Security force assistance teams train at JRTC

Courtesy Photo | U.S. Army 1st Lt. Derrick Bryant, (left) of Los Angeles, Calif., assigned to 214th Fires Brigade, Fort Sill, Okla., speaks with Spc. Ian Larson from Melrose, Wis., role-playing as an Afghan National Army soldier, assigned to Battery A, 3rd Battalion, 29th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, from Fort Carson, Colo., discussing logistical issues at the Joint Readiness Training Center, Feb. 18. The pre-deployment training will prepare the Security Force Advise and Assist Teams for their role as mentors to Afghan forces so they can conduct independent security operations. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Richard Andrade, 43rd Public Affairs Detachment)  

FORT POLK, LA, UNITED STATES

02.18.2012

Courtesy Story

43rd Public Affairs Detachment

By U.S. Army Sgt. Richard Andrade

FORT POLK, La. – Every deployment brings new and unique challenges. As Afghan National Security Forces grow in size and capability, they will rely less on the support of coalition forces. To meet these new training requirements, security force assistance teams assigned from modified brigade combat teams will learn to mentor and advise Afghan National Security Forces at the Joint Readiness Training Center, starting this February.

An SFAT team is comprised of approximately 18 highly-trained officers, senior non-commissioned officers and Department of Defense civilians. They will learn how to train Afghan army and police units and help them to conduct autonomous security operations. Prior to deployment these SFAT teams will participate in situational training exercises at the JRTC.

To make training as realistic as possible, JRTC replicated more than twenty Afghan villages across thousands of acres of varied terrain. Among the hundreds of civilians who role-play Afghan army soldiers and policemen are actual former Afghan policemen, soldiers and officers as well as U.S. citizens of Afghan descent. This provides the SFAT teams with a realistic Afghan training mission environment.

“The SFAT teams have gone through an advisory training academy,” said Col. Bill Burleson, commander, Joint Readiness Training Center Operations Group.

“Now they are in immersive experience of situational training and a culmination training event where they will demonstrate an understanding of Afghan systems, and the ability to advise Afghans on employing joint coalition enabling capabilities as well as understanding how to protect themselves and to conduct troop leading procedures.”

The relevance of this new focus of training was not lost in some of the rotation participants.

1st Sgt. Kevin White assigned to the 214th Fires Brigade based in Fort Sill, Okla., said his unit went through a week of training prior to coming to Fort Polk.

“We had a class on cultural awareness and another on Islam to better understand the culture,” said the Brockton, Mass., native.

“I see the importance of what we are trying to achieve over there in Afghanistan - and I want to be part of it,” said White. “We are here to learn how to advise our Afghan counterparts ... We are there to advise them, not to do their work for them so that once America does leave (Afghanistan), they will be able to sustain themselves.”

Upon completion of their JRTC training, the SFAT teams will be better prepared to deploy having learned valuable lessons from their rotation. The mentoring they will provide will enable Afghan units to take more responsibility of the security of their country.

• Date Taken: 02.18.2012
• Date Posted: 02.20.2012 14:38
• Story ID: 84091
• Location: FORT POLK, LA, US