Posted on 11/29/2007 2:53:29 PM PST by frankenMonkey
When I was a young company commander, my First Sergeant was a veteran of WWII, Korea, and was on his third tour in Vietnam. I was still wet behind the ears: been shot at, been hit, thought I knew it all.
One fine day we were sitting around waiting for a resupply, I heard a noise. Conversation went like this:
Hey, 1SG what was that? Sounded like a mortar.
1SG: Yessir, that was a mortar.
Well who do you think they are shooting at?
1SG: Why, they are shooting at us, Sir.
So, how come you are just sitting there sipping on your hot chocolate?
1SG: Because we still have a few seconds. (Shouts)Everybody - Take Cover - NOW !!
They all did, in the holes that the First Sergeant had insisted that everyone dig. The first round landed right smack in the middle of our perimeter. No one was hurt.
Experience counts.
Experience saved at least a couple American lives that day, as it was particularly dangerous IED.
From what I have seen and heard, EVERY soldier, regardless of MOS (military occupational specialty), goes through advanced infantry training and urban warfare schools. Locally, the 278th Artillery Brigade went to Iraq as foot soldiers even though their MOS was artillery.
That’s not the case. We all recieve training that is mission specific (and the missions are often what would be ‘traditionally’ considered infantry missions), but only infantry attend Advanced Infantry Training. Urban warfare tactics are being implemented into a lot of the leadership schools as well as the training schedule of suppport units that fall under the BCTs. The idea is to transition the Army into the Marine mentality of “rifleman first,” but the going is slow, s deployment rotations and leadership changes make this hard to maintain. Hopefully the “life cycle” program that the army is implementing will help to stream line this process.
I knew guys who could “smell” an ambush. I got to the point that I thought I could, but I was never as good as these guys. Your senses get honed to a very sharp edge when you are staring death in the face everyday.
In the Civil War, they called it “Seeing the Elephant”
You have seen the Elephant, my friend, and those who haven’t have no idea what we are talking about.
Good cross training opportunity.
You should see the arguments that happen on the trainers side.
I’m a REMF and I was pointing out that these guys are way behind me. LOL.
Then we can probably remove the “MF” from your job description! Thank you for your service.
From the other perspective, it sounds like most of these special skills would be of extra help in rebuilding Irap’s infrastruction in the aftereffect of the Surge.
I think that needs to be emphasized. Although I'm sure there are those who have pulled every string available to keep from deploying until now, I'd bet that's not the majority. I noticed the article specifically mentioned the example of Foreign Area Officers (FAOs). I can comment somewhat intelligently on this since I was selected for that program prior to resigning my commission. An officer selected for this will typically be a senior Captain who has already had his/her company command. Depending on the area specialty they are selected for, they will normally be sent to a civilian university for a Masters program and incur an active duty obligation of two years for each year in school...so two years in school, then four years on active duty...then they will go to the Defense Language Institute (DLI) for a course of study (IIRC 6-18 months, depending on the Language), then specific FAO training and posted as an attache at an Embassy (and all Officers somewhere in there would need to do CAS3 at Fr. Leavenworth as a matter of career progression.)
So say somebody was selected as a Korea, Chinese or Russian FAO in 2002-3 when things were just starting up in Iraq. They would have finished their Masters in 2004-5 at the earliest, and been in DLI for a year or so after that. Then, with 3+ years of very specialized and expensive training to serve at the ROK, Chinese or Russian etc. embassies.
After all this training, it would not be cost effective for the Army to NOT use them in that capacity. This is just one example of why some of these people have likely not seen a combat tour, through no fault of their own. Likewise, I'm sure there are North Africa/Mideast FAOs who have been serving for years in theater on diplomatic assignments which do not count as combat tours...
You’re right, 6-pack. When I posted this article I envisioned a bunch of slackers, but sometimes the facts can set us straight. By the way, I spent time at DLI in the 70s.
Don’t get me wrong...I’m sure there are some slackers who thought they might be able to squeeze out the last of their 20 years without seeing combat in spite of being in a major war...and they should be ashamed of themselves for hoping that other people would pull their weight. But I suspect most of these 37,000 don’t fall into that category. There are (or at least were) a number of very, very specialized MOSs for which there are no jobs in theatre...like some of the SIGINT techs at Ft. Meade. There may not even be any of the equipment they are trained on in theater...to send them there seems kind of superfluous when their skills and training suggest that there biggest contributions to the war effort may be in a stateside billet...
There are some particular fields in the Army...highly specialized...which normally would never deploy into any hostile fire zone. The curious thing...is that some of these groups are like 30 or 40 personnel...so if all 40 go...and half don’t make it back...it’ll take years to replenish...retrain...and educate enough people to fill those slots. The AF has some guys who only do radiation testing...very small crew. They don’t deploy anywhere unless it has to do with their profession of “testing”.
I won’t say all of the 37,000 fit that category...but you have a huge number of language trainers...like Russian or Chinese or Arabic...who probably have never deployed. So to make this 37,000 trick work...they will have to dismantle their language classes for an entire year...and wait till the trainers return...then get recertified...which adds up to another six months extra.
I’m not sure this is a wise decision...but it is a fair decision.
AO= area of operations? Please remember when posting military jargon that there are civilians in camp!
Why not put the pilots on KP while you’re at it?
Or you have officers filling in jobs such as Physics instructor at West Point and has been doing the job for the last 10-15 years. Somebody has to teach those cadets. I don’t think recruiters are being sent overseas except for volunteers and specific MOS.
As I was telling my wife, some MOS aren’t suited for the combat theater. If I was a physical therapist, I am needed back at a hospital to help the wounded soldiers.
I do understand what the Army is doing. My wife’s old boss who was a MAJ in 96 in the 25th ID Division, had 24 years and never deployed to any theater and didn’t have a combat patch. As she was one month from retirement, she got the call to stay in and pull her retirement. She did go to Iraq for a year and then retired a year later. During previous possible deployments she had jobs with no possibility of deploying. It just worked out that way.
Most of these 37,000 aren’t going to be out doing patrols or do convoys. They will be doing staff work in headquarters units. I think it will force some soldiers out as they realize or admit they aren’t medically qualified and will have to get out.
Just because you are in Iraq does not necessarily mean you will be in the field.
Besides, 37,000 is a pretty sizable chunk of the Army, close to 10%. I know there are some specialized jobs in the Army, but not that many.
The language specialists in the article are probably interpreters, not trainers, as all the language training being done in the Army is through contracted and DoD employed civilians. The language schools will never shut down, not for longer than a week at least (except holidays, of course) as the demand for interpreters that can be trusted - as opposed to local national interpreters - is exponentially growing as the Counter Insurgency Tactics are being more widely deployed.
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