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LAGHMAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan – It was a day for celebrating; Ramadan ended and for the soldiers of the Afghan National Army’s 201st Corps it was a time to be recognized for their efforts.
“You have taken more security responsibility and have shown your professionalism and … operational capability [when] you executed operations in three different provinces,” said Afghan National Army Lt. Gen. Mohammad Akram, deputy to the chief of staff, Afghan National Army, Ministry of Defense. “From the bottom of my heart I congratulate you on your success.”
Akram presented the Corps and its brigades the Medal of Bravery. Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed a presidential decree authorizing the medal. The American equivalent is the Presidential Unit Citation. Previously the Medal of Bravery was presented to individual soldiers; there was no medal for units.
“It’s an honor for all the soldiers … all 201st Corps soldiers,” said Brig. Gen. Said Aqaa, operations officer, 201st Corps, ANA, “this was given for the bravery of the solders in the 201st Corps … for the bravery that they showed on the battlefield. This is the highest medal from the Afghanistan Government given to the Corps.”
The 201st is responsible for the security in Langham, Kunar, Parwan, Kapisa, Nangarhar, Nuristan and Panjshayr provinces.
“These seven provinces are the most populated [with] strategically rough terrain,” said Akram, “[the Corps] brought security [to where] it was needed. Currently you are fighting the enemies of our homeland. [They] are terrorists … and they are being supported by outsiders. They are the enemy of our country … they are the enemy of humanity. We see .. suicide explosions … killing females, children and martyring them. It’s our duty … brave soldiers [to] defend and protect our homeland from these terrorists. For the past 12 years, our ANA has been developed [into a] strong [force] in every aspect with the help of our international friends. We have professional officers and soldiers … we are able to defend our homeland.”
It is important to remember that the Afghan National Army is less than 12 years old, having been reformed after coalition forces freed Afghanistan from the Taliban’s rule.
“It took us nearly 240 years for the Army [the U.S. Army] to get to where we are now,” said U.S. Army Maj. Ryan Walker, 201st Corps operations adviser, 4th Security Force Advise and Assistance Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, “We’ve been trying to quantum leap them to where we are now, as far as systems and processes, and they’ve been really responsive to a lot of it.”
It is these men on whose shoulders the security of Afghanistan rests.
“No one cannot say that the Afghan soldier is not brave,” said Aqaa, “the Afghan soldier is fighting the enemy by themselves, the only support we get from the coalition is air support. That shows how brave the soldiers [are] to defend their country.”
Afghanistan’s Air Force is new, but it is planned to be self sustaining in the near future.
“This is a brave Corps … the soldiers are brave. They have proved it [in the past], they can prove it again,’ said Aqaa. “They can take care of the enemy and take care of the country to support the Afghan people and the government.”
| Date Taken: | 08.08.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 08.11.2013 11:19 |
| Story ID: | 111781 |
| Location: | LAGHMAN PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 152 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 'This is a brave Corps … the soldiers are brave', by MSG Jerry Saslav, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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