A Liberian military defense delegation is looking at ways to build respect in the ranks of the newly reformed Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL), using the U.S. Army as a model for professional relationships between officers and noncommissioned officers (NCO).

The AFL has restructured over past year after 15 years of civil war.

A three-member Liberian delegation visited Fort Benning in December 2009 and toured several sites to observe NCO-led training, said Colonel A.L. Rumphrey, chief of the Office of Security Cooperation, U.S. Embassy in Monrovia, Liberia.

Rumphrey escorted the delegation during the visit.

In the last year, the AFL added basic and advanced training courses modeled after the principles of the U.S. military. Now, the army wants to develop the officer-NCO relationship that it lacked in previous years, said Armed Forces of Liberia Command Sergeant Major Bamidele Awofeso, senior regimental NCO for the army.

Awofeso is a member of the Nigerian army attached to the AFL as part of a bilateral agreement between the two countries.

"Our officers don't look at NCOs as colleagues," Awofeso said. "After what I've seen here, I'm going to preach the idea of officers looking at NCOs as partners in progress."

Lieutenant Colonel Waidi Shaibu, chief of staff for the AFL headquarters, and Lieutenant Colonel Solomon Gonny, the operations officer for the AFL, joined Awofeso in observing the interactions between officers and NCOs during an Expert Infantryman Badge program.

Rumphrey said the AFL would like to bing this program to its ranks. Because 75 percent of the AFL is light infantry, the Expert Infantryman Badge program would give them more self-confidence in their abilities as infantrymen, he said.

Rumphrey said the delegates are learning the importance of NCOs in executing training.
"The NCO corps is the bedrock of any army," said Gonny, who has completed several courses in the United States. "When you have a well-disciplined and trained NCO corps, then you have an army."

Shaibu, another soldier from the Nigerian army attached to the AFL, said the benefits of building a strong army in Liberia would be felt throughout the western subregion of Africa, which includes Nigeria.

"Nigeria is part of the standby force that responds immediately to any crisis in the subregion," he said. "Once the Liberian army is strong, it can contribute to quelling crisis and keeping the subregion stable."