Upon relinquishing his three-year command of a Wisconsin National Guard field artillery battalion, Lieutenant Colonel John Schroeder was offered the opportunity to volunteer for embedded training team (ETT) duty in Afghanistan, which he took, was mobilized in January 2006 and, until his redeployment in January 2007, served variously as the ETT leader assigned to 3rd Kandak, 2nd Brigade (3-2) of the Afghan 203rd Corps; to 2nd Kandak, 1st Brigade (2-1), also of the 203rd; and finally as the 203rd Corps executive officer and deputy commander mentor. In this interview, Schroeder discusses first the predeployment training he received at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, then moves into the process of getting into theater, meeting and establishing rapport with the Afghan units as well as his 16-man advisor team, and also the circumstances that found him changing from 3-2 Kandak in Gardez to 2-1 Kandak in Orgun-E and later Ghazni after the ETT leader for the latter unit was relieved. Schroeder talks about the "cultural mindsets" that the Afghan soldiers had to be broken of in order to build a truly professional army, among which was the problematic hoarding and "me-first mentality." He also explains how resource management was what the Afghans wanted most from his ETT and how their logistics system was "broken" and remains the Afghan National Army's Achilles' heel. "They knew how to fire their weapons and they knew how to engage the enemy," he noted. "What they needed was for us to help them sustain themselves." Schroeder then explains why ETTs living in close proximity to their Afghan units is so important; how he dealt with the at times troublesome Afghan work ethic; how (and how well) he and his ETT were supported by the coalition; the various operations that his Afghan kandak participated in - including the 10th Mountain Division's Operation Mountain Fury; and also the excellent relationships his ETT had with their partner US units that were based on "a mutual respect for each other." Additionally, Schroeder stresses how crucial spending as much time as possible with your Afghan counterparts is to being a successful ETT member. This, he said, "will probably be the one opportunity you'll have to really immerse yourself in a foreign culture and you should take advantage of it." For his part, Schroeder recounts a number of his own very positive cultural experiences. He also comments on the nature and motivations of enemy forces; the role of other government and non-government agencies in Afghanistan; his work with a Romanian ETT; the interesting dynamic that saw former mujahideen and former Russian-Afghan Army soldiers now serving in the same ANA units; and also his recommendations for what makes the best ETT members and leaders. Looking back on his tour, Schroeder said that getting "to the point where the kandak was doing parallel planning with the US maneuver forces … [and] putting together missions on their own" was his ETT's most significant accomplishment.

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