Whenever they are on the road, Spc. Ben Davis and Staff Sgt. Jerry Bench try to get some physical training in any way they can. On this trip to the Iraq-Iran border, they managed to squeeze in a friendly game of volleyball with Iraqi border police. (Kevin Dougherty / Stars and Stripes)
Accountability is one of the areas the U.S. military is focusing on as it goes about training Iraqi security forces.
The Iraqi army battalion in Hawijah, Iraq, does remarkably well keeping track of personnel and equipment, but it doesn’t do as well with uniforms and ammunition, observed Maj. Matt Smith, who heads the training effort at Forward Operating Base McHenry.
An Iraqi recruit who is issued a pair of boots will appear the next day wearing his old tattered sneakers, for example.
Sgt. Dustin Kessler of the Montana National Guard raised the issue of ammunition at a recent meeting of U.S. Army trainers at the base. The issue struck a chord among his fellow instructors.
Iraqi soldiers have a tendency to get excited and shoot, a sort of shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later mentality, a couple of U.S. trainers said. Like elsewhere in the country, the trainers work with Iraqi soldiers in the field to hone their skills. “Instead of yelling at somebody [to clear the road], they just pop off a magazine,” added Staff Sgt. Tommy Morgan.
The occasional celebratory fire is another habit of the Iraqis that U.S. soldiers hope to break as well. In many parts of the Middle East and Africa, it’s part of the culture. “Somehow we need to make those guys more accountable,” Smith said.
Multicultural gift
It might be quicker to ask Spc. Krist Zeynalyan what languages he doesn’t speak.
The 24-year-old soldier with Delta/52 Infantry Company, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division has a knack — and familial ties — that has him speaking in different tongues. In addition to his native Armenia, he can converse in Korean, Russian, Persian, English, and, oh, a little Arabic.
The infantryman was raised in the Armenian capital of Yerevan, so that’s a given, as is the Russian, he said. His father is Iranian, “so I have to know his language.”
And when his family moved to the Los Angeles suburbs, he quickly picked up English. Korean was just for fun.
As is the Army way of life — for now, he joked. He joined, he said, “out of sheer patriotism.”
“I grew up on the welfare reform system, needing government help. This is my way of paying the country back,” said the former Pepperdine University student whose water polo scholarship ended after an ankle injury.
And he’s an aspiring writer who hopes to publish a book someday on his combat experiences in Iraq and keeps a detailed daily journal, spending anywhere from 30 minutes to hours daily logging his thoughts. For the time being, he’s titled it “Perspectives.”
“I guess I’ll get out when the Army says I can,” he said. Because of the stop-loss policy, he was unable to leave the Army when his contract was up in December.
“That’s OK. I’m fine with it. My door is always open to the military.”
America’s cute critters
A Special Forces soldier and a grizzled TV outdoorsman have come together to bring a small piece of Americana to troops in Afghanistan.
Master Sgt. Carl Morton, of the 7th Special Forces Group, grew up in Michigan camping, fishing and watching the long-running Public Broadcasting Service outdoors series “Wild America.” The show is hosted by Marty Stouffer, pretty much a legend to anyone who’s spent time on the couch, and features footage of North American wildlife and landscapes.
When the series debuted for purchase on DVD, Morton placed an order via the Internet. Stouffer, according to his staff, saw the e-mail order and stepped in.
“I read his e-mail and said there’s no way this guy is going to pay for the series. We’re sending him the shows for free,” Stouffer said in a statement sent by his staff. No word yet on whether other free sets are being sent.
