Education Officer delivers lessons to front line troops in Afghanistan

For many in the Armed Forces a period of active service can mean ongoing education and training takes a back seat until a return to barracks. However, Education Officer Captain Declan Lynn is making sure no soldier misses out on improvement opportunities.

Captain Lynn is part of the Army's Educational and Training Services (ETS) branch (part of the Adjutant General's Corps) who provide learning and development opportunities for serving personnel wherever they are in the world.

As part of his role he is currently deployed to Afghanistan where he travels out to Forward Operating Bases and Patrol Bases to carry out lessons and set work.

After joining the Army in 2000, Captain Lynn completed his military training and PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education) teaching qualification before being deployed twice from his posting in Germany in support of operations in Iraq, which he described as a 'fantastic experience':

"You tend to build up your teaching hours quite quickly in an operational environment that has the through-put of personnel that Operation TELIC did," he said.

Then followed a training post at Army Training Regiment Bassingbourn before his current deployment to Afghanistan attached to the 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards) [2 YORKS] Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT) Battle Group in Helmand.

Captain Lynn explained his current role:

"Basically, for quite a few of the guys, school wasn't particularly their favourite time. So they have come out and joined the Army, but in order to promote between the ranks and be effective managers as they take on more management responsibilities, they need those basic skills to be developed a little bit further.

"So I'm here to bridge that gap and get them up to the standard required.

"We concentrate really on three main areas. In accordance with national guidelines we work with their basic literacy and numeracy skills and try and get them up to level two standard, which is the equivalent of A to C at GCSE [General Certificate of Secondary Education] level.

"Once they have got up to those levels then they make themselves eligible for mandatory promotion courses. Something like CLM, which is Command, Leadership and Management.

"The reason for the existence of my job here in Afghanistan is because the lads are deployed so often these days and the tempo of operations is quite high, if we relied solely on the UK provision provided for them a lot of the guys would end up being career-disadvantaged.

"The reason I deploy with them is to make sure that that doesn't happen. So I will deliver the exact same service once they are deployed as they would be able to receive at their education centres back home."

Captain Lynn is one of around 300 Education Officers across the Army and eight currently working in Afghanistan.

Every infantry battle group deployed to Afghanistan has an Education Officer attached to them and there are currently two education centres - one in Kandahar Airfield and one in Camp Bastion.

Captain Lynn himself is based in Camp Shorabak, the Afghan National Army (ANA) base adjacent to Camp Bastion, where 2 YORKS are currently mentoring the ANA officers and men of the 2/305 Brigade.

Indeed, in addition to education for British troops, Captain Lynn's teaching skills and qualifications are also put to good use with the ANA. He explained:

"I have three roles in theatre at the moment. First thing in the morning I'm the ANA influence mentor so I go across to the morning meetings and talk to their personnel over there and give them some advice, guidance and direction in relation to how to do their jobs.

"Basically how to try and keep on side with the local nationals and spread the messages that they want the local nationals to know. We are having some successes with that and it is a good and interesting job.

"Other than that I also teach the ANA how to speak English, with the idea that it greases the wheels of the OMLT effort and makes working with the ANA a little bit easier. They understand us a little bit and they feel like they are getting something back on a personal level as well."

However, it is providing education for British troops that takes up most of Captain Lynn's time and why he convinced the 2 YORKS Quartermaster to set aside some space in camp for his self-styled 'University of Shorabak'.

It is here that anyone in the battle group can find Captain Lynn and discuss self-improvement opportunities.

Captain Lynn said:

"I operate on a drop-in basis where people who realise or know they have work to do, or are on a course, can drop in at any time. They will let me know what it is they want to do and I will give them a time or an appointment to come back, I'll prep some work for them and we'll work on it together."

As the 2 YORKS Battle Group is spread over a wide area and deployed to many separate Patrol Bases (PBs) and Forward Operating Bases (FOBs), Captain Lynn is mindful that not everyone gets the chance to visit him at his 'university'.

It is for this reason that he tries to don his body armour, pick up his rifle and get out of camp as often as possible:

"We have only been here two months and I have been out to two of the PBs so far, spending a week to ten days in both," Captain Lynn explained.

"The plan is to put in place an effective programme for the remainder of the tour where I will spend most of it outside of Shorabak visiting the different PBs.

"What we are trying to do is organise it so that they work on their basic skills while they are in the FOBs and PBs and they can do national tests as they come through here so they can actually leave theatre with nationally-recognised qualifications.

"On a number of occasions, when they have had a period of downtime, I've gone out to the PBs and delivered classes in the FOBs and PBs as well for them.

"It just makes better use of the downtime that they do have."

But, as Captain Lynn says, for many, seeing the Education Officer out on the front line is often met with bemusement, so it pays to show the men he is a soldier as well as a teacher:

"If I am going to ask them to buy in to what I'm there to do I need to show them that I'm willing to do what they do as well. That was very much my take on it.

"And at the end of the day I'm very conscious that the ETS Officer is more than a teacher that goes to work in green kit or desert uniform - we are soldiers first and teachers second.

"In order to reinforce that you have got to be willing to go out and do some soldiering as well.

"The first time I was down there [at a PB], you could see them looking at you and thinking 'What the heck is the Education Officer doing in a place like this?'

"But then after a day or two, when you have been out on patrol with them and sat down and chatted with them all, they actually say 'Well what are you here to do? What can I do with you?'

"So I'll let them know I can get them these qualifications and what those qualifications will entitle them to and all of a sudden there is a growing market for it.

"It was actually really good. The most positive thing I have done since I've been here."

Captain Lynn also makes clear that education in such conditions has to be approached in a slightly different way than it might be back in the UK, mindful of the pressures the men and women posted to the FOBs and PBs are already under:

"We are conscious of not overloading them with work," he explained.

"Obviously their job is quite labour intensive and forcing education on them wouldn't be productive.

"But it has proved to be quite successful in that if you go to the FOBs and PBs and don't force it down their throats they actually quite naturally buy into it because it just gives them something else to do.

"Education is a very individual thing. And I always treat adult education as something that people elect to do.

"I'm not going to be running after anybody and tell them they need to be doing their homework while they are in a FOB or PB but I will work with anybody that is willing to work.

"So those that recognise they have an area that they need to develop on, they'll come to me and we'll work on that together.

"But it is one of those things that, once your peers see you doing it, they go 'Well actually, maybe that's something I need to do as well'."

By their nature, conditions at FOBs and PBs are basic, so Captain Lynn has to tailor his work to these conditions. He continued:

"Conditions are limited and teaching is limited to what you can realistically carry.

"But all that you really need is a willing student, you can teach anywhere if somebody is willing to learn.

"Everything that I have brought to the PBs with me I could fit on my back, and did.

"The way I went about it was I would go out on patrol with the lads, then sit down for a brew with them, and when somebody wanted to do some education we would determine what it was they actually needed to do and just go off and find a bench that wasn't being used or just a quiet corner.

"A lot of times the guys would just take some work back to their bed space, worked on it, and brought it back to me, and we would talk through the corrections, then talk through the parts that he wasn't able to do at that time; we would do some examples together and then he'd crack on with some additional work based on that.

"So it is all very laid back but quite tailored to that individual's needs, which is great to be able to do in a place like a PB really. But it is much more effective to do it that way than try and go looking for a classroom set-up and deliver something that is generic that half the guys do need and half the guys don't."

Despite the challenges, Captain Lynn has shown that there is a demand for ongoing education in the PBs and there can be real successes, as he explained:

"We have a Sergeant in one of the PBs and he has picked up his acting rank, but he's not substantive in that rank until he has done a couple of career courses. One of them is the management qualification, the CLM.

"There are a number of prerequisites to get onto that course so when I was down at his base location at one of the PBs he asked me: 'OK, honestly, where do I start and what do I need to do to get onto this one?'

"So I was able to look up his educational records quite easily and could say, right this is the standard you are at in a number of areas, you need to do some literacy, numeracy and some computing work before you are even eligible to get on your promotion courses.

"While I was in the PB he did literacy and numeracy exams and he's now working through a workbook that will brush him up on all the management information he will need to do.

"He will then come back here [to Shorabak] and then just before he goes on Rest and Recuperation [R&R] he will be able to do his management exam here in theatre and he will leave theatre substantive in his rank and with two national qualifications. And that is only the first half of his tour!

"We also have another Sergeant, he's a TA Sergeant serving in one of the PBs down in Sangin.

"He's not satisfied with the result he got from school, he just felt that he could have done better.

"So he's doing a National Extension College GCSE package while he is here in theatre and he'll do his exams in a local college in Preston when he gets back on R&R.

"So by the end of his tour here in June he should have a nationally-recognised GCSE."

With such successes it is not surprising that Captain Lynn concluded by saying:

"It's incredibly satisfying and for me the best job in the Army, so I'm very lucky."