PC lunacy has no place on the battlefield.
(NCtimes) -As the war in Afghanistan enters its 11th year, thousands of Camp Pendleton troops are getting much more detailed training in Afghan cultural practices.
Years of lessons learned about roadside bombs also are being tapped to better prepare more than 7,000 base troops leaving for Afghanistan in about 12 weeks to spot the weapons responsible for most deaths and injuries.
“The training is a lot more thorough and mission-oriented now,” said Gunnery Sgt. Dan Tremore, who was helping to oversee training sessions last week for nearly 100 troops. “It’s extremely important in order to be able to operate successfully.”
Troops scheduled to deploy in early January include more than 800 members of a unit that, for the next year, will direct Marine Corps operations in the south-central Asian nation of 31 million people.
The relationships troops forge can mean the difference between a bloody deployment and a relatively safe one, said one of the trainers, Shafiq Mubarak, from the Marine Corps Center for Advanced Operational Culture Learning. . .
Mubarak taught the troops the proper way to sit during a shura. He told them they should plan on at least 30 minutes for an initial meeting, and that they should always finish their tea and eat any food presented.
“If you don’t, that means to them that you don’t trust them, or think what they are giving you is poison or is unclean,” he said.
Mubarak also said the Marines should never spit or urinate to the west, the direction of Mecca that Muslims in Afghanistan face when they pray.
(NCtimes) -As the war in Afghanistan enters its 11th year, thousands of Camp Pendleton troops are getting much more detailed training in Afghan cultural practices.
Years of lessons learned about roadside bombs also are being tapped to better prepare more than 7,000 base troops leaving for Afghanistan in about 12 weeks to spot the weapons responsible for most deaths and injuries.
“The training is a lot more thorough and mission-oriented now,” said Gunnery Sgt. Dan Tremore, who was helping to oversee training sessions last week for nearly 100 troops. “It’s extremely important in order to be able to operate successfully.”
Troops scheduled to deploy in early January include more than 800 members of a unit that, for the next year, will direct Marine Corps operations in the south-central Asian nation of 31 million people.
The relationships troops forge can mean the difference between a bloody deployment and a relatively safe one, said one of the trainers, Shafiq Mubarak, from the Marine Corps Center for Advanced Operational Culture Learning. . .
Mubarak taught the troops the proper way to sit during a shura. He told them they should plan on at least 30 minutes for an initial meeting, and that they should always finish their tea and eat any food presented.
“If you don’t, that means to them that you don’t trust them, or think what they are giving you is poison or is unclean,” he said.
Mubarak also said the Marines should never spit or urinate to the west, the direction of Mecca that Muslims in Afghanistan face when they pray.
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