The Liaison Monitoring Teams (LMTs) of Kosovo Force (KFOR) have one of the most unique missions in the region. The LMTs are divided between specific regions in Kosovo and observe all events that happen within those communities. By interacting with locals and municipality officials, the teams are able to be the eyes and ears of KFOR.
Capt. Jesse Morganthaler, the commander of the Regional Command-East LMTs, said their training took some time to get rolling as they began to understand their unique mission.
“The training aspect of it was interesting because we’re traditionally an infantry unit,” Morganthaler said. “Outside of the LMT handbook, which is published through NATO, there’s no field manual on how to be an LMT. Initially we were confused on how to get after the training, because we didn’t understand the mission right away.”
Morganthaler and his 1st Sgt., Charles Beauchamp, began to focus on building and developing their team and eliminating those that would not be a good fit.
“One of the best things we did was to focus initially on team building and specifically hand picking the people that we want to put on the LMTs,” Morganthaler said.
“Just because you’re a good infantryman, doesn’t mean you’re going to be a good LMT,” he added. “We have infantry guys, we have mechanics, supply people, and communications. We have a handful of MOSs (Military Occupational Specialists), because they all met the kind of the mold we were looking for.”
During their drill weekends prior to their mobilization, the Soldiers focused on team building through physical training, report writing and researching their assigned areas of responsibility in Kosovo. Slowly the team members started to develop and understand the environment that they would be working in.
Spc. Jared Faul, an LMT member and infantryman, said learning a whole new skill set has been a pleasant change, but difficult in trying to shift from the infantry way of thinking.
“Being an infantryman, it’s pretty much the exact opposite of what my (LMT) job description and training has been,” said Faul.
The LMTs continued training at Camp Atterbury, Indiana and the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, by practicing their interviewing skills, conducting soldier led engagements and learning how to interact with interpreters.
The teams were put through a three-day course that provided scenarios where the Soldiers were to interview several municipality leaders, take notes and write a report from the interaction. This was the first time many of the LMT members worked with an interpreter, and it opened their eyes to how things change when talking through someone instead of to them.
Sgt. Christopher Greisinger, one of the LMT noncommissioned officer team leaders, said their interpreter training was invaluable.
“If you had not gotten that language training, you’d have come out [to Kosovo] and said 12 sentences before you let your linguist translate,” Greisinger said.
Greisinger also talked about how they learned to always look at the person they were talking to out of respect and not their linguist.
By learning to eliminate jargon, slang and army acronyms while pacing the conversation appropriately, the LMTs were able to develop their skills interacting with people who did not speak the same language. Some of the training was meant to push the LMT Soldiers out of their comfort zone and deal with tense scenarios.
“There was a little friction in some of those interactions,” Beauchamp said.
As part of the training, the interactions were recorded and played back so they could see their reactions to the situation.
“Sometimes the heat and the intensity from some of the conversations really helped ingrain some of the changes that were needed and how they conducted those interactions,” Beauchamp said.
All of their training laid a foundation of success for the LMTs of KFOR 31. The teams are currently carrying out their mission of interacting with the locals of Kosovo and continuing to develop their communication skills with these daily exchanges.
“There’s a special skill set needed to be an LMT. Somebody who has interpersonal skills, can work well with a small team and have a lot of responsibility working out, independently, by themselves every day,” Morganthaler said.
Learn more about KFOR RC-East's mission
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