FORT POLK, La. – A seven-day course focused on training Security Force Assistance Teams is equipping leaders with the tools to ensure the success of their team and their Afghan counterparts.
The Advisor Academy, at the Joint Readiness Training Center, constructed a program specifically for SFAT units, focusing on core advisor skills, in order to hone the team’s interactions with their Afghan counterparts and increase their level of preparedness before they fill their crucial role as mentors to the Afghan National Security Forces.
“It’s a different kind of training, as army guys, we’re not really use to this training, but the mission has shifted a little bit, so it’s good to have a break in training and to have this type of training, versus trying to clear houses or just going out to ranges constantly,” said 1st Lt. Michael Jozwiak, intelligence advisor, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.
Maj. Al Redford designed the course to give the SFATs the most comprehensive adviser and mentor training possible. The course includes classes in, language, culture, rapport building, and lectures from soldiers returning from Afghanistan.
“Because it’s seven days and because these guys are going straight into theater, we really have to make them effective, and we make them effective by reducing the learning curve,” said Redford, brigade operations officer with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 62nd Infantry Brigade.
To cut down on the time it may take SFAT units to integrate with their Afghan counterparts, soldiers returning home share their down-range experiences from exactly where the SFATs are going to deploy.
“We’ve brought back a significant number of subject-matter-experts to talk about what they do in theater, so that the SFATs are not learning that within the first 30 days of getting on the ground, they’re learning it here at fort Polk in the advisor academy,” said Redford.
In almost any situation, a unit’s ability to have direct contact with the unit they are replacing is invaluable.
“There is nothing like having the guy who just left where you’re going talk to you about where you’re going to go, there’s nothing like being able to say; this guy you have to look out for, this guy will help you out, this guy knows what he’s talking about,” said Col. Todd Key, senior adviser with NATO Training Mission Afghanistan. “With that confidence you’re able to be more effective sooner and that’s really what we’re trying to do.”
In addition to SMEs the academy is focusing on developing the SFATs cultural knowledge. One example of this is language classes, which train soldiers to speak, key phrases, in the dialect of their area of operation.
“The class that I think is going to help me the best is the language class,” said Jozwiak. “One of the first steps in building rapport, with any different culture, is really making an attempt to learn their language and trying to communicate with them in that language.”
The solution for success in Afghanistan is not black and white, so it makes sense that the training for the SFATs, a key to an independent ANSF, would parallel in complexity.
“You can’t give somebody a math problem, you know, a geometry problem and tell them, OK, go ahead and solve it, you have to give them the theory”, said Redford. “The Advisor Academy is extremely important in the learning process to become an advisor.”
| Date Taken: | 03.16.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 03.17.2012 22:25 |
| Story ID: | 85414 |
| Location: | FORT POLK, LA, US |
| Web Views: | 740 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, JRTC Advisor Academy cuts down SFAT learning curve, by SGT Jonathan Thomas, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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