TALLAFAR, Iraq (Army News Service, April 20, 2004) -- Amidst mortar attacks, fire fights at the front gate, drive-by shootings, and the ever-present danger of Improvised Explosive Devices, a team of the 75th Division (Training Support) is training hundreds of soldiers of the Iraqi Armed Forces.

It’s the first of four Advisory Support Teams from the 75th that will be part of the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team, or CMATT.

The objective is to advise, train, and organize the Iraqi Armed Forces as soon as possible so that Iraqis can defend their own country. This responsibility has been tasked to the 75th Division, an active and reserve-component training support division headquartered in Houston, Texas.

The 75th Division has been mobilized since January 2003 and its normal wartime mission is to be Observer Controllers to train and mobilize Army Reserve and National Guard Soldiers in the United States. The Army has now tasked the division to deploy hundreds of its’ Soldiers as a unit into a combat theater to train foreign soldiers. The majority of the deployed Soldiers volunteered to go to Iraq.

The first team of Reserve Soldiers -- led by Maj. Robert Chandler, CMATT Battalion advisory support team chief, and Master Sgt. Richard Howard, noncommissioned officer in charge -- is in Tallafar, Iraq, doing a mission which would normally be done by Special Forces Soldiers. But because the Special Forces Soldiers are needed for other missions in Iraq and in Afghanistan to hunt down Osama bin Laden, the mission went to the Reserve training support divisions.

The reservists are all infantry or combat-arms Soldiers, and several experienced combat in Operation Desert Storm. They will spend the next year training the Iraqi soldiers on basic infantry tactics from squad to battalion level.

Tallafar is located in the northern part of Iraq near the Syrian border. The closest major city is Mosul, which is approximately 70 miles to the south.

The U.S. Army camp at Mosul is routinely hit with mortars and the U.S. patrols there are fired upon on a daily basis. The hostility of Mosul residents was apparent by the intimidating stares the Iraqi men gave the 75th Soldiers as they sped in and out of traffi,c hoping to avert an IED or ambush.

The Soldiers had their trigger fingers at the ready of their M-16A2 rifles, which were pointed out of the windows of their SUVs. The Soldiers’ anxiety was apparent due to a previous IED explosion, which had narrowly missed their convoy.

When the Soldiers first arrived at Fort Tallafar they found it in severe disrepair. They quickly dubbed the fort ‘the Alamo,’ showing their Texas pride. The fort had been used as a prisoner-of-war compound for Iranian and Kuwaiti soldiers. Its most recent employment was as a base for the Iraqi army, but was not funded adequately and fell into disrepair. But with undaunted American ingenuity, the U.S. Soldiers quickly began to repair the plumbing, infrastructure, and physical security.

The U.S. Soldiers are embedded with more than 600 Iraqi soldiers in the fort. Many of the soldiers were in the old Iraqi army, while others are new to the military. The U.S. Soldiers live, train, and eat with the Iraqi soldiers. Much to the chagrin of the U.S. Soldiers, they are subsisting on an Iraqi diet, because the Iraqi battalion commander ordered that no American food would be served at the Fort.

Chandler said the breakfast was a mashed-up hard-boiled egg, a white soup-like substance, bread, and cream. For lunch and dinner, the Soldiers were given the choice of chicken with rice or rice with chicken. The Soldiers did take a liking to the hot sweet tea the Iraqis served with every meal.

Staff Sgt. James Mitchell said he volunteered to be part of the CMATT mission because it was a good opportunity for him to help rebuild the Iraqi army, and once the army was rebuilt, the Iraqis could defend themselves. Then they could work on rebuilding their economy.

Mitchel, who serves with the 3rd Battalion, 381st Regiment, 2nd Brigade,

said in the first month of training they have put the Iraqi soldiers through Military Operations in Urban Terrain, or MOUT training, close quarter combat training, patrolling techniques and formations, tactical checkpoints, and individual movement techniques.

All of this training was put to use when the Iraqi soldiers and 75th Division Soldiers went on combat patrols with the 2nd Infantry Division Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

Going on combat patrols with the Iraqi army is a new part of the mission for the U.S. Soldiers. This is not a mission they have when they train Reserve and National Guard Soldiers in the United States. The 75th Soldiers have accompanied the Iraqi soldiers on day and night patrols in the local village and terrain around the fort.

Capt. Barry Starr of the 3rd Battalion, 289th Regiment, 2nd Brigade, said he volunteered for the mission because “I believe in my country and I believe in the mission.”

Starr’s role in the CMATT is to serve as the teams’ S1 (Personnel) and S4 (Logistics) officer. He coaches, teaches, and mentors his counterparts on how to keep track of personnel and equipment.

One of his first goals was to have the Iraqis sign for equipment (especially the weapons) and to have accountability formations. These are things the U.S. Army has inculcated into its Soldiers, but was a new concept for the Iraqi army.

Starr emphasized that he does not dictate any type of training to the Iraqis, but makes suggestions to them. He explained that he was not there to run the Iraqi army but to assist them in running the army. He said that he wanted the Iraqi officers and noncommissioned officers to learn on their own to the extent possible.

The Iraqi officers were eager to ask Starr questions and get his advice. Starr also trained the Iraqi soldiers on the weapons qualification ranges.

Sgt. 1st Class Malcolm Stone of the 3rd / 381st, 2nd Brigade, is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm, having served with the 643rd Air Defense Artillery (Patriot). He said he volunteered to return to a combat zone “To help out the Iraqi nation; the troops and to get our Soldiers home faster to their loved ones.”

“I believe this is the exact mission we should be doing,” said Chandler.

“We are a training support division. We should not take American Soldiers and pull them out of a unit and say, ‘OK we want you to go train these guys here’. We have been training Soldiers the past two years on active duty. It’s what our mission is – to train Soldiers.”