Photo By Spc. Benjamin Fox | Spc. Rodney Macomber sets up camouflaged netting for a fighting position at the Grey...... read more read more
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By Pfc. Ben Fox
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division
BAQUBAH, Iraq – Soldiers worked for days on end, filling sandbags, constructing fighting positions, placing concertina wire and setting up camouflaged netting.
Oddly, the position being fortified is not expected to come under attack. Instead, the building is going to be used as a leadership academy for Iraqi security forces.
The "Grey Wolf Leadership Academy" is located at Forward Operating Base Gabe and is scheduled to begin classes for coalition force Soldiers, Iraqi Army Soldiers and Iraqi Police, Feb. 11. The course will last seven days with a graduation ceremony on the eighth day.
"It is going to entail focus on leadership development," said Command Sgt. Maj. Donald Felt, the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division command sergeant major, who is in charge of creating the academy.
The course will involve classes on all seven days, including NCO responsibilities and duties, and leadership principals on the first day.
The purpose of the classes is "to facilitate professional development of the IA and IP NCO Corps," said Felt.
On the second day, the students will learn Army values and general orders.
So that the ISF can be better trusted by those they serve, Felt said the instructors will teach values and ethics the United States Army is known for. The third day turns more hands on as the students learn weapons familiarization, marksmanship and reflexive fire.
Staff Sgt. James Evans, native to Tuscan, Ariz., will primarily be in charge of conducting the firing ranges at the academy, which he was previously doing for U.S. Soldiers at Forward Operating Base Warhorse.
The marksmanship range will consist of firing ten rounds in three positions -- standing, kneeling and prone -- so that in all, 30 shots are fired, said Evans.
The students will return to the ranges again on day four for buddy team and squad live fire exercises.
The buddy team fire will have four different cover and concealment elements, two running lanes, and the final element will fit the entire team so they can all engage the target together, said Evans.
Day five involves more complicated leadership responsibilities such as rules of engagement, fire commands and reporting.
On day six, medical training will be the focus, as well as an obstacle course aimed to improve battle focused physical training.
The obstacle course includes logs to jump over, tires to run through, wire to crawl under and a balance beam to cross.
The last day of training emphasizes defense and how to maintain and create defensive positions.
"(This will) teach them how to sustain their fire and stay in the fight," said Staff Sgt. Jeff Young, native to Lockhart, Texas. Young is in charge of teaching defense and holding defensive positions.
All of the courses are similar to courses American Soldiers go through, but the visual aids have been translated into Arabic so the students can see visually what they hear from the Soldiers through interpreters, said Young.
"The ultimate goal is to train Iraqis so they can defend," said Evans. "Teach them to hold in place and defend."
This is all ties into the main mission of coalition forces in Iraq, which is to hand over security to the Iraqis.
"Our exit strategy depends on Iraqi security forces being able to provide security," said Felt. "Anything we do to build ISF capabilities is important."
Young also said he hopes the academy will "help (ISF) defeat their enemies without us." "If they become more self-sustainable and less reliable on us, it has to help," said Young.
To prove the academy's worth, graduation day will be different than most. The students will show what they learned from the previous week when their academy comes under a mock attack.
"Our graduation exercise is a live fire defense of the academy itself," said Felt. The Iraqi leadership will see their Soldiers conducting a complicated defense of the academy, he said.
Hopefully it will provoke a reaction, and the VIPs will ask, "How did they train them to do this in seven days?" said Felt.
| Date Taken: | 01.30.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 01.30.2007 14:55 |
| Story ID: | 9007 |
| Location: | BAQUBAH, IQ |
| Web Views: | 195 |
| Downloads: | 99 |
This work, 'Grey Wolf Leadership Academy' to Open Soon, by SPC Benjamin Fox, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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