Photo courtesy of Tom Jones

Jerry Custer, 58, will be embedded with a military unit in Afghanistan and will be training local police officers.

Jerry Custer spent a lot of time training others during 24 years as a law enforcement officer in Roanoke County.

Starting this week, the retired police sergeant goes back to work to use that teaching experience in a new neighborhood -- Afghanistan.

But while he's trained scores of officers and deputies here, he knows he faces a daunting task. "To go in and try to totally change somebody's views on a way of policing" -- one that takes into account human rights -- "is going to be a challenge.

"People over there just do not have the same value on life," as international standards demand, he said. Helping change that is the core of his mission.

As it turns out, Custer, 58, has a particularly keen appreciation for life.

Three years ago he was told he had kidney cancer and only five years to live.

Doctors removed one kidney containing a large tumor that had grown into his back.

After enduring an intensive, experimental yearlong chemotherapy treatment, however, he's now been declared cancer-free.

Custer has rebuilt his weakened body and withstood a rigorous training program to take on this latest challenge.

Even while he was battling cancer, he had taken on a political campaign for the Catawba District seat on the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors. Although he lost that race, bolstered by his Christian faith, he was determined to beat the disease.

After chemo, he worked through rehab for more than a year "until I was back on my feet. Then I knew there must be something else I can do out there. A good friend of mine had been to Iraq to serve with the international police force, so I thought I'd apply and see if I could pass the test."

Custer was accepted by DynCorp International, a private contractor hired by the U.S. State Department that uses only experienced law enforcement trainers for the duty he's accepted.

"My wife [Dianna] and I sat and talked a long time. She said, 'Well, you've always wanted to go over to that part of the world, so now would be a good time to go, and you can help somebody, too.' "

The participants must have at least eight years of law enforcement experience -- which must include working as trainers -- and their preparation for the international duty was packed into 14 straight 12-hour days, Custer said.

He said he had some apprehension about the physical and mental demands of the job. He's the oldest member of his training class, although a couple of others are also in their 50s. The training group started out with 86 men and finished with 63, he said, and all those who washed out were younger than he is.

The average age is the mid-30s, he said.

"Some of the guys here called me 'Paw-Paw' for the first few days," Custer said with a laugh during a phone interview this week from near an undisclosed Northern Virginia training location. "Once I made it, they started to say, 'Maybe these old boys can do something.' "

Particularly daunting were the physical endurance and agility tests.

The candidates must complete a quarter-mile chase of a fleeing suspect in two-and-a-half minutes or less, which includes climbing and descending a set of stairs wearing full 27-pound body armor, firearms and a 35-pound weight.

They also must run an obstacle course -- climbing ladders, jumping walls, crawling through a tunnel and dragging a 185-pound dummy for 20 feet -- in two minutes or less, again with body armor and firearms.

While they are civilian employees, they will be embedded with military units in Afghanistan, Custer said. He served as a military policeman during a two-year military stint in his youth, he said.

Custer will serve at least one year in Afghanistan, with one break to come home when his 16-year-old home schooled daughter, Kristen, completes her high school requirements. He could serve a second year, but that's the company's limit before compelling employees to take a break.

The pay is significant -- a base of $118,000 a year with additional combat pay, he said. Custer said he chose DynCorp because he believes in the 46-year-old company's mission that's focused primarily on a respect for human rights.

Working with interpreters, the international police trainers "will go through a police station, and if we see human rights violations, while we can't do anything [to directly intervene], we can talk to them about it, talk to the minister of the interior and tell them how to work on that."

"We may leave and never know whether we helped make changes, but it is a challenge to try to do it."

Roanoke County Sheriff Gerald Holt, who has known Custer for years, said the undertaking is typical of Custer's attitude.

"His character is beyond reproach," Holt said. "He will represent us well. I think they couldn't have found a better personality to accept that challenge and perform those duties."

For his part, Custer said he's proud to be part of a "big push to get guys over there, because the quicker we can get their police force trained, the quicker our military can come out."