Posted on 04/24/2010 5:00:42 PM PDT by SandRat
COB ADDER – As the United States continues to prepare for the eventual withdraw of forces from Iraq, its service members are focused on training Iraqi Security Forces to assume the responsibility of securing their nation.
To that end, a group of Iraqi Commandos and members of the Iraqi Tactical Support Unit received training here throughout April, when Soldiers with the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade provided instruction on helicopter insertion techniques.
The training, conducted with the help of two U.S. Special Forces Soldiers, was supervised by the 12th CAB's plans section. Capt. Igan O'Reilly, a coordinator for the section, said the training gave a new tool to the Iraqis to help them act quickly against hostile targets and prevent enemy escape.
"With these newly developed techniques, [we're] pushing them toward self-sufficiency and, in the future, helping them collaborate with other organizations in Iraq," he said. "So that when we do draw down our forces later on, they will have that level of competence in their training and the ability to conduct their own missions."
The Iraqis are learning to walk before they run, said O'Reilly, a Gloucester, Va. native. Soon, the students will be called upon to prove what they’ve learned through practical training exercises.
One member of the Iraqi TSU and a Police Trainer, Sgt. Hraade, said the students are held to a high standard to ensure they perform real-world operations without making mistakes.
The one thing he asks of his Soldiers is patience with the training, as motivation and a positive attitude are required.
"I would like them to be patient with us, because we've asked them to do a lot of stuff," he said. "The thing is, it's a short training course, only four weeks, so there's a lot of information we need to give them and it's not easy for them. We appreciate them."
As part of the overall Train the Trainer concept here, the students can return to their units and train fellow Iraqis on the skills they first learned from U.S. forces.
I think they will need a good sized army to fend off the Iranians once the US leaves the country.
They are working on it.
14 IA Divs not including the 2 “Mountain” Divs that haven’t commisioned yet plus 2 Security divs worth of bns and signs that 2 more are to be formed. 20 total.
4 FP Divs plus enough provincial paramilitaries in the process of being retrained and transfered to the FP to make it 18 total. The FP is Carabinarie trained and acts as IA reserve.
5 DBE Divs mostly built.
etc. The problem is air defense...
http://home.comcast.net/~djyae/site/?/blog/view/56/
Lot’s of good information. So how do they go about getting a few jets and anti aircraft defenses? unless we give them to them?
They are signing an FMS LOA for the first 24 F16s. This is a purchase by Iraq thru US FMS. That about maxes them out budget-wise. Depending on oil prices and export rates, GoI can afford about 6-12 new F16s per year. This initial buy is using money not spent in previous budgets. This is the last year that they can do that legaly. 24 is not enough and will not arrive until 2013-2014.
We will probably give them most of the 134 Used USAF F16s being early retired. Better use for them than scrapping. 24 are going to replace Romania’s MiG-21s, no official data on the remaining 110 yet. [or on the 112 F15s being early retired.]
This has the benifit of ensuring they buy US and starts training on F16s next year.
Also, I think they are going to decide that USAF are not “troops” and thus are not covered by the agreement...
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