Training the Iraqi Army for future challenges

MNSTC-I Headlines ^ | July 8, 2005 | Sgt. Jennifer J. Eidson

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Training the Iraqi Army for future challenges

BALAD, IRAQ – Coalition Soldiers are working around the clock to make sure their Iraqi counterparts are ready and capable of protecting Iraq and its citizens.

U.S. Soldiers from the 1 st Battalion, 128 th Infantry are helping the Iraqi soldiers transition into overseeing the missions being conducted in their area of operations.

At the Iraqi Army training facility at Forward Operating Base O’Ryan, the Iraqi soldiers are taught how to set up traffic control points, identify improvised explosive devices and vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices, conduct personnel searches, and distinguish between insurgents and civilians and how to react to enemy contact.

Task Force 1-128 Soldiers from 1 st Battalion, 128 th Infantry Regiment, Wisconsin Army National Guard and Troop K, 3 rd Squadron, 278 th Armored Calvary Regiment, Tennessee Army National Guard are conducting the training.

The Iraqi Army soldiers are doing well with their training said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. John Macullouch, an instructor with Troop K.

“I don’t feel that they will have any problems taking over the area,” Macullouch said. “We have spent a lot of hours with these guys.”

The Iraqi Army is young, but with the proper training, they will grow into an army capable of defending their own country, he said.

“Their soldiers are kind of like a fledgling eagle and we are representative of a full grown eagle that represents freedom,” he said. “We have to take them under our wing right now and teach them how to protect this country in the same manor that we would protect it.”

U.S. Army Sergeant Chad Stellpflug, Company C, 1 st Battalion, 128 th Infantry, said the instructors try to develop a small group of trainees at a time, in hopes that they will be more effective when joining a larger unit.

“If you have four squared-away squads, then you are going to have a squared-away platoon,” Stellpflug said. “So we break down the training. We start small and work big. It takes a little bit [of work], but if you get them squared away, they are going be tough.”

U.S. Army Sergeant Shaun Dekok, a medical sergeant and instructor with 1 st Battalion, 128 th Infantry Regiment, said they push the soldiers in order to make sure they are prepared to face whatever obstacles that might come before them when the Task Force Liberty Soldiers return home.

“When the [Coalition forces] leave Iraq, not all of the country’s problems will be solved and we want to make sure they are ready when the time comes,” Dekok said.

An Iraqi first lieutenant, 4 th Platoon, 4 th Battalion, 1 st Brigade, 4 th Division, said he feels his men have become well-rounded soldiers and will be able to conduct the task at hand thanks to the Coalition Soldiers who are training them.

“As an Iraqi Army officer, I hope that all the Iraqi Army gets trained by the Coalition forces,” he said. “They train us very well.”

He said the improvement in the Iraqi Security Force’s abilities can be seen through the reducing numbers of Iraqi service members who have been killed in action.

“[Because of] the training that we receive, we can say that we are prepared and can manage the whole thing after the (Coalition Forces) leave Iraq,” he said. “We got trained well and we became more progressed and more developed. We have reduced our losses to the minimum level.”

U.S. Army Sgt. Matthew W. Kuhnert, an Iraqi Army instructor with Company A, 1 st Battalion, 128 th Infantry Regiment and a native of Columbus, Wis., agrees with the Iraqi lieutenant about the Iraqi soldiers’ improvement since they began working together.

“We have come a long way with them as far as doctrine, training them how to react as a group, think as a group, work as a team … all those things come down to discipline,” Kuhnert said. “We are just teaching these guys how to function as a team and look out for each other, so that on the battlefield, they function as a team.”

Stellpflug said the job they do with the Iraqi soldiers is a vital step in the country’s ability to stand on its own.

“This training is important for Iraq as a whole,” Stellpflug said. “It shows a lot of character in the guys. When we first got here the [Iraqi Army] soldiers were afraid to even put the uniform on. Now, they are coming together as a whole. More and more Iraqis are ready to take the challenge and [this training plays] a vital role in getting Iraq stable.”

- By U.S. Army Sgt. Jennifer J. Eidson, 22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment