KABUL, Afghanistan - Lt. Col. John C. McCurdy, commander, 738th Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron, NATO Air Training Command - Afghanistan relinquished his command to Lt. Col. Ryan B. Nichols on Sept. 28, 2010, during a change of command ceremony held at the Afghan air force’s “Pohantoon-e-Hawayee,” training academy in Kabul. McCurdy is departing after a year spent developing the PeH School.
“We (the 738 AEAS) advise the Afghan Air Force’s “Pohantoon-e-Hawayee,” which roughly translates as “Air University.” A year ago the school offered about a dozen technical courses and a basic introduction to the Air Corps. These courses were mostly taught by American mentors. Our job was to turn this small training center into a comprehensive Air University capable of supporting every career field within the Afghan air force while also providing remedial adult education and leadership training,” explained McCurdy.
With a focus on expanding the curriculum and increasing literacy rates, McCurdy has lead the school in developing the new air force recruits education as well as their technical skills to perform their assigned military job.
As McCurdy explains, “During the past year, we expanded the number of courses offered to 50 with plans firmly in place to continue to a little over 100 within the next nine to twelve months. We’ve already provided courses for each Afghan air force career field; plus, we expanded leadership training to junior officers and non-commissioned officers. Literacy is now offered to every new recruit, and plans are underway to provide what will essentially amount to a General Education Diploma program. Education is surely our greatest need here. English was once limited to aircrew and those chosen to train overseas. We’ve greatly expanded English training capacity and will soon offer it to virtually anyone who wants or needs it.”
McCurdy recognized the need to bring back experienced personnel from the Afghan air force who had both the required technical knowledge as well as the leadership skill to help develop the new generation of the air force. McCurdy utilized a local personnel management company to seek out these individuals and enlist their aid.
“We never could have made this much progress by imposing coalition-developed training programs onto the Afghans. Our footprint here is way too small, and the Afghans would not have responded well to such an approach … Many of these Afghan civilian instructors—our “Grey Eagles”—possess advanced technical degrees and held leadership positions over large, productive organizations in pre-Taliban Afghanistan. Some have published highly technical engineering and scientific texts. Most are in their 60s or 70s and are sophisticated, well-educated, modern men,” said McCurdy.
It is the ability to use “western” ideas with unique Afghan approaches that McCurdy feels will have the strongest benefit for the PeH. And in a broader sense, the country and encouraging the involvement of the older generations is in many respects the best way to do that. McCurdy has laid that groundwork and is excited to see it continue.
“There is an aging brain trust still extant in Afghanistan that we are working to re-energize and although the future of Afghanistan certainly lies with its younger generation, there is a very capable and largely forgotten generation that is eagerly waiting to be called upon to serve once again,” said McCurdy.
| Date Taken: |
09.28.2010 |
| Date Posted: |
09.28.2010 07:57 |
| Story ID: |
57115 |
| Location: |
KABUL, AF |
| Web Views: |
212 |
| Downloads: |
8 |
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Subscribe
