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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A Peshmerga officer has been awarded a medal for completing a military leadership training course in the US. He became the Kurdistan Region’s first and Iraq’s second-ever participant to take part in the prestigious military program.Rebin Younis Rozhbayane, 31, completed the six month-long Maneuver Captain's Career Course in the US, a military training and education program primarily for US Army infantry and armor officers. It is organized under the Maneuver Center of Excellence (MCoE) at Fort Benning, Georgia.Rozhbayane had to take part in a rigorous selection process to obtain a place on the course."Last year, an English language exam was conducted at the Peshmerga Ministry. As any other office, I took part in the test. Based on the results, five people including me were chosen as finalists to take part in this training course. We then sat another exam at the US Consulate General in Erbil regarding our military background," Rozhbayane told Rudaw TV on Thursday.His performance in the exams and wealth of military experience saw him beat out the competition."I have twelve years of combat experience. I was in the Iraqi army from 2008 to 2012 and since then, the Peshmerga," Rozhbayane said.Before joining the MCCC program, he was placed in a two-month General English language course, then a course in specialized military language. He undertook and passed the exams for both courses."In February 2019, I went to the Defense Language Institute in Sinton in Texas. I joined the class of General English... because one of the requirements to join the actual military course [MCCC] was to pass the English Comprehension Level (ECL) test," he said."In June 2019, I went to Fort Benning in Georgia which is the base of Maneuver Center of Excellence.The first month was a preparatory course for us. During the course, they taught us the standards of the US Army, a lot of which we were unfamiliar with,” he added."Finally, I took part in the actual course, which was the Maneuver Captain Career Course."A cohort of 166 students took part in the course. Thirty were international students, from Iraq, Germany Hungary, Jordan and Saudi Arabia among other countries, Rozhbayane said."They taught us how to become a good commander and know all the military and combat tactics," he added. "Commanding a force is very, very challenging and you have to be fully dedicated with a military science background in order to be a good commander.""They teach you how to defeat your enemy with least amount of casualties. They train your brain to perform in the best way….You learn from them how to fight."He hopes he has set a precedent for other Kurds to be invited onto the course.“I did my best to show the best picture of the Kurdistan Region to them... so they can invite more Kurdish people and officers. This is very important for us, because they teach you new [military tactics]."