Humvee maintenance class tunes-up ISF knowledge

Courtesy Photo | An Iraqi soldier from the 20-Level Maintenance course points out parts in a humvee during the hands-on portion of the class held at Joint Security Station Wessam, March 23.  

JSS WESSAM, IRAQ

04.09.2010

Courtesy Story

1st Infantry Division

Story by: Sgt. Diana Del Valle

JSS WESSAM, Iraq — Iraqi Security Forces troops are getting their hands dirty with the humvee 20-Level Maintenance course held at Joint Security Station Wessam, which began March 20.

The course covers humvee parts familiarization, troubleshooting and parts functions. The students train on everything from simple maintenance to taking apart an engine and transmission. U.S. Army Staff Sgts. Thomas L Hastings and Brian McCommas, both of 14th Division Military Transition Team, taught the 14-day class to 23 joint Iraqi forces troops.

During the course, students took notes during class instruction with overhead slides, and then completed hands-on training.

The students were selected by their units for the course. Some were more experienced than others, and some had no experience at all. Therefore, the course was taught at a basic level, so that no student was left behind.

Hastings said the biggest challenge is the language barrier, because the mechanical parts have names that are difficult to translate. He said it is a matter of simplifying the terminologies for them so they can be translated to something close to what is needed.

"They do ask a lot of questions pertaining to what things do and why they do it," Hastings said. "Some of the mechanics are really smart, and will help explain something to the class in a way that they will understand."

Toward the end of the course, the instructors conducted daily reviews of all of the material that was covered up to that point to keep the information fresh in the students' heads and prepare them for the final exam.

"The participation of this class has been really good compared to classes we have taught or supervised before," said Hastings. "I think the combination of lecture and hands-on mixture we have provided has kept them better in tune."

The students only have to show up to a 14-day course, but this class' attendance has been very good and Hastings believes it has to do with the Iraqi "Field Factory" leadership, who are in charge of accountability for the joint class. They ensure that all the soldiers are there and on time, spot-check the soldiers themselves, and provide the U.S. Army instructors with humvees, tools and any other training aids they require.

• Date Taken: 04.09.2010
• Date Posted: 04.09.2010 05:57
• Story ID: 47878
• Location: JSS WESSAM, IQ