Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Philadelphia Inquirer
October 16, 2007 They simulate hostile Iraqi, Afghan civilian towns.
By John Milburn, Associated Press
FORT RILEY, Kan. - Many of the actors in this traveling troupe don't need a script to learn their roles.
They're playing their countrymen back in Iraq or Afghanistan in an elaborate simulation designed to teach American soldiers how to deal with a sometimes-hostile civilian population.
In one of the training sessions, a group of actors, including many Afghan and Iraqi immigrants, crowds around a dozen soldiers in a mock village.
"Leave us alone!" they shout in Dari, an Afghan dialect. "We're not the enemy."
The U.S. troops being jostled are training to be advisers who will help teach Iraqi and Afghan forces to be independent. The military believes reproducing the culture - and emotions - that advisers will face is essential.
The mock meetings require a handful of native speakers to play mayors or village leaders who will speak through a translator.
"You're not talking about someone walking in off the street," said Otto Nadal, who supervises the actors for the defense conglomerate L-3 Communications Holdings Inc., in Virginia.
"These are people who are already steeped in the culture," Nadal said. "These are great Americans coming out to help get our soldiers prepared."
Up to 85 role-players gather six days a week at Fort Riley. Some hope the job leads to a diplomatic or military-support position. Others say they are working to prevent misunderstandings and violence between troops and their countrymen.
Some of the actors travel around the country conducting training sessions, but others are local residents, including Lee Anderson, who left the Army in 2000.
For $17 an hour, Anderson portrays a resident of an Afghan neighborhood where the troops are looking for a suspected Taliban fighter. During the performances, he wears a white Arabic smock over his blue jeans, T-shirt and work boots.
"It's pretty fun," he said. "You get to mess with soldiers. And it's pretty good pay."
The exercises are held in makeshift villages constructed on the rolling prairie. Shipping containers have been modified to resemble homes, shops and even a mosque. Inside, the actors have couches, chairs and tables.
Military trainers give the soldiers specific tasks, such as controlling crowds, searching buildings, securing the perimeter, or arresting terrorists. Role-players are told what the soldiers are doing and how they should react.
Cultural awareness is the goal of each phase. For example, advisers learn that chewing tobacco or placing their hat on the ground are disrespectful acts that can spoil an otherwise promising meeting.
Abdulsalam Mulla views the role-playing as the best job he has ever had, and he has bonded with the soldiers.
A 29-year-old native of Iraq's Kurdish region, Mulla came to Fort Riley from Salt Lake City, where he was studying political science. When the training schedule allows, he will go back to Utah to continue his education.
For now, he is living at Fort Riley near the advisers, interacting with them at meals and around the compound.
"I appreciate their efforts, from the bottom of my heart," he said. "I really do. I want to see them all back safely. And I would do anything to be part of that. Most of my friends are soldiers."
October 16, 2007 They simulate hostile Iraqi, Afghan civilian towns.
By John Milburn, Associated Press
FORT RILEY, Kan. - Many of the actors in this traveling troupe don't need a script to learn their roles.
They're playing their countrymen back in Iraq or Afghanistan in an elaborate simulation designed to teach American soldiers how to deal with a sometimes-hostile civilian population.
In one of the training sessions, a group of actors, including many Afghan and Iraqi immigrants, crowds around a dozen soldiers in a mock village.
"Leave us alone!" they shout in Dari, an Afghan dialect. "We're not the enemy."
The U.S. troops being jostled are training to be advisers who will help teach Iraqi and Afghan forces to be independent. The military believes reproducing the culture - and emotions - that advisers will face is essential.
The mock meetings require a handful of native speakers to play mayors or village leaders who will speak through a translator.
"You're not talking about someone walking in off the street," said Otto Nadal, who supervises the actors for the defense conglomerate L-3 Communications Holdings Inc., in Virginia.
"These are people who are already steeped in the culture," Nadal said. "These are great Americans coming out to help get our soldiers prepared."
Up to 85 role-players gather six days a week at Fort Riley. Some hope the job leads to a diplomatic or military-support position. Others say they are working to prevent misunderstandings and violence between troops and their countrymen.
Some of the actors travel around the country conducting training sessions, but others are local residents, including Lee Anderson, who left the Army in 2000.
For $17 an hour, Anderson portrays a resident of an Afghan neighborhood where the troops are looking for a suspected Taliban fighter. During the performances, he wears a white Arabic smock over his blue jeans, T-shirt and work boots.
"It's pretty fun," he said. "You get to mess with soldiers. And it's pretty good pay."
The exercises are held in makeshift villages constructed on the rolling prairie. Shipping containers have been modified to resemble homes, shops and even a mosque. Inside, the actors have couches, chairs and tables.
Military trainers give the soldiers specific tasks, such as controlling crowds, searching buildings, securing the perimeter, or arresting terrorists. Role-players are told what the soldiers are doing and how they should react.
Cultural awareness is the goal of each phase. For example, advisers learn that chewing tobacco or placing their hat on the ground are disrespectful acts that can spoil an otherwise promising meeting.
Abdulsalam Mulla views the role-playing as the best job he has ever had, and he has bonded with the soldiers.
A 29-year-old native of Iraq's Kurdish region, Mulla came to Fort Riley from Salt Lake City, where he was studying political science. When the training schedule allows, he will go back to Utah to continue his education.
For now, he is living at Fort Riley near the advisers, interacting with them at meals and around the compound.
"I appreciate their efforts, from the bottom of my heart," he said. "I really do. I want to see them all back safely. And I would do anything to be part of that. Most of my friends are soldiers."