Afghan upgrade

Force modernization
Afghans to get ‘more refined’ arms


Afghan upgrade
By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Oct 11, 2008 13:37:16 EDT

QALAT, Afghanistan — The Afghan National Army is ditching its AK47s in favor of the M16 rifle as part of a force modernization effort that will change not only how the soldiers handle their weapons but possibly how they fight.

“These guys have been firing the same guns their whole lives, and now we’re asking them to change,” said Maj. Oliver Rose, an operations mentor for the Headquarters Security and Support Brigade’s Delta Kandak, or battalion, in Kabul.

“It’s going to be different for a culture that has been using Warsaw Pact weapons for the last 30-some years to go to more refined NATO weapons,” he said, adding that along with a new weapon, the Afghan soldiers will have to learn precision shooting instead of just laying down as much fire as possible with the less-accurate AK47.

They also will have to learn how to clean and maintain the M16, which requires more maintenance than the hardy AK47.

“With the AK47, it’s dump some diesel down the barrel and shake it clean,” Rose said as he observed one of his noncommissioned officers train a group of Afghan NCOs on the basics of the M16 in Darulaman, southwest of Kabul.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/10/army_afghan_arms_101308w/%2e