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KUNAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan (January 22, 2008) - A U.S. Marine
embedded training team is teaching Afghan army officers to show
initiative and take the lead for their army and country.
Leathernecks with ETT 7-2 deployed over the summer from Okinawa,
Japan, and were assigned to work with two kandaks -- or battalions
-- from 201st Afghan National Army Corps. The Marines have been
with the kandaks in operational and garrison environments, and they
have seen officers demonstrate their abilities and willingness to
take charge.
The goal is for the Afghan National Army eventually to operate
on its own, while U.S. and coalition forces merely provide support,
officials said. The advisors encourage Afghan officers and staff
noncommissioned officers to be in the lead in all they do, and to
develop leadership traits in their subordinates.
Marine Lt. Col. James F. Werth, ETT 7-2 officer in charge, said
he advises the 3rd Kandak commander to allow subordinate officers
to make decisions on their own. He wasn't seeing this happening
when the embedded training team arrived, Werth said, but he is
starting to see progress.
"Routine decisions that U.S. officers normally just do are
things they won't do," he explained. "A lot has to do with their
culture and history. Their first course of action is often to let
others make the decision."
This, he said, shields the individual from being wrong and
losing face.
The Marine advisors said the Afghan officers have shown courage
during combat but could improve on initiative and decision making
for operations, logistics and intelligence. Werth said he
encourages this initiative among the officer ranks and that they
are making progress. Werth said embedded training team mentors with
5th Kandak, which provides combat service support, report numerous
examples of platoon commanders planning and executing logistics
convoys with minimal advice. The officers also are learning to let
their noncommissioned officers take charge of supervising
soldiers.
Both kandaks have companies and platoons spread throughout
eastern Afghanistan. Because they conduct convoys on the rugged
main supply routes, maintaining vehicles is a key element here,
Werth explained.
Maintenance upkeep is not something the Afghan soldiers are used
to doing, but the NCOs now routinely conduct pre-convoy inspections
and supervise preventive maintenance checks on their vehicles,
something the mentors did not see when they first started working
with their kandaks.
In 3rd Kandak, an armored unit, the intelligence officer now is
more active in gathering and sharing information with both Werth
and his kandak commander, Afghan National Army Lt. Col. Mohammad
Naseem. Recently this included reports about Taliban threats to
Gojers, members of a semi-nomadic tribe. Werth advised Naseem on
courses of action but encouraged the Afghan officers to come up
with their own solutions to the problem.
The Afghan officers discussed possible operational responses and
planned out immediate means for helping the Gojers, many of whom
had been forced from their homes in Nurestan province and pushed
into Kunar province.
The 3rd Kandak (Armored) soldiers led several humanitarian
assistance visits in the snow to provide food and clothing to the
displaced Gojers and local villagers. Several of these visits were
planned and conducted without coalition presence.
While the mentors admit they still have plenty of work to do and
the Afghan soldiers still have a lot of room for improvement, they
take pride in the changes they have facilitated.
Seeing the 1st Company, 3rd Kandak, commanding officer really
develop into "a strong commanding officer" is one of the
accomplishments of which Marine Master Sgt. Scott M. Ingbretsen,
mentor for 1st Company at Forward Operating Base Keating, said he
is most proud.
"Their way works very well," Ingbretsen added.
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