Hill Airman among forces to help train Afghan National Army

  • Published
  • By Maj. Timothy Lundberg
  • 455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan --  Airmen from the 455th Expeditionary Base Defense Group have been training and assisting Afghan National Army leadership on the M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon to help them become proficient with the use and employment of the weapon.

This is the second time this three-day train the trainer event has occurred with local ANA troops and 455 EBDG personnel, including Hill's own Tech. Sgt. Michael McKnight, who recently returned  home from a deployment to the 455 EBDG.

The training highlights the continued efforts of both International Security Assistance Force personnel and the ANA to increase the skills and capabilities of Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan security forces.

Day one of the three-day training began with an introduction to the M249. The ANA officers and non-commissioned officers learned about the nomenclature and individual parts of the weapon, how to safely handle it and how to disassemble and reassemble the machine gun.

Over the second and third day of the training program the students continued to learn about the operation and employment of the machine gun. The training program used by McKnight, non-commissioned in charge of combat arms and active shooter for the 455 EBDG, didn't seek to train the Afghan Army personnel on how to do their jobs, but sought to expand their professional knowledge base by describing how the U.S. forces use the M249.

"They have good leadership and I'm impressed with how eager they are for the training. You have guys in here with years of experience and they're fully engaged with what we're teaching," said McKnight, a native of Houston. "It's important to train these guys as they'll have the same weapons we use as we draw down."

As the ANA officers and NCOs progressed through the M249 training program they were impressed with the effectiveness of the training.

"Training with coalition forces and these new weapons if very important and the training is effective," stated ANA platoon commander, Sgt. 1st Class Hoshang. "We've had Russian weapons and a lot of experience with them, this is my first time training with the new weapons we're getting."

Hoshang continued, "We're seeing good results from this training; the more familiar with a lot of different weapons we become, the better we get."

Programs to train ANA forces like the three-day M249 training are schedule for the ANA units on Bagram and 455 EBDG personnel by the 455 EBDG future operations section.

Master Sgt. Benjamin Dees, NCO in charge of future operations for the 455 EBDG, commented on how engaged the ANA leaders were during the class, "A lot of these guys had years of experience fighting before we got here, and they've had training within the army since then. What we're training them on now though is the use and employment of some of the weapons we use, like the M-249 they have gotten over the last few months."

Dees is deployed to the 455th EBDG from Eglin AFB, and originally hails from Deltona, Fla.

(Richard W. Essary, 75th Air Base Wing Public Affairs, contributed to this article.)