Day 8 - Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC)

We took a trip to KMTC (Kabul Military Training Center) today. It is the biggest Afghan National Army (ANA) training base in the area. There are a total of 13,000 soldiers here at any one time, and they graduate about 1,500 every Thursday. It is a lot like our big basic training bases. They have lots of space for firing ranges and maneuver training. We were here to coordinate the NMAA cadet's summer training. Every summer for about 45 days the cadets and faculty deploy here for field training. This year they will arrive just after Ramadan.

We traveled with Major General Sharif (the NMAA Superintendent), and were met by Brigadier General Aminullah (I hope I spelled that correctly, my apologies if I didn't), the new KMTC Commander. He just got this assignment after several years of combat tours and leadership in the six southern Afghanistan provinces. These places, like Hellmand and Khandahar province, are the most volatile in the country. Most of the Taliban have been pushed into the south were the major US, ANA, and allied offensive is this summer. You may recognize Khandahar from the news today because there was an attack on the allied airfield there by the Taliban.

Much of KMTC is a dusty, rocky, maneuver and training area, but I must say, portions of it are breathtaking! The roses here are more spectacular than those even at NMAA. One thing I will always remember here are the roses. I commented in an earlier post that MGen Sharif doesn't like anyone to pick them, but I'm going to ask for special dispensation so I can press one blossom and take it home to Gina and the girls.

A quick discussion on BGen Aminullah's recent re-assignment is in order. There are a few historic traditions about the ANA that we are trying to overcome. One of them is assignments. In the old days, postings were doled out as favors. Who you knew, who you were related to, etc. If a soldier was unlucky and had no connections, they could be assigned to a place like Hellmand province essentially for ever. All the privileged or well connected got nice staff positions in Kabul at the Ministry of Defense (MOD). The ANA is making good progress to change this. BGen Aminullah's assignment to KMTC is just one example. They have taken a combat tested leader and put him in charge of training the next generation of soldiers. They are starting to see the value in periodic re-assignments to spread experience and also share the load amongst the troops. Not many US soldiers and their families like to move that often, present company included, but there is definitely a big benefit in it.

One side comment about the above photo. This is our current team chief and one of our newly arrived Navy mentors with MGen Sharif (far right) and BGen Aminullah. I was sitting next to MGen Sharif for the whole meeting and if finally hit me. If you see him in profile, you'd swear that George Costanza had an Afghan cousin...

In this photo you can see one of our up armored Toyota Land Cruisers (click the picture for a higher resolution version). It looks like most other Toyotas from the outside (aside from all the antennas), but the entire interior skin has added armor and bullet proof (resistant really) glass added. I apologize for not taking more pictures of Kabul as we transit from place to place, but when you combine the dust, mud, and windows that don't roll down, pictures of the city scape speeding by just don't turn out. Plus, we are usually fully engaged trying to identify the route and possible threats while we are moving. Finally, there isn't really any good time to stop for pictures, because one of the few advantages we have is mobility and speed. We try hard not to stop for anything. It just prolongs our exposure. By the way, look closely at the photo and you'll notice a Dell laptop box. It could be an advertisement. Actually, we stopped by NKC (New Kabul Compound) on the way back to NMAA to pick up 40 new laptops for the cadets that are tracked for medical school.

Each class at NMAA has between 10 and 20 cadets that spend the first year at NMAA and then go to Kabul University for medical school. Interestingly, they are bringing females into NMAA now, but only those tracked for medical school. This afternoon some of us had a Chai with MGen Sharif and he explained that in 2012 the first ever class with women would be fully integrated into NMAA with a graduation date of 2016. This will be a momentous occasion when the first female lieutenants graduate from NMAA and go out into the ANA to take command!

Lastly, I had to include this final photo. I'm still amazed and interested in all the Soviet era weaponry on static display at bases and posts throughout Kabul and the country. This is a picture of me standing in front of an old Soviet era light tank. Not sure the model number.