NEWS

WIRES

OTHER

Iraqi Army Soldiers Graduate From Elite Junior Leadership Training Program

By Spc. Michael Pfaff, 133rd MPAD

Kirkuk, Iraq - Iraqi Army soldiers graduating from an elite junior leadership training program participated in a ceremony today to acknowledge their newly acquired skills.

The training program lasted 29 days and involved coalition Soldiers teaching the Iraqi junior leaders skill-sets that stem from the U.S. Army Ranger handbook.

"This class is actually an attempt to start something that's going to be here for a long time," said Sgt. 1st Class Scott Hord, a platoon sergeant with D Company, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division and Raleigh, N.C., native. "We've pretty much made history."

This course was the first one of its kind to be done with the Iraqi Army, Hord explained. The course takes the junior leaders and enhances their skills, increasing their potential as senior Army leaders.

"They're the future of Iraq and its Army," Hord said.

The course material was actually drawn from the U.S. Army Ranger handbook, which was translated into Arabic and Kurdish for the students, then spread over 29 days of intense physical and mental challenges.

"In this course, we tested them mentally and physically," Hord said. "Then, we taught them everything they need to know to lead well and survive doing it. The Ranger handbook is the standard for tactical operations in the United States Army. It was a great asset in this course."

Of the more than 30 original students, only 20 remained at graduation, a testament to the challenges presented by the training. The final exam, one of the most grueling aspects of the training, was an actual cordon and search mission for insurgents in the 1st BCT area of operation..

"They used everything they learned in the school, and it showed in that final exam," Hord recalled.

One thing the students learned from the course that wasn't given in a lesson or checked during any test was a sense of camaraderie with each other.

"They actually wanted to hide their faces with masks when we first picked them up," Hord said. "Over the course of the training though, they started taking the masks off and trusting one another. Now, they have Ranger buddies and friends."

Hord explained that most of the students in the course are from different sections of the Iraqi Army, and that he expects that the relationships built here will carry over into the field when the different sections will need to work together on missions.

The future of the Iraqi Army lies in the hands of its leaders, and the impact this training has on these troops is critical to that future.

"The knowledge that these guys have been given from us is something they can pass on to all their fellow soldiers," said Staff Sgt. Tomas Hernandez, one of the primary instructors during the course and Jerome, Idaho native. "And, hopefully all the discipline and training we've instilled in them, they can pass on."

alan@newsblaze.com