Courtesy Photo | Iraqi army soldiers receive graduation certificates for their training, Aug. 2, 2011,...... read more read more
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By Maj. William Reeves
STT, 1-12 Cav., 1st Cav. Div. PAO
BASRA, Iraq - Team Spartan’s pride shows in the professional corps of non-commissioned officer instructors in the 10th Iraqi Army Division Headquarters, making these graduates the team’s key deployment accomplishment.
The Stability Transition Team non-commissioned officer in charge, Sgt. 1st Class Jose Mortenson, planned, coordinated, executed and assessed a comprehensive program. He established an internal set of trainers for the division by taking a handpicked group of NCOs and certifying them as enduring unit instructors.
“NCOs are the primary trainers of soldiers in most armies, and the IA is no exception.” said Mortenson. While United States Forces-Iraq instructors have been providing training assistance as part of the advise, train and assist mission, Spartan set conditions for IA divisions to establish their own permanent internal capability to conduct tactical level training once USF-I depart the country.
Spartan gave the IA the minimal essential capability to conduct external defense, and Mortenson’s course focused on team, squad and platoon tactics for offensive and defensive operations.
They also trained the IA on first aid, direct-fire planning, dismounted tactical movement, improvised explosive device awareness and exploitation, basic rifle marksmanship and range operations, as well as platoon-level operations focusing on ambush, raid, defense and attack tactics.
Organized under the supervision of the 10th IA Division G-7 training section, this group of NCO instructors augmented the collective training at Tadrib al Shamil and served as mobile training teams deployable to any of the division’s infantry brigades stationed across three provinces.
This is an enduring system that forms the foundation for a professional army, and will ensure the IA’s ability to continue to train their soldiers year-round. The course has produced 75 instructors who serve at TaS without USF-I supervision.
Col. Ronald McNamara, team Spartan chief, said, “The backbone of the U.S. Army is clearly the professional corps of NCOs, so the most effective way to make the Iraqi army successful is to build that NCO strength into their formations.”
To further establish an enduring capability, three of the top graduates of this course received advanced training and are now also certified as division master instructors, to be held at the G-7 level to continue the training mission after the departure of USF-I.
Mortenson’s efforts created enormous potential for the 10th IA Div. to continue to train their current and future soldiers on the critical tasks required to fight and win on future battlefields and represents the very best of what the STT’s mission in Iraq has to offer.
| Date Taken: | 08.03.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 08.12.2011 03:35 |
| Story ID: | 75228 |
| Location: | BASRA, IQ |
| Web Views: | 67 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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