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KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – “Shona-ba-shona” is an expression in Pashtu meaning to work “shoulder-to-shoulder.”
It is phrase soldiers from the 721st Engineer Company of Grand Prairie, Texas, heard many times while training Afghan engineer soldiers at their operating base in Aziz-Ullah, Afghanistan.
Capt. Scott Schwartz, company commander and native of Anna, Texas, and 1st Sgt. Ban Tien, of Pearland, Texas, said they knew there was an opportunity for the 721st to advance the engineering skills of the Afghan National Army when they accepted a request from the 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y., to conduct monthly workshops with ANA soldiers.
“The United States has made an unprecedented investment over the last 10 years to facilitate a stable future for the people of Afghanistan,” Schwartz said, who is serving his second tour in Afghanistan. “At our level and at this phase of the war effort, one of our jobs is to shift the responsibility from coalition forces to that of the Afghanistan National Army and related agencies.”
The goal of the monthly four-day engineer course is to equip Afghan soldiers with the skills to operate construction equipment well enough to take over the construction missions when U.S. and coalition forces exit Afghanistan.
One of the challenges the 721st faces is that most of the Afghan soldiers have little to no experience operating construction equipment. To overcome this hurdle, the first few courses will cover basic maintenance and control operations for four different pieces of machinery: a Bobcat skid loader, backhoe loader, compactor and road grader.
The first phase of the course focused on basic equipment maintenance – how to check for leaks, change fluids, and determine what operators should and shouldn’t fix by themselves.
It did not take long for lead backhoe loader instructor, Sgt. Monica Melton of Paris, Texas, to understand the complexity of working with a translator to overcome a language barrier.
“It was tough. There was no way to translate some of the vehicle parts into their language,” Melton said. “But I was surprised how they were still able to learn.”
The round-robin training during phases two and three familiarized the soldiers with the controls and functions of each piece of equipment. They also started the equipment and practiced simple operator tasks.
“We had them working in their own [vehicle lot]. They dug holes, cut and filled, compacted and pushed dirt with the bulldozer,” said senior course maintenance instructor, Sgt. Brandon Hurley, of Flower Mound, Texas,.
By the fourth phase of the training, the instructors said they were confident the Afghan soldiers could handle two smaller projects in the unit’s vehicle staging area.
One of the projects included laying gravel with the Bobcat and compacting it with the roller. The second project was building a loading ramp with the backhoe loader.
Hurley said he sees the potential in the workshops and is impressed with how eager the Afghan soldiers are to learn.
“They want to take these skills to the civilian world and earn money for their families,” said Hurley. “They also want to get out there and put forth their efforts to the war.”
While watching his soldiers train, Lt. Khir Muhammad, one of the Afghan officers involved with the training, said he is confident in the training and grateful his soldiers are working with the 721st.
Sgt. 1st Class Joshua Jordan, of Paris, Texas, and lead non-commissioned officer of the course, said he is impressed with how well the 721st instructors have taken on the challenge of training ANA soldiers and that they had a “blast” doing it.
“A lot of people wonder when the war will end. This [partnership with the Afghans] shows the turning of the tide,” Jordan said.
The Texas unit has more training planned for the ANA at the end of February, including a full day devoted to equipment maintenance. Upcoming ANA projects include building a weapons test-fire pit and improving a road leading into the Aziz-Ullah base.
For now the Afghan soldiers will continue to work shoulder-to-shoulder with the 721st, but the goal is for them to eventually conduct their own engineer operations without help from U.S. or coalition forces.
| Date Taken: | 02.15.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 02.24.2012 09:41 |
| Story ID: | 84289 |
| Location: | KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, AF |
| Web Views: | 825 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 721st Engineer Company Trains Afghan Engineer Soldiers, by SGT Joseph Koktan, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
