BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (June 5, 2008) – A team of deployed Idaho National Guardsmen, working as a Police Mentoring Team, travel throughout Parwan province, Afghanistan, to train and advise the Afghanistan National Police.
 
As part of the training, the Guardsmen conducted a traffic-control-point and vehicle-search class, June 3.

 “If the Afghanistan Police stay on the same track they are on now, in 5 years, I see them being full capable of functioning on their own,” said Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Junier, PMT member.

 Junier has previous training as a military police investigator and 20 years of civilian police force experience, which qualified him to train the ANP.

 “My previous experiences fall right in line with the training I give the ANP,” said Junier. “The ANP want to do a good job. They are willing to put in the time and effort it takes to train.”

Before they practiced searching a vehicle, the ANP attended an instructional lecture, taught by Junier. After that, the ANP performed a mock vehicle search on one of their work trucks.

 “They receive the training from us; afterwards the ANP trainers can develop a program,” said Maj. Miguel Lopez, PMT leader.

 The training the ANP receives is like baby steps, it keeps building on top of what they already learned, said Lopez.

 Last week we gave the ANP mirrors to check under cars with, this week we are teaching them how to search a vehicle inside and out, and next week we are going to teach them what to do if they find an object in the vehicle, said Lopez.

 The Idaho Guardsman each have a different way of conducting business, but when you combine their skills they make for a productive team, said Lopez.