Story by: Master Sgt. Kimberley Harrison
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – As the mixed American, Afghan aircrew met in a small room inside the Afghan maintenance hangar here, they listened to Afghan Air Force pilot, Capt. Najibullah Khagianai, give a flight briefing prior to an upcoming mission.
“He’s [Capt. Khagianai] a very smart man…very receptive to the advice we give him,” said Maj. Micah West, 441st Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron pilot advisor. “He cares about flying and learning new things.”
Building an entire Air Force is neither an easy nor quick task, but U.S. Airmen, assigned to the 441st and the 442nd AEAS are here working--not only as trainers, but mentors--side by side with their brothers-in-arms to get the newly designated Afghan Air Force airmen started on the right foot.
Traveling to and from multiple forwarding operating bases within Afghanistan is considered routine to the U.S. Air Force mentors who work daily with the Afghan Mi-17 helicopter crew.
“Today’s trip was a tactical evacuation for Afghan National Army troops and cargo,” said Maj. John Baer, flight nurse advisor, who served as the Mi-17 aerial gunner during the mission. “This is a normal day for us”
Training and mentoring the Afghan aircrew—who aren’t fluent in English—while completing normal day-to-day missions with hostile threat potential is something this crew is used to.
This, however, is not a typical aircrew because some of the members of this mentoring team serve in more than one role at any given time.
“We’re just filling in the gaps to make sure the mission happens,” said Master Sgt. Jon Godfrey, weapons mentor, deployed from the 1st Special Operations Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Fla.
Filling in the gaps means Airmen may be required to perform not only their mentoring roles, but taking on duties outside their norm.
“My primary job is to get the Afghan weapons personnel proficient in loading rockets, handling rockets and dealing with the delivery…at some point they’re going to have armed Mi-17's with rockets, so we’re trying to get them trained to load, operational check, unload and service that type of mission.” said Reisterstown, Md., native Godfrey.
U.S. medics, weapons maintenance or jet engine mechanics may be required to serve as aerial gunner, scanner or crew chief on any particular mission to ensure success.
“My job for this mission was to augment the operations crew by performing scanner duty, in addition to passenger control and added security, if needed, for the American aircraft pilot,” added Godfrey.
The transport mission, as with the majority of missions flown out of KAF, is an example of what our Airmen are doing to guide and mentor their mentorees.
“Before the mentoring program, the Afghans may not have thought of such things as considering the safety aspect of their aircraft and mission,” Maj. William Dorsey, 441st AEAS flight safety officer.
There is no question the Afghan pilots can fly helicopters—they’ve been doing it for years—but the US mentors want to instill more than just getting the helicopter in the air.
“The Afghan pilots know how to fly,” said West, deployed from the 54th Helicopter Squadron, Minot AFB, N.D., “what they don’t know is tactics or procedures.
This mission presented an opportunity for the Afghan pilot to train on different terrain.
“There’s two different ways to take off and land depending on what LZ [landing zone] you’re going into,” said, Tallahassee, Fla., native West. “They’re used to landing on concrete or gravel paths. We’re trying to train them to a level where they can go out to a remote site, do a high or low reconnaissance of the area and then land in an area where they might expect a lot of dust…in Afghanistan, if you’re off the gravel, there’s going to be a lot of dust.”
In addition to tactics and procedures, the mentors are also teaching the Afghan airmen how to plan a mission.
“The Afghans are encouraged to take the responsibility of planning the mission and executing it,” said West, “but right now they don’t have all their computers set up which allows them to do a quick ‘point and click’ mission planning like we do, so right now we do most of the mission planning for them
The mentors are in place to ensure the Afghans are performing missions safely and efficiently and it appears they’re on the right path because the mentors feel progress is being made.
“The Afghan Air Force is evolving and learning and they are making progress,” said West.
Through the challenges and successes, it’s a job that’s enjoyable and rewarding for the mentors.
“The job I have here is great,” said Godfrey. “It’s totally outside what 99 percent of the Air Force is doing. There are not many weapons troops or anyone out here who can say they’re flying, they’re going outside the wire, they’re doing convoys and at the same time building a new Air Force…that’s something you can be proud of.”
Editor’s Note: The Afghan Air Force was recently designated to distinguish itself from the Afghan National Army Air Corps much like its American counterparts from the Army Air Corps on Sept. 18, 1947.