Georgians train Iraqi mortar teams

Photo By Sgt. Daniel West | An Iraqi mortarman receives his certificate during a brief ceremony following a joint mortar live fire exercise near al Kut, July 10.  

AL KUT, IRAQ

07.07.2008

Story by Sgt. Daniel West 

Multi-National Division-Central

By Sgt. Daniel T. West
Multi-National Division-Center

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA, Iraq – Iraqi army soldiers participated in a five-day mortar training course with the 1st Georgian Brigade.

Iraqi soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 32nd Iraqi army brigade's first and second companies trained on mortar procedures and crew drills, culminating in a live fire exercise north of al Kut July sixth to tenth.

The tone for the training program arose after IA soldiers found two 60mm mortars in a weapons cache. The battalion brought a request to their U.S. Military Transition Team to supply sights for the mortars.

Since the design is not one compatible with U.S. systems, and mortar sights are very difficult to procure, the MiTT team requested assistance from the Georgian soldiers, said Cpt. Paul Santamaria, of the MiTT team.

The Georgians could not provide sights, but offered not only to loan their sights to the Iraqis for training purposes, but to conduct the training themselves, said Santamaria.

"It's necessary to have a good relationship with the Iraqi security forces and to help them as much as possible," said Lt. Col. Irakli Chimburidze, 1st Georgian Brigade, of their decision to conduct the training.

"Before this, they (the IA) had a lot of theory," he said. "We gave more attention to practical information and training."

The MiTT team had not worked with the Georgian army before, so they went into the training "not knowing what to expect," said Santamaria.

"I didn't know how capable they would be, training the Iraqi army," he said. "The Georgians trained the Iraqi army as well as we could and showed an impressive understanding of the Iraqi culture."

For their part, the Iraqi soldiers participating in the training were very motivated, counting it an "honor" to participate, said Santamaria.

"The Iraqis hung on every word, even the ones they couldn't understand," he said.

The training was the first training on 60mm mortars provided to the 32nd IA Brigade, and will be the basis of a "train the trainer" program for other mortar teams, said Santamaria.

• Date Taken: 07.07.2008
• Date Posted: 07.14.2008 13:34
• Story ID: 21470
• Location: AL KUT, IQ