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COMBAT OUTPOST CASTLE, Afghanistan- It wasn't quite yet noon, but the sun was sweltering down on the Police Mentoring Team and Afghan national police here, as they set out for a presence patrol of the surrounding area.
As the coalition partners exited the COP they passed dozens of Afghans at the local bazaar, stopping frequently to speak with them before continuing on.
The mentoring team conducts daily patrols searching for improvised explosive devices, looking for Taliban influence, and interacting with the local populace while mentoring the ANP.
"We monitor the ANP to get them ready to go out on patrols on their own so they don't have to rely on us," said Cpl. Brian J. Jenkins, 22, a military policeman.
"We're now letting them take the lead so maybe the next PMT will let them go out on patrol by themselves which makes them look better and have a good face with the locals," said Jenkins, from Lapeer, Mich.
Tazah Gul, one of the ANP soldiers on the patrol, searched and questioned motorist and pedestrians.
"By patrolling with the PMT and working with other Marines I have become a better listener and better at finding out what the peoples' problems are," said Tazah Gul, 30, after the patrol returned to the COP.
"I spent two months at the police academy and two months patrolling with the PMT," he said. "I studied at the academy, and now I'm implementing what I have learned while out on patrol."
A noticeable difference between the old ANP and the ones that now serve is prevalent.
"The old ANP out here used to steal from the people, and most of them got fired for testing positive for opium on drug tests," said Jenkins. "The (new ANP) are a lot more professional in the peoples eyes now, and they take their job a little more serious."
In front of a poppy field the Marines and ANP stopped to talk with a family elder and asked him what problems he knows about in the area.
The family's major concern was the searching of Afghan females by males. The elder said it was disrespectful for a male to search an Afghan female, and when possible have females conduct the searches.
The Marines do adhere to cultural sensitivities of males not searching female Afghans.
"If there is a vehicle and a female in it we will ask for the female to get out and then search the vehicle," said Jenkins.
The patrols have light-hearted moments when the ANP and PMT come to rough terrain explains Jenkins as he recounts a previous patrol with the ANP.
"We came to a wide canal that was very hard to cross on foot," Jenkins recalled. "One ANP tried to cross but fell in. He laughed and dropped his rifle, instead of getting out on the other side he tried again, and he made it that time."
The ANP and PMT keep their partnership so that one day the ANP can be self-reliant and conduct operations on there own.
The PMT and ANP continued patrolling through poppy and wheat fields crossing earth footbridges and jumping across canals before making it safely back home.
| Date Taken: | 04.10.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 04.10.2010 16:45 |
| Story ID: | 47961 |
| Location: | COMBAT OUTPOST CASTLE, AF |
| Web Views: | 291 |
| Downloads: | 257 |
This work, Police mentoring team, Afghan national police conduct joint patrols, by Sgt Shawn Coolman, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
