Serviceman helps with project in Afghan village

North Image — U.S. Army Capt. Jude Mazzotta of Vancouver is part of a provincial reconstruction team helping transition parts of Afghanistan to a more sustainable economic future. In December, Mazzotta and other civil affairs officers assisted a 22-year-old village contractor named Shafiqullah with his efforts to expand a hydroelectric power plant system he built seven years ago for a remote village in the Urozgan Province. The system provides power to 25 families, but with more work that number could expand to 100 families, according to the Army. Mazzotta’s parents, Pat and Jackie, live in the North Image neighborhood.