Royal Navy and US Navy compare training for Afghanistan

As British and US troops are increasingly working side by side in Afghanistan, a group of Royal Navy personnel recently crossed the Atlantic to compare and contrast pre-deployment training between the UK and America.

The six Royal Navy instructors who visited America last week are based at the Pre-deployment Training and Mounting Centre in Portsmouth. They met their American counterparts at the US Army’s combat training centre at Fort Jackson in South Carolina.

Royal Navy instructors from the Pre-deployment Training and Mounting Centre with their US counterparts at Fort Jackson military base in South Carolina, USA
Picture: Crown Copyright/MOD 2010

When it comes to length of deployment and type of training, the US and the UK have their own ways of doing things and it was hoped that this visit might provide a knowledge-sharing opportunity.

At Portsmouth most of the instructors are Royal Marines with operational experience, whereas the US Navy sailors are taught by the Army at one of eight military bases across the country.

In the UK around 1,000 sailors are trained every year as Individual Augmentees (IAs) who deploy to Afghanistan on a one-in-one-out basis, whereas in the US the total is nearer 40,000.

IAs can be sailors trained in a wide range of skills such as logistics, admin, intelligence or operations, and are able to join units already based in Afghanistan.

Read the full story here