JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – The United States and Australia have long been allies. They fought together against the Japanese in World War II and, now, in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. With the next contingent of Australian soldiers preparing to deploy to Afghanistan this summer, the U.S. Army is helping them prepare for what they will potentially encounter.
The next command team, or battlefield owners, of Combined Team Uruzgan, which will control all of the Uruzgan province in southern Afghanistan, will be a mixture of Australian and American soldiers. Australian soldiers picked from all over the Australian Army and California National Guardsmen from the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team will combine to create CTU and work together for nine months under Regional Command South.
To help prepare both the Australians and the National Guardsmen for their upcoming deployment, the U.S. Army handpicked nine officers and noncommissioned officers from the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, to pass on their experience and expertise. The officers and noncommissioned officers from 3-2 SBCT, also known as the Arrowhead Brigade, just recently redeployed from that region of Afghanistan six months ago. They acted as augment observer controllers at the Australian Army’s Combined Training Center, which is the Australian’s version of the U.S.’s Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La.
“First Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment was selected to send an augment team of observer controllers to support the Combined Task Force Uruzgan train up for Afghanistan,” said Lt. Col. Robert Halvorson, commander 1-14 Cav. Reg. “We were selected because a large portion of Troop A, 1-14 Cav. was stationed in Uruzgan during our last deployment.”
Halvorson added that aside from observing the exercise, their role was to draw on their experiences in RC-South, and their experiences in the positions they worked.
“Their doctrine is very similar to our doctrine, but I was able to tie in the nuances that I had already spent 12 months experiencing,” said Cpt. Chuck Crawford, commander Headquarters and Headquarters Troop 1-14 Cav. Reg, who was Troop A’s commander during its deployment in southern Afghanistan. “We were able to transfer so much of our knowledge base of both Uruzgan and working with RC-South.”
Firsthand experience played a large part for the Arrowhead officers and noncommissione officers as they mentored the Australian and National Guard staff members. The 25-day exercise was the final block of training for both the Australians and the National Guardsmen before they deploy and focused largely on how to work seamlessly within RC-South.
“They were all pretty well prepared, they were all professional, they knew what their jobs were going to be and they executed very well,” added Crawford.
Along with training, this exercise also served to build relations between the U.S. and Australian Armies, since the Arrowhead Brigade is now helping with the U.S. Pacific Command mission in the Pacific Rim.
“They [Australian Army] were very receptive of it [the American advice],” said Crawford. “From everything I saw, they were very appreciative that we were able to come over and strengthen our partnership.”