Soldatenglück

(Grafik-, Bilderquelle: NATO.ISAF.int;
Beginning with the advanced group in the middle of November 2009, about 29 Air Force soldiers, mainly consisting of members of the Air Defense Missile Squadron 2, FlaRakG 2, – the “Mecklenburg-Vorpommern” unit, -will train Afghan soldiers in Kunduz. The Afghan partner unit is a so-called “garrison support unit,” that is responsible for guarding and operating an Afghan garrison facility, just ten kilometers distant from the PRT, Provincial Reconstruction Team, in Kunduz. The Afghan commander, a colonel, has about 300 soldiers available for this, from young soldiers up to acknowledged staff officers with long years of combat experience. Photo Courtesy German Air Force/Herbert Albring;
The Air Force is going into new territory with this mission. Many details can only be worked out right on the spot and will appear differently in practice in Kunduz than they did in theory in Bad Suelze. Flexibility and a high level of stamina will be required for nearly eight months of deployment. It is therefore highly important the a strong team has been created in the weeks and months of the preparations together, which was personally earlier carried out together with almost all the family members of the Air Defense Missile Groups 24 and 21. Because the guarantee for the success of the OMLT in this difficult environment is a strong community and individual security awareness. Photo Courtesy German Air Force/Luftwaffe.de;
Mutual trust is the basis for all cooperation. In order to ensure success in the training on the spot and—as the OMLT concept envisions—to live, work, and eat together with the Afghans, the team will drive over to the Afghan camp on an almost daily basis. Until then, it will be a matter for each airman, along with building up a sustainable relationship of trust with the Afghan partners, to concentrate also on figuring out the security situation on the spot and dealing with it in an appropriately prudent manner. Photo Courtesy German Air Force/Herbert Albring;
German soldier of the OMLT surrounded by Afghans. To meet all these demands, the airmen were in Hammelburg in September for further training, at the national OMLT training course in Wildflecken in October, and at the Joint Force Training Center in Poland at the beginning of November in order to set the right tone in working together with the other countries conducting training. Once deployed in country, they will then finally go through a one-week training course in Mazar-e Sharif at the OMLT: all in all, a package that takes about 6 months. At the end of their training, the airmen—at least in theory and in comparison with the other NATO countries—will be as highly trained as possible to deal properly with the multifaceted problems in the deployment area. However, no training in the world can prepare them for every scenario; there will always be the risk of something else. And the airmen also know that. Photo Courtesy German Air Force/Herbert Albring;
Convoy training of an OMLT is in full progress. To get ready for this mission, the airmen from the far north have gone through numerous training courses besides the EAKK [expansion unknown] and the geographical module for Afghanistan that have taken into consideration the Afghan customs and behavior along with teaching infantry basics and the finer points of tactical driving. Photo Courtesy German Air Force/Herbert Albring)