Ft. Hood soldiers prepare to deploy
KILLEEN — Four U.S. soldiers sat at a folding table across from a man wearing an Afghan National Army uniform as he discussed his unit’s work in a rugged area of eastern Afghanistan.
The Americans jotted notes in green field books as the Afghan commander, speaking in Dari and through an interpreter, explained his efforts to set up military checkpoints and supply routes for his troops. Hanging on the room’s walls were the flag of Afghanistan and a framed photo of Ashraf Ghani, the country’s president, and on a nearby table stood a coffee urn filled with tea.
All the elements — the conversation topics and interpreter, the decor, even the availability of tea instead of coffee — provided a preview of what awaits the soldiers in Afghanistan.
The men, who belong to the 3rd Cavalry Regiment stationed at Fort Hood, will join some 1,000 soldiers from the unit deploying in the next month to the country’s mountainous eastern region for a ninemonth tour.
The four’s participation with a dozen other soldiers in the classroom exercise, held on a recent weekday on base, illuminated how the U.S. military has shifted its emphasis in Afghanistan from fighting to talking.
Maj. Chauncey Hodge was listening to the faux commander played by a native Afghan who once worked for U.S. forces as an interpreter and later emigrated to America. Hodge, 36, who previously deployed to Afghanistan
in 2010 after a tour in Iraq three years earlier, described the change in purpose and philosophy for American troops.
“We’re not going there this time to say, ‘ This is what you have to do,’ ” he said. “It’s their plan, and you’re more working to help them follow through.”
The 3rd Cavalry will make up more than 10 percent of the 9,800 troops in Afghanistan supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel. The “train, advise and assist” mission, in military parlance, began last year after President Barack Obama halted major combat operations fol- lowing the U.S.-led war against the Taliban.
The transition to an advisory role coincided with Obama’s decision to reduce the number of troops on the ground. The figure will drop to 5,500 next year as the Afghan military, formed in 2002 and forced to grow up under fire, struggles to subdue the Taliban insurgency.
Afghan army and police forces have suffered heavy losses since assuming more control of the battle against the Islamist militia, with 16,000 members killed or wounded last year, an increase of 3,500 from 2014. The Taliban has exploited a lack of cohesion among Afghanistan’s military branches across the country, including in the capital of Kabul two weeks ago.
A suicide attacker detonated a massive truck bomb outside a government intelligence office in the heart of the city’s socalled “ring of steel,” killing 64 people and wounding nearly 350, most of them civilians. The attack ranked as the deadliest in Kabul since 2011, when militants launched an assault on the U.S. Embassy.
The training at Fort Hood involved quieter scenarios that 3rd Cavalry officers can expect to encounter during their tour. They met in small groups with Afghan “commanders,” who sought guidance on moving weapons and equipment between bases, evacuating wounded soldiers and improving radio transmissions.
The Americans asked questions to learn more details before suggesting solutions, taking care to articulate options rather than commands.
“It’s not about having them copy the American model,” said 1st Lt. Matthew Duarte, 24, who will lead a platoon to advise Afghan combat medics. “We’ve been in Afghanistan for quite a long time now, and the Afghan forces have come a long way. At this point, we’re just trying to help them reach the goal of self-sufficiency.”