STURGIS - A carefully selected 16-member South Dakota National Guard team of mostly veteran officers will deploy Wednesday to Fort Riley, Kan., before continuing on to Afghanistan.

The South Dakota Embedded Training Team, which has been tasked with training the Afghanistan National Army and military police, was sent off in a ceremony in Sturgis at Fort Meade's Riding Hall gymnasium.

The send-off included family, friends and a group of speakers that included South Dakota National Guard Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Steven Doohen and Gov. Mike Rounds.

After the ceremony, Lt. Col. John Weber, the team's commander, said having senior officers on board will be crucial to the team's success.

"One of the biggest areas that we're going to end up focusing on is the leadership aspect, which is why we're looking for senior NCOs," he said, referring to noncommissioned officers, "people who've been around in the military for a long time who have gained and developed that leadership over time," Weber said.

The group will stay in Fort Riley for about two months of training before heading to Afghanistan.

After the ceremony, Rounds said the group faces a dangerous mission in Afghanistan.

"There is clearly a war zone there yet," he said. "While some of the conditions have improved in terms of violence, and so forth, they're still at risk, and every time we send a soldier in harm's way, it's something we have to take very, very seriously."

Rounds said the duties performed by the group will be vital to the overseas mission of the United States, because helping Afghanistan's army with security will make the country less susceptible to terrorism.

"What that means, then, is that terrorists who otherwise can use Afghanistan as a base to attack us and to attack the rest of the world have a much more difficult time in having a place to base their operations from," Rounds.

Weber said Afghan troops will be taught diverse skills including working with weapons systems, basic soldiering skills and leadership tasks. Military police will also be taught specific tasks, he said.

"On the police side, we've got some folks who are qualified MPs, and they're going to teach them security operations and how to search and seize - things like that," he said.

One of the main challenges will be overcoming language barriers between American and Afghan soldiers, Weber said, although interpreters will be provided to help with those issues.

He said soldiers will be split off into groups as small as two people to perform the training. Leadership will be taught to Afghan army leaders, who will then pass along the knowledge to their soldiers.

Weber said he is not aware of how well the Afghan troops have been trained already and at what point they will be able to thrive on their own.

But the training team will do its best to bring the Afghan training to a higher level, he said.

"Hopefully, … we'll be able to move them along and get them a little bit more ready than they were when we got there.

Contact Ryan Woodard at 394-8412 or ryan.woodard@rapidcityjournal.com