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SOFIA, Bulgaria — Civil affairs Soldiers with the 7th Civil Support Command and Bulgarian Army Land Forces’ Civil Military Cooperation troops deployed to Afghanistan in the past several years to conduct CA and CIMIC operations, respectively.
From June 10 to 13, three Soldiers from the 7th CSC’s 361st CA Brigade and more than a dozen from the Bulgarian Army CIMIC Company trained together to discuss, learn, coach, teach and mentor those same CA concepts to and with each other.
“CIMIC is all about people,” said Staff Sgt. Mark Korte, a team sergeant from Company B, 457th Civil Affairs Battalion, 361st CA Brigade, who recently returned from an Afghanistan deployment.
“It is all about solving problems,” he added, as he spoke during his block of instruction on district stability framework.
“We’re going to be looking at the way the Bulgarian civil affairs or, better said, (their) CIMIC team does their everyday business,” Korte said. “There is a little bit of difference between civil affairs and CIMIC, but at the same time, it’s all part of one umbrella and so we’re going to see how they do things and possibly learn things from them and they’re going to possibly learn things from us. It’s an interaction that is quite interesting.”
Besides DSF, other topics discussed during the four-day event included classes on negotiation, working with a local populace and two practical exercises, one of which entailed the 361st Civil Affairs Soldiers role playing as tribal locals to simulate real-world negotiations for the Bulgarian CIMIC teams as part of a key leader engagement scenario.
Korte shared CA anecdotes and lessons learned from his Afghanistan deployment, while three of the Bulgarian CIMIC Soldiers, who had also recently deployed to Afghanistan for six month tours between 2010 and 2013, did the same.
Korte’s unit was the first ever U.S. Army Reserve civil affairs unit to be stationed and trained in Europe then deploy from outside the U.S. to Operation Enduring Freedom.
Day One was a meet and greet session that worked as an icebreaker and set up the framework for the training exercise.
“Because this is new to us, it is very easy to take benefits for us,” said Bulgarian Army 1st Lt. Milen Radanov, chief of section, CIMIC Company, Land Forces. “We will take (the) best of each style and use it.”
Day Two of training for the Bulgarian Land Forces CIMIC unit included a class on DSF. What do you do with your weapon? Where should your interpreter sit during negotiations/meetings? These were some of the questions asked by the Bulgarians.
“(DSF) is a tool that we use in civil affairs so that we’re able to better understand the situation on the ground so we can give our commander a better understanding of what is going on in any particular area of operations,” Korte said.
“It was very useful training,” said Bulgarian Army 1st Lt. Kuman Gerovski, acting company commander, Civil Military Cooperation Company, Land Forces. “It is important because it can help us to assess the situation in the current area because our job is to identify the source of instability and to try to affect it.”
Gerovski graduated from the four-month U.S. Army Civil Affairs Officer qualification course at Fort Bragg, N.C., last year.
Day Three was a Bulgarian-led and U.S.-observed practical exercise with a shura meeting, protesters and a simulated attack, while Day Four reversed the roles as the U.S. CA Soldiers assumed the role of local leaders from a simulated country dealing with an insurgency. Three Bulgarian CIMIC teams met with them to find out what the local problems were and to work out solutions.
“I think it’s useful (training). For us it’s very useful,” said Bulgarian Army 1st Lt. Maria Stoiyanova, chief of section, civil assessment, 1st Brigade Module.
“Their (U.S. Soldiers’) comments after the exercise were the most valuable thing,” Gerovski said.
The Bulgarian CIMIC Company, made up of only 50 Soldiers in total, was just stood up in 2005, and it is the only unit of its kind in the entire Bulgarian Army.
“It was an honor to be in Bulgaria and to witness the genesis of this country’s first CIMIC unit,” said Maj. Tomasz Zaremba, operations officer, 361st Civil Affairs Brigade, 7th Civil Support Command. “We are the first U.S. Civil Affairs unit to train with them. Hopefully we can witness their progression over the coming years.”
“They’ve welcomed us here with open arms, which is amazing, and it’s absolutely been a joy to work with them,” Korte said.
