By Pfc. Alisha Nye
14th Public Affairs Detachment
FORWARD OPERATING BASE WARHORSE, Iraq - Soldiers with Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, have begun training Iraqi army Soldiers the delicate art of vehicular machinery at Forward Operating Base Warhorse, located in the Diyala province of Iraq.
"We first started training them close to the end of the year, 2008," said staff Sgt. Ramiro Carrasco, an automotive mechanic currently overseeing the training of the Iraqi army soldiers involved with the program. "We have them, roughly, for about two weeks at a time."
The training was started as part of a partnership program between 1st SBCT, 25th Inf. Div., and the Iraqi army in the area, said Carrasco.
Carrasco also explained that the program is designed around the knowledge base of the individuals going through it at the time.
"We do a knowledge assessment of what it is that they know and we actually base our curriculum [on] how much they know," the native of Dallas, Texas, said. "We've actually gotten some that are pretty proficient in different areas. The last crew...we had two of them who were electricians. When we got to the electrical portion of the training it became relatively easy just for the simple fact that they had some knowledge base."
Training these individuals serves a strong purpose, said Carrasco.
"They're going to have a lot of the same equipment that we currently have or that we've given them already," he said. "So it's best that we teach them how to use it and how to troubleshoot the problems."
So far, Carrasco said, that has been the chief element in training the Iraqi army Soldiers on vehicle mechanics.
"A lot of it has to do with just troubleshooting – just finding the right answers to the problem," he said. "Once we've gotten past that, then we just show them how maintain the equipment."
The most challenging part about the training, however, has been breaking old habits.
"We try and teach them the curriculum by the textbook itself," Carrasco said. "With these guys, it's almost like a shade-tree mechanic. They're just trying to get to it, versus trying to do it right."
The completed training is not done without avail. Carrasco assures that it is all for a greater purpose.
"At the end of every day they do a check on learning and it's not just something they're going through the motions with," he said. "We're trying to teach them something more advanced they can take back to their units with them. At the end of the day, they actually retain what it is they're doing."