Courtesy Photo | Col. William Cain, deputy intelligence officer (C2) for Third U.S. Army, stand...... read more read more
Spc. Jonathan Montgomery
Third U.S. Army Public Affairs Office
FORT MCPHERSON, Ga. (Aug. 19, 2005) - A delegation of five Kazakhstan officers visited the Third U.S. Army Headquarters Aug. 19, as part of a weeklong Theater Security Cooperation (TSC) event entitled "Training Management Officer Professional Development Information Exchange," at Fort McPherson.
The event was designed to introduce the Kazakhstan delegation to the U.S. Army Training Management System in order to help them evaluate their (Kazakhstan) current system and exchange ideas with their U.S. Army counterparts.
"The goal of the event is to orient the Kazakh officers to the U.S. training management system, a process through which the U.S. Army trains its units, from squad level common task training to brigade exercises," said Maj. Scott Dullea, Kazakhstan country desk officer, Third U.S. Army International Civil-Military Affairs. "Helping Kazakhstan improve its training management capabilities will play an important role in helping to ensure Kazakhstan is a capable partner in current and future coalition operations."
The Kazakhstan Ministry of Defense said it hopes that this training event will strengthen its country's standing within the international community.
"Kazakhstan is actively pursuing enhanced cooperation with, and eventual membership in NATO," said Dullea. "This event will enhance their training management system to make the Kazakhstan's military able to operate with the United States and other western systems."
The delegation participants included senior officers from the Kazakhstan Ministry of Defense, the Air-Mobile Brigade and the International Peacekeeping Battalion. The first part of the visit was spent in Atlanta, where they received initial briefings about the U.S. Army Training Management System.
With the aid of an interpreter, the delegates learned the importance of developing short, long, and near-term training schedules. They also learned the importance of identifying training shortfalls, which are obtained by conducting an after action review after each training event.
Another important subject discussed during the visit was learning to rely on their noncommissioned officer counterparts, or sergeants, when improving war fighting proficiency and training; especially at the squad, platoon and company level since most of the soldiers in the Kazakh military are trained by officers, not NCOs.
After their Third U.S. Army visit, the officers headed to Phoenix to meet with members of the Arizona National Guard. Arizona is the partner state with Kazakhstan in the State Partnership Program, a Security Cooperation mission linking U.S. states with foreign countries, the goals of which are to actively participate in a host of engagement events such as bilateral familiarization which could lead to training exercise opportunities, fellowship-style internships, civic leader visits and medical events. In the past, Kazakh officers have met with rescue divers at an international workshop for emergency response in Arizona.
After Arizona, the officers from Kazakhstan will go to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., to observe units participating in rotational training in order to better understand the role that exercises play in training management.
"Observing actual Army fighting units facing professional opposing forces and performing a realistic training exercise will demonstrate the importance of exercises as part of the training process," said Dullea.
Kazakhstan is a major participant in the TSC program with more than a dozen programs over the past year, including improving air assault, military police, public affairs and mountain warfare capabilities.
U.S. Army Forces Central Command (ARCENT) plans to continue the program next year and into the future. This program will further improve the interoperability between the United States and other nations by developing the self-defense mechanisms of allies to interact effectively in coalition operations.
"Kazakhstan is a very active participant in our program, as well as a coalition partner in Iraq and in the Global War on Terror," said Dullea about Kazakhstan's 30 Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians currently deployed to Iraq.
Third U.S. Army's involvement in the TSC program with Kazakhstan began in 1999 when the U.S. Central Command area of operations expanded to include Central Asia. In addition to its engagement with Kazakhstan, ARCENT cooperates with ground forces of countries from all over Central Command's area of operation, which spans the Horn of Africa to Southwest Asia.
Some recent TSC highlights include a field artillery seminar in the United Arab Emirates with participants from several Middle East countries. There also have been combat medical information exchanges with Turkmenistan and Tajikistan.
Theater Security Cooperation exercises, which cover virtually any military topic, are helping ARCENT to build stronger partnerships in its area of responsibility by determining the training needs of its cooperation-partner countries, Dullea explained.
| Date Taken: | 08.23.2005 |
| Date Posted: | 08.23.2005 15:01 |
| Story ID: | 2823 |
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| Web Views: | 251 |
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