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bobdina
08-31-2009, 12:11 PM
Canadians teaching Af-ghans how to fight are following an honourable tradition, says Canada's top Operational Mentor and Liaison Team adviser to forces in Kandahar, and it's a mission widely expected to expand after 2011.

"Lawrence of Arabia was an OMLT-er, too," said Col. Greg Burt, referring to the celebrated British army officer who helped lead the Arabs into battle against the Turks nearly a century ago. "It fits the Canadian ethos. We can lead from the front and help others."

The widespread opinion of Canadian troops deployed in Kandahar is that when the current combat mission ends in 2011, the OMLT unit, which helps train the Afghan army, will not only continue but expand.

U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, President Barack Obama's commander in Afghanistan, says such teams are key to the success of NATO's growing military commitment.

"To get an understanding of the solution in Afghanistan, you have be out with an OMLT," said Capt. Manuel Pelletier-Bédard, who leads one of the training teams in the highly volatile farmlands west of the provincial capital.

"Our soldiers understand this is the future of the army."

Chief Petty Officer (2nd class) Derek Hall of Cole Harbour, N.S., trains Afghan logistics battalions.

"This is the way for Canadians to leave Afghanistan in good hands," Hall said.

During the trainers' recent four-day trek across the province to visit eight of Canada's 12 OMLTs, the war with the Taliban was exploding everywhere.

A bomb blew up after dusk near an Afghan base in Kandahar City, sending Afghan troops and their Canadian teachers racing into the night. The next morning, at a small base, the Taliban fired a rocket into the compound moments before a convoy carrying OMLT leaders arrived.

There was widespread praise among Canadians about the Afghans' fighting skills. There was also agreement that of all the disciplines, logistics was the Afghan National Army's weakest.

For Maj. Lawrence Methot, who mentors the Afghan logistics battalion in Kandahar, the problems include a reluctance among Afghan officers to hold staff meetings, a legacy from the Afghan officers' training in the rigid Soviet system -- where all orders come from the top down.

Hall called this assignment the most gratifying job he has had in a long career in the military. He relished small victories: "Teaching them how to do stock-taking, getting the paperwork done right and teaching warehouse principles such as safety."

Warrant Officer Eric Doiron took a similarly humble view.

"We aren't going to change the Afghans, but maybe we can change them a bit."