Special Forces Soldiers train, coach premiere police force in Iraq

http://news.soc.mil/releases/News%20Archive/2009/March/090303-01.html


Special Forces Soldiers train, coach premiere police force in Iraq

By U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Bryan Franks

BAGHDAD (Courtesy of CJSOTF-AP Public Affairs, March 3, 2009) – Training for a football season requires repetition and continuous training, but it’s also important to have a good coaching staff. The same goes for maintaining a highly trained police force ready to respond at a moment’s notice.

Two Operational Detachments Alpha from Special Operations Task Force - Central conduct foreign internal defense training and coaching with Iraq’s Emergency Response Brigade. The ERB force consists of a select few who are trained, organized and equipped to complete what may be some of the most difficult, specialized and demanding security missions in the country.

Like offense and defense on a football team, the two ODAs focus their attention on different aspects of the ERB. One team works primarily with the ground-support side of the ERB, while the other team sets their priorities on working with brigade-level issues and higher in the ERB.

“It’s been great working with another ODA … it’s almost like we are one team with different sides of the same mission,” said one of the team commanders.

According to the ODA team captain responsible for the ground-support piece, the ERB can’t be the best trained force in Iraq if they don’t have the food, water, ammo, equipment and transportation to get the mission done.

“This is the best job I’ve ever had,” said the ODA commander. “Very rarely does anything ever live up to your expectations. I can honestly say this has surpassed all of mine.”

For most of the U.S. Special Forces Soldiers in the ODAs, this isn’t their first deployment to Iraq. With each trip, they see improvements with the Iraqi Security Forces taking the lead role in securing their country.

“On my first deployment here, our team had around 150 Iraqis we were training … most of which came off the streets,” said an Army sergeant first class who has been with the unit for seven years. “The ERB has a lot of good officers. They have their own selection process they go through … they really are the ‘tip of the spear’ for the Iraqi Ministry of Interior.”

The presence of USSF advisors, according to the team captains, helps the ERB leaders as they work to refine training, mission planning logistics, and build partnerships with other branches in the ISF.

“Back in the rear, the unit spent most of the time training and planning how we were going to conduct FID training for this deployment,” said an Army sergeant from California who’s been with the ODA for three years. “We have the opportunity to take FID training to the next level with the ERB … the previous teams before us really set us up for success.”

For the USSF Soldiers experiencing their first deployment to Iraq, they too benefit from the on-going advisory role and the experience level of the ERB.

“It’s good to be here,” said an Army sergeant on his first deployment to Iraq. “It’s hard because you have to teach Iraqis what you already know … your first instinct is to go ahead and do it instead of taking a step back and to let them do it on their own.”

According to these Soldiers, the training they provide gives them an opportunity to watch the ERB, as well as other ISF elements, grow into forces that are able to train, equip and conduct missions on their own.

“There’s a lot more to running a force than just kicking down doors,” said the sergeant.

“We have the FID training portion (down), but we also have to work with them in logistics and support,” he continued. “The lasting effect we have is not whether we caught the next bad guy, but how well we’ve trained Iraqis to catch the next bad guy and manage their force."