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| Training for troops in Afghanistan is woefully inadequate |
SOLDIERS arriving in Afghanistan are being put at risk because they are not being taught how to deal with Taliban ambushes.
Senior Army whistle blowers also warned that soldiers are struggling in 50 degree Afghan heat because the kit they use in pre-deployment training is too light.
Yet bizarrely efforts to make the training more realistic would cost the cash-strapped Ministry of Defence next to nothing.
Our senior military source said: “We have all these million pound solutions and fancy training areas, when all you need to do, is rent some fields that are connected together, dig irrigation ditches around them, and run around in that for a few weeks.”
The litany of let downs includes:
*making troops train in BODY ARMOUR lighter than that in war;
*no AMBUSH training, essetial for Taliban attacks;
*limited use of NIGHT VISION goggles;
*no training in irrigation trenches that cover Helmand’s Green zone.
Our source said: “Training hard to fight easy is all good and well, but when you've trained hard for something that doesn't even represent what you're actually going to be doing, the time you spend in the first month learning the basics could cost you, and probably has cost somone, their life.”
Last year the a mock Afghan village was unveiled by Army bosses for “realistic” training in Afghanistan.
By “archaic” training procedures mean squaddies aren’t getting the most out of it, leaving them ill-prepared for Taliban ambushes.
Our source said: “I can honestly say, through all the contacts we experienced out there, that I cannot recall a single solitary example of anything even remotely similar back in the UK whilst training for deployment. Not a one.
“We need more free play for the enemy and don't spare anyone's blushes. The enemy shouldn't just be a team wearing dish-dashes.
“Ranges need to be massively more realistic and we need to be ambushed properly, not just say ‘good guys over there, bad guys over here, now you’re going to get into a fire fight’.
“People need to be defeated and taught their mistakes. The emotion of having your mate killed should be rammed home at this stage of the game and not later on for real.
“When you go onto a blank range, the enemy should be commanded by someone with recent Afghan frontline experience, whom knows that they hide in ditches, move in ditches, and don't stick around for long.
“He should be given the freedom to engage the training troops as and how he sees fit, there should be no Range Warden saying 'Go' down a radio.
“The engagement should last until the training forces have either withdrawn or assaulted the position, and there should be a realistic use of 'Your dead / been shot' from the Warden.”
And commanders taught to fight conventional warfare are not getting the training to call in air-strikes, or “displays of force” - where jets fly low and fast to scare the enemy away.
Our source added: “It’s essential you get commanders happy with calling in strikes under contact.
“Too many people have to learn in the reality when it might be too late.”
The kit soldiers carry on these training exercises have also been blasted for being far lighter than the 100lbs squaddies on the frontline haul.
Even the body armour is far lighter than the top-of-the-range kevlar-cladded Osprey vests Our Boys in Helmand wear.
Our source said: “The fact is you get out there to 50degree heat and a lot of the lads just can’t cope.
“They train in lighter kit, which is more manouverable.
“Then they get into an Afghan firefight and can’t run.
“Yet all it would take is weighing the vests down with weighty steel plates that cost practically nothing.”
Troops are being used increasingly for night manouvers, completely dependent on night-vision goggles.
These operations are imperative for getting the better of Taliban fighters who know their native terrain better than any NATO soldier.
But limited availability of the expensive high-spec goggles mean soldiers are only getting used to them when finally on the treacherous operations for real.
Colonel Rob Thomson, Commander of Operational Training Advisory Group, said: “During mission-specific training we strain every sinew to deliver the best possible training for those about to go on operations in
"The training is realistic, demanding and takes place in a mock Afghan village in
"But of course, it is impossible to simulate exactly the conditions in Helmand during training in the
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