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KONAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan (January 8, 2008) - Marines in
eastern Afghanistan are climbing the mountains they currently call
home to bring progress to the Afghan National Army soldiers they
mentor.
Marine Sgt. Seth E. Lewis, of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Lance Cpl.
Michael J. Subu, of Jacksonville, N.C., are the sole embedded
training team mentors for an Afghan army platoon at a border
checkpoint near Bari Kot village in eastern Konar province. They
mentor the Afghan soldiers during missions and help them as
embedded training team liaisons. These responsibilities call for
leadership, initiative and a lot of mountain climbing for the young
Marines.
The checkpoint is an Afghan Border Police post with an Afghan
National Army observation post about 500 meters up a mountain and
just across the Konar River from Pakistan.
Since being posted at the checkpoint, Lewis estimated, he has
climbed up the mountain to the observation post at least 50 times.
Most of the Afghan soldiers they mentor work and sleep at the top
of the mountain, and part of the Marines' job has been to help make
it possible for the Afghan National Army to build up and secure the
observation post.
The two Marines, meanwhile, are housed in a billeting hut at the
bottom of the hill, as are additional Afghan soldiers, a platoon of
U.S. soldiers and some border police.
Subu and Lewis are deployed to Afghanistan as part of Embedded
Training Team 7-2 from 3rd Marine Division, in Okinawa, Japan.
Lewis was first assigned to the checkpoint in early autumn, and
Subu joined him in November. The team is based out of Forward
Operating Base Naray, but mentors are divided throughout the area
in six groups of two or three Marines -- with one Navy hospital
corpsman at FOB Naray and another at FOB Kamdesh.
Most of the embedded training team Marines arrived in country
during August and have been involved in operations throughout
eastern Afghanistan with 3rd Kandak (Armored), 3rd Brigade, 201st
ANA Corps. A kandak is an Afghan battalion. A couple of Marines,
including Subu, joined the team in mid-November. The team was
divided into two on arrival to mentor the 3rd and 5th Kandaks with
3rd Brigade, 201st ANA Corps. The 5th Kandak and its Marine mentors
are based out of Jalalabad.
"Because the teams are split up, ... the job here requires
(noncommissioned officers) to step up," said Marine 1st Sgt.
Matthew S. Seamans, a 42-year-old Shorewood, Minn., native and
senior enlisted mentor with the embedded training team. The
expectation during training was that the NCOs would be mentoring
NCOs, staff NCOs would mentor staff NCOs, and officers would mentor
officers, but as the Afghan army has grown, so have the ETT mentor
responsibilities.
But Lewis and Subu said they appreciate their responsibilities
and the experience they are getting. Lewis was the sole Marine and
embedded training team mentor at the checkpoint for weeks before
Subu joined him.
"I was actually pretty happy, ... because I would be able to
prove my worth as a sergeant," the 29-year-old Lewis said. Working
with the Afghan army has helped him learn to better handle
responsibility and maturity and has afforded him the opportunity to
see the results of his efforts, he explained.
During a recent visit from the kandak commander and training
team leaders, Lewis led ETT mentors up the mountain to the
observation post with Afghan soldiers. Seamans and Marine Lt. Col.
James F. Werth, embedded training team chief, commented that the
post's structures had substantially been improved since their last
climb up the mountain. The sergeant had coordinated the hiring of
local labor to get supplies to the Afghan soldiers for solidifying
the post with adequate living facilities.
Aside from coordinating logistical support for the Afghan
National Army soldiers, Lewis said, he focuses much of his efforts
on trying to help Afghan soldiers see leadership as the Marine
Corps uses it - with NCOs and staff NCOs, not just commissioned
officers -- having leadership roles and responsibilities. And with
consideration for the embedded training team goals, he said he
encourages the soldiers to accomplish tasks on their own.
"I try to push that if they want something done, something
that's simple, to do it themselves (instead of hiring labor to do
the work)," Lewis said. "What are they going to do when the
(American-provided) money goes away?"
Lewis said he wants Afghan soldiers to be able to deal with
various challenges and projects on their own, as they will have to
when they are no longer supported by training teams.
"The ultimate goal is for the ANA to function without ETTs," he
said, adding that he believes his tour will be worth his efforts
when he is done. The Afghan leaders said they have benefited from
the relationship with Lewis, Subu and other training team
mentors.
"We have the best relations with the ETTs," said Afghan army Lt.
Col. Mohammad Naseem, 3rd Kandak (Armored) commander. The training
teams have worked closely with and provided much logistical and
operational support for the Afghan soldiers. And, Naseem said, the
terrain has not slowed Marines.
"The U.S. forces are powerful and (athletic) - all the time
ready to climb mountains," Naseem said.
He said they also have proved ready for any tactical missions
that have come up.
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