Kazakhstan Ministry of Defense is planning to establish a Noncommissioned Officer Academy on the basis of the National University of Defense, Tengrinews.kz reports, citing Adilbek Dzhaksybekov, Kazakhstan Minister of Defense. The head of the Defense Department said this during the All-Army enlarged Meeting of noncommissioned officers that was held on May 23 in the Ministry of Defense. “We need to pay more attention to the quality of recruiting of noncommissioned officers, because combat readiness of troops depends on unit commanders’ professional skills a lot. Also it is high time to train a staff that is responsible for the quality of equipment and weapon. If we want our military equipment to be maintained in good working order, it is necessary to think over the issue of maintenance technicians trainings. There is one more task that we need to pay attention to. This would help create conditions for effective noncommissioned personnel training,” Dzhaksybekov said. Kazakhstan sergeants will be able to get trained in several fields at the same time: motorized infantry, artillery, engineering and communications support. Cadet Corps and Noncommissioned Personnel Department will work out a transition plan for the new education system. The Minister also said that the Academy should recruit lecturers from among highly qualified sergeants who have got rich field experience. It is known that about 500 sergeants are trained annually in the National University of Defense, Military Institute of Ground Forces and Cadet Corps. Sergeants are also trained at the High Academic Courses on the basis of the National University of Defense. Besides, mobile training groups have been established in each military post to improve skills of junior noncommissioned officers. More than 6000 sergeants have been trained in the mobile groups in the last two years. Sergeants’ instructor and technical courses are being held annually as well.
