KABUL, Afghanistan - Coalition forces provided training for Afghan National Security Forces explosive ordnance disposal teams here Tuesday.
This was the fifth training session held for the teams in the past couple of months and challenged them with training improvised explosive devices similar to what they might encounter out in the field.
This last training was provided to a team from the Afghanistan Civil Order police as well as two soldiers from the Afghan National Army.
“The goal of the training is to one, establish good rapport with the teams and two, develop good EOD practices among the ANSF,” said Air Force Maj. Dan R. O’Neil, an EOD officer who orchestrated the training. “[The training] gives them more hands-on time to practice their skills.”
In order to get the most out of the training, O’Neil makes it as realistic as possible. During Tuesday’s session, the ANCOP team was forced to deal with hypothetical casualty along with the IED.
“We’ll throw a casualty out there to put pressure on them,” said O’Neil. “We model the scenarios on what we see in the real world.”
In tackling the IED problems, the Afghan teams are expected to use only what equipment they have on hand in order to force them to address the problem creatively.
“The more you practice, the better,” said O’Neil. “They’ll say to me, ‘Well I would send the robot first,’ and I’ll say, ‘Okay, your robot’s broken. What do you do now?’ Force them to make do with what they have because in the real world they won’t always have all their equipment.”
While the training has made significant progress, there have still been issues. Coordination issues with other coalition partners and logistical challenges faced by the ANSF have all had to be overcome.
“We have to coordinate moving several Afghan entities to one spot at the same time,” said O’Neil. “There’s also a lot of equipment that the ANSF don’t always have and procuring training aides is also challenging.”
In spite of these issues, O’Neil says that the training has been both productive and rewarding.
“I like seeing the ANSF so willing to work,” said O’Neil. “They’ll come to me after a scenario and ask, ‘What can I do to improve?’ They’re always looking for feedback.”
The experience has also taught O’Neil a lot about partnership and the practices that lead to progress when training ANSF.
“Let them do it,” said O’Neil. “This is their country. We should help them learn to do it, not do it for them. It’s more important to teach them [to carry out these operations] themselves.”
Ultimately, said O’Neil, it’s partnered training like this that will best prepare the Afghans with the coming drawdown of coalition forces.
“This is our chance to influence them before we leave,” said O’Neil. “To one, ensure they can do the mission properly, and two, to ensure that they don’t get killed in the process.”
O’Neil is a member of Combined Joint Task Force Paladin which is responsible for all counter-IED operations and training in theatre.
| Date Taken: | 06.26.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 06.29.2012 02:43 |
| Story ID: | 90825 |
| Location: | KABUL, AF |
| Web Views: | 77 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Partnered training preps ANSF to take lead in counter-IED fight, by LTJG Andrew Carleen, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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