Police mentors share their thoughts of Afghanistan deployment

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN

02.24.2013

Story by Capt. Marvin Baker 

Joint Task Force 136th (Maneuver Enhancement Brigade)

KABUL, Afghanistan — A group of once cautious and self-restrained soldiers in Task Force Centurion, who kept an arm’s-length distance from their Afghan police mentees, learned to close that space and to develop meaningful mentor-mentee relationships that will make a difference in their lives and the lives of the police they mentor.

“The first day of work, I was a little bit nervous because I heard of the green-on-blue incidents,” said Sgt. Juan Rodriguez, a police mentor for the 508th Military Police Company, New Jersey Army National Guard. “Once we got boots-on-ground, day-by-day we grew our relationship and it got better. We became friends just by sharing stories. They showed us a different side of themselves than what we expected.”

Rodriguez is one of nearly a dozen mentors assigned to Task Force Centurion’s Police Advisory Team and is responsible for mentoring Afghan Uniformed Police Quick Reaction Force members in Kabul through combat life-saving and military operations in urban terrain skills. While many of the mentors are from the 508th, the Police Advisory Team leaders are based in the 136th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, Texas Army National Guard. And they all came together last September to help increase the security and stability in Afghanistan’s most populated city—Kabul.
The mentoring team initiated its training program last fall during the height of the green-on-blue attacks in Afghanistan, which are attacks where insurgents infiltrate the ranks of the Afghan National Security Forces in order to get close to and kill coalition forces. Many members of the team approached their new mission with prudence and cautious optimism.

“We felt comfortable with doing QRF because we have done it on previous deployments,” said Rodriguez. “But we didn’t know what to expect with teaching QRF to the Afghans."

Rodriguez’s mentees, The Afghan Uniformed Police, may have also carried the same anxiousness at the start of the mentoring program. However, both, mentors and mentees knew that they had to overcome their fears. The success of their missions relied on it. The lives of the police officers, after completing the program, relied on it. Last year, more than 1,400 police officers were killed in action fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan and almost 50 U.S. service members died as a result of insider attacks while training ANSF to take on the Taliban. Nearly a third of those green-on-blue casualties occurred the month before the Texas and New Jersey Army National Guard military police units started their mentoring in Kabul.

Now, nearly five months later, Task Force Centurion mentors have learned one way they can decrease the likelihood of green-on-blue attacks—greeting and treating each Afghan National Security Force member they work with respectfully. This creates a strong bond between the two, said Rodriguez and helps the mentors better notice negative changes in the officer’s attitude toward the coalition, an indication that the officer may have been radicalized by the Taliban. Other methods to decrease the threats came from International Security Force Assistant initiatives, such as adding “guardian angels” to their coalition missions. Their specific assignment is to watch over the advisers as they conduct their training. More robust, Afghan-led screening processes for recruits also enhanced the safety of mentorship teams.

Now, soldiers in the 508th Military Police company’s conduct a two-month training program with the Afghan Uniformed Police Quick Reaction Force, with the mentors spending about 20 hours a week with the Afghan police officers. Although the group has many success stories in their training program, such as graduating their first group of almost 50 mentees last month, the group of young enlisted Soldiers remains diligent and enjoys the experience. They know that their current success does not guarantee future success.

One soldier, Spc. Brittany Boyd, is on her second deployment and says she did a similar training mission in Iraq. She wanted to have the same experience in Afghanistan.

“In Iraq, we trained them on medical and battlefield movements everyday,” said Boyd. “A lot of their district officers where getting killed in action, so they were especially interested in learning.”

Boyd noticed the Afghan police knew a lot of military techniques because of previous training and mentoring from the coalition.

“When we leave, we can feel comfortable that these police districts can handle it on their own,” Boyd said. “We are doing police-on-police training. I hope the knowledge I pass on will continue to be passed to future groups of police after we leave.”

While Boyd and Rodriguez mentor the QRF on military movement techniques, another police mentor, Staff Sgt. Antonio Caster, an Army medic, regularly works with Afghan police non-commissioned officers. Caster works with the AUP NCO Academy program in Kabul. The Academy brings representatives from 30 police districts and guides NCOs through medical instruction ranging from CPR to intensive emergency medical response training. Some of the trainees move on to more thorough medical training, leading up to certification as a physician’s assistant, Caster said. Caster, a native of Teaneck, New Jersey, came to Afghanistan about five months ago after leaving his home-town job as a bartender.

“There are no similarities in what I do as a civilian to what I do in the National Guard,” Caster said. “Often, as a bartender, I see people at their worst. But here, I’ve seen people just the opposite.”

Although Caster spent several weeks training for his mission, he agreed with the other mentors, saying, “the pre-deployment training helped me feel more confident, but you are never fully prepared until you get your feet on the ground here.”

Before Caster arrived, his idea of Afghanistan stemmed from what he saw on the news. He thought the Afghans didn’t want the U.S. in their country and that he couldn’t make a real difference in their lives.

“I was really nervous before I came here,” Caster said. “As we went along, I saw that I can make a difference. When I go to the police districts, I often get to treat their lingering wounds. They appreciate it and they say ‘thank you’ sincerely, which is different than our casual showing of gratitude in the U.S.”

Spc. Chaddy Cantona, another medic with the 508th, said he volunteered for the deployment in order to help and care for other people.

“As a civilian, I wasn’t doing exactly what I felt I wanted to do in life,” said Cantona. “This is my first deployment and it has been an eye-opening experience.”

Cantona said he was surprised by the understanding attitudes of the people in Kabul, which, after a decade of living and working side-by-side with coalition forces, has helped the city become more urbanized in many aspects.

“Over the years, Afghans and Americans have learned from each other, socially and professionally,” Cantona said.

Back home, Cantona works in an emergency room as a technician. He said he is used to seeing and treating injuries--real and make believe. He grew up in the Philippines and as a child played a role-play game with his brother, where he always volunteered to be the medic.

“We role-played characters and I always wanted to play the medical character because he got to help 'injured' people during the game by reviving them” he said. “When I was a junior in high school, a recruiter told me about medical training, so I took the opportunity.”

Cantona’s goal is to become a physician’s assistant in the military and the civilian world.

“I want to take my health care skills and travel the world helping other people,” Cantona said. “The things I am learning on this deployment will get me where I want to be,” he said.

• Date Taken: 02.24.2013
• Date Posted: 02.24.2013 05:53
• Story ID: 102469
• Location: KABUL, AF