Airmen train Afghan cops

  • Published
  • By Capt. J. Elaine Hunnicutt
  • Nangarhar Provincial Reconstruction Team
NANGARHAR, Afghanistan (AFNS) --  Three Airmen trained and graduated 900 Afghan national police in Nangarhar, Nuristan, Kunar and Lagman provinces during a nine-month deployment as part of a Department of State program.

The program provides a secondary-level of professional police officer education at the Jalalabad Regional Training Center. 

The three security forces Airmen are Tech. Sgt. Brady Holcomb, Staff Sgt. Curtis Hames and Staff Sgt. Kevin Krouse. Sergeant Holcomb has served for 12 years and is deployed from Langley Air Force Base, Va. Sergeant Hames has served for 14 years in both the Marines and now the Air Force and is deployed from Hanscom AFB, Mass. Sergeant Krouse has served for nine years and is deployed from Bolling AFB, D.C.  

The trainees attend an eight-week course that provides instruction in general police duties, weapons proficiency, first aid, human rights, community policing, basic border police training, and Afghan law and constitution. 

"A police man who is educated is more capable of making rational decisions or judgment calls," Sergeant Krouse said. 

An entire police department comes to train, while they are backfilled by a traveling police department out of Kabul. Teambuilding is what Sergeant Holcomb focuses on the most with his training sessions. 

"I get in a group of cops that have minimal training, and when they leave they can field a decent police department," said Sergeant Holcomb, who is from Mountain Home, Idaho. "It is better that they come as a group because one problem that we face is that the village elder runs the city not the police chief. Together they learn how to change this mindset among themselves and are better able to enforce the law."

"We administer firearms training on a live range and apply squad movement techniques," said Sergeant Krouse, who is from Mount Wilson, Penn. "In addition, they receive training on vehicle searches and police checkpoints. If they find a terrorist with a suicide vest using these search techniques before they are able to detonate themselves, then they will save lives."

"The Air Force police seem to have a more civilian approach to policing than do most (Army) 'field' police units. They understand our training approach as is applies to the police operating in an environment requiring a combination civilian and military police unit," said Charles Bent, the Dyncorp regional commander. "The Air Force police are extremely good instructors and role models for the Afghan students. Being American military, they are looked up to by the students and Afghan commanders as military professionals. Their conduct with the students also helps to cement the Afghans experiences with Americans as 'positive' in nature. This carries out to the field where the new Afghan police interact with other Americans, and helps the Afghans to assimilate better to the U.S. Army field instructors." 

Most of the students are illiterate and have a second job in addition to being a police officer to offset their low wages. Since their options are limited and their ability to feed their families comes into play when making decisions, ethics training is vital for the success of the police department. 

Sergeant Hames, who teaches the advance course to the NCOs focuses on "ethics." 

"I have them all day, for eight weeks, and I tend to change their way of thinking," said Sergeant Hames, a native of Enid, Okla. "I am teaching them that the village elder does not trump the law. I feel I have made a difference. When I go outside the wire, I know how they operate."

"The job they do and the professionalism they display is a credit to all the persons that serve our country as members of the armed forces," Mr. Bent said. 

"I have three of the finest Airmen working at the RTC training the backbone of the communities in (Nangarhar, Nuristan, Kunar and Lagman)," said Lt. Col. Paul Donovan, their Air Force commanding officer. "These individuals are the top of their career field and have been on autopilot since we arrived."

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