Afghan gunners hitting their mark

30 May 2012, 3:19 pm   -   Source: AAP

Captain John Ronayne, an Australian artillery officer, says the Afghan gunners he's been training have demonstrated a massive leap forward in proficiency.

Afghan National Army (ANA) artillery officer Second Lieutenant Abdul Samad has an urgent plea for coalition visitors to his unit.

If you happen to be visiting the main base at Kandahar, could you look out for his three guns, he asks.

The old Soviet-made D30 122 millimetre guns with which he did his training have been taken to Kandahar for refurbishment.

The guns are admired as the AK-47 of the artillery world - simple, rugged and prolific.

"Can someone there take care of my guns," he asks through an interpreter. "I really care about those guns."

Artillery is a nascent capability within the ANA and Australia is playing a key role running the new ANA artillery school at Kabul.

After four months of initial training, Lieutenant Samad's unit has come to Tarin Kowt for some extension training.

Artillery is a high order skill, requiring complex mathematics to ensure high explosive shells arrive precisely where intended.

It took western armies most of World War I to truly master this dark art.

Afghanistan, where most soldiers are both illiterate and innumerate, started from a low base and only the best, brightest and most motivated were chosen for artillery school.

Captain John Ronayne, an Australian artillery officer and now a member of the offensive support Operational Mentoring and Liaison team (OMLT - usually referred to as an omelette), said the Afghan gunners had demonstrated a massive leap forward in technical proficiency.

Their progress has been quite surprising.

"They have had the ability to adapt and understand new concepts, such as we have introduced, like a verify bearing drill which, essentially, is an independent check so that the guns report back their angle (of fire)," Captain Ronayne said.

"Now they understand the technical reasoning behind why we do a lot of the things we do.

"We have got smart guys on the gun line, as well as in the FDC (fire direction centre) and at the forward observer end."

Captain Ronayne believes they are quite ready to start shooting for real.

"We have been very, very keen to engender that level of faith and trust in the system across the board for the coalition and the ANA," he said.

"Now it's just trying to get the ANA to agree that they need to provide their own offensive support in lieu of the coalition's assets.

"But would he have confidence in the skills of ANA gunners on a patrol mission when the enemy's so close and the situation so dire that artillery support is needed well inside the usual safety template."

Captain Ronayne said he had discussed this at length with the ANA forward artillery observers, explaining all the considerations.

"Their ability to fire is only limited to what they have been taught to do and because they don't actually have a drill like we have, we wouldn't actually get them to shoot dangerously close," he said.

However, he says he has complete confidence in their ability to conduct other fire missions.

Every engagement has similar considerations for safety and control, he added.

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