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Home : News : Overseas Operations

# Indiana Guardsmen picked for special Afghanistan mission

By John CrosbyIndiana National Guard

CAMP ATTERBURY JOINT MANEUVER TRAINING CENTER, Ind., - TopIndiana military officials at Joint Forces Headquarters have selected 18 ofsome of Indiana's most experienced and proficient Army National GuardSoldiers to deploy to Afghanistan and embed themselves with high-levelcommanders of the Afghan Army.

"All the guys on the team were handpicked," said the team's Commander Col.Kenneth Ring. "Lucky for us [Indiana is] the fourth largest Guard state sowe have a lot of talent to choose from."

The mission requires a variety of military expertise with representatives inseveral areas including logistics, operations, administrative andintelligence personnel.

"We worked very hard to get the right guy for each position," Ring said. "Wecouldn't be more proud of who we have on the team, the attitudes they haveand the progress we've made."

Essentially, they are an embedded training team. Their mission is to joinforces with the Afghan Army corps commander of Regional Command East. Theregion under their command accounts for about 25 percent of Afghan terrainand is home to about 12,000 Afghan Soldiers. The small Indiana unit willpartner with the commander and act as a working staff as the Afghan NationalArmy continues its transition to a self-sustained and independent force.

"The goal is that in a year or two that whole force won't need the UnitedStates Armed Forces to be embedded with them," said the training team's topnon-commissioned officer, Command Sgt. Maj. Jim Brown. "They will beconducting reliable and consistent operations on their own."

Brown, previously the Indiana State command sergeant major, left hisposition to deploy with Regional Corps Training Team 2.

There have been advisors, mentors and partners assisting the Afghan peoplein Operation Enduring Freedom since 2002 so the concept is nothing new.However, over the past seven years, U.S. forces have become thoroughlyintegrated into the ANA. Small training teams attached to the ANA have nowbecome a partnership at the foot soldier level.

"They're living, eating and patrolling beside each other," said Brown."They're co-locating and orchestrating operations together."

This full-time bond allows the training team to focus higher up the chain ofcommand: the corps level.

Brown said their focus will be aimed at several pronounced areas ofimprovement; personnel management, including recruiting and securing a morestable salary system, logistical planning and achieving the ability tofunction in sustained combat operations.

"Units may engage the enemy and be successful but due to logistical needsthey need to fall back to resupply," said Brown. "In the meantime, the enemytakes back the same ground and again becomes abusive to the people of thatarea for, say, giving up information on the Taliban."

They will also work to improve Afghan military schools and academies inorder to promote professional development. With a more professionally,logistically and tactically proficient army and police force, stability willbe easier to sustain.

Historically, the mission of training, mentoring and partnering with foreignarmies was a task that fell upon Special Forces units. As combat evolves andthe way wars are fought changes, the Army Guard has stepped up to fill thisrole.

"This allows the states to select high-ranking teams for the job," saidBrown. "It provides flexibility for the Army to stay on their missions andrelieves the Special Forces to go do what they need to do in their currentrelevancies."

Ring and Brown said they believe that success in operating in this role willcome from the nature of the National Guard.

"After all these years of war we are all tactically proficient," said Ring."We know our military jobs. We are confident in our military skills. Theother thing we bring is our skills from outside the military."

"It's well suited for the National Guard," agreed Brown. "National Guard menand women are usually older and have more life experience. They arecitizen-Soldiers which means they have a skill or a profession that can beused over there whether it be a doctor, an electrician, a mechanic, aplumber or a farmer. You're not gonna get that out of a platoon of21-year-olds in the active Army because they just haven't had that lifeexperience yet."

Ring said that in order to accomplish their mission his Soldiers need to betactically proficient, culturally sensitive and have an understanding of thedifferent culture. Ring said they also need to focus largely onunderstanding the language, despite having interpreters.

"We're not only working with the Afghans," said Ring. "We will be livingwith them on their base. We won't be living on a large American base. Wewill be living with them. We all understand that and are looking forward tothat challenge."

Even though the training team will be working at a corps level with Afghancommanders, Brown states that it is every Soldier's job to be culturallyaware of the Afghan National Army. He believes that everyone there makes adifference from the top, down to every new private.

"Each Soldier has his or her own role in making and molding the newAfghanistan in their actions," said Brown. "What every Soldier does and saysaffects the outcome of success in Afghanistan, not just the ETTs. Ever

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