ANA instructors prepare Afghan logistics specialists

Story and Photo by Capt. A. Blackwell

Deputy Commander for Supporting Operations Public Affairs

 

 

 

 

BAGRAM, Afghanistan– At the front of the classroom, a Captain in the Afghan National Army holds up a certificate symbolizing his completion of a logistics course presented to him by senior Afghan National Army Officers.  With the skills that he has attained over the past week, the Afghan soldier is better prepared to execute his duties within the Afghan logistics system.

This culminating moment of the week-long course is a symbolic reflection of the significant shift in responsibility from the coalition and its partner countries to the Afghans themselves.  Centered on the Logistics decrees established by the Afghan Ministry of Defense, the course is designed to familiarize individual operators at the lowest levels with the details required to perform their jobs. 

Three ANA colonels, logistics instructors representing the Ministry of Defense (MoD), travel the country teaching the ministry’s published logistics decrees.  Having taught at all the ANA Corps headquarters as well as major Brigades, the instructors spent the first week of April teaching and advising logisticians from the MP brigade located at Bagram.

During the Afghan-led course, the soldiers learn the basics of MoD policy, ethics, classes of supply, and the roles of their units.  Further, they are instructed on the completion of essential logistics forms, including those to request and account for parts and major user end items.  An emphasis is placed on MoD form 14, covering the logistical pull system, in order to instill future planning and vision to the ANA logisticians.  Covering 15 different points of instruction, they receive a concise and solid baseline from which to operate once they return to their units.

Most importantly, the course is part of an increasingly Afghan – centric paradigm shift, where Afghan instructors are at the head of the classroom teaching Afghan students, with only a limited coalition presence.  Much of that presence is merely to ensure the security of the class, to confirm the material being taught, and to provide affirmation of the coalition intent to turn over full responsibility of Afghanistan to Afghans.

NTM-A is a coalition of 38 troop-contributing nations charged with assisting the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in generating a capable and sustainable Afghan National Security Force ready to take lead of their country’s security by 2014. For more information about NTM-A, visit www.ntm-a.com.

Tags: Afghan logistics system, afghan national army, Afghan soldier, afghanistan, ANA, army, Bagram, education, Feature, featured, independence, logistics course, logistics instructors, Ministry of Defense (MoD), nato, nato training mission, NATO Training Mission Afghanistan, NTM-A, soldier, training

Category: News - Afghan National Army, News - General, News - Logistics