Published: October 17, 2009 11:14 pm      

United Arab Emirates troop training locally

Amiri Guard given friendly welcome

RIDGELEY, W.Va. — Mineral County is playing host to a unique group of guests and many residents might not even know it.

Twenty members of the Amiri Guard of the United Arab Emirates are currently undergoing training at Storm Mountain Training Center in Elk Garden. The Guard is essentially an Arabic parallel to the United States Secret Service. It is an elite unit trained to protect officials like the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi from threats.

The element at Storm Mountain is enrolled in an Executive Protection Course where they will train in a variety of counterterrorism skills.

The center held an Open House event Saturday at the Ridgeley Community Center to honor the members of the Guard. Local law enforcement and Ridgeley Mayor Richard Lechliter also attended.

Teri Ryan, president of Storm Mountain Training Center, said the event was a chance for the Middle Eastern visitors to learn about American culture.

"When we visited the Emirates in June and July of '09, they had a party in our honor," said Ryan. "When (the Guard) said they were coming here to train, they asked for a party to see American hospitality. They wanted to experience our culture."

Bill Spalding, president of the TEAL (Training, Education and Logistics) team and training director for military supplier U.S. Cavalry, accompanied members of the Guard to the event.

“The UAE are the United States' biggest allies in every fight we've been in against terrorism,” said Spalding, who has spent 11 years training the Amiri Guard.

The importance of the security force’s training to both the UAE and the United States was reinforced by Rod Ryan, vice president of operations with Storm Mountain. Rod Ryan said that the Amiri Guard works closely with American troops.

“(The Guard) is also tasked with protecting our VIPs in the United Arab Emirates,” said Rod Ryan. “We teach them to protect both their assets and our assets.”

Rod Ryan said the members of the Guard training at Storm Mountain will be the first sniper element in the organization. Previously, the Guard had hired members of the regular military for sniper duty.

They also will learn how to identify potentially dangerous individuals, including doing so from long range using high-powered scopes.

Training at Storm Mountain is the first time that several members of the Guard have experienced life in the United States. In fact, only three of the 20 members of the element are proficient in English.

“It feels like this is the second home for me because of Rod,” said Khalid, a member of the Guard, through an interpreter. “I felt like he's taking care of us.”

Storm Mountain officials requested that the Times-News refrain from using the last names of Amiri Guard troops for security reasons.

Khalid said his most memorable experience in the United States was a Keyser football game on Friday. In the UAE, soccer is much more popular than American football.

Hamad, an Amiri Guard commander, has visited America several times in the past but said this was his first experience in a small town.

“We're fortunate to have this chance to be in the Storm Mountain facility,” he said. “Being from the UAE, we are close to all the danger ... we're getting advanced training to help us with our mission.”

Cory Galliher can be reached at cgalliher@times-news.com.