Photo By Chief Petty Officer Patrick Gordon | Haji Kamran Qasim Karzai, cultural adviser and instructor, conducts Afghan cultural...... read more read more
GULFPORT, Miss. – Members of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 25 (NMCB-25) received instruction in Afghan culture, history, and language at Naval Construction Battalion Center (NCBC) Gulfport Jan. 25. The training was done in preparation for the battalion’s upcoming deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom later this year.
“This training is very important for personnel deploying to Afghanistan, because we can’t establish a relationship between our two countries if we don’t know about each other,” said Haji Kamran Qasim Karzai, cultural adviser and instructor at NCBC Gulfport. “The instruction is basically a cultural breakdown of how to interact with local Afghans, Afghan National Army, and Afghan National Police soldiers to kind of give the sailors a better understanding of the day-to-day routine of life in Afghanistan and how Afghans live on a regular basis.”
Karzai said he has a profound respect for instructing service members on Afghan culture because of how mutually beneficial it is for both the people of the United States and Afghanistan.
“In 2002, I went to Afghanistan to see if I could help over there with the Afghan government, and after seeing that the country was basically in shambles and the government was not really sufficient, I came back here and I started working with the military,” said Karzai. “My father told me, ‘Son, you’ll be better on that side because you speak good English, you speak three languages, it’s better for you to work on that side because they’re our partners to try to fix our country [Afghanistan].’”
Karzai explained various aspects of life in Afghanistan to NMCB-25 personnel during the training, including ethnic and cultural variations in the country, historic invasions of the region and their effect on the nation today, economic factors affecting the country, and differences in language throughout the region. The battalion members appreciated the training for opening their eyes to a country and culture some knew little about.
“I liked it, I really learned a lot,” said Logistics Specialist 2nd Class Lewis Marschner, of NMCB-25 Headquarters Company. “I mean, even in addition to useful information, a lot of it was really interesting, like how big hospitality is to people in Afghanistan. And there were lot of things I had never even known, like how back in the 1970s Afghanistan used to be a rich and prosperous country.”
Marschner also noted that learning the do’s and don’ts of social interaction in Afghanistan would pay dividends once overseas.
“It was great to learn the stuff that we shouldn’t do or say while we’re over there that would cause offense, for instance, how it’s considered rude over there to ask someone how someone’s female relatives are; I had no idea,” said Marschner. “It’s so casual here to ask someone something like, ‘How’s your wife,’ so cultural information like that is really going to help us. I feel better prepared to deploy after that training, because it really is better to keep friends than enemies while we’re working with the Afghans.”
Karzai echoed this sentiment of friendship between the two nations.
“I want these sailors to know that you have my appreciation for rebuilding the country that was so demolished in fighting during the Cold War to defeat the communists,” said Karzai. “Now we’re basically getting the credit for the country that needed the help and the right people, our brothers, the U.S., helping us again.”
NMCB-25 is a battalion of the Naval Construction Force. It is a routinely deployable unit, standing ready to provide construction support for Navy, Marine Corps and other organizations. To be prepared, these Reservists train in both technical and tactical skills. The primary focus of the Reserve units during their active training time is readiness training, and the maintenance and repair of fleet activities.
| Date Taken: | 01.25.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 01.29.2014 21:18 |
| Story ID: | 119826 |
| Location: | GULFPORT, MISSISSIPPI, US |
| Web Views: | 301 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, NMCB-25 prepares for deployment with Afghan culture instruction, by CPO Patrick Gordon, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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