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By José Luis Cristobal Barcón
Regional Command-West Public Affairs
QALA-E-NOW, Afghanistan – During the past week it took place the first artillery exercise by the 3/207 Afghan National Army Brigade at the Combat Outpost "Hernán Cortés," in vicinity of Darrah i Bum.
The Afghan unit is supervised by Mentoring and Liaison Teams, and advised by the Military Advisory Teams of the Spanish paratroopers forces of ASPFOR XXXI.
The firing exercise allowed to evaluate the ability of the Afghan unit, supervised by the Mentoring and Liaison Team, to prepare, coordinate and manage all the administrative matters before the shooting, and to assess the ability of the artillery battery belonging to Kandak (Battalion) 4/3, assisted by the Military Advisory Team staff, in order to shoot at multiple targets.
The exercise was conducted over two days. The first part included the presence of various authorities, with the governor of the Badghis province among them, as well as the general commander of the brigade. The second one was used to observe the evolution of artillery actions within the brigade.
In order to perform the exercises, a battery of howitzers D-30 122mm, settled at COP "Hernán Cortés" fired some penetrating and incendiary projectiles to the projectiles drop zone, located at around 8 kilometers.
The final assessment of the MAT-CS was very satisfying as the artillery fire successfully achieved at all time the designated targets.
The need for artillery units is based on the situation in which Afghan army is regarding the insurgence. It is essential to have a fire element that is powerful, precise, and able to repel the attacks of the insurgency to the observation posts and Combat Outposts of the ANA. Artillery is precisely the asset capable of providing these units means to achieve the superiority that would allow them the control of the land.
Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams develop training, coaching, counseling, liaison and supervision mission in regard the Afghan army. Their job is to ensure that the Afghan army is capable in Badghis province to continue providing the security and stability that currently provide international forces. These teams are composed by officers and non-commissioned officers and its structure is based upon the Spanish Paratroopers Brigade.
The working procedure is very simple, based on "Shohna ba Shohna" statement, which means "Shoulder to Shoulder." In that way, a Spanish lieutenant colonel mentors the brigadier general in command of the Afghan brigade; majors mentor the Kandak commanders, and lieutenants to the captains in command of the companies, which are called "Tolay" in Afghanistan, and so on until the Afghan platoon leaders, who are mentored by Spanish warrant officers.
In a second stage training will gradually be replaced by the advice, being this work performed by the MAT-CS, that is organized similarly to mentoring teams, and are based on the Spanish Field Artillery Command. The goal is to reach the final stage in which the Afghan army will lead all missions completely autonomously.
| Date Taken: | 07.07.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 07.07.2012 09:18 |
| Story ID: | 91233 |
| Location: | QALA-E-NOW, AF |
| Web Views: | 74 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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