Showing posts with label training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label training. Show all posts

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Train, Advise, Assist, Accompany, & Enable Mission in Afghanistan

An Intel Advisor Mentoring ANDSF

Reporting on the 'Train, Advise, and Assist' Mission. The renewed emphasis and modest increase in the advisory effort with the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) will not win the war; however, it is an important component of the U.S. and NATO strategy for Afghanistan. For that reason, the Afghan War Blog will continue to report on Security Force Assistance efforts by NATO and other Coalition / Partner nations.

Italian Troops Travel to Farah. About 50 Italian military personnel are now in western Farah province to support Afghan forces during operations against militants.  (MENAF.com, Feb 7, 2018).

TFSW Marine Advisors Worked at Kandak Level. The Marines from Task Force Southwest are working with the Afghans in Helmand province at corps, brigade, and even (at times) down to battalion level. The past rotation of Marines did this without suffering casualties - the current rotation of Marine advisors may get even closer to the front lines. Read "For U.S. troops in Afghanistan, new questions about where to be in combat", The Washington Post, February 8, 2018.

SOD-O TAA's ANASOC and More. The Special Operations Detachment-O of the Maryland Army National Guard has been working at Camp Morehead (Camp Commando) for the past several months with the primary mission of training, advising, and assisting the Afghan National Army Special Operations Command (ANASOC). But, in addition, the unit members have found time to conduct a little humanitarian service work in Afghanistan. (The Baltimore Sun, January 25, 2018).

Seminar on SFA. The primary mission of NATO's Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan is Security Force Assistance (SFA). Norway is hosting a seminar on the topic in March 2018.
www.prio.org/Events/Event/?x=8619

References

Read more about the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade - SFAB.

Read recent news reports about the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade - SFAB.

Read about the Army's newly established Military Advisor Training Academy (MATA).


Sunday, February 4, 2018

Train, Advise, Assist, Accompany, and Enable Mission in Afghanistan

A Marine advisor with Task Force Southwest (TFSW) battle tracks
with a soldier from the 215th Corps at Camp Shorabak, Afghanistan.
(photo Jan 22, 2018 by SGT Conner Robbins, USMC)

Reporting on the 'Train, Advise, and Assist' Mission. The renewed emphasis and modest increase in the advisory effort with the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) will not win the war; however, it is an important component of the U.S. and NATO strategy for Afghanistan. For that reason, the Afghan War Blog will continue to report on Security Force Assistance efforts by NATO and other Coalition / Partner nations.

Upcoming CoC for TAAC-Air. Brig. Gen. Phillip A. Stewart, commanding general, Train, Advise, Assist Command-Air; and commander, 438th Air Expeditionary Wing, Air Combat Command, Kabul, Afghanistan, will be the commander, North Atlantic Treaty Organization Alliance Ground Surveillance Force, Allied Command Operations, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Sigonella, Italy. He will be replaced by Col. Joel L. Carey, who has been selected for the grade of brigadier general. Carey is currently the commander, 12th Flying Training Wing, Air Education and Training Command, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, to commanding general, Train, Advise,Assist Command-Air; and commander, 438th Air Expeditionary Wing, Air Combat Command, Kabul, Afghanistan.

New DCoS Ops for RS. BG (P) Dan Walrath will soon be back in Afghanistan. He did a great job as cdr of 2/101st in RC East. The Strike BCT was one of the first SFABs to deploy to Afghanistan in 2012.

The Afghan military attache at the Afghan Embassy in D.C. meets with
two U.S. Army officers to discuss the training of the ANDSF.

Paper: "Afghanistan Army Development: What Went Wrong", Interagency Journal, Vol. 6, Issue 1, Winter 2015, LTC Tommy J. Tracy.

Marines to Lease Reaper Drone for Helmand. The Marines assigned to Task Force Southwest are looking to use an armed drone to keep an eye on things in Helmand province while they conduct their 'advise and assist' mission. Read "Marine Corps Wants Reaper Drone to Provide Overwatch for Helmand", Defense Tech,  January 29, 2018.

Increased Risk of U.S. Casualties. As advisors work closer to the front lines (at Afghan kandak level) the probability of casualties rises. See "US troops at greater risk in Afghanistan under Pentagon's new approach, top official says", Fox News, February 2, 2018.

Advising - Lessons Observed: Not Actually Learned

Some Familiar Themes Here - Vietnam and Afghanistan. Read "US Combat Advisors in Vietnam Knew the Score and Got Ignored", by James A. Warren, The Daily Beast, February 2, 2018.

USMC's CAP in Vietnam. The US SOF's Village Stability Operations (VSO) program in Afghanistan bore a resemblance to the U.S. Marine's Combined Action Program (CAP) - advisors living in small Vietnamese communities. "Preventing the Barbarization of Warfare: The USMC CAP Program in Vietnam", Small Wars Journal, February 2, 2018.

Want to Read more Papers on Advising? Take a look Afghanistan: Annotated Bibliography for Resolute Support, over 200 pages referencing documents and publications on SFA in Afghanistan.
www.afghanwarnews.info/pubs/RSM-Bibliography.htm

Breaking News - COIN Actually Worked in Vietnam. J. R. Bullington, a man who spent considerable time in Vietnam, writes on how counterinsurgency actually was the right strategy in Vietnam. Other factors contributed to the lost effort; but not COIN. "Assessing Pacification in Vietnam: We Won the Counterinsurgency War!", Small Wars Journal, March 23, 2012.

News on the 1st SFAB


1st SFAB - "Fully Capable".  On February 8, 2018 the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade will be recognized as fully capable at a ceremony at Fort Benning, Georgia. The 1st SFAB is scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan this spring.

SFAB Recruiting. The U.S. Army is on a big push to recruit for the six Security Force Assistance Brigades (SFABs) that it is in the process of standing up. The first one was brought online in August 2017 at Fort Benning - it has finished its training and will deploy to Afghanistan soon. The 2nd SFAB is now forming at Fort Bragg. The SFABs, 800-men strong, are key to the U.S. efforts to advise foreign military forces. Read "Event highlights options in Army", Fort Hood Sentinel, January 25, 2018.

Modernization and Equipping the SFAB. Standing up a brand new unit like the 1st SFAB (August 2017) and deploying it within its first year of existence poses an number of huge problems. One of which is fielding the equipment for a new brigade (yes it is undersized in strength but still . . . ) In addition, the U.S. Army wants it to have the latest and greatest in equipment (more fielding and training issues there as well). Read more about the latest of comms gear going to the 1st SFAB in "A special Afghan unit could be the Army's test case for its future network", C4ISRNET, February 2, 2018.

1st SFAB EOD Specialists. An EOD specialist talks about his assignment to the 1st SFAB and it's impending deployment to Afghanistan. (DVIDS, Jan 23, 2018).

SFABs New Pistol. The 1st SFAB trained up on the Army's new pistol - the M17 Sig Sauer 9mm P320. But . . . there seems to be a few problems. (The Warzone, Jan 2018).

Read more about the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade - SFAB.

Read recent news reports about the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade - SFAB.

Read about the Army's newly established Military Advisor Training Academy (MATA).


Sunday, January 28, 2018

Train, Advise, Assist Mission in Afghanistan

Italian advisors 'fly to advise' (RS HQs, 20180122)

Italian Advisors Fly to Advise. Advisors from Train, Advise, and Assist Command - West recently flew to Kushki Kuhna district, Herat province to conduct periodic training with their Afghan partners. Read more in "Italian advisors provide ANA with periodic training at home", Resolute Support, January 22, 2018.

TAAC-North's 'Train the Trainers' Course. The advisors at Train, Advise, and Assist Command - North located at Mazar-e-Sharif have developed a 4-week long course for experienced members of the ANA who will take their knowledge back to their units. Read "Training the trainers in northern Afghanistan", Resolute Support, January 27, 2018.

JFTC Advisor Training. NATO officers and NCOs are currently training to be advisors in a two-week train-up held at the Joint Forces Training Centre (JFTC) in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Over two hundred students are in attendance. They will serve as advisors while assigned to Resolute Support Mission in Kabul and the Train, Advise, and Assist Command - North in Mazar-e-Sharif. Read more in "JFTC Trains for Resolute Support Mission" JFTC, January 2018.

Mi-17 Training at Rucker Ends. The training of Afghans to fly and maintain the Mi-17 helicopter is coming to a close at Fort Rucker, Alabama. (DVIDS, January 17, 2018).

RS FAST Program. The Functional Area Support Team (FAST) program by RS HQs is helping to recruit young, educated Afghans for civilian roles performing essential functions within the ANDSF and security ministries. Read "Putting Young Afghans on a FAST Track", RS, January 12, 2018.

TAA in Many Shapes. Read an article about members of the 3rd Infantry Division - Sustainment Brigade who advise the ANDSF while stationed at HKIA. "Train, Advise, Assist, Sustain: 3ID RSSB Mission in Kabul", DVIDS, January 17, 2018.

Aussie Advising the KGC. An Australian Army Officer is busy mentoring Afghans at the Kabul General Garrison Command (KGC). Read his story in a dispatch by the Australian DoD, January 9, 2018.

Afghan CDO QC. The 14-week long Afghan Commando Qualification Course is graduating hundreds of newly-minted Commandos each class. The latest class saw 650 ANA Soldiers complete training. Hopefully the quality of the Commandos is still a factor. Read "Commando growth in full swing", DVIDS, January 24, 2018.

News on the 1st SFAB

More Advisors Heading to Afghanistan.The Washington Post reports that up to 1,000 more advisors are heading to Afghanistan this spring. (WaPo, Jan 21, 2018).

1st SFAB - "Fully Capable".  On February 8, 2018 the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade will be recognized as fully capable at a ceremony at Fort Benning, Georgia. The 1st SFAB is scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan this spring.

JRTC Training Complete. The advisory brigade has completed its pre-deployment training. "The 1st of the 1st: 1st SFBA wraps up rotation at JRTC prior to deployment", DVIDS, January 25, 2018.

1st SFAB at JRTC. The Ops Group at Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana, has developed a unique training program for the 1st SFAB. (DVIDS, Jan 17, 2018).

1st SFAB to be Issued XM18 Handgun. Soldiers from the 1st SFAB got familiar with the XM17 handgun at JRTC in preparation for their Afghan deployment. "Soldiers Test New Modular Handgun System at Fort Polk", DoD, January 23, 2018.

Will the SFAB Work? Maybe. Wesley Morgan, a military writer, provides news on the 1st SFAB in "The Army's latest weapon to turn around the war in Afghanistan", Politic, January 26, 2018.

Insufficient Training for 1st SFAB? Thomas Gibbons-Neff has penned an article that contains some troubling revelations . . . in "Training Quick and Staffing Unfinished, Army Units Brace for Surging Taliban", The New York Times, January 26, 2018.

Long War Journal on the SFAB. Read "Newly created 'teaching' brigade prepares to deploy to Afghanistan", FDD, January 26, 2018.

Military Advisor Training Academy - MATA. The U.S. Army has established a new school for training advisors who will conduct security force assistance missions. Read about the new MATA.
www.sof.news/sfa/mata-military-advisor-training-academy

Read more about the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade - SFAB.

Read recent news reports about the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade - SFAB.

Read about the Army's newly established Military Advisor Training Academy (MATA).


Sunday, October 2, 2016

Afghan Security News Update (20161002)


Nangarhar Province: A ISIS Enclave. The Islamic State attempted to set up base areas in several provinces within Afghanistan; but it's success was largely limited to Nangarhar. A writer from the Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) in "Descent into chaos: Why did Nangarhar turn into an IS hub?", AAN, September 27, 2016.

From Frying Pan to the Fire. Nangarhar residents are speaking out about the cruelty of the ISIS enclave. Read "From the Taliban Frying Pan to the Islamic State Fire", by Heather Barr, Foreign Policy, September 27, 2016.

Pakistan Attempts to Plug Illegal Border Crossings. The border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is remote, sometimes desert, sometimes mountainous and is extremely porous. The two countries share a 2,600 kilometer border that has several hundred irregular crossing points. Pakistan is building some outposts to try and halt some of the smugglers and 'terrorists' who cross unofficially. (Voice of America, Sep 27, 2016).

Training Foreign Air Forces a "Core Mission". The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joe Dunford, recently called the training of foreign Air Forces a core mission of the US Air Force. He recently visited Afghanistan and was worried when told that being a U.S. Air Force trainer in Afghanistan wasn't a 'good job posting'. Read more in "Dunford: US Air Force Should Incentivize Foreign Training Mission", Defense News, September 26, 2016.

Afghan Medevacs Overworked. The heavy casualty rate experienced by the ANDSF during the Summer Campaign 2016 has seen the Afghan Air Force medevac system stressed. Read more in "One Week. Hundreds of dead and wounded. How Afghan forces are struggling with heavy casualties", The Washington Post, September 30, 2016.

Afghan AWOLs in U.S. Seven members of the Afghan military have gone 'absent without leave' in the United States in the month of September. All of them were attending military training in the United States as part of the International Military Student program. Read more in a Fox News report (Sep 27, 2016).

NATO Troops Injured by IED. According to some news reports four Romanian troops and an Afghan interpreter were injured by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan.

Checkpoints: Still Hindering the ANDSF. According to the commander of the Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan the high number of checkpoints maintained by the Afghan National Police and Afghan National Army are caused by poor leadership and politics. It appears that the 'Checkpint Reduction' campaign waged by Resolute Support advisors last spring has been relatively ineffective. Read more in "Checkpoints Continue to Plague Afghan Security Forces", The Diplomat, September 27, 2016.

Insider Attack Kills 12 ANA. Afghan National Army soldiers were killed in their sleep last week by fellow comrades in an outpost near the city of Kunduz in northern Afghanistan.  Two soldiers joined up with the Taliban after conducting the insider attack. (The World Post, Sep 27, 2016). See also a story by Radio Free Europe, September 27, 2016.

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Commentary


Training the ANA - Not so Much. A recent visitor to Afghanistan provides us his views on how well the training program in Afghanistan is going.
"Yet the current training is aimed a bureaucrats more than warriors, revolving around administrative functions such as budgeting and planning rather than the best way to fire a rifle or mount an attack."
Read what David J. Lynch has to say in "Training Afghan soldiers is just not working", USA Today, October 5, 2015.

SFA and BPC Questioned. Phillip Carter, a former Army officer and a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security provides us his thoughts on having foreign troops fight our wars. He takes a hard look at the recent Security Force Assistance (SFA) and Building Partnership Capacity (BPC) ventures in Iraq and Afghanistan and finds some areas where the effort was lacking. He cites a difference in interests, the complexity of U.S. weapons, and a lack of a will to fight among our surrogates. Read "Why foreign troops can't fight our fights", The Washington Post, October 2, 2015.

NUG, Bad Comms, & Bad Intel. The combination of a government mired in conflict (Ghani vs. Abdullah), bad communications across and up/down with MoI, MoD, Corps, Zones, etc., and bad intelligence is consistently setting up the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) for failure. Read more in "The Plight of Afghanistan's Soldiers", The Diplomat, October 7, 2015.

"I Fought For Nothing". An infantryman remembers his tour in Afghanistan (2004-2005) and contemplates if it was worth it. Read "I fought for nothing: Staggering incompetence, egregious corruption & America's doomed war in Afghanistan", Salon, by John Rico, October 7, 2015.

Did HTS rationalize Pedophilia in Afghanistan? An HTS explanation of "Man-Boy Love Thursday" may have contributed to the U.S. looking the other way when confronted with "Bacha Bazi" events. Or so says two authors of a recent story about the HTS. Two anthropologists conveniently tie the recent story of the Special Forces NCO getting kicked out of the Army for assaulting an Afghan police officer who was raping a young Afghan to everything that was wrong with the Human Terrain System that provided cultural advice to the U.S. military in Afghanistan. While their writing may be convincing to some it looks to me as another opportunity to attack a very valuable program that provided great results in the Afghan COIN fight. Read their news story (but with a grain of salt) in Counterpunch, October 9, 2015.

Pakistan - Aiding the Taliban . . . Still. If you want to solve the problem of the insurgency in Afghanistan then you must look east to Pakistan. So says Fareed Zakaria - an opinion writer for The Washington Post and also commentator on several other media enterprises. The bottom line is that very few insurgencies are defeated if they have a cross-boarder sanctuary and a powerful patron (that would be Pakistan and Pakistan). Read his article "The key to solving the puzzle of Afghanistan is Pakistan", The Washington Post, October 8, 2015.

Paper Plans and Reality on the Ground. The battle for Kunduz exposed the strategy for the defense of Afghanistan as paper thin. Despite air power, advisors, and intelligence support from the U.S. (and NATO, of course) the Taliban were still able to take a provincial capital and hold it for a number of days. This problem of containing the Taliban goes beyond the development of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) into a professional counterinsurgency force. It has a lot more to do with eradicating the senior ANDSF leadership of corrupt officers. Read more in "Is Kunduz the Beginning of the End for Afghanistan?", by Emile Simpson, Politico, October 4, 2015.

Prospects of Success in Afghanistan? Not so Much. One observer, Patrick Skinner, has a pessimistic view of the situation in Afghanistan. Read "What Endures From Operation Enduring Freedom", The Cipher Brief, October 8, 2015.

Ignatius on Afghanistan. David Ignatius provides us with his opinion of the current state of affairs in Afghanistan and Pakistan in "The U.S. cannot afford to forget Afghanistan and Pakistan", The Washington Post, October 6, 2015.






Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Video - "Sandhurst in the Sand"

NATO Channel has produced a video about the "Sandhurst in the Sand" officer academy located near Kabul. The officer academy is forging the next generation of Afghan National Army (ANA) officers. Watch this 5 minute long video posted on YouTube.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXaUULKNZ0I

Saturday, January 10, 2015

DynCorp Gets Afghan Training Support Contract

DynCorp International has been contracted by the U.S. Army to provide advisory and other support services to Afghanistan in the training of the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police. There are two separate contracts - one for the police and one for the army. The contracts are for a nine-month base period of performance with two three-month options. The two contracts have a total value in excess of $100 million. Read more in "DynCorp International selected for training support in Afghanistan", UPI, January 9, 2015.

Monday, December 15, 2014

Afghan Officers Graduate from IMA

A total of 44 Afghan National Army (ANA) officers recently graduated from the Indian Military Academy. Read more in a news article by Khaama Press (Dec 13, 2014).

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Army University (AU)

The Army is attempting to reform its educational system by introducing the Army University (AU). This new approach to education is ". . . an attempt by the Army leadership to build an education enterprise that brings all schools from basic training to the staff college under single management". Read more in "Achieving Strategic Excellence in Army University", War on the Rocks, November 24, 2014. Commentary by Robert H. Scales - a retired Army major general and former commander of the U.S. Army War College.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Resolute Support Training at JFTC

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is conducting training for personnel who will soon deploy to Afghanistan on the Resolute Support mission. The training is taking place at the Joint Force Training Centre (JFTC) at Bydgoszcz, Poland. The first iteration of this training for Resolute Support is taking place in November 2014. Approximately 100 personnel from the staffs of Resolute Support (RS HQ) and Train, Advise, and Assist Teams (TAATs) are being trained. The TAATs are receiving standardized preparation for their mission of train, advise, and assist with the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) at the corps and institutional level. Read more in "Future Resolute Support Members Train in Bydgoszcz", NATO, November 19, 2014.

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Pakistan Offers Army Training

Pakistan, a neighboring country of Afghanistan that supports the Taliban through its intelligence service, has offered to train Afghan officers in Pakistan. Interesting. Read more in "Pakistan offers to train Afghan National Army officers", Central Asia Online, November 7, 2014.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Video - ANA Training at KMTC

One of the largest training centers for the Afghan National Army (ANA) is at the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC). The subjects taught by ANA instructors at KMTC range from house clearing, convoy operations, medical training and more. Watch a short video (2 mins) produced by NATO TV entitled "Afghan army learns from the battlefield", October 15, 2014.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

NATO's DEEP Training

A series of academic programs were recently conducted by NATO in Europe for the benefit of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). NATO's Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP) provided the opportunity for senior members of the Afghan Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defense, and others to exchange ideas and explore operational cooperation.
"Defence Education Enhancement Programmes are tailored programmes through which the Alliance advises partners on how to build, develop and reform educational institutions in the security, defence and military domains. They focus in particular on faculty building and curriculum development, covering areas such as teaching methodology, leadership and operational planning".
Read more in "NATO and senior Afghan officials welcome enhanced relationship", North Atlantic Treaty Organization, October 24, 2014.

Friday, October 24, 2014

International Military Education and Training - IMET

Every once in a while we hear about an Afghan from the ANA or ANP who, while attending a training course in the United States decides he has had enough of the war and he goes missing or requests asylum. How does this ANA soldier or ANP policeman get to the United States in the first place? Usually it is through the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program. IMET provides funds for training and education on a grant basis to students from allied and friendly nations (one of them being Afghanistan). The IMET program is a great training and educational vehicle for our military allies; and it is a great program for Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the slots for IMET in Afghanistan have not been fully filled (historically with a fill rate of just over 50%). In addition, the Afghan personnel selected for IMET training and education opportunities do not have a good command of English and are usually associated with the political patronage net of some of the higher ranking military or police officials. So, once again, the Afghans have squandered a great opportunity because of corruption, political patronage, and incompetence. You can learn more about IMET at the website of Security Assistance Monitor at this link:
www.securityassistance.org/content/international-military-education-and-training

Friday, October 17, 2014

India Provides Entrepreneurial Training to Afghans

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs is providing entrepreneurial training to Afghan professionals through its ITEC fellowship program. The program enhances management skills in project development, gender development and planning. Read more in "India offers entrepreneurial skills to Afghan professionals", Business Standard, October 16, 2014.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Video - ANA Receive Training on MRAPs

Armed Forces Network (AFN) has released a five-minute video of Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers receiving training on MRAPs. Military Advisor Team Five, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Two-Five, and personnel with the Warrior Training Alliance work together to teach the ANA soldiers some important MRAP lessons. The ANA have used older "Humvee's" and Ford Rangers in the past; however these don't provide the protection that the MRAPs provide. The MRAPs provide more coverage and the ability to mount bigger weapons for greater defense. Watch the video dated October 2, 2014.

Friday, October 3, 2014

"Sandhurst in the Sand" Graduates First Class

The first class of cadets has graduated from the Afghan National Army Officers Academy (ANAOA) in Kabul, Afghanistan on September 24, 2014. Modeled after the British military academy and known informally as "Sandhurst in the Sand" - the school is supported by British officers and NCOs. Read more in "Defence secretary salutes first Afghan officer cadets", Your Defence News, September 25, 2014.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

203rd Corps Trains on 60mm Mortar

Photo by SPC Erik Warren, 3d Cav Regt
The ISAF forces are quickly drawing down troop levels in Afghanistan. If the Bilateral Security Agreement is signed the Resolute Support mission will start in January 2015 with about 9,800 U.S. troops and a few thousand troops of other nationalities (mostly European). The number of personnel who will be advisors and trainers will be limited; probably between 1,200 to 1,500 - depending on how you count them. In the last few remaining months of 2014 the advisors and trainers still in Afghanistan are making every effort to maximum the training time available to them - this while the 2014 fighting season is still underway. Members of the 3rd Cav Regiment posted at FOB Lightning are getting ready to depart Gardez - they will be gone by December 2014 and the small FOB turned over to the ANA. But while they are conducting their retrograde they are still conducting some training. The mortarmen of the 3rd Cav Regiment are conducting "train the trainer" courses for the ANA. These T3 courses will help the ANA train their own troops once the Coalition departs. One of these courses is a hands-on class on the M224 60mm mortar. Read more on this T3 mortar class in "ANA one step closer to self-reliance", DVIDS, September 9, 2014.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Guidance on Common Training Standards for Security Force Assistance (SFA) (DoD January 2014)


The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness has published "Guidance on Common Training Standards for Security Force Assistance (SFA),  dated January 2014. The training standards are issued to assist the general purpose forces in sustaining the capability to perform the security force assistance or SFA mission. The pub was put together with the cooperation of USSOCOM and other defense organizations and agencies.

The primary purpose of the training standards are to: 1) "Provide a list of skills related to SAF that are common across the force and can be used as guidelines, with standards for measuring the qualifications of individuals and collective forces"; 2) "Offer a set of benchmarks for the Services to use to identify, train, and track individuals and collective forces conducting SFA"; 3) "Serve as a menu of SFA skills to help joint force commanders and planners articulate required capabilities when requesting forces".

You can read online or download the document at the link below:



Sunday, February 9, 2014

Afghan Combined Arms Training Course Conducted for First Time - Improving CAI

The Afghan War started in the Fall of 2001 when a small group of CIA agents and several Special Forces teams assisted the Northern Alliance and some Pashtun resistance groups in overthrowing the Taliban regime. It is now 2014 - more than 13 years later - and we are now making great strides in the professionalization of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). For the first time (again, 13 years later) ISAF has assisted the Consolidated Fielding Centre (CFC) in the conduct of "the first ever Combined Arms Training course". The course was organized by mentors from NTM-A in partnership with the ANA Training and Education Command (ANATEC). In the shift from combat-oriented, unit-based advising to functionally-based Security Force Assistance (fbSFA) the advisors conducting Security Force Assistance are concentrating on five functional areas - Leadership, Command and Control, Combined Arms Integration, Training, and Sustainment. The Combined Arms Training course is an attempt to provide more professionalism in the Combined Arms Integration of the five functional pillars for ANSF development and sustainment. Read more in "ISAF and the ANSF focus on capability integration", DVIDS, February 8, 2014.