"Morale is outstanding. These paratroopers are the best combat soldiers in the world.''