An Cosantóir

Joint Carabinieri-Irish MP STX CRC Training | 17 SNAF trainees includes modules in discipline and good order in the army; provost operations, such as public buildings protection; building clearance; searching; operational shooting; counter-IED; human rights; gender awareness; and basic crime scene investigation. The training alternated between periods of field training and a combination of humanitarian classes and academic lessons. The Kenyan interpreters have been with the mission since training commenced in the BTC and being former Kenyan military personnel with up to 30 years' service they bring an invaluable wealth of experience. The formal education level of the Somali trainees was very low and many were illiterate. This had an impact on the speed with which the instruction could be delivered, but they were quick learners and very practical in their outlook. As they would be returning to combat operations in Somalia upon completion of their training this practicality was an admirable quality. Another challenge was overcoming Somalia's deep-rooted clan system. The training team attempted to overcome this by continuously reinforcing a broader understanding of their country as a sovereign entity and emphasising their responsibilities to all Somalis; ideas that underpinned international efforts to establish a safe and secure Somalia. Out of an initial 125 Somali trainees 65, all males, were allocated to the military police course. They ranged in rank from private up to colonel, and in age from 19 to 58 years. Approximately 85% were illiterate, with only one trainee possessing a very good standard of spoken and written English. (Optional English lessons were provided on Saturday afternoons by the author.) Such a degree of illiteracy was not conducive to instruction based on a syllabus of training covering the principles of criminal and military law Checkpoint training as in addition to baSgt Smith looks on sic military police provost duties. Consequently, the focus was on the practical elements of the syllabus, which was an ideal solution to the challenge of information retention as it kept the information being imparted short and simple, while a practical demonstration of the procedures they were to learn ensured that the goal of information transfer was possible. Another challenge was the initial instillation of discipline into these soldiers who had been taken out of the front-line fighting against Al Shahab in order to undergo this course. This was accomplished through twice-daily inspections of the trainees and their uniforms on the parade ground; a full room and kit inspection conducted weekly by the platoon leader; and ensuring that trainees queued in a single line for each meal. This latter initiative took three weeks to enforce and although we take such a simple task for granted in an ordered society it paid dividends as the course progressed. In a military environment it taught the Somali MP trainees to realise that higher standards of discipline, military dress and deportment are expected of them than of the ordinary Somali solider. This was pretty self-evident by the end of the fifteen weeks of training, which ran six days a week from 0800hrs to 1800hrs. To underpin the concept of a safe and secure Somalia the SNAF soldiers received instruction in both human rights and gender awareness by experts in these areas. It was important to reinforce their role of defending, protecting and supporting the Somali people. Again, the practical approach was most effective, where photographs of Somali civilians were used as initiators of discussion. These sometimes very lively discussions brought home to the trainees their role in their society and helped them to understand what they could and could not do. For instance, they soon realised that an unruly child that a mother brings to the military police station could not be placed in custody for childish misbehaviour in the home. The lack of a proper legal system in Somalia to which the norms of justice apply was also somewhat of a challenge when imparting the specific role of the military police within the SNAF. However, constant regular repetition of what is expected of them eventually sunk in. Indications that the training was heading in the right direction soon began to emerge during classes when deliberate examples of unacceptable behaviour described by the trainer were quickly corrected by the trainees. At the time of their departure from the BTC for Mogadishu in August the Somali trainees were a well-disciplined and trained military police company of which both their EUTM trainers and Somali commanders could be proud. The final BTC intake commenced their training in September and completed it at the beginning of December. Following that, EUTM Somalia will be relocated to Mogadishu in the first months of 2014. About the author: Lt Tomás Caulfield serves in the Military Police Group, DFTC. Most of his 29 years' service has been in the MP Corps in the Army and Air Corps. His last appointment in Ireland prior to this mission was as Governor of the Military Detention Barracks. He has served overseas in MP appointments in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Uganda. He received the EUTM Somalia 'Best Trainer' award for MPTT Intake Va from the mission commander Brig Gen Gerard Aherne. www.military.ie the defence forces magazine

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