NEWS, SPORTS, COMMENTARY, POLITICS for Gloucester City and the Surrounding Areas of South Jersey and Philadelphia
By
Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
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| FORT RILEY, Kan., March 18, 2008 - In simulated villages on the honey-hued
Midwest prairie here, U.S. troops are learning to serve as military advisors to
Iraqi and Afghan forces.
Afghan National Army Sgt. Maj. Mostafa Rahmani
stands guard at the doorway of a dwelling being searched by U.S. and Afghan
soldiers during advisor training at Fort Riley, Kan., March 17. Defense Dept.
photo by Gerry J. Gilmore
(Click photo for
screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.
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2006, soldiers of the U.S. Army 1st Infantry Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team,
based here, have trained 5,767 soldiers, 840 sailors and 1,172 airmen to take up
duty with transition training teams in Afghanistan and Iraq, said Army Col.
Jeffrey Ingram, the combat team's commander.
In addition to the U.S.
trainers, about 30 Afghan National Army soldiers and Afghan contract employees
are at Fort Riley assisting in the training. The Afghan troops have been a
regular part of advisor-training cycles, Ingram said. There are no Iraqi troops,
yet, among the training cadre.
Bringing Afghan soldiers to Fort Riley to
teach U.S. advisors makes sense, Ingram noted.
"There's no better way"
to learn about the culture of a country, than to meet with and talk to someone
from that country, Ingram pointed out.
Each transition training team is
composed of between 10 to 15 U.S. servicemembers who are embedded with Iraqi or
Afghan security forces, Ingram explained. The U.S. advisors use their mentoring
and coaching skills to improve the performance and capabilities of their Afghan
and Iraqi counterparts.
The advisor training program is paying big
dividends, said Ingram, who has managed the program for the past 18 months.
"I know it is saving lives," Ingram emphasized.
The training
program teaches a variety of skills and techniques, ranging from how to interact
with Afghan and Iraqi tribal, military and municipal officials to detecting and
avoiding the deadly improvised explosive devices employed by both Taliban and al
Qaeda insurgents.
"It's better for them to have experience in the field
prior to their deployment to Afghanistan," said Afghan contract employee Omaid
Azarakhsh, who works as an interpreter and Afghan language and cultural teacher
for the U.S. advisor students.
Afghan Army Sgt. Safiullah Salek said he
enjoys working with his U.S. counterparts at Fort Riley. And, with the continued
help of the United States and its NATO allies, Salek predicted that Afghanistan
"will be a stable country" in the not-too-distant future.
"We're sharing
Afghan culture and customs, so that before they go to Afghanistan they get the
proper training so that they can do effective work," Salek explained through an
interpreter.
Afghan soldiers play themselves and Afghan contract
employees and U.S. soldiers take the roles of insurgents or villagers. Scenarios
play out in simulated Afghan or Iraqi villages constructed of plywood or metal
shipping containers scattered across Fort Riley's 100,000 acres.
One key
training point is the operation of checkpoints.
"The checkpoints are
used widely throughout Afghanistan," said Army Capt. Gary McDonald, a member of
the 1st Brigade's transition-team training cadre, who in January returned
stateside after a tour-of-duty in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Afghan National Police
usually run the checkpoints, he noted, but the Afghans have no standard
operating procedure.
As a result, the police checkpoints are "different
all across Afghanistan," McDonald said. "That is one thing we're trying to
effect; to standardize the checkpoints to make them more efficient."
An
important component of advisor training "is to interact with the Afghans,"
McDonald pointed out. "That's a big thing that they've improved here."
Sgt. 1st Class Micah S. Lyness, a National Guardsman from Buffalo, N.Y.,
stood watch in a faux Afghan village during yesterday's cordon-and-search
training exercise.
"My role now is pulling security. I was on a gun
truck out on the entrance way, then, they called us forward, because they felt
they needed more security inside" the village, Lyness explained.
"I
think we're getting good training here. The cultural training and the language
training is going to help us when we get over to Afghanistan to help the ANA
secure their country," he added.
Getting Iraqi and Afghan security
forces onto their feet is mission one, said Army Lt. Col. David T. Seigel, part
of the combat team's training cadre.
"Training advisors is about getting
their armies ready to go, so that they can confidently protect their people and
their governments," Seigel pointed out.
"The transition team training
mission that is conducted here produces professional, well-trained teams of
advisors," Army Maj. Gen. Robert E. Durbin, 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley
commanding general, said yesterday at a redeployment ceremony for 37 advisors
returning from duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"I'm very proud of the
quality of training that is conducted here," Durbin said.
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