Mentoring locally and abroad

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Canadian 23-year army veteran Allan Moggey has a lot to teach

Natasha Tersigni
News Editor

The saying goes, “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for life.” Battery Sergeant Major Allan Moggey of the 20th Field Regiment is living the second half of that. He is doing his best to teach the men and women around him, whether in Canada or Afghanistan, how to become a competent solider.

Moggey went to Afghanistan for seven-and-a-half months to train the Afghan National Army 4th of the 1st of the 205 Artillery Unit. He was a part of the four-man Canadian Operational Mentor Liaison Team who worked with 90 local troops in Sperwin Ghar forward operating base.

While there were 300 Canadian soldiers on the base, the major and his team spent all their time with the Afghanis, except meal time where they usually went to the Canadian mess hall.

Moggey said teaching soldiers that speak very little English on Russian equipment the Canadians don’t use wasn’t an easy task. The Russian D30 122 mm is “totally different” than the Canadians guns. The Russians use a 6,000mm circle, where the Western countries use the 6,400mm circle.

“A lot every extra math was involved to overcome it all,” Moggey said.

Overall, Moggey had a positive experience working overseas.

“I was thinking about going back in the next couple of years,” he said.

Back in Canada, Moggey works within his regiment turning reservists into soldiers. In the Western Defender ’11, he is BSM of the artillery unit and he is directly working and training 65 troops.

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