Capt. Kyle Petkovsek, USMC
NTM-A
Now that we finally had a handle on the helos and the aircrews, we could get down to business. The next few days were spent with the aircrews flying operational missions, teaching of ground, and debriefing. We covered a lot and made some great progress. I was very surprised to see that the Afghans were willing to sit through a flight brief given by the American Mi-17 mentor pilot, Capt Tyler Rennell. Capt Rennell gave a great brief appropriate to the Afghans skill level for a little over an hour before our first mission. We discussed the details of our mission, weather, routing, landing zones, and emergency procedures. The Afghans seemed very receptive and asked some decent questions concerning flight coordination which was reassuring to rest of the team.
When it came time for the mission, there was no way we were going to be left behind. I established my role as a door gunner as did Capt Johan on the other side of the aircraft. Our mission was to transport a few ANA soldiers to FOB Geronimo in the vicinity of Camp Bastion. After a few minutes of preflight checks we were airborne and headed into hostile territory. We flew low and fast to decrease our exposure to enemy threats. At some points we were flying just 20 feet above the desert floor, scattering goats and llamas and waving to the local people as we passed by. Luckily, we did not encounter surface fires, and the mission was a success. It was eye opening to see the battle space from a different perspective. We passed over a river bed and saw the locals digging irrigation ditches to water their crops. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that only 1 in 10,000 Afghans in this country are bad guys. Most folks are only trying to live their lives and care for their families. We continued to teach and fly with the aircrews on operational missions for our remaining days at Shorabak. It was evident the aircrews were open to our suggestions and criticism and showed improvements on each mission. To add to our comfort we managed to convince the Afghan leadership it would be wise to have both the MI-35s return to Kandahar because of the complexity of providing close air support in the battle space of Marjah.
Many intelligent military service men and women who work for the Combined Air Power Transition Force (CAPTF) had dedicated all their energy into building and strengthening the Afghan Air Corps. There is some progress being made, however we are not seeing a proportional return on our vast investment of funds and manpower. The average age of the afghan pilots is 45 years old, and most of them are soviet trained and set in their habit patterns. After dealing with total anarchy in their country for 30 years, it will take at least a new generation of well trained crewmembers to get the ANAAC on the right track. The wars in Afghanistan have led the Afghans into a survival mentality. There is little concern about the future, for the Afghans there’s only today. Tomorrow is ‘Insh Allah’, God’s Will. Perhaps instead of purchasing the next Mi-17 (at $8 million per aircraft) NATO leadership should consider paying for the retirement of the older pilots and the recruitment of new, younger, more motivated aircrews. CAPTF is definitely on the right track. This past week, Nato Training Mission Afghanistan congratulated Lt Faiz Ramaki on his completion of the initial C-27A qualification. Recruiting and retaining younger, more motivated Air Corps pilots and holding them to higher standards of performance is the way ahead.
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