Photo By Andrew Moseley | Albanian Armed Forces officer candidate Besmilvini, Kolchi (left) speaks with New...... read more read more
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CAMP SMITH TRAINING SITE, New York—Five New York Army National Guard officer candidates are heading to Albania in April to train with their counterparts from the Albanian Land Force and the New Jersey Army National Guard.
The New York officer candidates, along with six instructors from New York’s 106th Regional Training Institute, are participating in the unique overseas training deployment, thanks to New Jersey’s 254th Regional Training Institute.
The April 10 to 24 training event is part of the New Jersey National Guard’s State Partnership Program relationship with the Balkan nation.
It’s a great opportunity for his officer candidates to accomplish their required training goals, while also learning to work with Guardsmen from another state and Soldiers from a NATO ally, said Lt. Col. Aaron Lefton, the commander of the 106th’s second battalion.
This could also provide a model for the New York National Guard to use in developing similar training opportunities with its State Partnership Program countries, Brazil, and South Africa, Lefton added.
“We are fortunate to be piggybacking on this with New Jersey, “Lefton emphasized.
Officer Candidate Katherine Murrell, a 30-year-old Rockaway, New Jersey resident, who enlisted directly into New York officer candidate school, said she was looking forward to the trip.
“I know it is going to be a challenge to be out in the field for the entire time, but I think it will be a great experience,” she said.
Officer candidate Jason Frantz, a 37-year-old specialist in the 152nd Engineer Support Company, who previously served six years in the Navy, said he had visited many places the western Pacific during his Navy service and was looking forward to seeing a new country.
The OCS cadre had told them they would likely be going someplace and that they would need a passport, Frantz said. It was a surprise when they learned it was Albania, the Walworth, New York resident added.
The New York Soldiers are coming along for the third phase of a five-year effort to help the Albanian army develop a military academy style officer training program, according to Lt. Col. Stuart Loy, the commander of the 1st Battalion, 254th Training Regiment.
The New Jersey National Guard has had a State Partnership Program relationship with Albania since 1993. The Albanian military has turned to the New Jersey Guard to help modernize, and the officer education project is part of that effort, Loy explained.
When the Albanian Armed Forces decided to create a military academy officer commissioning system, the leaders reached out to the New Jersey National Guard and the United States Military Academy at West Point, for help, Loy said.
Two years ago, he spent 90 days in Albanian as a subject matter expert to help with their training and help decide how to proceed, Loy said. The New Jersey Guard and Albanian leaders came up with a plan to change Albanian’s officer training process.
The first phase took place in 2022 when New Jersey officer candidates traveled to Albanian for joint training with their Albanian counterparts, Loy said.
“The integration of our officer candidates and their officer candidates working together was a huge success,” Loy said. The goal, he said, was to demonstration western military leadership style with hands on examples.
While the Albanians, as NATO allies, had learned some basic English skills, it was good practice for the Americans to work out the communications difficulties, Loy said.
“We used that as a training tool and a challenge,” he said.
The next step in the plan was to integrate Soldiers from another Army Guard element into the training, Loy said. So, he reached out to New York’s 106th RTI.
“They are our neighboring state, and we do a lot of interaction with them,” Loy explained.
The plans for the deployment call, for the New York and New Jersey Guardsmen to depart Joint Base Mcguire-Dix-Lakehurst on the afternoon of April 10.
The Americans will travel to a training area on the Adriatic Sea near Durres, Albania’s second largest city, and will stay in the field the during their deployment.
The first week of training will revolve around completing situational training exercise lanes required by the officer candidate school training program, Lefton said.
On day seven, the officer candidates will get a chance to visit the city of Duress, experience some of the local culture, and participate in a “staff ride” discussing the history of the of the region and the battles waged nearby during the Roman civil wars of 44 to 31 B.C.
The second phase of the training will concentrate on platoon level tactics and give the candidates leadership opportunities.
U.S. Ambassador to Albanian Yuri Kim is expected to view a platoon attack exercise conducted by the Americans and Albanians, according to the training schedule.
There will be plenty of challenges for the New York OCS candidates, Lefton said.
They will be “falling in on AK-47s” and it will be challenging to work with soldiers who speak a different language, he said.
But he thinks the Americans can help the Albanians—whose army was originally modeled on that of the Soviet Union with top-down leadership—learn the more independent, American system of leading troops, Lefton said.
“New Jersey has working hard to build this model with the Albanians. It is going to be interesting,” Lefton said.
| Date Taken: | 03.27.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 03.27.2023 14:34 |
| Story ID: | 441265 |
| Location: | CAMP SMITH TRAINING SITE , NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 275 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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