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First Afghan Air Force Born Non-Commissioned Officers

  • Published
  • By Capt. Rob Leese
  • 438th AEW PAO
KABUL, Afghanistan --  The Pohantoon-e-Hawayee, the Afghan Air Force training school, graduated its first Team Leader Course on July 11, 2010. The Team Leader Course is a six-week non-commissioned officer building leadership course that takes soldiers that have completed the 9th grade and Basic Warrior Training and it gives them the tools and skills necessary to be effective NCOs.

The first class of 49 students was taught by two AAF PeH instructors and two Combined Air Power Transition Force advisors, Tech. Sgt. Rob Moore and Tech. Sgt. Price. They will be joined by four additional instructors as they complete their training at Kabul Military Training Center.

The classes consist of four weeks of air orientation with two weeks of NCO specific instruction to include general orders, chain of command, customs and courtesies, uniform regulations, hygiene, role of a NCO, hazing, enlisted force structure, personal conduct, uniform code of military justice, sexual harassment, AAF history, religious and cultural affairs, and equal opportunity.

The NCOs are living in separate dorms and under stricter condition. They are expected to inspect their soldier's dormitories, lead them in physical training and assist current NCOs at PeH.

All of them are literate; however, one of the challenges is that many of the students understand better in Pashtu, yet the course is formally taught in Dari. It did make the class unique. They have just started doing open ranks uniform inspections within the AAF.

Tech. Sgt. Rob Moore explained, "They just left the soldiers dorm and now they are waking them up and leading them in physical training. There have been challenges getting the soldiers to listen to these new NCOs in-training."

There is a short fall of NCOs in the AAF and this allows them to accession roughly 60 NCOs per month to fill the gap and take the best the AAF has to offer and make them the backbone of the Afghan Air Force.

After graduation, they will be assigned to their follow-on job training and will return to their units as NCOs. They will continue to assist out at PeH until they are finished with their training.