Iraqi forces become standardized

• Tweet

BAGHDAD, March 27 (UPI) -- Iraqi security forces are scheduled to unveil their first force-wide weapons qualifications standards, a top U.S. military official said.

The chief of staff for the advisory team associated with the U.S. military unit responsible for organizing and training Iraqi security forces, Navy Capt. John Andrews, noted that Iraqi qualifications operated at the unit level, with standards varying across the board.

The standards will ensure uniform criteria of unit readiness are met across the entire Iraqi security force as well as streamline logistics support regarding budgets and ammunition requests, Andrews said.

Iraqi security forces have several weapons ranges available for training, but their designs and other variables lack consistency across the force.

Andrews noted the training for Iraqi forces is the same as that for U.S. troops and will include close-combat training and qualification.

New training measures include automated targets and cameras allowing officers to review the training of security forces and how many rounds of ammunition it takes to fully qualify Iraqi soldiers.