@$:Lt. Cmdr. Qureshi and his team meet with a village elder.
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AFPAK Blog: On the Ground
Masoud Hashime, the Project Manager for the AFPAK Dari program said: "The capstone exercise is one of the most significant and highly effective pieces of the AFPAK Hands language training program. It allows the "Hands" to apply their language skills and cultural knowledge to situations they might encounter in theater.
Role players are carefully selected and the stages are authentically built or decorated to give participants the feel of being in the country. It's an opportunity for them to foster fluency, build confidence in casual and formal conversations and build strong rapport with their counterparts."
In Kabul the "Hands" are continuing their training for two more weeks at the COIN Academy located at Camp Julien on the outskirts of Kabul before taking up their final assignments with their units. Cohort 3C will spend the next 12 months in Afghanistan supporting the transition operations in preparation for the December 31, 2014 change to Afghan led security.
Editor's Note: This week's submission is part 2 of 2 and was graciously sent to the Waterline by Lt. Cmdr. Ahmed Qureshi, COMISAF Advisory and Assistance Team, Kabul, Afghanistan. AFPAK Hands is a language and cultural immersion initiative which consists of three phases: language and cultural training, in and out of theater deployment. During an out of theater deployment a service member can be assigned to a government agency, DoD command or other organization where their work in country can be applied and then add to their perspective when they redeploy.