Posted on 10/03/2009 2:16:24 PM PDT by SandRat
A group of Iraqi Army non-commissioned officers from 2nd Battalion, 15th Brigade, 12th Iraqi Army Division, sit together during a class focused on building their leadership skills at their base outside of Kirkuk City, Sept. 26. Photo by Pfc. Justin Naylor, 1st Cavalry Division.
KIRKUK — As U.S. Soldiers here continue to train their Iraqi Army partners, it's no surprise that the focus of at least some of the training involves U.S. Army values.
Ask almost any Soldier in the U.S. Army what the letters LDRSHIP stand for, and you'll hear loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage. These are the Army values, and non-commissioned officers, the "backbone" of the Army, instill these values in their Soldiers from basic training onward.
For a group of 15 NCOs from the 2nd Battalion, 15th Brigade, 12th IA Division, these values were at the center of a five-day class at their compound outside of Kirkuk city, which began Sept. 26.
"All of us here are leaders," said Staff Sgt. Michael Lashua, a Walker, La., native and a senior scout with 4th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd BCT, to the group of IA NCOs during the first day of the class. "We are responsible for our Soldiers and the accomplishment of our mission. This is a very serious responsibility."
Before coming to the training, Lashua took a look at what it takes for him to lead Soldiers, and decided the key was in the Army values themselves.
"I felt those most accurately encapsulated what leaders should be," he said. "They are the basic building blocks of leadership."
After explaining the values, Lashua went on to talk about leading Soldiers.
"Where should a leader be?" he asked the IA NCOs.
"At the front!" they yelled back.
After only one day of training, they were already showing progress.
"Being an NCO means being a leader," said Sgt. Niaf Muhammed Jaseem of 2nd Bn. "It means being responsible for a group, leading missions and being able to do leader duties."
According to Niaf, since the IA was reformed during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Iraqi NCOs have received a greater level of responsibility, and more is expected of them on a regular basis. They are required to orchestrate attacks against insurgents, lead platoons, perform administrative tasks for the Soldiers they lead and much more.
Niaf said the Army values the Americans teach are something this group hasn't heard before. "This is something that could help me lead my Soldiers better," Niaf said.
The five-day class was designed to give them the tools they need to develop themselves, Lashua explained.
"These NCOs already have a great number of skills - we wanted to expand on those," said Lashua. "Officers are going to come and go. With a solid cadre of NCOs, they can pass on what they learn to their subordinates."
Over the next four days of the class, the NCOs learned other skills such as counseling, mentorship, accountability, tactical leadership and various administrative topics, but Army values were still the key.
"This is like a small NCO academy," Lashua said.
Although the information taught in class comes straight from the U.S. Army doctrine, Lashua said it is by no means the only way of doing things. He expects that Iraqi NCOs will take away different skills from the class and blend them in with their own way of doing things, coming up with methods of leading their Soldiers that best works for them.
"What is tried and true for us isn't always the Iraqi way of doing things," Lashua said. "They can take what they can from us and develop their own system...patch it up into a hybrid.
"It starts with them," he said about the Iraqi NCOs.
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