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While the Afghan National Army’s efforts to boost troop levels have been well publicized, the story of the ANA’s non-commissioned officer corps is unfolding quietly in the background.
In early August, the ANA reached its goal of 134,000 soldiers two months ahead of schedule and spurred mass media interest in the institution’s future. British army Colour Sgt. Ronnie Docherty, who oversees NCO training at Forward Operating Base Thunder, an ANA installation, said the less-discussed strength of the ANA’s NCO corps is just as important as its strength in numbers.
“NCOs are the mainstay of any army,” said Docherty, a member of the Mobile Education Training Team at Forward Operating Base Lightning. “If you don’t have a good NCO corps, the army will not function.”
When Docherty, of Clydebank, Scotland, arrived six months ago, the ANA faced a shortage of 17,000 NCOs, he said. Since that time, Docherty and his team have overseen the training of about 1,600 new ANA NCOs. These NCOs will serve in various units throughout the ANA’s 203rd Thunder Corps, which operates primarily in southeastern Afghanistan in the Paktya, Paktika, Khowst and Ghazni provinces. Similar NCO training centers are run in other regions of Afghanistan such as Kabul, Herat and Helmand provinces.
“It will take longer until the whole NCO thing is sorted,” said Docherty, whose home unit is Company C, 6th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland. “Slowly, but surely we’re getting there.”
“Getting there” will depend largely on the efforts of individual Afghan NCOs like ANA Sgt. Namiatullah Zahim, one of about 60 ANA NCOs in the current six-week cycle of the battle course at FOB Thunder. Like the U.S. Army’s Advanced Leader Course (formerly the Basic Noncommissioned Officer Course), the Battle Course prepares NCOs for their roles as squad leaders. Unlike ALC, the course includes things like literacy and human rights education.
“The course is very interesting, and I like it,” said Zahim, a 38-year-old with a gray-tinged black beard, who hails from Said Karem District, Paktya Province.
Like most Afghans, his life is not untouched by the conflicts of the last 30 years. In the 1980s, Zahim studied at a military academy in Kabul, but did not finish with a degree because of events related to the Russian invasion, he said. Still, with a high school education, he is better off than most, as his instructors have noticed. During his first week of class (which was taught primarily by civilians rather than military instructors) one of the civilians teaching the course made him deputy to the instructor.
In 2004, Zahim enlisted in the ANA for mainly altruistic motives, he said.
“My aim when I joined the ANA was to help my country and become a helper to my people,” he said.
Early in his military career, Zahim deployed to Zabul Province, Kalat District, where he gained experience doing foot patrols. His experience there solidified his trust of the ANA as an institution, he said.
“When you’re doing a mission it depends on the people; some people trust us, some people don’t,” he said. “Most people, however, trust us. We are ANA; we are not stealing or doing things like that.”
After gaining his stripes doing foot patrols, Zahim was transferred to a unit in Khowst Province where he works as a supply sergeant for the 203rd Thunder Corps. When his captain asked him if there were any NCOs who wanted to enroll in the battle course, Zahim volunteered.
Through Ramadan, which began Aug. 11, near the beginning of the battle course, Zahim and his colleagues trained during a very unusual schedule. He would get up at 2 a.m. to eat suhoor - a meal consumed early in the morning as Muslims may not eat during the day during Ramadan - and then again at 4 a.m. for prayer.
Accountability formation began at 7 a.m. and instruction began in earnest by 8 a.m., in a classroom with only an Afghan flag on its otherwise bare walls. The classroom is connected to a makeshift prayer room with prayer rugs laid out for prayer time.
Given the demands of fasting for Ramadan, the classes often let out as early as 11 or 11:30 a.m. However, learning usually continues after class has let out.
“Some of them are trying very hard to work,” Zahim said of his fellow students. “When they are in their B-huts [after class has let out] they are still practicing. I can see there is a positive change in them.”
Now four weeks into the course, Zahim said he has learned much.
“I have learned squad-level attacks and platoon level attacks,” he said. “Also, I’ve learned a number of different techniques for conducting a patrol and how to set up a hasty perimeter.”
While the future of the ANA remains uncertain, Zahim remains confident.
“We need more troops for ANA in Afghanistan, and we will finish this crisis,” he said.
| Date Taken: | 09.11.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 09.11.2010 18:06 |
| Story ID: | 56110 |
| Location: | PAKTYA PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 119 |
| Downloads: | 8 |
This work, NCO training develops ANA backbone, by SGT Spencer Case, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
