Photo By Staff Sgt. Michael Crawford | An Afghan role-player serves as a translator for U.S. soldiers during a key-leader...... read more read more
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FORT POLK, La. – Mohammad Rezai, 29, left Afghanistan in 2002 and has lived in Iran, Pakistan, Azer Bajer and Canada before moving to the United States in 2009, where his job is pretending he never left home.
Role-playing gives Rezai an opportunity to reconnect with his culture and people. He has worked as a role player with soldiers at Fort Irwin, Calif., and Fort Bliss, Texas, and with Marines at 29 Palms, Calif. Now he plays the role of Afghan civilian media at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Folk Polk, La.
“It’s a popular job among the Afghan community,” said Rezai.
Despite the situational, and ultimately staged, nature of the training at JRTC, the various scenarios evoke real emotions from the role-players. In much of Afghan culture, a male cannot touch a female if they are not family. While scenarios often lure male soldiers to touch female role-players, usually for medical attention or weapon searches, role-players respond with real anger.
“There was a soldier and he was searching a female,” said Rezai. “Everyone in the village was quite upset. That’s something that should never happen in Afghanistan. Everyone was so upset and screaming.”
That real response from authentic Afghan natives creates just the right training environment for soldiers to take an exercise more seriously than they could at their home station.
“When we do training at home station, a lot of times I know the person I’m interacting with in a situational training exercise on a personal level,” said Capt. Joseph Williams, commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division. “That person knows that if he tries to give me a hard time, I’m going to give him a hard time (for the next training exercise),” he said in jest.
Williams didn’t have that luxury as role players gathered in a small courtyard at the mock village of Marghoz to conduct a Shura. Expecting his battalion commander, the role-playing elder exchanged skeptical glances with his advisers.
“I knew I was walking into an uphill battle,” said Williams, a native of Black River Falls, Wis. “They know what I, as a company commander, am or am not able to affect, so I left the ball in his court.”
Speaking amongst themselves in their native language, the role-players listened to the young captain’s plea to represent the missing lieutenant colonel. Apologizing for his superior’s absence, Williams, placing his hand over his heart, acknowledged his position and deferred to the elder’s authority. Extending his arm to shake hands with Williams, the elder permitted him to stay for the Shura.
“The bottom line is these are still people I’m meeting for the very first time,” said Williams. “They’re complete strangers, and they are power brokers in their own world. It adds a lot of realism, knowing I’m walking into someone else’s hierarchy, and they have the ability to deny communications with me in English.”
Ultimately, the mission of JRTC is to keep soldiers alive throughout their deployments to Afghanistan. While the other role-players have plenty of personal motivation to do their jobs, their mission is no different.
“Imagine an 18-year-old or 22-year-old who lived all of his life in Texas, so if he goes into Afghanistan without seeing this training, he’s totally going to get shocked,” said Rezai. “Working here … we’ve saved the lives of Afghans and Americans. I’ve heard soldiers say, after doing these rotations, the number of the casualties has been reduced.”
Williams, who served as an opposition forces role-player for simulated training exercises at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., understands the responsibility of role-players.
“If you can understand the dynamic impact you can have on one or couple hundred people, it’s pretty significant,” he said. “The role-players know that if they don’t stay in character … and they don’t fall within the morals and ethics of Afghanistan, they’re setting soldiers up for complete and utter failure. I think that almost patriotic obligation or duty is the biggest motivator for the role-players here.”
For Rezai, that patriotic obligation to stay in character extends to both the people of his new home and his old home.
“What I do, hopefully, saves the life of one more American soldier and one more Afghan civilian,” said Rezai. “We’re here to protect Afghans and Americans.”
| Date Taken: | 03.24.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 03.27.2012 17:28 |
| Story ID: | 85859 |
| Location: | FORT POLK, LOUISIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 111 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Role-players stay in character so soldiers stay alive, by SSG Michael Crawford, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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