Georgians at the CAT-C

Photo By Spc. Zachary Stahlberg | Donald Bretch, an assisting instructor during the Small Arms Maintenance Course, observes Georgian soldiers and civilians as they reassemble the M240B weapons system in the Combined Arms Training Center in Vilseck, Germany, August 29, 2019. The Georgians are learning to utilize U.S. weapons systems, further improving the interoperability of our nations through the instruction of this course.  

BAYERN, GERMANY

09.05.2019

Story by Pfc. Zachary Stahlberg 

7th Army Training Command

VILSECK, Germany -Foreign Nationals from Georgia, both civilian and noncommissioned officers (NCO) are participating in the Small Arms Maintenance 31 (SAM-31) course held at 7th Army Training Command’s Combined Arms Training Center (CAT-C) Vilseck, Germany, from Aug. 27 through Sept. 06, 2019.
CAT-C’s SAM-31 course is designed to educate United States military forces on how to operate and maintain various weapons systems used by our military. “This is the first time this course has ever been taught to a foreign country,” said David Cole, the director of military programs Europe Campus.
“They are used to using Russian weapons systems because they used to be a part of Russia,” said Cole. “So now that they are using American weapons systems, we need to teach them how to operate and maintain this equipment.”
This is the first time the U.S. is teaching this course to another country so there have been many challenges to overcome. Each challenge provides the U.S. instructors and the Georgian students the opportunity to better understand each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and the importance of communication between them.
“We’ve had a few issues that were very difficult for us to overcome,” said Corey Martin, the secondary instructor for the SAM-31 course. “The biggest of which is of course the language barrier. There is only one student who can actually speak English, so we need to rely on him to translate everything the instructor says and trust he understands it himself.”
Their ability to adapt and overcome each obstacle that gets in their way has not escaped the notice of their instructors. They rely on the instructors for information, and the instructors rely on feedback from them to enhance the course. The relationship between students and teachers further improves the interoperability between our two nations.
“They are extremely receptive of the information they are given,” said David Van Lannen, the lead instructor of the SAM-31 course. “They learn quickly, jotting down notes and then getting together after class to understand their notes better.”
The instructors were not only impressed with how quickly the Georgian students generalized and retained what was being taught, they also recognized their knowledge base of what was being taught.
“Every one of these guys have had extensive training in weapons systems before. It’s just understanding the maintenance aspect, and trying to get them to conform to how we do things that is proving a challenge.”
The cohesion shown between the Georgians and the Instructors of the SAM-31 course reflects the relationship we hope to improve through continuous training and receptive feedback between friendly nations.
“It comes down to hard work,” said Martin. “The Georgians are smart, receptive, and have a great work ethic. Their ability to work together to overcome the problems they face in the classroom reflect how they overcome problems they might face on the battlefield.”

• Date Taken: 09.05.2019
• Date Posted: 09.05.2019 03:50
• Story ID: 338456
• Location: BAYERN, DE