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A group of Iraqi Army non-commissioned officers from 2nd Battalion, 15th Brigade, 12th Iraqi Army Division, sit together during a class focused on building their leadership skills at their base outside of Kirkuk City, Sept. 26. Photo by Pfc. Justin Naylor, 1st Cavalry Division. KIRKUK — As U.S. Soldiers here continue to train their Iraqi Army partners, it's no surprise that the focus of at least some of the training involves U.S. Army values. Ask almost any Soldier in the U.S. Army what the letters LDRSHIP stand for, and you'll hear loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal...

Florida isn't known for whale watching, but every winter the coastline offers a haven for endangered North Atlantic right whales. They migrate to warm, shallow waters to give birth and nurse little -- relatively speaking -- 1-ton bundles of blubber. Their spot is right next to where the U.S. Navy wants to conduct anti-submarine training. The Navy has selected a site bordering a federally protected whale nursery stretching from Savannah to Sebastian for an undersea warfare range, where ships, submarines and aircraft outfitted with powerful sonar can practice hunting subs. Citing voluminous studies, the Navy concluded that training 58 miles...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq, Oct. 1, 2009 – Members of Iraq’s 70th Air Reconnaissance Squadron completed the first phase of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance training with Minnesota National Guard’s 34th Red Bull Infantry Division’s intelligence section here. Iraqi air force pilots in southern Iraq conduct pre-flight checks before training at Contingency Operating Base Basra, Iraq, Sept. 5, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Eric Ebner  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Iraqi fighter pilots who have combat experience from the Iran-Iraq War -- some with as many as 800 hours of combat flight time -- worked with soldiers...

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs chastised CNN Friday morning for its reporting on a Coast Guard training exercise on ... ... the Potomac River, which suggested a security incident was in progress in the nation's capital. "Before we report things like this, checking would be good," Gibbs said. Responding directly to a CNN reporter's question about whether the public should have been notified about a training exercise, Gibbs was harshly sarcastic: "If anybody was unnecessarily alarmed based on erroneous reporting that denoted that shots had been fired, I think everybody is apologetic about that." When another journalist noted that...

The initial reports were frightening, the Coast Guard fires shots at a rogue boat in the middle of the Potomac River, just before the President drives by, and right near the Pentagon building on the Anniversary of 9/11. The follow-up provoked anger---it was just a training mission:

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HUNTER, Iraq, Aug. 28, 2009 – Soldiers of 2nd Squadron, 13th Cavalry Regiment’s Task Force “Saber” and Iraqi security forces worked together to provide advanced medical training to Iraqi forces in southern Iraq’s Maysan province. An Iraqi police officer practices applying an intravenous needle on Army medic Spc. Justin Keeling while Army medic Sgt. James Thompson looks on during combat lifesaver training at Forward Operating Base Hunter, Iraq. U.S. Army photo by 2nd Lt. Juan Torres Jr.  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Members of the Majaar al Kabir District Police and 1st Battalion, 41st Iraqi Army...

In August 2007 and June 2008, I wrote monster articles projecting Iraqi Security Forces planned development by 2012 and, in some cases, beyond. I am not going to do that this year. Instead I have been writing separate articles addressing the components of the Iraqi Security Forces: June 30, 2009: Commandos in the ISF June 30, 2009: Iraqi Special Operations Force June 30, 2009: The Iraqi Emergency Response Brigade July 15, 2009: Kurdish Regional Guards: The best OPSEC in Iraq July 20, 2009: Iraqi Federal Police: More than a name change? July 26, 2009: Low on the Iraqi MoI Totem...

EXCLUSIVE: Gen. David H. Petraeus plans to open an in-house intelligence organization at U.S. Central Command this week that will train military officers, covert agents and analysts who agree to focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan for up to a decade. The organization, to be called the Center for Afghanistan Pakistan Excellence, will be led by Derek Harvey, a retired colonel in the Defense Intelligence Agency who became one of the Gen. Petraeus’ most trusted analysts during the 2007-08 counterinsurgency campaign in Iraq. Mr. Harvey distinguished himself in Iraq by predicting that the Iraqi insurgency would spiral out of control, at...

CAMP PENDLETON ---- While artillery men generally consider blowing things up a slice of heaven, the loud booms emanating from Camp Pendleton day and night of late has left many outside the gates saying they are experiencing a slice of hell. "I don't object to noise during normal hours and I don't mind it up until about 10 p.m., but they need to have a little consideration for people who need peace and quiet so they can sleep," said Allen Mortend, a longtime Oceanside resident who lives just outside the base gates. Base officials say they have received dozens of...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE GARRY OWEN, Iraq, Aug. 13, 2009 – U.S. soldiers who attended a recent graduation of Iraqi police say they are pleased with their improvements and that training them has been mutually beneficial. Iraqi soldiers and police render honors during the playing of the Iraqi national anthem as 875 police recruits graduate from Iraqi police basic recruit training in Iraq’s Maysan province, July 30, 2009. U.S. Army photo by 2nd Lt. Frederick F. McAfee III  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “They always ask us to show them how the Americans do it,” said Army Sgt. 1st Class...

8/10/2009 - CAMP TAJI, Iraq (AFNS) -- A trio of Airmen here are teaching Iraqi air force aerial gunners to defend their crew and cargo against threats. The three Airmen are part of the 721st Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron, whose mission is to "train, advise and assist" the Iraqis at the helicopter squadrons. The Iraqi gunners train using PKC machine guns mounted to makeshift metal platforms. "The Iraqi gunners are as integral a part of the crew for their helicopter, as we are for ours back home," said Tech. Sgt. Michael Burt, a flight engineer from Andrews Air Force Base,...

WASHINGTON, July 29, 2009 – Training is at the forefront of the new U.S. advisory role in Iraq, and that includes educating both Iraqis and Americans on everything from cultural awareness to flight skills, military officials say. The Iraqi Defense Ministry’s Ministerial Training and Development Center held its first cultural awareness course July 26 under the direction of Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq – known as MNSTC-I -- for those in the command who are not Iraqi advisors. The center opened in 2007 as a partnership school with Iraqi instructors and U.S. advisors, and hosts a two-day course for new...

Spc. Anthony Wilson, 1st Cavalry Division, instructs two Iraqi Army Soldiers on their new single channel ground and airborne radio system on Forward Operating Base Marez, July 8. Photo by Pfc. Sharla Perrin, 1st Cavalry Division. MOSUL — Coalition forces throughout Ninewa are continuing to support their Iraqi Security Force counterparts through integrated training events such as marksmanship and radio communications. Troops with the 1st Cavalry Division’s operations section trained an Iraqi Army (IA) communications team on the installation and operation of their new vehicle radio communication systems on Forward Operating Base Marez, July 8.The single channel ground and airborne...

CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind., June 12, 2009 – Civilian employees representing various federal departments are being trained here alongside their military counterparts in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan. Army Sgt. Carlos Velasquez radios for medical assistance while Air Force Senior Airman Ashley Jackson delivers medical aid during a training exercise at Camp Atterbury Ind., June 9, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Robert G. Cooper III  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. As part of a broader focus of operations in Afghanistan designed to include both military and civilian assets, more than 20 civilians from the State Department, the Agriculture...

The U.S. General in charge of providing "security" training for the Fatah PA, Keith Dayton, has openly acknowledged what many have suspected all along in regards to this program: The likelyhood of those U.S.-trained Islamists attacking our ally Israel. Glick has more: "... Keith Dayton, who is responsible for training Palestinian military forces in Jordan, indicated that if Israel does not surrender Judea and Samaria within two years, the Palestinian forces he and his fellow American officers are now training at a cost of more than $300 million could begin killing Israelis..." If Israel were to give up Judea and...

Jerusalem — The American military now openly admits providing military training to Palestinian military forces. A U.S. military official, Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, assigned by the United States to be a “security coordinator,” has been appointed to train 1,500 Palestinian military personnel. They will be available for “immediate deployment” in the area between Jenin and Nablus, less than an hour from Israel’s populated coastal plain.

TIKRIT — After three days of training and instruction, Iraqi Policemen (IP) listened intently to questions about first aid, vehicle maintenance and driving tactical vehicles — questions they quickly met with enthusiastic answers, proving what they had learned. Salah ad-Din provincial IP from the 3rd Emergency Response Unit (ERU) here increased their knowledge of these procedures to better serve the citizens of the province. “The training was truly beneficial to me, because in these three days of training, I have learned things that I did not know before,” said Rasool Khalil Esmail, a Policeman with the 3rd ERU. IP from...

COB ADDER — After an intense eight weeks of training, 65 Commandos from the 10th Iraqi Army (IA) Division marched across the Camp Dhi Qar parade field near here signifying the completion of training, May 2. "Training's been hard from the beginning," said Maj. Gregory Stroud, a Military Transition Team chief with the 1st Cavalry Division. "But they worked just as hard and it definitely shows." Stroud worked closely with the Romanian Special Forces from the 26th Infantry Battalion to train the Iraqi Commandos on various tactical skills such as small unit tactics and patrolling. "The U.S. Special Forces have...

4/30/2009 - DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. (AFNS) -- Over the Arizona desert near Tucson, nine student pilots took the "final exam" for a career most people only dream about in April. They are in the final stages of training to become F-16 Fighting Falcon pilots for the Air Force. At the end of 7.5 months of intense F-16 Basic Course Training with the Texas Air National Guard's 149th Fighter Wing in San Antonio, the students participated in Exercise Coronet Cactus at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. "At the end of the course, we bring them out here for two weeks...

BABIL PROVINCE, Iraq, April 30, 2009 – Community leaders, media and coalition representatives gathered for a grand opening to showcase the newly renovated $5.4 million Iskandariyah Vocational Technology Center here April 22. The newly renovated Iskandariyah Vocational Technical Center in Iraq’s Babil province is expected to train and house 4,000 students in a variety of occupational specialties. U.S. Army photo by Alicia Embrey  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Reyad Hassan, executive general manager of Iraq’s Labor Ministry, officiated with the assistance of newly elected Babil provincial leaders. The Iskandariyah Votech and Industrial Complex, 25 miles south of Baghdad,...