Photo By Staff Sgt. Matthew Roberts | German army Capt. Hans, the information operations (IO) advisor assigned to the Joint...... read more read more
Subscribe
ERBIL, Iraq — Coalition forces from Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) conducted an Information Operations Train-the-Trainer (IO3T) course at the General Directorate of Media and National Awareness (GDMNA) building in Erbil, Iraq, Oct. 19 - Oct. 21, 2025. Running for three days, the training brought together GDMNA staff, Coalition forces from CJ39 and members of the Joint Operation Command Advisory Team-North, under CJTF-OIR, to conduct a course to teach Peshmerga members effective teaching methods.
“The Train the Trainer course is a training package that covers the fundamentals of how people learn and how as an instructor you should build and deliver training,” said British Army Capt. Blaze, a Forward Integration Officer, assigned to CJTF-OIR Information Operations (InfoOps). “So that you can achieve your objectives and ensure that students will retain the most information.”
The course consisted of 10 Peshmerga officers from the GDMNA staff, ranking from Lieutenant up to Staff Brigadier General. Among the skills taught was the progression from training to teaching to coaching and finally being mentor as well as constructing a lesson plan within a timely manner, the coalition forces utilized a powerpoint presentation and working groups to allow the Peshmerga to work through the lessons on their own and have hands-on training to apply these techniques.
“The objective was to qualify 10 GDMNA personnel as certified InfoOps instructors, capable of independently conducting future training within the directorate.” said German army Capt. Hans, the InfoOps Advisor for Joint Operations Command Advisory Team-North.
CJTF-OIR encourages partner forces to be more independent and be able to build themselves up as a sovereign state. Working with partner forces increases the bond of trust throughout CJTF-OIR’s Area of Operations on the pathway to defeat ISIS. Though willing to help partner forces achieve independence, teaching a course to an entire military is a tall order but the Train-the-Trainer course helps spread the information quicker and more efficiently.
“We’re teaching the class to the Peshmerga as they establish their more formal military hierarchies. They will need to train their own personnel, in this case their information operations personnel,” said Blaze. “By delivering this training to the Peshmerga they are now able to deliver training to more of their personnel at a much higher rate than we would be able to as the coalition.”
Day one focused on theoretical and practical instruction in multisensory learning principles and responsibilities of an instructor. Day two covered effective questioning techniques to confirm understanding, lesson design and training session planning. At the end of day two, the participants were assigned to prepare and deliver a lesson on previously covered topics. On the final day of the course, each working group selected one speaker to present what they learned throughout the class.
“The overall performance exceeded expectations, particularly during the interactive teaching sessions,” said Hans.
A challenge that can arise from teaching is if the students already learned the material or similar to it. Conflicting teaching lessons, push back against what the student currently knows, however the Peshmerga were receptive to the training. “I was incredibly encouraged by the positive attitude with which the students approached the material. Some of it can seem quite basic, but it's important to cover the basics well to ensure that the material is delivered effectively,” said Blaze. “I was very impressed by the way the students were willing to challenge their own understanding of training. They’re all officers, they’ve been through universities and other military training.”
“They’ve received a lot of teachings and training in the past they discussed as not having been the traditional way they were taught,” continued Blaze. “They were very willing and receptive to the idea that this may be a more effective way to deliver training in the future. So I thought it was very promising and we definitely achieved our objectives with this course.”
| Date Taken: | 10.21.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 11.26.2025 06:26 |
| Story ID: | 551869 |
| Location: | IQ |
| Web Views: | 4 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Coalition Forces conduct an Information Operations Train-the-Trainer course with the Peshmerga, by SSG Matthew Roberts, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
