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I asked her what she thinks of the mission here, the tight timeline of soldier production. the problems of ANA soldiers — with some officers not rising to the challenge at the CTC and learning what needs to be learned.

“We only have a certain short period of time to field these guys; soldiers and officers come here to form together as a unit … For the most part they have only nine weeks to do all of this. They get their kit, meet their commanders, meet their subordinates and then receive basic survivability training – which is really just enough to get them from here to their (ANA) Corps destination,” she said.

But nine weeks is often not really nine weeks. The leadership sometimes does not arrive when it is supposed to arrive, or the soldiers themselves don’t arrive when they are supposed to arrive at week three – perhaps because they were waiting to graduate from other schools. Some arrive in week five, or as late as week nine when they are actually deploying.

“Back home – during training – they won’t pass you if you don’t meet the standard. They won’t deploy you if they think you are going to die because you are not mentally trained and ready. Meanwhile here, that is what we are doing. We are deploying units that … are not to a standard where we would like,’ she said.

As an officer herself she shows and admirable concern for the Afghans, but also for her own troops whom she feels wrestle emotionally with the mission they have been given.

“It can be hard to swallow for the Canadians. It is hard for them to let go of a soldier when you know he will probably die in the first days of battle, because the training they have received is so limited. … We have to explain to them, ‘It may not be to the high level we want, but it is good enough, just make sure you are doing YOUR best, so you can go back home and look yourself in the eye.’”

‘Good enough’ for Afghanistan.

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