Major Alex Sharpe, commissioned through the Reserve Officers Training Corps, mobilized for Afghanistan from the California National Guard in 2004. A 30-day training cycle at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, preceded his deployment in May 2004 as an individual augmentee. Training centered on basic soldier skills like marksmanship and convoy operations with little time devoted to country- or mission-specific training, like two hours devoted to negotiating in the Dari language. Shortly before deploying, Sharpe found out he would be embedded with a small US element and an Afghan National Army contingent at the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC). The mission at KMTC involved developing and safely running ranges. The mission of range operations was an ongoing one, transitioning from US Army Reserve Component soldiers to Sharpe and his small contingent of other guardsmen. Sharpe and his contingent had to self-teach on range operations as well as such sensitive operations as unexploded ordnance disposal. There was a constant tension to ensure civilian safety, keeping unauthorized personnel from scavenging brass and the like from the range complex. Despite having translators assigned to range control, lack of a language capability complicated daily operations with the Afghan National Army contingent. Other training shortfalls included crew-served weapons like the squad automatic weapon and explosive ordnance procedures. The contingent Sharpe led dealt with some problems with private military contractors and Afghan National Army individuals and units not wanting to follow or not having safe standard operating procedures for range training. Generally US military units presented no such problems, though International Security Assistance Force elements could present issues. Sharpe's contingent developed and executed range SOPs to satisfy the requirement to minimize civilian casualties. Sharpe felt that insufficient personnel management often took place before Reserve Component soldiers got called up, not matching soldiers and their professional military education or experiences with missions. Too few Reserve Component soldiers had been exposed to full-spectrum concepts like civil-military operations or counterinsurgency before their mobilization and deployment.

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