Guard Members Prep for Tough Afghan Mission
Task Force Arrowhead draws on many units to assemble trainers for Afghan forces. Photo by KUT NewsBy Sam Ellison
Members of the Texas Army National Guard in Task Force Arrowhead gathered at Manor High School on Tuesday afternoon before heading to Camp Shelby, Miss., and the National Training Center in San Bernardino, Calif., for their final training for a mission in Afghanistan.
The soldiers will be part of security force assistance teams, which work to improve their Afghan counterparts’ performance in logistics, intelligence collection, maintenance, administration and the rule of law.
Task force commander Col. Anthony Woods acknowledges that it will be a difficult mission. One major obstacle is Afghan’s literacy rate.
“It’s low,” Woods said. “It’s not as high as we’re used to. So one of the things we prepare for is to be a little more patient with our Afghan counterparts and try to look at things from their perspective and their points of view.”
The task force will be operating in Kandahar Province in the south of Afghanistan, which is one of the most dangerous parts of the country.
