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Airmen have 'flare' for mentoring Afghan air corps

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Kevin Tomko
  • 455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan --  A milestone occurred here April 25 in the continuing relationship between U.S. forces and the Afghan National Army.

Eleven ANA air corps members attended a demonstration by Airmen from the ammo flight, part of the 455th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron, to learn about a flare system used for self defense in certain aircraft.

"This is a new system for us and we are happy to learn about this," said Capt. Nasser, ANA munitions shop commander.

Capt. Joshua Wennrich, an ANA mentor and organizer of the event, said Captain Nasser has told him repeatedly that he welcomes the U.S. forces to keep the country stable.
"This has never been done before," said Captain Wennrich. "This is a historic event."

The ANA members were shown basic storage and safety procedures as well as the actual arming of the flares.

Staff Sgt. Gary Reece, the primary instructor at the event, gave a hands-on demonstration to Captain Nasser. He then broke the remainder of the group into three smaller groups, who received instruction from Senior Airman David Garza and Staff Sgt. Edward Stottlemyer.

Capt. Marc Strohofer, operations officer for the 455th EMXS, said Sergeant Reece is the right person to teach the use of flares.

"He taught the Saudis how to build flares back in 2002, so he has a lot of experience," he said.

The biggest challenge for the instructors was trying to communicate through an interpreter.

"I wasn't 100 percent sure that my point was getting across the way I intended it," Sergeant Reece said, noting that many of the terms were highly technical and difficult to translate. "Hopefully they can come back and we can show them how to build up other munitions. I am proud to have worked with these men and I wish them the best of luck."

At the completion of the demonstration, Captain Nasser thanked the leadership for the opportunity that was given them.

"I hope to arrange for more information like this in the future," he said. "Perhaps there can even be classes that we can take."