By SSgt Markus M. Maier
In an effort to assist the Afghan National Army with their recruiting effort, members of the NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan Recruiting Assistance Team traveled to the Paktia and Logar Provinces to visit two Afghan recruiting centers March 6 and 7.
Navy Commander Caroline Gaghan, NTM-A Recruiting Assistance Team office in charge, along with five team members traveled in MRAPS for two days to visit the recruiting centers to talk to their commanders, staff members and recruits.
“Each [recruiting center] has different problems and issues that they are dealing with,” Gaghan said.
By actually going out to visit the centers the team learns a lot more about what’s going on than they would from Kabul, she added.
“Our primary mission here is to advise the Afghan National Army Recruiting Command,” said Gaghan. “We are advisors. We don’t recruit. The Afghan recruiters are very good at what they do. What we primarily do is resource them and provide them with what they need to fulfill their mission.”
Currently the Afghan Army is working towards a goal to raise its end strength to 134,000 by October in an effort to meet a mandate set by Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Recruiting is very different here than it is in the U.S., the commander added. For one, the ANA was only stood up in 2001. Then there are cultural differences that have to be considered.
Unlike in the U.S. where recruiters usually only deal with individuals and their immediate families, here, as in most Middle Eastern countries, extended families, religious leaders, village elders and provincial governors have much more involvement in a young man’s decision to join the army.
Another challenge is space.
“We are constricted by the basic warrior training sites; they just don’t have enough training seats right now,” Gaghan said. “As new training sites are standing up, they fill up to capacity right away.”
Gaghan explained although it is a challenge; it is a good challenge to have. Having too many people volunttering means Afghans want to join.
But with all the challenges there also is hope. Recruiters find more and more that men are joining the Afghan Army out of patriotism rather than just making a paycheck.
“There is a type of nationalism that we are currently seeing, so we are confident that we are going to continue to see a surge,” the commander said.
One recruit at the Paktia recruiting center used to live and work in Dubai, but decided to return to Afghanistan to join the ANA.
“I did not join for the money,” the recruit said. “I have two brothers who already joined the border police. So I came back to join the army.”
Commander Gaghan said that the true test will be during the coming summer months where young men have more opportunities to earn money, such as construction and harvesting jobs, but she remains hopeful that the ANA will meet its goal.
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Glad to see you are guys are making it out to the other NAVC's. Keep up the good work
SSgt Queen