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FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY — The No. 1 man glances back, ensuring his comrades are in tow. They’re about to search a building known to house insurgents. But where are they, exactly? The team leader signals. They rush in to clear a room. Gunfire! The “up” signal is given. An Iraqi man calmly walks through the door. He says, “Good, now do it again.” Leaders of the 3rd battalion, 8th brigade, 2nd national police division conducted their fourth non-commissioned officer training academy at Forward Operating Base Volunteer in Baghdad last month. Leaders trained shurta - Iraqi policemen - from 3rd Battalion in tasks including cordon and search, first aid, rifle marksmanship, sensitive-site exploitation, non-commissioned officer duties and responsibilities and map reading. What made this course so special was that Iraqi NCOs trained Iraqi NCOs. During previous academy courses, U.S. team members from 3rd Battalion’s National Police Transition Team took the lead. However, they received assistance from Command Sgt. Maj. Arrif Adel, the unit’s Iraqi National Police assistant senior enlisted adviser, and his team, said Maj. Bryan Hunt, team chief for 3rd Bn., 8th Bde., 2nd NP Div. NPTT. But all that changed for Class 4 students as Command Sgt. Maj. Adel and his team took over the class completely. For the first time, national police senior NCOs instructed their junior NCOs and NPTT personnel provided little oversight, explained Hunt, an Oceanside, Calif. native. |