U.S. Soldiers train the trainer with Iraqi Border Patrol

Photo By Pfc. Cynthia Teears Van Cleve | Sgt. 1st Class Brian Motter demonstrates how to get the Soldiers on-line with arm signals instead of talking during tactical movement, "You want to get your Soldiers on-line," Motter said. "You go like this." Motter is one of the classroom instructors at the Iraqi Border Police Leaders Academy at Combat Outpost Heider, Aug. 26, 2008.  

IRAQ

09.20.2008

Story by Spc. Cynthia Teears Van Cleve 

11th Public Affairs Detachment

By Spc. Cynthia S. Teears
11th Public Affairs Detachment

Mounds of loose dirt span the horizon for miles. A group of Soldiers move tactically through the night while looking for signs of illegal border crossing. In the distance, a group of lights shine from a nearby Syrian town. Soldiers look for vehicles moving along a Syrian border road and report suspicious activities.

The small team must be sure vehicles do not suddenly turn toward the border to pose a threat to a guard post nearby. This is what Iraqi Border Patrol trainees experience while patrolling the border between Iraq and Syria.

The Border Transition Team will take the class out on night patrols during the five-day Iraqi Border Police Leaders academy. The goal during this training course is to train a new group for the Iraq Border Patrol. In turn, the new group will train the next group.

The Iraqi Border Patrol trainees are taught everything from AK-47 disassembly and assembly, dismounted and mounted patrolling, react to enemy contact, looking for signs of personnel illegally entering the country and how to react as a Border Patrol Officer, said Sgt. 1st Class Brian Motter, the operations sergeant in charge for the Border Transition Team-4231, also known as the Guardians.

The course also teaches them the overall staff functions, what the staff members do and how they do it, Motter added.

"Do you see the vehicle first or hear the vehicle first?" asked Motter during some classroom instruction. "You hear the vehicle first. Little things like that can save Soldiers lives," Motter concluded.

This training helps the IBP teach new IBP Soldiers by the trainers learning more information on what and how to teach.

Going out for real night time patrols, using night vision goggles and teaching the importance of target training are two examples, said an IBP officer participating in the training. The training is very good, the IBP officer added.

The IBP officer is a first lieutenant in the IBP and has been in this job for five years. He has seen the security in the area increase, and the relationship with the U.S. has improved, because the IBP understand what the U.S. Soldiers are trying to do, the officer said.

"Thank you very much for the training," the IBP officer said. "It is good information for us to train our Soldiers."

The Soldiers have had other training and it was different than the U.S. training, the Iraqi Border Patrol officer added.

"I think it is good," Motter said. "You can see how we interact with the Soldiers. It's like night and day from when we first got here. We try to help them coordinate with the Iraqi army and the Iraqi police also so that it's a joint effort, and we have had some successes. They are taking steps. It's progress."

• Date Taken: 09.20.2008
• Date Posted: 09.20.2008 15:19
• Story ID: 23933
• Location: IQ