Marines teach more than combat to JSAS admin students

CAMP LEATHERNECK, AFGHANISTAN

04.10.2011

Story by Cpl. Daniel Wulz 

Regional Command Southwest

CAMP LEATHERNCK, Afghanistan – A functioning police force and army require much more than troops trained to use weapons.

Marines working with the Joint Security Academy Southwest recently launched a new class designed to teach the senior enlisted and junior officers of the Afghan National Security Forces administration and management.

“The [administrative] Course came into creation by the direction of [Maj. Gen. Richard P. Mills],” said Capt. Joseph Dalton, the officer in charge of operations at JSAS. “Even though JSAS is a NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan asset, [JSAS] retains the ability to be modified by the commanding general.”

Once the need was identified, Mills, the former commanding general of Regional Command Southwest, coordinated the course to be taught by subject matter experts and administration Marines.

“This is the equivalent to what [our administration shop] does on a daily basis,” said Master Gunnery Sgt. Timothy Evans, an administration course instructor for JSAS. “Afghans are here because they want to streamline their administrative procedures and make themselves more efficient. We help by providing the classes.”

The Marine Corps has a similar course for its own administration personnel, which is eight weeks long. The JSAS course is condensed, with only 10 training days to cover basic material.

Afghan National Army 1st Sgt. Zaker Ullah, an administration course student, said he enrolled in the course because his parent unit has many administrative issues. He hopes to take the course materiel he learns from the Marines at JSAS and apply it to real life situations regarding both administration and management.

The current class is only the third to be held at JSAS, and although the course is still new, JSAS instructors have great expectations of their future graduates.

“The students we receive for the course are generally the most highly educated of any students here,” Dalton said. “That’s important, because what they have the ability to do is significant to Afghanistan and to the United States once they go back to their units.”

• Date Taken: 04.10.2011
• Date Posted: 04.10.2011 06:51
• Story ID: 68522
• Location: CAMP LEATHERNECK, AF