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| LIVE FIRE — U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers watch as new recruits to the Afghan National Army take part in a live fire training exercise at the ANA training site in Kabul, Afghanistan. U.S. Army soldiers are equipping and training the new Afghan Army. Photo by Sgt. Kevin P. Bell, USA |
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Afghanistan’s First Army Class,
Taught by U.S. Army, Graduates |
| Special Forces assisted in 10-week course |
| By Jim Garamone / American Forces Press Service |
WASHINGTON — The first battalion of the Afghan National Army graduated from training Tuesday at the Afghan Military Academy.
Afghan and coalition leaders see the Afghan National Army as a stabilizing influence in the war-torn country. The army will be the instrument of the national government and will be trained and equipped to defeat any direct challenge.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Defense Minister Mohammad Fahim and Combined Joint Task Force-180 Commander U.S. Army Gen. Dan McNeill attended the graduation exercises.
The 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, from Fort Bragg, N.C., trained the 300-man Afghan battalion. More than 300 trainers and staff helped in the process.
Armed forces in Afghanistan previously were under the control of ethnic or geographic groups. One of the main challenges was overcoming language barriers, according to U.S. Central Command spokesman Marine Gunnery Sgt. Charles Portman. Interpreters translated course materials from English to Dari and Pashtu.
Another challenge was getting the groups to work together. "The Afghan National Army is a mix of all ethnic groups in the country," said Army Sgt. Don Dees, a U.S. spokesman at the academy. "Bringing the guys together to work hand-in-hand with each other in National Army was challenging."
Training started with individual infantry skills and progressed to small-unit operations — fire teams, squads, platoons and so forth. Trainers worked to build esprit de corps in the unit rather than in any ethnic group.
The 10-week course trained all members of the battalion. The Special Forces soldiers had leadership courses for the battalion officers and noncommissioned officers (NCOs). The course of instruction emphasizes that the Afghan army is under civilian control and that the officers and NCOs answer to the national government.
The French have already started training a second battalion of the Afghan force and U.S. trainers will begin training a third battalion on July 27. More |
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Rumsfeld Says Much Achieved,
Yet Much Remains to be Done |
| Nine months into the global war against terrorism, the
U.S. remains closer to the beginning than to the end, U.S. Defense
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Monday at the Pentagon. More |
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| Building an Army: Beginning |
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| Afghan translators
help process new recruits for the Afghan National Army |
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Jul 23, 2002
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Rumsfeld Orders Probe
For 'Outrageous' Leaker |
By Sgt. 1st Class Kathleen T. Rhem, USA
American Forces Press Service |
WASHINGTON — Anyone in the Defense Department who would leak classified information to the press is so "outrageously irresponsible" that an investigation to find that person is worth the cost, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.
Rumsfeld ordered the Air Force's Office of Special Investigation to look into a leak that is the purported basis of a July 5 New York Times article on a secret war plan for an attack on Iraq. More
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Needleworkers Stitch
Together Giant Flag |
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| Enough stitches in time? |
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| Elizabeth Barnes, the wife and daughter of U.S. Navy men, is halfway toward her goal of creating a giant flag, three stories high and six stories wide, of cross-stitched squares that will contain the names of terrorist victims over the past 30 years. The flag will document "history that tends to be forgotten," she explains. "I want it to be remembered." Story |
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| LONG DROP — Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams conduct Suspended Personnel Insertion and Extraction exercises with an SH-60 Seahawk on the USS George Washington. Photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Bobbie Attaway, USN |
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| Patricia Statz |
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Patricia Statz, 41, worked in the Pentagon for
the U.S. Army.
After graduating from the
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, she worked
as an actress and director at U.S. Army base
theaters in Germany and traveled extensively
in Europe. She later earned a master's degree.
She was pursuing a doctorate in education and
was working to improve education for children
with special needs.
Survivors include her husband,
David Carroll; sons Daniel and Erick; parents
Vincent and JoAnn; sisters Elizabeth Erickson,
Nancy Leon, Diane Brostrom, Renee Sreenivasam,
Barbara Krause, and Catherine, Sandra, Jacqueline
and Pamela Statz; and brothers Timothy, Charles
and Phillip.
We will not forget her.
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