FARGO - Navy Lt. Kirk Mundal dodged rocket attacks and machine gun fire while serving six months in Afghanistan, so he could hunt down bugs.

Mundal, 38, was sent to Afghanistan to research such insect diseases as malaria and dengue fever. The worst bug enemies there are mosquitoes and sand flies, he said, but he wound up studying snakes, rats and other disease-carrying creatures.

He was forced to start from scratch. Any records kept in the last 30 years had been destroyed, he said.

"You've had 30 years of conflict, starting with the Russian invasion right into the Taliban," said Mundal, who returned home last month. "The Taliban burned the university to the ground. There's no database, no labs and very few professors."

Mundal, a former member of the North Dakota Air National Guard's 119th Fighter Wing, received a doctorate in entomology two years ago as part of a Navy graduate program. He was immediately commissioned to full lieutenant.

"When we got married, his goal was to graduate with his Ph.D. and become an officer," said Mundal's wife, Sandie, also a former member of the 119th Wing, known as the Happy Hooligans. "He's living his dream."

The dream included times in Afghanistan when Mundal would be diving into a foxhole in the middle of the night, wearing only shorts, T-shirt, tennis shoes, helmet and flak jacket.

"It's kind of a funny picture when you think about it," he said.

Mundal spent much of his time traveling to remote Afghan villages, trying to teach people about the prevention and treatment of insect diseases. Some people were receptive to the humanitarian mission. Others were leery about certain techniques, such as spraying for mosquitoes, he said.

"A lot of things were done to these people by the Soviet Union," Mundal said. "To have a military truck driving by with fog coming out the back, you really need to explain what you're doing."

Mundal said he was forced to take cover from enemy fire 19 times, including 17 rocket attacks, in six months. That wasn't the hardest part, he said.

"Getting shot at and rocketed, I understood those rules. I knew that going in," Mundal said. "The most difficult part of the entire experience for me was being away from my family. You're hoping the water heater doesn't go out and the car doesn't break down."

Mundal was born in Hitterdal, Minn., and moved to Fargo when he was 12. He joined the National Guard in 1991 and spent 12 years as a bomb technician before resigning to work on his doctorate.

Col. Bob Becklund, the commander of the 119th, said Mundal holds an important position in the military.

"It's great that the North Dakota Air National Guard can mentor such high-quality individuals who can go off to active duty service and contribute on a national level," Becklund said.

Sandie Mundal, 45, was a master sergeant in the 119th Wing when she stepped down last year, after nearly 26 years of service. She's now a stay-at-home mom with 3-year-old Cassie, who loves snakes as much as her parents.

"It was just a given that I retire and follow him," Sandie said of her husband. "The worst thing about it is the moving. I lived in one place for 15 years until I met him, and I think I've moved a dozen times since."

The Mundals currently are stationed in Jacksonville, Fla. Their next destination is Lima, Peru, where Kirk Mundal likely will spend three years running an entomology research lab attached to the U.S. Embassy.

There's always the possibility of further deployments. Mundal said he would return to Afghanistan if he had the chance.

"Starting a program from scratch and designing control programs for tens of thousands of coalition forces is exciting," he said. "I would go back there to pick up some of the programs I started."