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Green Berets Standing Up Afghan Army
Tuesday, May 21, 2002
By Gunnery Sgt. Charles Portman
U.S. Marine Corps
Army News Service

May 16: A U.S. Army medic examines a new recruit at the Afghan National Army training site in Kabul.
Image Credit: PFC John S. Gurtler -- 55th Signal Co., Combat Camera.

U.S. Special Forces instructors are fully aware of the ethnic lines built around many of the trainees' pasts, and are motivated about doing their share when it comes to building what is hoped to be a racially unbiased army.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- ANS
Teaching multi-ethnic Afghan recruits soldiering skills may be a new phase in the global war on terrorism, but for Green Berets, training foreign soldiers is a core mission they have mastered.

In recent years, Green Berets from 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) have traveled to many remote places around the globe completing missions De Oppresso Liber, the motto under which they operate, that means "To Free the Oppressed."

"This is what we do," said Lt. Col. Kevin M. McDonnell, commander of the unit. "This is one of our core missions, and it's really a privilege to be involved."

Unified commanders commonly issue orders to U.S. Army Special Forces to engage in foreign internal defense, or FID missions -- missions similar to the current Afghan National Army training mission, as a means of implementing their regional stability strategies.

Special Forces soldiers conduct FID and unconventional warfare missions during both times of peace and as part of a war, McDonnell said.

"For most of these soldiers here (in Afghanistan), this is the opportunity of a career," McDonnell said.
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2002 © Army News Service.

Dan