2 YORKS: Living and working with Afghan soldiers

In Helmand province, where the majority of UK forces are based, Afghan National Army (ANA) troops are conducting operations alongside British troops largely in the form of Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams (OMLTs), and particularly those of the 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (2 YORKS) OMLT Battle Group.

See Related News to read more about the mentoring role.

Working and living with ANA troops in the various checkpoints, Patrol Bases (PBs) and Forward Operating Bases, 2 YORKS soldiers offer advice and training wherever it may be needed to increase the effectiveness of the indigenous army.

For 2 YORKS this is the second tour of duty in Helmand and many of them are veterans of Operation HERRICK 7 which started in October 2007. Being the first regiment to have carried out the OMLT role for the second time in Helmand they are uniquely placed to comment on the progress achieved by the ANA on the ground.

For Corporal Philip Hodgson, based within a 2 YORKS OMLT in Nad 'Ali, there have been many signs of improvement since his last deployment:

"There have been big changes in the ANA since my last tour," he said.

"On the ground you had to mentor them in a fire fight and tell them what to do but on this tour when you are in a fire fight they seem to know for themselves what to do. They can gather the principle of fire and manoeuvring and having one foot on the ground while one team moves, and they can do it themselves.

"They are quite good. On this tour I more just give them little pointers on the ground but they are happy with themselves fighting, and they are aggressive and have been doing it for years so they're all right."

It is the intention that the ANA take on the role of providing security in Afghanistan themselves, so when the two forces go out on daily patrols together it is the ANA that takes the lead while British forces support and mentor that activity, as Corporal David Verity, based at PB 2 in Babaji, explains:

"They will lead the patrol and we will just give them a basic framework of where we want to go and what we want to do.

"We'll let them go and see how they do it and we'll slip-in in the middle."

However, he added that at times the superior knowledge and training of UK forces is called upon and they need to offer advice to their Afghan colleagues:

"The ANA will lead but often only to a certain extent and up until a point where we feel it was dangerous," he said.

"They can be quite careless in the way that they choose tracks and stuff so sometimes we have to take on the mentoring phase of it and explain to them that you can't go in certain places."

There are also teams working out on the ground in specialist areas, building the wider capacity of the Afghan National Army. One such example is the work of an OMLT from the 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery who are mentoring an Afghan gunnery team in the use and maintenance of 40-year-old Russian D-30 artillery pieces on 'Artillery Hill' near Gereshk.

Section Commander Lieutenant George Mowbray explains:

"We live and fight with our Afghan counterparts. The conditions are fairly austere but it really helps to see life from their point of view.

"Training starts at 0800 every day but we need to adopt a flexible approach. Punctuality is one of the areas we are working on!

"However, in all honesty, they are coming on very well and it does give you a good feeling to see them improving day-by-day.

"When it comes to training and learning new skills the 'Warriors' are extremely keen, tough, and many have a lot of combat experience.

"I never thought that when we arrived on this position we would have a battery firing in support of troops on the ground within a matter of weeks.

"It is a testament to what can be done with OMLT, and to how hard the team have worked in bringing the battery up to its current level.

"Although we still play a very active part in the process for calls for fire, our goal is to get to the stage where we can simply check the data and lay of the guns before letting the ANA carry on.

"We are now working hard to make the battery more self-reliant while still keeping the margin of safety and command and control in our grasp.

"I am certain that we are building capability. There is a bright future for the only operational ANA artillery battery."

For Platoon Commander Lieutenant Ian Atkins, from 2 YORKS, based in PB Waterloo in the Sangin region, mentoring is not just about 'skills and drills' but also demonstrating to the ANA that there are times when a softer approach pays off.

He said:

"My main effort is working on the understanding that solving the problem, and especially in Sangin, is not just about going out and fighting the enemy but the importance of working with the local nationals. Getting their support and getting them onside.

"For example, on one occasion we went to speak to a mullah of a local mosque near to an unmentored ANA PB.

"We spoke to the mullah and he was initially very reticent to speak to us because that area is heavily influenced by the Taliban. But we went in there as an OMLT rather than as a British company and there were six Brits and 10 Afghans.

"We asked him what his problems were but steered completely away from the whole Taliban issue, we didn't even bring that up.

"We just asked him 'What do you need?'

"He explained his mosque is where he teaches children and where they have their daily prayers. It was a very basic stone building with nothing in there really but a copy of the Koran and a few rugs to sit on - that was about it.

"So we went away and got funds from the Afghan Army and from the British Army. We got some rugs for his mosque and got him some more Korans. We also got him some decent school books for the children and some decent writing materials.

"We took them to him and said if you have any more problems just come and speak to us.

"Literally the next day we had him, and what turned out to be another local tribal leader too, turn up at our PB thanking us and wanting us to help at other mosques.

"They then started offering us what turned out to be very accurate information on the Taliban - so it's things like that that really help the Afghan Army see the benefit of helping the locals."

The British OMLT contribution to the international coalition in Afghanistan is part of the drive to create a situation where the country is able to sustain its own security against the insurgents and terrorists and already more than 90 per cent of ISAF operations are conducted with the Afghan National Army, which is 100,000-strong.

To run such operations the Afghan Army needs expertise in areas above and beyond infantry skills.

Tomorrow's article looks at how British OMLT teams are helping the ANA in areas such as medical care, cultural awareness and planning.