Afghan Armed Forces Graduate First Fire Instructors

The first class of firefighters from the Afghan Air Force and the Afghan National Army graduated from a NATO-led fire instructor course—the first of its kind in Afghanistan—during an Oct. 31 ceremony at Kabul International Airport. The 13 students underwent a five-day course that covered methods of instruction, adapting lesson plans, record keeping, and passing a written and practical exam, according to a Nov. 5 service release. Fire advisers from NATO Air Training Command-Afghanistan taught the course, states the Nov. 5 release. “Now all of you have gone from student to teacher [and] can go back to your base, train your firefighters, and sign off on core tasks and upgrade training,” said MSgt. Jeffery Hackworth, a NATC-A fire advisor, at the ceremony. “This is a huge step toward a self-sustaining Afghan air force fire service.” The course was created to design a standard to be used among all Afghanistan agencies to train firefighters, states the release.