Afghan Border Police celebrate dual graduation

NANGARHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Hundreds of Afghan students gathered at their seats in front of a podium to receive their certificates of completion July 1.

After six weeks of school, 300 basic trainees and 200 noncommissioned officers graduated Lone Star, an Afghan Border Police boot camp in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar Province. 

Instructors from the U.S. training center cycled through the trainees to insure they were educated in a diversity of skills.

“Due to the heat, students and instructors are getting up at 3:30; we start training at 4 a.m., and we train until noon,” said Jason Husby, an independent contractor for Lone Star and native of Vermillion, S.D.

 “As far as the basic training, the students rotate through four different committee areas: firearms, small unit tactics, law enforcement and vehicle deployment,” said Husby, who teaches vehicle deployment.

The course was once a three-week course, but the instructors increased it to six weeks in order to improve the effectiveness of the police officers.

“The course has been slowly improved since I started teaching in 2007, and I’ve been on the ABP program since then,” said Mike Piurkoski of Atlanta, Ga., Lone Star site manager. “It has steadily improved … and has gotten longer, which has a big benefit to the Afghan Soldiers who get more training and more training value from what we’re giving them.”

After the graduation, the newly inducted police officers were quick to relay their appreciation to the instructors. Many expressed an eagerness to go out to their respective zones and protect their country.

With the ABP responsible for nearly a 5,529-kilometer border, it is common for them to see more combat than any other Afghan National Security Force. The young Afghan men sacrifice their time away from their family to become ABP.