Afghan National Army trains to hit their target

Nuristan, Afghanistan- Mountains ring the small Forward Operating Base Kala Gush as a Marine embedded training team trains an Afghan National Army (ANA) artillery company how to zero in on their targets using forward observers and computerized coordinates. It is the first time they're coordinating a fire team with officers to improve accuracy and timing.



Lt. Murello of the Marines 3rd Division calls down to the Afghan fire team.

Coordinates are manually calibrated on an old Russian 122 caliber artillery gun. A soldier runs with the explosive charge that launches the shell at a distant mountain side. The impact of the blast is heard about 10 seconds later, and a puff of smoke in the distance. It's hard to tell the damage or crater size one of these shells leaves, but the shrapnel is devastating.

(c) Simon Klingert










(c) Simon Klingert

(c) Simon Klingert

















The ANA relies on these big guns to target cross-border insurgents, but because of a lack of technical training and equipment, they often rely on cell phones to adjust their firing. According to the Marines, one of the problems has been the ANA officers have lagged on the training, and sometimes will arbitrarily transfer men who were trained as a team.

One of the practice shots called for an adjust left, and for some reason, down the fire chain, the gun was adjusted right. In a live fire this could be a catastrophic mistake. A lot of work still needs to be done, but the embedded training teams work because they know the strengths and weaknesses of their Afghan counterparts on a daily basis.