CAMP TAJI, Iraq — U.S. Airmen from the 721st Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron are educating Iraqi air force members on the proper handling of aircraft weapons and ammunitions.
Their mission is to teach the Iraqis how to safely build, maintain and inspect UH-1H Huey and Mi17 flares and machine guns in accordance with Iraqi and American regulations.
There are currently 32 enlisted members taking the course and four officers who will, once fully trained, become instructors for the curriculum. These skills will benefit those in the Iraqi armed forces by serving as a standpoint for counterinsurgency.
"Our personnel are trained experts on the machine gun, and they have a very intimate knowledge of that weapon on how to clean it, disassemble it, repair it and make sure it operates properly," said Tech. Sgt. Howard Beck, 721st AEAS armament advisor. "I've seen them instruct the gunners — many of who are still relatively new — on how to take care of the weapon. I've watched them on a few occasions know exactly what to do when a weapon jams and how to handle it. They've done an admirable job. I think it's inspiring."
According to Tech. Sgt. Christopher Saffel, 721st AEAS ammunition advisor, "they are almost completely self-sustaining" with the munitions they handle on Camp Taji.
"My predecessors got them on the right track with basic info on weapons and explosive safety," said Saffel, a native of Aurora, Ohio. "They've come a long way in a year and a half."
Although they are receiving their training from American Airmen, the IAF has decided to group their fields differently. Where the U.S. Air Force divides weapons and munitions, the IAF has decided to combine the two fields so their troops can have a larger range of expertise and knowledge.
Beck, who is deployed from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and a native of Kenai, Alaska, says once the two fields receive more personnel, there will be a need to divide the two entities. Still, the training they are receiving has given the Iraqis tools needed to mirror their advisors' skills.
"Their future in ammunitions is going to be pretty close to our own," said Saffel, who is deployed from Hill AFB, Utah. "If you would take them out of Iraq and put them in an American bomb dump, they would have the capability to do everything we do on a day to day basis. They have the foundational knowledge of explosive safety, weapons safety and they can follow checklists and procedures, crew briefings -- everything we do during our own explosive operations."
The Iraqis have proven their capabilities in alert scenarios, where they successfully had a helicopter ready to take off with fully operational weapons within a 15 minute notice, a result that Saffel feels is worth the time spent inside the classroom and this year long deployment he signed up for.
"This has been an outstanding operation," Saffel said. "It's very fulfilling to come here and make a difference, just based on your experience. Their culture is highly based on experience, and they know when you come in, you are the subject matter expert on what they're doing because we do it the right way -- and they're adopting a lot of our practices. This has definitely been the best assignment in the 16 years since I've been in -- it's absolutely unbelievable. I'm glad I volunteered."
| Date Taken: |
11.14.2009 |
| Date Posted: |
11.14.2009 06:06 |
| Story ID: |
41585 |
| Location: |
TAJI, IQ |
| Web Views: |
299 |
| Downloads: |
261 |
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This work, U.S. Airmen unload ammunition skills on Iraqis, by SrA Alyssa Miles, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
