Airmen, Soldiers help establish military academy

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Trevor Tiernan
  • U.S. CENTAF Combat Correspondent Team
KABUL, Afghanistan (AFPN) --  Nearly, 2,000 young hopefuls descended upon the Afghan National Military Academy recently, all vying for the chance to be accepted into the academy and possibly study in the United States and Great Britain.

A group of U.S. Airmen and Soldiers are currently working at the academy helping process the admissions, develop the course and mentor the faculty members.

"It's very important that the future officers of the Afghan National Army have a good education so that they can lead their troops properly," said Lt. Col. Kevin Burns, a math mentor at the Academy, deployed here from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. "It's a gateway for them to be able to better their country, to be able to bolster their economy and be able to make life in general better for everyone."

Army Lt. Col. Scott Hamilton, the academy support team chief, deployed from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point N.Y., said approximately 1,800 candidates applied for 300 spots in the 2008 class. That's six people for every available seat.

"They're coming from all over the country," he said. "All the provinces are represented, all the ethnic groups are represented, and it's a great opportunity. It starts them off on a career and it really is building a nation."

According to Colonel Hamilton, the academy's national aspect is special in a traditionally tribal country like Afghanistan.

"This is going to be a national institution, part of the national army," he said. "They're not owing allegiance to any tribe or region, but to the entire country."

Each of the applicants needed a reference from a local official verifying their good character and that they are committed to the Afghan nation. The process at the academy then involved an assessment of their physical fitness and academic aptitude. The PT test, worth 20 percent of their score, consisted of timed push-ups, sit-ups and a 300-meter shuttle run. The applicants then had thee-hours to take an exam covering language, mathematics, science and social science. The exam made up the remaining 80 percent.

"From that we'll look to make sure we have a good regional and ethnic mix, as well as, the best qualified candidates and they'll be offered admission," the colonel said.

The school year starts in February 2008. The cadets will go through cadet basic training and start academics at the end of March. Upon graduation, the cadets will be commissioned as second lieutenants and owe 10 years of service to the ANA.

Colonel Hamilton said the ground work for the academy began in 2003 when the ANA came up with the idea and decided upon what they wanted. The first class began in 2005.

"It was an Afghan initiative, and the United States has helped from inception to the running of the academy," he said.

According to Army Lt. Col. John Hartke, a physics mentor, also deployed from West Point, the Afghan National Military Academy, and the partnership between Afghan and coalition forces are vital for the future of not only the Afghan military, but Afghanistan itself.

"It's critically important that we build a coalition, and we start to build some professionalism within their air corps and their army, so that as the country continues to grow, they'll have a professional military available to the country," he said. "The academy here is absolutely critical to the country's development. They have great instructors here. The United States and Turkey are both mentoring and developing courses here and I think that this will provide the core from which the rest of the armed forces, the air corps and the army, can build around."

Colonel Hamilton said the goal for the Afghans is for their academy to be on par with any military academy in the West.

"They want this to become the West Point of Afghanistan," he said, "and it's going to be one of the best educational institutions around. They have a lot of advantages that other universities here don't have. They have access to U.S. and western text books, U.S. and western mentors for their faculty development, which really gives them a leg up."

As academy instructors back in the United States, all the mentors feel a sense of pride from being part of helping to build a national academy.

"Every day that I come to work, I work with a group of hugely enthusiastic people--the Afghans," Colonel Hamilton said. "They're wonderful hosts, and I get to see progress every day. This is really a very exciting job."

"Not many people get to say they've helped a country stand up their national military academy," Colonel Burns said. "The academy here is very young but it's growing. It's very rewarding to say I've had a part in making it a little better." 

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