Australien — Aussie soldiers train new Afghan ‘Tradies’

Anoth­er eleven young Afghan men grad­u­at­ed from the Aus­tralian run Trade Train­ing School at Mul­ti Nation­al Base – Tarin Kowt on 22 May.

(L‑R) Lance Cor­po­ral War­ren Stevens and Cor­po­ral Brett Cor­ri­g­an from the 1st Men­tor­ing Task Force, admired the tiled floor com­plet­ed by tiling grad­u­ates of the Trade Train­ing School. Aus­tralian Depart­ment of Defence Click to enlarge

More than 200 young men have now grad­u­at­ed from the Trade Train­ing School that was estab­lished in 2006. 

Com­mand­ing Offi­cer of the 1st Men­tor­ing Task Force (MTF‑1), Lieu­tenant Colonel Jason Blain, addressed the grad­u­ates at the cer­e­mo­ny and said that the Trade Train­ing School was improv­ing the lives of local Afghans by pro­vid­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for fur­ther com­mu­ni­ty and eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment in the area. 

“These young men are receiv­ing first class train­ing in trades that are need­ed in the local com­mu­ni­ty. The flow-on effect is fur­ther employ­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties and eco­nom­ic growth for Tarin Kowt and Oruz­gan Province,” Lieu­tenant Colonel Blain said. 

The eleven stu­dents grad­u­at­ed from a three week tiling course mod­ule that is part of a three month basic con­struc­tion course that includes basic car­pen­try, con­cret­ing, paint­ing, tiling, roof­ing and plumbing. 

MTF‑1 sol­diers Cor­po­ral Brett Cor­ri­g­an and Lance Cor­po­ral War­ren Stevens coor­di­nate and run the cours­es at the Trade Train­ing School. 

Cor­po­ral Cor­ri­g­an, who is on his sec­ond rota­tion at the Trade Train­ing School hav­ing served with the 4th Recon­struc­tion Task Force, said that many of the school grad­u­ates now main­tain jobs with local gov­ern­ment, mil­i­tary and con­trac­tors work­ing in Tarin Kowt. 

“Most of our grad­u­ates get jobs very soon after grad­u­a­tion,” Cor­po­ral Cor­ri­g­an said. 

“Recent­ly one of our grad­u­ates got a job on the same day he grad­u­at­ed from our course – he took his cer­tifi­cates up to the US com­pound, told them he grad­u­at­ed from the school, and was hired there to do main­te­nance work,” Cor­po­ral Cor­ri­g­an said. 

“Oth­er grad­u­ates are now work­ing with Provin­cial Gov­ern­ment depart­ments on pub­lic works projects, includ­ing schools, and with con­struc­tion con­trac­tors in and around Tarin Kowt,” Cor­po­ral Cor­ri­g­an said. 

The Trade Train­ing School is sup­port­ed by AusAID. The Aus­tralian Gov­ern­ment Agency pro­vides tool kits for the stu­dents and indus­tri­al equip­ment such as wood work­ing machinery. 

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia