Major Rick Rabe, a California National Guardsman, served as the operations officer for Task Force Phoenix's Training Assistance Group to the Afghan National Army at the Kabul Military Training Center in 2004 and 2005 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. In this interview, he talks about the pace and quality of the basic training provided to the Afghan soldiers, the utility of cultural knowledge when training a foreign army, the lack of understanding about their mission by their higher headquarters, and the complete lack of documentation for all of the courses which the Americans were responsible for. He also discusses the selection and training of Afghan soldiers to be noncommissioned officers, the wide spread in quality amongst the various military transition teams, how the American, British and French training programs fit together, and how repeated mobilizations of the National Guard have lead to raised standards in the organization. Rabe closes the interview by stressing the importance of training standards and honest personnel accountability.

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