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Friday, May 7, 2010     GET REAL

U.S. military training Iraqis in air assault missions

BAGHDAD — Officials said Iraqi forces have been undergoing exercises meant to train in air assault missions. The training has lasted several weeks and included missions with Russian- and U.S.-origin military helicopters.

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"This demonstration shows the cooperation between [the Iraqi military] and U.S. forces, and it is important that the Iraqi command was included for this demonstration to see the execution method," Lt. Gen. Ali Hammadi Tahir, commander of the Iraq Army in western Baghdad, said.

Training has been conducted by a range of U.S. units, including Special Forces and the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade. On April 22, U.S. forces and Iraqi commandos conducted a simulated air assault in COB Adder.


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"The Iraqi security forces continue to get better, become more professional," a U.S. SOF commander, who did not want to be identified, said.

The Iraqis underwent a three-week course that began with 30 cadets and ended with 14. U.S. trainers acknowledged that the air assault course was not comprehensive.

"There are certain areas they know they need a little more training on," U.S. Sgt. Mark Jones, of the 12th Combat, said. "That's what we attempted to do in this course — to hit those areas they requested for additional training."

On March 29, the U.S. Army's 1st Air Cavalry Brigade conducted a joint exercise with an Iraqi strike force in air assault tactics at Camp Taji. Officials said 110 Iraqi cadets graduated the training course, and 70 were selected for advanced aerial insertion technique.

The exercise included the Russian-origin Mi-17 Hip as well as the U.S.-origin AH-64D Apache and the S-70 Black Hawk. Officials said the Iraqi team was drilled in the use of helicopters for conventional and counter-insurgency missions.

"This is to lead us in the future to hope that we will be expanding this type of operation more and more," Tahir, the Iraq Army general, said.

Officials said the Iraqi effort was to ensure that units take the lead in air assault missions. They said the Iraqis could begin such independent missions as early as 2011.

"We have spent the last couple of months conducting classes and training to get them to [this level]," U.S. Army Lt. Austin Huckabee said.



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