Missouri National Guard members team up with Italian Army in Afghanistan

By Jennifer Archdekin
Missouri National Guard

Army Sgt. Luis Flores, a member of the 548th Transportation Company, Missouri National Guard, demonstrates the Blue Force Tracking system to Italian Army soldiers. Flores said he enjoys opportunities to share communication techniques with the partnering troops. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Christine Chaney)
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SHINDAND, Afghanistan (9/2/11) - Training alongside armed forces of different countries and sharing techniques is not uncommon practice in the armed forces, and the Soldiers of the 548th Transportation Company, Missouri National Guard, are doing just that with soldiers from the Italian Army.

One Soldier from the 548th TC recently spent time with 10 Italian soldiers, comparing notes on ways they communicate with troops.

“When we run missions outside the wire, and if we run into any complications, [the Italian soldiers are] pretty much are our back-up,” said Army Sgt. Luis Flores. “They have certain areas they patrol and if we run a mission through that area and we encounter problems they are always there to back us up.”

Taking time to learn each other’s way of communication and how the other army would react in a given situation can prove extremely beneficial. Flores works in the operations section, which coordinates and troubleshoots mission details before sending out a team.

Specifically, Flores trained the Italian soldiers on the Blue Force Tracking system, which is a GPS-enabled system used to interact with, and track troops while on missions. 

“It’s what we use as a primary source of communication, because our radios don’t really work a whole lot here [due to] the terrain,” Flores said. “With the Blue Force Tracker we know where they are at all times. We have constant communication with them.”

Flores showed the Italians how to send messages with the system, as well as how to send and receive maps.

“They try to learn as much as they can from us, just as we do from them,” he said. “It shows a great level of camaraderie between both armies. It’s really easy to work with them if they know how we work.”

In 2008, Flores deployed to Kosovo and trained with troops from Germany, Spain and Italy. He said he values opportunities to be exposed to other cultures, which serves to better him as a Soldier.
 
“This is my second time working with foreign armies,” Flores said. “It’s a wonderful experience knowing how they operate and comparing it to how we operate. It’s a whole group of many different foreign countries working to achieve the same goal.

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