Courtesy Photo | U.S. Army Forces Central Command chief translator in Kyrgyzstan, Lt. Col. (ret.)...... read more read more
by Spc. Jonathan Montgomery
Third Army Public Affairs Office
U.S. participants from Third U.S. Army and the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Training Department at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., recently traveled to the Kyrgyz Republic for a weeklong information exchange relating to EOD.
"The purpose of the visit was to support continuing efforts by U.S. Army Forces Central Command (USARCENT) to maintain a close working relationship with the Kyrgyzstan Ministry of Defense and other Kyrgyz Defense ministries," said Maj. Mike Zabrzeski, Third Army Kyrgyzstan country officer.
The focus of the exchange, said Zabrzeski, was to assist the various Kyrgyz ministries in establishing subject matter experts that can be used to train a future cadre of a Kyrgyz Peace Keeping Operations unit and improve their force protection capabilities.
Information exchange topics covered during the early April trip included briefings and practical exercises on the awareness, identification, and reconnaissance techniques of unexploded ordnances (UXO), improvised explosive devices (IED) and booby traps; explosives and explosive effects; fuse arming concepts; bomb threat management; building and vehicle searches; and EOD tools, school, training, organization and operations.
"The Kyrgyz soldiers exhibited genuine interest in the topics," said Maj. Michael Hicks, EOD Training Department division chief at Redstone Arsenal. Hicks" U.S. team worked with local interpreters to translate several information briefings into Russian each day to give to Kyrgyz military officers and noncommissioned officers.
On the last day of the visit, nine Kyrgyz soldiers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Guard, and the Border Troops, along with interpreters and drivers, were transported to Ganci Airbase, Kyrgyzstan, to view an EOD tools and equipment demonstration by a U.S. Air Force EOD detachment. The detachment conducted demonstrations ranging from the operations of EOD robots to the donning of EOD bomb suits on Kyrgyz personnel.
"The U.S. Air Force EOD NCOs did a superb presentation and completely impressed the Kyrgyz officers with their professionalism," said Hicks. "The presentation helped reinforce the concept we were trying to instill that a functional EOD force structure is a critical asset within a professional military force."
He added, "It also supported the concept of instituting and maintaining a professional noncommissioned officer program within the Kyrgyz military; Kyrgyz officers saw first-hand the utility and necessity of a highly trained and professional NCO corps."
Overall, the event was a great success and accomplished more than originally planned, Hicks added. "The instruction generated interesting discussions and questions from Kyrgyz officers and NCOs, which seemed to whet their appetite for more technical and hands-on training in the near future.
"Though there was a language barrier, the U.S. team was easily able to ascertain the Kyrgyz personnel were intelligent and professional soldiers who were eager to learn more than the U.S. team could deliver in two short weeks," said Hicks.
In order for the Kyrgyz ministries to adequately staff and equip any sort of peacekeeping operations unit, said Hicks, they must build an effective EOD program in accordance with U.S. or NATO standards.
Hicks recommended a select group of Kyrgyz officers and NCOs, such as the personnel who participated in this most recent information exchange, should be sent to the U.S. EOD School at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
"This would firmly establish a base core of host nation expertise, which would build an operational and training cadre to jump-start the EOD program," he said.
Due to the complexity of EOD skills, Hicks said the standard two-week event duration would not be sufficient time to conduct any type of quality training.
"An initial estimate of time required is approximately eight to 10 weeks to train and qualify a Kyrgyz volunteer to the most basic level of EOD expertise," he said. "As a comparison, it takes at least 34 weeks to qualify a U.S. Army soldier as an EOD technician."
A continuing military-to-military engagement between U.S. and coalition EOD units, said Hicks, is the best way to mentor and to improve competency of the new Kyrgyz EOD program.
"The end-state is a fully, self-reliant training and operational EOD capability that is accepted and recognized by NATO EOD programs, and which, in turn, adds to the competency validation effort of any future Kyrgyz peacekeeping operations force," he said.
| Date Taken: | 05.02.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 05.02.2006 13:19 |
| Story ID: | 6236 |
| Location: |
| Web Views: | 147 |
| Downloads: | 89 |
This work, U.S. - Kyrgyz EOD information exchange yields results, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
