Iraqi master trainers graduate

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Iraqi Army Sgt. Yousef Yacob stands at attention Sunday in Taji, Iraq, at the beginning of a graduation ceremony for students in the master trainer’s course. The course aims to teach noncommissioned officers so that they can train their fellow soldiers.


Iraqi master trainers graduate
By James Warden, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, April 15, 2008

TAJI, Iraq — An Iraqi and an American general had already spoken to the audience Sunday when Iraqi Army Sgt. Yousef Yacob took the stage during the graduation of the first master trainer’s course for Iraqi troops.

Yacob was the top graduate in the course, but his speech followed some eloquent words by his superiors. When he got up there, though, he thundered out a moving poem on patriotism and the beauty of the Iraqi capital that won the loudest applause of the day.

“My brothers, today is a special day,” he began.

The moment was an appropriate one to conclude a course that aims to raise the status of Iraqi noncommissioned officers like Yacob.

In Western armies, NCOs have historically had an important role, said Brig. Gen. Robin Swan, commander of the Coalition Army Advisory Team. The NCOs are the first-level tactical decision-makers and responsible for training troops to standard.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=54050