New York Army Guard officer candidates train in Albania

RRETH-GRETH, Albania — Three New York Army National Guard officer candidates spent April 19 to 30 in Albania refining their tactical leadership skills alongside officer trainees from the New Jersey National Guard, Albania and Kosovo.

The New Yorkers were there at the invitation of the New Jersey National Guard, which has a State Partnership Program with Albania.

This is the third year that participants in the New York Army Guard’s Officer Candidate School– known as OCS for short– have taken part in the Albanian training.

Eight OCS candidates from New Jersey were part of the mission.

Three OCS cadre members from New York’s 106th Regional Training Institute accompanied the team to help run the training exercise.

The OCS candidates spent several days leading their squads through 18 Situational Tactical Exercise lanes.

These lanes included movement to contact, knocking out a bunker, squad attacks, conducting ambushes, reacting to ambushes and reconnaissance missions.

The varied challenges are designed and evaluated by OCS cadre to sharpen candidates’ decision-making skills under pressure and build battle-drill proficiency. OCS cadre members from the Colorado and Connecticut National Guards also took part in the training.

Taking part in the Albanian deployment was great training for the officer candidates, according to Major Anthony Cosentino, the senior instructor for the New York Army Guard OCS program.

By taking part in the Albanian exercise, the would-be lieutenants got more “looks” while they were leading troops, Cosentino said.

A “look” means an evaluation in OCS-speak, Consentino explained.

The three New York Officer Candidates – Mohammed Huda, Mark Sheppard and David Zhorzholiani—each got five evaluations leading a squad during the two weeks, he said.

With only three New York OCS candidates in the second phase of the 12 to 18-month program, giving each candidate troop-leading time can be challenging, Consentino said.

New York teams up with Connecticut’s Headquarters to run a regional National Guard Officer Candidate School program.

Going to Albania gave the OCS candidates additional hands-on training before their final two weeks of training this summer at Fort Indiantown Gap, Cosentino said.

They also got the chance to work with NATO allies, which provides a challenge —and opportunity— that most officer candidates don’t get, he added.

Huda, a 32-year-old signal Soldier from Queens, said that while there was a bit of a language barrier between the Americans and the Albanians and Kosovars, the biggest challenge was the tactical training itself.

“There were just so many things we had to accomplish within the training, so it was easy to forget or miss something,” he said. “The more we did this type of training, the better we got.”

While there was “a bit of a language barrier,” enough of the Albanians could speak English so that everybody could communicate, he said.

Also, both the Kosovar and Albanian militaries follow the same NATO-standard practices the U.S. Army does Huda added.

“Luckily, they know our Ranger book,” he said.

He got an opportunity to lead a 12-person squad, which he would not normally have had a chance to do, Huda said.

Along with learning to communicate, the Americans also had to learn to use the Albanian rifle instead of the M-4, Cosentino said.

But the Americans quickly adapted he said.

“Obviously the communication barrier was an obstacle in the beginning and then working together with brand new people you’ve just met,” Cosentino said.

“You did see challenges right off the bat, but by day five I was impressed. They were firing on all cylinders. They were doing things that I’ve seen active-duty units do,” he said.

“It was quite impressive on how the improvement and the team cohesion came together,” Cosentino said.