170th Brigade shifts to security force assistance teams

JOINT COMBAT OUTPOST FORTITUDE, AFGHANISTAN

12.24.2011

Story by Staff Sgt. Christopher Klutts 

170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team

JOINT COMBAT OUTPOST FORTITUDE, Afghanistan - On an outpost in northern Kunduz province, no larger than a baseball field, U.S. Army soldiers with 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team are immersed in partnership. The closeness they share with the Afghan Uniform Police's Imam Sahib District Headquarters was not always so. It was a relationship formed through dependence; the soldiers received water for showers from a well on the policemen's side of the compound.

The police passed buckets of water to soldiers through a hole in a barrier separating the headquarters from the outpost. The hole was replaced with a door after an agreement between the district's chief of police and the U.S. commander. Since then, the two forces have shared much more than water.

As they prepare to redeploy to Baumholder, Germany in early 2012, soldiers with B Company, 2nd Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment have more than home on their minds. They, and the rest of the 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, have adopted a new organizational structure composed of security force assistance teams.

The brigade's teams advise Afghan police at the corps, provincial and district levels across Regional Command North to improve their tactical and administrative processes. As the International Security Assistance Force continues to transfer responsibility to Afghan forces, 170th soldiers like the B Company "Bushmasters" have changed their focus as much as their title.

"For the [Afghan Uniform Police] to sustain the progress they've made, they need to be independent. They're not ready yet, but they're on the way. And that's what [advising] is all about, getting them ready," said 1st Lt. Christopher Payne, a Louisville, Ky., native, now the senior adviser with Imam Sahib District Advisory Team, one of two advisory teams with B Company.

Payne and his soldiers have transitioned from a traditional infantry platoon structure, maintaining a modified security element for patrols and administration. But as advisers, they work in two-man teams to improve Afghan police in the areas of intelligence, logistics, maintenance, administration and training, and rule of law.

In Kunduz province, 1st Lt. Christopher Payne, a Louisville, Ky., native, now the senior adviser with Imam Sahib District Advisory Team, meets with Afghan police officers Dec. 17.Nesting a noncommissioned officer and a junior-enlisted Soldier with an Afghan police counterpart has yielded closer cooperation than the two forces had experienced earlier in the year. When they arrived to the outpost, B Company soldiers were "more partners than advisers" who'd often directly participate in security operations, Payne said.

But as Payne and his soldiers become more deeply entrenched in the practices of their counterparts, they've become advisers in ethics as much as in technique.

The new B Company is behind the scenes, and its predominantly combat-trained soldiers have gained new skills like intelligence analysis and paperwork administration. They've learned to navigate a foreign bureaucracy to show the Afghan police how to navigate their own.

The Cow Eater

"Why are you going to arrest me? I'm going back in the house, to eat cow," said Spc. Trevor Darland. The Afghan policeman who was to notionally detain Darland laughed but did not give up. His comrades were watching. According to the scenario laid out by the U.S. trainers, Darland had eaten all the cows in the village. He must be brought to justice.

Sgt. Alton Farr, a Tampa, Fla., native now a rule of law adviser with Imam Sahib District Advisory Team, directs an Afghan policeman during a training session at Joint Combat Outpost Fortitude Dec. 18."Humor is always a good way to teach," said Darland, a San Diego native, now an assistant rule of law adviser with Imam Sahib District Advisory Team.

Darland and his supervisor, Sgt. Alton Farr, both infantrymen, teach police at Imam Sahib the Afghan Uniform Police Code of Conduct and how to integrate its values into their duties as patrolmen.

"It seems basic to us." said Farr, a Tampa, Fla., native, who is on his fourth combat deployment. "But to them, its eye opening and ground breaking stuff."

Darland and Farr learned about the police force's code of conduct and patrol tactics from Dutch police mentors at Forward Operating Base Kunduz in October. Since then, they've incorporated scenario-based training into modules sanctioned by the Afghanistan Ministry of Interior.

Farr said a normal classroom setting does not provide the police an opportunity to learn by making tough choices without consequences. The scenarios allow growth from experience and also bring out hard questions: Should I shoot someone if they pull a knife? What do I do if a fellow soldier runs away during a firefight?

During the case of the mysterious cow eater, Darland pulled $100 cash from his pocket and offered it to the policeman in exchange for his freedom. A training session that started with patrolling in different formations around Fortitude had evolved into a lesson in bribery.

An Afghan policeman searches Spc. Trevor Darland, a San Diego native, now an assistant rule of law adviser with Imam Sahib District Advisory Team, during a training session at Joint Combat Outpost Fortitude Dec. 18."Its not just standing out there guarding a bank or roughing up the Taliban," said Capt. Vincent Bernatis, a Broomfield, Colo., native, now the 2-18 Infantry Battalion rule of law adviser. "That's just a small part of it. And [Darland and Farr] have done a good job of taking an abstract concept and showing how it applies to the guys on the street."

A Dry Tank

Staff Sgt. Julio Latorre, a Panama City, Panama native, now a maintenance adviser with the Imam Sahib team, said he works hand in hand with the team's logistics adviser to help the police manage their equipment. The relationship between maintenance and logistics is always close but more so for the Afghan police.

One of the advantages of the team's collocation with their counterparts is that issues don't take long to surface, said Capt. Camden Jordan, a Harrodsburg, Ky., native now the B Company commander.

Outside the company's dining tent, an Afghan police officer told Latorre he was having problems with a generator. He wore 2-18 Infantry Battalion's crest over his breast pocket. He said that even with fuel, though he had none, the generator wouldn't start.

Latorre and Spc. Robert Snoots, a generator mechanic and Latorre's assistant adviser, asked the officer questions as if diagnosing the generator as a patient.

"They should make it a law to sell generators in pairs," said Snoots, a Fredrick, Md., native. "A backup is vital."

Latorre said the generators have been an ongoing problem for the Imam Sahib police. Inherited from another unit, they're not on the policemen's official property book. Without being on the property book, the police can't order replacement parts. And that's where the logistics adviser comes in.

In addition to teaching the police classes, Latorre and Snoots identify items missing from the property book while assisting the policemen with maintenance checks. They give descriptions of missing or damaged items to the logistics team who work with the district police's logistics officer to update the book. But the process takes time and patience.

"But that's why we're here, to help them fix their system. To help them make things happen," Latorre said.

• Date Taken: 12.24.2011
• Date Posted: 12.24.2011 03:48
• Story ID: 81738
• Location: JOINT COMBAT OUTPOST FORTITUDE, AF