Afghan aviators complete historic mission

[dreadpirateroberts]

Afghan aviators complete historic mission

By Sgt. Stephanie van Geete
April 24, 2006

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan (Army News Service, April 24, 2006) – Afghan National Army aviators recently completed their first combat-support mission in partnership with the Coalition’s Task Force Falcon.

Two Afghan National Army Air Corps crews arrived at the airfield April 10, completed several days of training and then flew supplies aboard their Mi-17 Hip helicopters to Afghan and U.S. forces in Jalalabad.

Afghan and Coalition participants are calling the mission a success.

“It was special to me to be part of the first time we’ve done this mission together with the Coalition. We had no problems and executed the mission properly,” said Col. Nematullah, an ANA Air Corps pilot who, like many Afghans, uses only one name.

“Everything ran smoothly,” said Maj. Brian Serota, Task Force Falcon’s operations officer. “We started mission planning on Wednesday with the embedded trainers, went through some planning stages – map reconnaissance, flight routes, weather, terrain and possible enemy action – then did a rehearsal on Thursday. On Friday, Soldiers from the Joint Logistics Command came to help load the aircraft, and Saturday the aviators executed the mission. It was excellent.”

The first group of Afghan aviators conducted after-action reviews to identify areas in which they could improve, and then continued to fly missions for the remainder of their 10-day stay, Serota said. A second group was scheduled to replace them as soon as they departed.

“The goal is to get them up every single day doing aerial movements,” to prepare them to share the aviation-operations load with the Coalition, Serota said.

“We want to rely on the Afghan Air Corps, to be able to give them a mission, or part of a ring route, and have them plan, coordinate and execute it themselves,” he continued.

Separately, soldiers from the Afghan National Army’s Central Movement Agency trained with members of the Coalition’s Joint Logistics Command detachment to improve the ANA’s logistical support capabilities.

From April 12 through April 14, Afghan and Coalition Soldiers practiced preparing cargo for various modes of delivery – in cargo holds, in sling loads and by parachute.

“We provide the ammunition, food and supplies,” said ANA Col. Moh Kabir, executive officer for the Central Movement Agency, through an interpreter. “Without ammunition a Soldier cannot shoot. Without food a Soldier cannot eat. So logistics are very important.”

“Afghanistan is a mountainous country and most of our Soldiers are in the field,” he continued. “It is very important to support these Soldiers from the air because it is sometimes difficult to support them from the ground.”

The training culminated with the presentation of an Afghan-U.S. partnership pin to members of both organizations.

“This is just the beginning of a partnership between ANA logisticians and Coalition logisticians,” said Col. Larry Wyche, commander of the Joint Logistics Command detachment.



(Editor’s note: Sgt. Stephanie van Geete writes for the Task Force Falcon Public Affairs Office. Sgt. 1st Class Michael Rautio of the Joint Logistics Command contributed to this article.)