ZABUL - Dragoons from the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment were alongside their partners from the Afghan National Police, Saturday, July 31, at the ANP Training Center in Qalat to celebrate a historic event. The first graduation of ANP officers trained by coalition Forces at the new facility. Forty-five new ANP officers were sworn in after an extensive six-week training course and prepared to take their place providing security for the people of Afghanistan.
Military police officers from FIRES Squadron of 2SCR assumed the responsibility for training the ANP cadets three weeks into the program. The Dragoons replaced the outgoing instructors from 82nd Airborne’s Task Force Fury.
“We came in taking over for the 82nd,” said 1st Lieutenant Joshua Frye, an instructor at the Police Training Center, “They did a good job preparing everything for us.”
Frye explained that 2SCR instructors worked alongside instructors from the Ministry of the Interior, training the cadets for their law enforcement duties.
“Basically we teach the tactical portion of police work,” he said. “We used what the Ministry of Interior said to teach them and we augmented that with what we know works.”
“Range time, Military Operations on Urban Terrain training, close quarters combat, basic first aid, reacting to an ambush, everything an ANP officer needs to survive out there; we put into a six-week course,” he said.
Frye went on to explain that the new officers will be put to work very quickly being assigned to many different parts of the Zabul province.
“They will go out and man checkpoints and do patrols,” he said. “It could be as early as tomorrow.”
Not all will be working in partnership with coalition forces however they will all be providing security services.
“They may or may not have a partnered coalition unit with them,” Frye explained. “If they don’t, they will be operating just like a police agency anywhere else.”
“If they are partnered, we will see them going out patrolling and working together in every facet of the job,”
According to lead instructor, Sgt. Jeremy Gaal, his students have been very attentive and eager to learn despite the language barrier.
“Teaching them some of the more advance concepts of what we are trying to teach them isn’t always easy,” he said. “However, once they understand a concept they are quick to grasp it.”
“You can really tell when that light bulb comes on.”
In addition to police work, cadets also take literacy courses to further their education and help them become better officers.
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