CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind., - The Iowa National Guard’s 734th Agri-Business Development Team and the Missouri National Guard’s ADT IV are joining forces here to prepare for their deployment to adjacent provinces in Afghanistan later this summer.
While the meetings that are taking place here between the two ADTs were not planned in advance, leaders of the two teams quickly saw an advantage in working together before arriving in-theater.
“This is an excellent opportunity for us to build relationships, built partnerships, and have the opportunity to find out each team’s strengths and skill-sets that they bring to the table,” said Col. Craig Bargfrede, commander of the 734th ADT. “That way, once we get on the ground and we run into a situation where maybe Missouri has a skill-set we can tap into, we’ve already got those relationships built.”
The Iowa and Missouri ADTs do have different personnel with expertise in different areas. And Lt. Col. Neil Stockfelth, the officer-in-charge for the 734th ADT Agricultural Section, said each team brings has areas in which it is better qualified.
"The Missouri team has a little bit stronger engineering and project background than we have,” said Stockfleth. “I think that we have a soils and agronomy strength that surpasses what they have on their team.”
Another difference between the two teams is that Missouri ADT IV, as its name suggests, is the fourth ADT deployed by the Missouri National Guard. In contrast, the 734th ADT is the Iowa National Guard’s very first ADT.
As a result, the Missouri ADT may be able to more immediately focus its attention on building the capacity of local Afghan agricultural officials.
“The first team over there, their focus was to figure out what we need to do and how we need to get it done. The second step was to go ahead and start building the buildings, getting the infrastructure ready,” said Capt. John Paluczak, the officer-in-charge for the Missouri ADT agriculture section. “And now we’re kind of moving into our next phase, and the next phase of this operation is to get the Afghan people involved, such as the ag extension agents, to train the ag extension agents to do their job to train the Afghan people. That way when we’re gone, things will continue on."
The Missouri and Iowa ADTs are in the early days of their cooperative efforts. The teams will conduct joint agricultural training at Purdue University in the days ahead, and team leaders are meeting to share information.
Col. Michael Fortune, the Missouri ADT commander, said the cooperation with Iowa has already begun to bear fruit.
“You know, we’ve just had a few meetings with the Iowa ADT," he said, "and I think made some headway as far as sharing lessons learned and developed a spirit of teamwork there between the two teams.”