Irish Guards advisors note Afghan army progress in Helmand province

CAMP LEATHERNECK, AFGHANISTAN

02.22.2011

Story by Staff Sgt. Jeremy Ross 

Regional Command Southwest

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan –After five months of working with the 3rd Kandak, 3rd Brigade, 215th Afghan National Army Corps, British army soldiers with 1st Battalion Irish Guard’s Brigade Advisory Group can see progress in the military skills of their Afghan counterparts.

The 22 soldiers in the advisory group have spent their deployment teamed exclusively with 3rd Kandak, the ANA equivalent of a company, and have worked with its approximately 400 ANA soldiers during three full-scale operations.

Some of the biggest strides have been made in counter-improvised explosive device tactics and logistics coordination, said Capt. Ben, the advisory group’s kandak staff advisor. His job includes mentoring the individual kandak sections that handle administration and pay, logistics, and operational planning.

“In the last few months we have seen them make real bounds forward both at the tactical level on the ground and at the kandak level with what they’ve been able to achieve with planning and looking after the welfare of their soldiers,” he said.

During Omid Shash, a recent operation to clear a section of villages south of Gereshk, every patrol was led by metal detector-wielding ANA soldiers from a counter-IED team. An on-scene officer from the kandak helped Ben and other advisors select which compounds and villages to approach during foot patrols. The ANA soldiers also led the way in engaging locals in talks and meetings.

Afghan army leadership also played a more prominent role in the overall planning of Omid Shash than they had in previous operations in the area, said Maj. Matt Collins, a Windsor, England, native and the advisory group’s kandak commander advisor.

“We realized from the beginning (of our deployment) that it was very much going to be based on relationships,” he explained. “If you get the relationship right, everything else generally follows.”

To help build those relationships, the advisors spend nearly every day with 3rd Kandak at their base near the city of Gereshk. The men frequently take their meals together, said Collins.

The soldiers have tightened their working relationships with more than just food and patrols.

“They say that the best relationships are formed under fire,” Collins reflected. “During one operation the kandak commander and I were under fire together and from then on we’ve certainly got along.”

Another lesson the 1st Bn. Irish Guards advisors have learned is that seeing progress in the ANA sometimes requires viewing it through the proper cultural context.

“We have found time and time again that if we try to impose a British system on the ANA and force it to work it often fails,” said Ben. “But often times if we find an Afghan system that is already in existence and work within that we can usually achieve more success.”

While signs of improvement exist, there is still plenty of work to be done before the ANA is ready to take the field as a totally independent force, Ben cautioned.

“At the moment, lots of the basic things still require assistance from (the International Security Assistance Force),” he said. “We have helicopters and advanced intelligence gathering capabilities which the ANA don’t have and aren’t likely to have in the near future.

“But I think I’d confidently expect in a couple of years to see the ANA spread across their areas of operations manning their checkpoints and patrol bases independently without ISAF assistance.”

• Date Taken: 02.22.2011
• Date Posted: 02.22.2011 12:23
• Story ID: 65884
• Location: CAMP LEATHERNECK, AF