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ZABUL PROVINCE, Afghanistan - The Afghan National Army’s non-commissioned officer academy, located on Forward Operating Base Eagle, Zabul province, started more than two years ago as an attempt to keep the non-commissioned officers of 2nd Brigade, 205th Afghan National Army Corps in their ranks.
Before the academy at Forward Operating Base Eagle opened its doors, the Afghan non-commissioned officers attended the academy in Kabul. After graduating, many of the non-commissioned officers were sent to other units throughout Afghanistan, draining the 2-205th ANA Brigade of trained non-commissioned officers.
That’s when 2nd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment decided the best way to keep a hold of the Afghan non-commissioned officers was by building an academy for the 2-205th ANA Brigade.
“That way the knowledge they were gaining, they could keep in the brigade and they could spread it amongst their soldiers,” said Sgt. 1st Class Sean Mulcahy, non-commissioned officer in charge of Security Force Advisor Team 8, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment.
At first, members of the Security Force Advisor Team 8 instructed each class and then moved on to Afghan-led classes with members of Team 8 supervising. Now members of Team 8 just monitor classes periodically or answer any questions that may arise from the academy’s instructors.
“They’re completely self-sufficient,” said Mulcahy. “They teach everything themselves.”
Now the academy is up and running at full speed, graduating more than a hundred non-commissioned officers a year and retaining them in 2nd Brigade, 205th Afghan National Army Corps .
The students learn various soldiers skills such as how to obtain a proper sight picture with their individual weapons, advanced marksmanship techniques, how to conduct patrols through villages, and how to conduct basic counter insurgency operations. They also learn how to interact with village elders. The non-commissioned officers then take what they have learned back to their units and train their soldiers.
“The empowerment of those NCOs was evident by the way that they interacted with the soldiers and the leadership of the brigade,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Samuel G. Murphy, Command Sergeant Major of Combined Task Force Arrowhead and the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.
The academy is doing so well, in fact, that command sergeants major from across the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command paid them a visit Jan. 14 to see firsthand how the academy is being run and why it has been so successful. The non-commissioned officers attending the academy demonstrated for the command sergeants major a search of a mock village and the tactics they use while clearing rooms.
“It was the absolute best enlisted leader training that I have seen in the almost 7 months that I have been in Afghanistan,” said Command Sgt. Maj. John Wayne Troxell, command sergeant major of International Security Assistance Force Joint Command and 1st Corps, Joint Base Lewis McChord.
| Date Taken: | 01.18.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 01.23.2012 01:42 |
| Story ID: | 82690 |
| Location: | ZABUL PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 176 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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