Afghanistan

[Holger]

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U.S. helps Afghan National Army recruitment

By Spc. Greg Heath
August 4, 2003

CARIKAR, Afghanistan (Army News Service, Aug. 4, 2003) -- The U.S. Army is helping the new Afghan National army spread the message of the 'importance of one army' to the 33 separate militias around the country.

'Our mission is to consolidate all the separate factions and small militias around the country into one volunteer national army' said Maj. Thomas Armbruster, one of two officers recently deployed to Afghanistan from the Army’s Recruiting Command. 'But it is kind of a new concept here. Our message is the importance of one army.'

In Afghanistan there are 33 provinces and each province has its own army run by a regional commander, or warlord, said Armbruster.

Armbruster and Capt. Chris Lombardi, Office of Military Cooperation ' Afghanistan in Kabul, have been in country for less than a month. They said their immense task is to provide a recruiting structure that in the future can bring the number of soldiers in the ANA between 40,000-70,000.

The ANA's forces are now approximately 10 battalions, totaling 4,500 soldiers, and recently they successfully worked alongside coalition forces in their first combat mission during Operation Warrior Sweep in the country's Paktiya province.

Currently the ANA has no formal recruiting structure in place, said Armbruster.

Local governors, village elders, influential members of the region, and regional Afghan military force officers recently gathered at one of the Afghan Ministry of Defense's recruitment presentations for the Afghan National Army.

The reaction to the ANA has been good so far, said Armbruster.

'After being involved in over 20 years of war, people are realizing that the old methods aren't working and it's time to create a new system'; said Armbruster, about people's attitudes toward the ANA.

ANA public affairs officer, Capt. Muhammad Shapoor, attended a recent recruiting conference and gave a presentation educating the attendees about the benefits of unifying the military forces of the country, and how the Afghan recruits can benefit from it.

'We need a national army in Afghanistan, so we can have security and peace,' said Shapoor.

Shapoor said the soldiers will receive steady pay, meals, receive medical care, live in hardened barracks, and get the opportunity to study English as a second language, along with the professional military training.

Armbruster and Lombardi are still in the process of finding facilities in Afghan cities that can serve as national volunteer army recruiting centers. They're currently working on sites in Jalalabad, Gardez, and Bamyan.

'In the future we hope to have volunteer army centers in all of the provinces,' Lombardi said.

But in the end, the U.S. has one main goal in Afghanistan, according to Armbruster, 'Our role is to help Afghanistan help themselves.'

Although recruiting troops has been successful so far, the U.S. officers say their work is just beginning.

'Our work is still in its infancy,' said Lombardi.

(Editor's note: Sgt. Greg Heath is a journalist with the 4th Public Affairs Detachment in Afghanistan.)