CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan -- More than 25 Afghan National Army soldiers with the 215th Corps Logistics Battalion graduated from a class led by Military Professional Resources Inc. at Camp Shorabak, Afghanistan, Sept. 26.
The 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward) Embedded Partnering Team worked with MPRI to increase the Afghan unit’s combat readiness over the course of the nine-week training cycle.
The MPRI team, comprised of retired senior enlisted servicemembers and officers, trains Afghan units in a variety of military fields. There are six subject matter experts on the team, covering medical, signal, transportation, logistical and food-service operations.
The MPRI instructors led the classroom lessons, while the EPT Marines organized and conducted the hands-on practical application portions of the course.
The instructors noticed that the students liked the hands-on parts of the courses the best, said Albert Juarez, the medical expert with MPRI. He also pointed out that the students were enthusiastic about every portion of the class, but especially the food-service course.
The culinary operations were just one piece of the training puzzle, but the ANA considers it to be an important one.
“You can’t conduct missions when you are hungry,” said 1st Lt. Mohammad Amin Ah zay, the assistant operations officer for the 215th CLB. “I consider this training to be very important to our combat missions.”
Juarez said that some students excelled throughout the course and would have the opportunity to train fellow ANA soldiers in the future. Upon graduation, the instructors choose a few of the top students to participate in a ‘Train the Trainer’ course in order to continue to promote future Afghan forces’ independence.