Land navigation is just one of many subjects taught during the three-week commando course for Iraqi Army noncommissioned officers.
“This course is essentially the equivalent of a U.S. Army (noncommissioned officer) school,” said Staff Sgt. Philip Wedge, a cavalry scout with 2nd Bn., 8th Inf. Regt., 2nd BCT, 4th ID.
“All the students in this course are NCOs, so we teach them practical land navigation techniques, leadership, counseling and room clearing,” the Gainesville, Fla. native continued. “We’re giving them everything they need to become successful on a more combat-oriented scale.”
For this particular training module the commando course instructors are teaching the Iraqi NCOs to read maps and use a compass and protractor in land navigation. Once they fully understand how everything works, they will use what they’ve learned in a practical field exercise.
The battalion is training the NCOs in this group to become instructors so they will have the ability to pass on the knowledge they have learned in the commando course to future IA Soldiers and NCOs.
“We want to ensure that the skills learned here will be transferred to future generations of IA Soldiers,” said Wedge.
Spc. James Bennett, a cavalry scout with 2nd Bn., said Iraqi Soldiers became more proficient in their skills and more confident in their capabilities during the commando course.
The IA Soldiers have already completed more than half the course and will soon return to their respective units to train other Soldiers and NCOs.
“About 95 percent of the students have satisfactorily retained the information at this point, and more than 70 percent are proficient enough to teach the material to other IA Soldiers,” said Wedge.
“By the end of the course, we hope to have them all on the same sheet of music,” he added.
