Friday, 28 September 2007
Staff Sgt. Jacob E. Lester, senior U.S. cadre member for Iraqi Army training and a squad leader in 1st Platoon, Company D, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, oversees the training on personnel and vehicle searches and traffic control points. Lester is from Modesto, Calif. Photo by Spc.. Courtney Marulli, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division Public Affairs.
BAGHDAD — The goal of the United States presence in Iraq is to get the country up and running and to ensure the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) can effectively defend the country. In Al Ramadi, things have quieted down and the Iraqi Army (IA) has undergone training and is now leading classes with aid from American Soldiers.Non-commissioned officers (NCO) in Company D, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (Infantry), 2nd Infantry Division, took IA NCOs and trained them in areas such as traffic control point operations and squad live fire operations so effectively that IA NCOs now conduct the classes themselves, with 1-9 NCOs there to give aid if needed.
Capt. James R. Enos, the commander of Company D, said the effort has been put to good use because the goal is to get the Iraqis to the point where they can sustain themselves and teach classes without help.
Enos, a native of Lakewood, Wash., said the progress has been great, but also frustrating because the Iraqi Soldiers don’t operate at the same tempo American Soldiers do. “We want it to be their program, but the difference in culture makes it difficult,†he said.
The training started off with a select group of NCOs from Company D who observed the IA NCOs for a week. The second week the 1-9 NCOs instructed the classes with the aid of an interpreter. The third week the Iraqi NCOs taught the classes to their peers with the 1-9 NCOs helping them. They also learned how to set up and conduct ranges. By the fourth week, the Iraqi NCOs began teaching the classes to IA Soldiers with the 1-9 NCOs observing.
“They’re still growing as a cadre,†Enos said.
Enos added that the IA cadres have a different mentality when it comes to training than American NCOs. He said the concept of conducting additional training for training’s sake is not something they are used to.
“It’s unheard of for them to get resources for their guys to train at a range,†Enos said.
Enos said his NCOs aren’t the only ones supporting the effort. Brig. Gen. Abdullah, the commander of 1st Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division, has been very supportive, and the 1st Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division Military Transition Team, has also helped out by ensuring the Iraqi Soldiers arrive to training in the correct uniform at the correct time. The training is conducted by the NCOs from Company D, 1-9, Enos said.
Enos said they are getting closer to being able to take over the job of providing and implementing security on their own.
The 1st Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division, has been fighting the insurgency in Al Ramadi for two years now, Enos said, and this joint training is a way to make them more effective.
“We’re training these guys how we trained to come over here,†he said. “It’s no different than training back at Fort Carson. We’re just training a different group of Soldiers.â€
The IA cadre has gone from needing additional help from Company D to conducting training with very little corrections, Enos said.
The next step, Enos said, is getting them to resource the training themselves and handle the logistical aspects themselves.
The NCOs from 1-9 volunteered for the job, Enos said, and each one wanted to help out and train the IA Soldiers to standard.
Staff Sgt. Jacob E. Lester, the senior American cadre for IA training, is a squad leader in 1st Platoon, Company D, and is in charge of overseeing the training on personnel and vehicle searches and traffic control points.
Lester, a native of Modesto, Calif., said each week the IA cadre receives 10 new Soldiers from each battalion in their brigade and they are growing as leaders.
“We’re training them and they’re stepping up and learning faster,†he said. “We’re not having to intervene as much.â€
By training the IA cadre and then having them instruct their own Soldiers, nothing is lost in translation as they hear it in their native tongue, Lester said.
Lester, on his third deployment, said they started working with the IA cadre in June and have seen the success of the training.
“These guys love to teach,†he said. “They like to be up there in front of others. From what I understand from previous talks with them, their lieutenants do most of the work so when they get an opportunity to teach they enjoy it.â€
It was a challenge-and-a-half, Lester said, of taking the IA NCOs and transforming them into a competent cadre.
“Anything’s a challenge when you don’t speak the same language,†he said.
By attending each class, with an interpreter, Lester said he and his fellow American cadre can step in and correct anything that is not being explained and taught according to standard.
“It’s made this deployment more interesting,†he said of the training. “Actually, it’s nice because we know they’re getting trained and are out there doing the missions and we’re not. That’s how it should be. It’s their country.â€
Staff Sgt. Frank P. Marulli IV, an American cadre member for IA training, is a squad leader for 2nd Platoon, Company D, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2IBCT, 2ID, and is in charge of team and squad live fire and the assistant cadre for tactical movement.
Marulli, a native of Crescent City, Calif., said the IA cadre are doing a good job, but need to understand they are now leaders.
“One thing about the training is that the IA cadres need to realize that they’re now instructors and not friends with IA Soldiers,†he said.
This distinction is necessary, and something that helps keep the IA Soldiers focused during team and squad live fire ranges.
Marulli said the live fire ranges have not been too challenging.
“I have good IA cadre who take pride in their job and want to ensure it’s done right,†he said.
These ranges, which allow one squad to do a simulated dismounted mission while another fires from vehicles, also include a shooting house where the soldiers can learn how to properly enter a building and clear a room, Marulli said.
The IA cadre conduct the range, but Marulli and other American cadre walk behind them to interject information if need be. Marulli is currently on his second deployment to Al Ramadi.
“This deployment started off really fast, but the tempo slowed down,†he said. “My last tour it was back-to-back missions.â€
The tempo has slowed because 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, has made a vast achievement toward the goal of having the IA able to train and sustain itself, Marulli said. Staff Sgt. Richard L. Sanchez Jr., an American cadre member for IA training, is a squad leader for 2nd Platoon, Company D, and is in charge of tactical movements during day and night in woodland and urban environments and also team and squad live fire.
Sanchez said getting the IA cadre to understand urban movement is especially important since they don’t see things the way Americans do.
“They do it our way and they want to do it another way,†he said. “When they go out they don’t do what we taught. We tell them we’re trying to teach one basic way; the basics of how to do it. They can change it up when they get to their units.â€
Sanchez, a native of Los Lunas, N.M., is serving on his first combat tour due to previously fulfilling the role of drill sergeant.
One challenge is getting the basic standard across, Sanchez said, but others are on the logistical side of trying to get resources and materials to build quality ranges.
“There are not a lot of materials to do what we want to do,†he said. “We built nice ranges out of what we had.â€
Another challenge is that the older cadre are stuck in their ways of doing things and aren’t as receptive to new ideas, but things are improving.
The improvements have been seen in how the violence has gone down in Al Ramadi and how the training level of the IA cadre and Soldiers has increased.
“It feels good because we already worked on training cadre and already stopped a lot of violence in Al Ramadi,†he said. “We’re doing our part so we can all go home.â€
Sanchez said the Army’s goal is to have the Iraqis take over the responsibility of their security and they are getting closer to it each day.
“If we can get these guys to take over, not only patrols but training their own guys, we can all go home faster,†Sanchez said.
With each class the IA cadre conducts, Sanchez said he has seen them go from teaching the basics to getting more in-depth with each subject and adding things to each rotation of Soldiers they instruct.
He said, “It’s more rewarding to know that you taught them well enough that they are able to teach someone else with little to no guidance from you.â€
(Story by Spc. Courtney E. Marulli, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (Infantry), 2nd Infantry Division Public Affairs)
In other recent developments here:
•   Coalition forces detained three extremists in an early morning operation at the BaghdadInternational Airport Sept. 27. The corrupt workers are suspected of having positioned themselves in several high-level jobs at the airport to establish a base and conduct kidnapping operations against Iraqi Security Forces and innocent civilians who stand up against the group’s criminal activities.
• Coalition Soldiers, working with Iraqi Army troops, uncovered a weapons cache in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Jamia Sept. 24.
