Video Story
Watch VideoIraqi nationals help train troops at Pinon Canyon
Story By: Mark Hanrahan
Source: KOAA
The Army uses the 235,896 acre training site for "large scale mechanized combat maneuvers and live-fire exercises" to train
At the latest training exercise, soldiers with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division work to secure a mock-Shia town. During the drill the company commander must meet with the town mayor, chief of police and religious leader to investigate whether insurgents are smuggling weapons through the town.
Col. Kievenaar says, "We're trying to put the leaders and the soldiers in the same type of conditions when they're deployed in theater." Its the latest in counter-insurgency training. Troops are now getting the chance to interact with Iraqi nationals before ever leaving
Iraqi national Ali Alfartousi says, "I'm over here training American people to speak Arabic." He's just one of more than 50 Iraqis currently at the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site who were contracted to help train soldiers. Alfartousi says, "I teach them all kinds of stuff like say, hi, how are you? Or, other stuff like, careful."
He and the others add realism, commanders say, to an exercise with no bullets and no real chance of injury. Col. Kievenaar says, "They bring the realism of the Iraqi culture and how an Iraqi may react to just...our discussion, let alone the choices that we make."
The Army hopes the training will prepare soldiers, especially the newest recruits, for what they'll see at war. Private Emmitt Fagan says, "I find it very helpful, learning some of their language, other things you'll probably need to know."
The soldiers with the 2nd BCT, 4th ID will finish their rotation at
