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    Regulars’ academy is anything but

    FORWARD OPERATING BASE LAGMAN, AFGHANISTAN

    02.03.2012

    Story by Staff Sgt. Joshua Brandenburg 

    1-2 SBCT, 7th Infantry Division

    FORWARD OPERATING BASE LAGMAN, Afghanistan – The backbone of any army is the Non-Commissioned Officer Corps. The NCOs train their troops, look after their needs and provide the first line of leadership to all their soldiers. In the absence of orders, they are to take the initiative and execute with the proper actions.

    That is exactly what the NCOs of Sykes’ Regulars, 5th Battalion 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division believe, and they are looking forward to sharing that with the Afghan National Army NCOs of 2nd Infantry Kandak Headquarters, 3rd Brigade, 205th "Atal" Corps.

    “We wanted to enable the Afghans to be able to train themselves,” said Sgt. 1st Class Paul Underkoffler, operations sergeant major, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 5-20 Inf. Regt. “So the first step is training the NCOs, who will then be able to train their soldiers.”

    Although the academy was a joint endeavor between Command Sgt. Maj. Joseph Dallas, command sergeant major Task Force Regulars, and Command Sgt. Maj. Ahmad Buylar, command sergeant major 2nd Kandak, the NCOs of Task Force Regulars went from a concept and created the academy in three weeks. They developed many different classes for the senior NCOs of the 2nd Kandak before presenting the curriculum to both command sergeants major. Buylar then decided which classes he wanted taught to his NCOs.

    The first class started Jan. 29 and lasted three days. The subjects included roles of the NCO, identification of improvised explosive devices, map reading, first aid and field sanitation.

    The academy is currently in its infancy, and the NCOs of Task Force Regulars plan on it being a huge success. They intend to conduct the academy every other month, with it growing in duration to a few weeks.

    “From this academy we got a lot of ideas of what they want to be trained on,” added Underkoffler.

    Underkoffler went on to say they are trying to develop a program where they train the Afghan senior NCOs to become trainers themselves.

    “The next phase is we get them trained,” said Underkoffler. “Then, we move out of the leading role and into the support role just making sure that they’re training and [we’re] providing them with any help that they need.”

    The NCOs of Task Force Regulars are trying to ensure that the 2nd Kandak leadership recognizes the importance of having an academy that they can send their senior NCOs too. Once the ANA have a stronger NCO Corps, they will also have a stronger army.

    “We’re trying to get them to … buy into it, and that way they will be able to sustain the academy,” added Underkoffler. “Because if we train them and they don’t have a buy in, the academy will cease after we leave.”

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 02.03.2012
    Date Posted: 02.04.2012 06:39
    Story ID: 83327
    Location: FORWARD OPERATING BASE LAGMAN, AF

    Web Views: 510
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN