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KANDAHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan - The 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment “Bobcats” have partnered with, trained and mentored the 6th Kandak (Battalion), 1st Brigade, 205th Atal “Hero” Corps of the Afghan National Army in Panjwa’i district, Kandahar province for the past year. The ANA have assumed increasing responsibility for the security of the people of the district and in facilitating the connection between ordinary citizens and their district government during that time.
Transitioning from U.S. and Afghan partnered operations to ANA dominance has not been an entirely smooth or peaceful process. The ANA and the Bobcats have both faced continuous threats from Taliban insurgents. Both sides have fought, bled, and lost comrades together while fighting for a brighter future for Panjwa’i. The shared hardships and sacrifices have brought the Afghan and U.S. soldiers together at every echelon, from the battalion through squad level.
The ANA recently made a decision to commemorate their service with the Bobcats that was both humbling and unprecedented. Borrowing several stencils and cans of spray paint from 1st Bn 5th Infantry Regiment, the 6th Kandak, 1st Bde, 205th painted all of their vehicles and most of the vertical surfaces within their command compound with the same Bobcat logo used by their American partners.
“My command sergeant major, Command Sgt. Maj. Jan Ali, came up with the idea to adopt the Bobcat’s logo and name for our Kandak,” said Lt. Col. Ghulam Dastigir, commander of the 6th Kandak, 1st Brigade, 205th. “We didn’t have a name or logo of our own for the unit, so we asked if we could adopt 1-5’s and call ourselves the Bobcats, too.”
Command Sgt. Maj. Ali explains that the name change and logo were adopted for more than just the purpose of increasing ANA esprit de corps.
“We’ve worked with 1-5 for a year—we’ve become like a family tree,” Ali says. “We know that they’re an old unit and have a long history, and we know they’re going home soon. We wanted part of the Bobcat family to be in Afghanistan as well, now.”
“It’s extremely humbling,” said 1st Bn 5th Infantry Regiment’s Command Sgt. Maj. Ernest Bowen, of Georgetown, Pa. “I’ve spent a lot of time talking with Command Sgt. Maj. Ali about unit pride and history and how it’s really a key role of the non-commissioned officers to keep that alive in a unit. You look out at other ANA units and they have some kind of an identity, with scorpions painted on their trucks and things like that, so all I’d mentioned to Command Sgt. Maj. Ali was that I thought it might be a good idea for him to give his own guys that kind of identity and pride.”
“When he came back a few weeks later and told me he’d like to start up that identity and pride by borrowing our logo, I agreed. It just seemed pretty cool,” Bowen admits with a grin.
The 6th Kandak, 1st Bde, 205th Bobcats have taken their new identity to heart. Spray-painted Bobcats greet any incoming vehicles at the entrance to their headquarters compound at Forward Operating Base Shoja. Bobcat logos adorn command structures, living tents, and dining facilities on the ANA side on Shoja exactly as they do on the American side. Every ANA vehicle at FOB Shoja now sports two black Bobcats on its side and back. Even the vehicles used by some of the civilian contractors on FOB Shoja have increasingly been showing their Bobcat pride.
But all of this is just the beginning. “We’ll begin painting all of our companies’ trucks throughout Panjwa’i with the Bobcat soon,” said Dastigir. “We want everyone in Panjwa’i to know that we are the Bobcat Battalion.”
The 1st Bn 5th Infantry Regiment, commander, Lt. Col. Brian Payne of Red Oak, Texas, says that the ANA’s adoption of the Bobcat sends an important message to his own soldiers, as well.
“We’ve been building our tactical infrastructures for the past year so that when we transition them to the ANA, they’ll be able to suit the ANA’s needs,” Payne remarks. “But for our guys, the ANA taking our logo and painting that on their trucks really says something. You can’t go home seeing that and not think you did something important. You can’t see that logo on their vehicles and not realize that you made an impact. You just can’t. It’s awesome.”
“When Afghan people ask me about the logo, I tell them that it represents the ANA,” Ali admits. “We want this to be something they all can know and feel safe with. The Bobcats will always be here for them now.”
| Date Taken: | 04.05.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 04.05.2012 14:38 |
| Story ID: | 86277 |
| Location: | KANDAHAR PROVINCE, AF |
| Hometown: | KANDAHAR, AF |
| Hometown: | KANDAHAR PROVINCE, AF |
| Hometown: | PANJWA'I DISTRICT, AF |
| Hometown: | PANJWAI DISTRICT, AF |
| Hometown: | FAIRBANKS, AK, US |
| Hometown: | WAINWRIGHT, AK, US |
| Web Views: | 514 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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