82nd Airborne takes up training mission in Farah province

[unhappycamper]

Spc. Justin Goff, left, reenlists Oct. 12 at the Afghan National Army Shewan Garrison in western Afghanistan. Goff dedicated his reenlistment to Sgt. Tyler Juden, a fellow soldier killed by enemy fire last month during a convoy operation near the garrison.


82nd Airborne takes up training mission in Farah province
By T.D. Flack, Stars and Stripes
Online edition, Wednesday, October 21, 2009

SHEWAN GARRISON, Afghanistan — The men of the 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment prepared to enter an Afghan village where suspected Taliban insurgents were hiding.

Hours before sunrise, they quietly began suiting up for combat, checking weapons and radios and coordinating with a quick reaction force of fellow soldiers in case things went bad.

Ammunition? Check. Water? Check. The Afghan National Army troops who were supposed to lead it? Nowhere to be found.

It was another frustrating start to a mission for the U.S. soldiers tasked with advising and assisting the Afghan National Security Forces in Farah province in western Afghanistan. They’ve been here for two months as part of a policy that doubled the number of U.S. troops training Afghans by bringing in the 82nd Airborne’s 4th Brigade Combat Team. That the ANA were a few hours late on that day’s mission was almost a given, according to the troops.

Up to that point, the mission was run by one National Guard brigade combat team under the direction of the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan. Small teams of nine to 15 soldiers, led by a captain or major, embedded with the Afghan forces to train them.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=65514



unhappycamper comment: That's a really swell propaganda pic... WTF does it have to do with the article?