Posted on 06/12/2005 8:20:20 AM PDT by SandRat
FORT HUACHUCA - This Southern Arizona Army post is on a war-footing, the former deputy commander of the Intelligence Center said last week.
Today's threats create the need to instill a war mindset for soldiers being trained on the fort, not unlike when the nation was engaged in combat during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, Brig. Gen. Brian A. Keller said.
What is critical for today's soldier is that when they leave their intelligence training they "feel more confident as they go off to war," Keller said during a Tuesday interview, the day before he left for his new assignment as the senior intelligence officer for the European Command.
Warrior skills combined with professional training as intelligence soldiers sharpens a student abilities, he said.
The object of the increasingly intense training on the fort is to have soldiers who can "protect themselves and kill the enemy," the general said. "They are soldiers first. They've got to be able to defend themselves and defend their unit. They never can be a liability when they arrive (in a combat zone)."
Equally as important, and the reason they attend courses at the Intelligence Center, is to provide information for commanders to use on how to prosecute the war, Keller said.
Likening what is happening at the U.S. Army Intelligence Center to a double-edged sword, Keller said, "We cut both ways. We train them to be soldiers, sustain those soldier skills they need in combat and at the same time drill sergeants and instructors train them to be effective intelligence professionals. Our goal is to make sure the soldier is trained to go downrange (combat areas) and be successful."
In today's training environment, a soldier's weapon is part of daily life, the general said, noting soldiers are issued M-16 rifles that they carry routinely so handling the weapon becomes second nature.
Instruction on the post now includes convoy training, additional live-fire marksmanship, lessons on improvised explosive devices and hand-to-hand combat.
The days when a soldier would receive technical training then go to a unit and not be deployed for some time are gone, he said. Soldiers are now expected to leave the fort, go to their unit and almost immediately deploy.
His knowledge of what is needed to ensure soldiers are ready for combat is based on what he has heard from soldiers he has visited in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Keller also has his own knowledge of the war on terrorism. He was a senior intelligence officer in Afghanistan when the United States went to overthrow the Taliban and their al-Qaida supporters.
His background in Army special operations gives him a wider view of military intelligence. He was the senior intelligence officer with the 1st Ranger Battalion for four years. He also was the senior intelligence officer for the Joint Special Operations Command.
Understanding the enemy is an important part of special operations intelligence, as it is with any part of the intelligence-gathering community, the general said.
As commander of the 513th Military Intelligence Brigade, he and others in the unit went to Kuwait and then to Afghanistan.
While in Afghanistan, one of the brigade's battalions provided interrogation and counterintelligence assistance to special operations forces.
One of the detainees turned out to be a "really hard-core extremist fighter" who no one could break into providing information. But then a young female interrogator who spoke Arabic used information provided about the detainee and was able to break him "through direct questioning," Keller said.
"The detainee, the al-Qaida fighter, was caught off guard," he said.
Only the direct questioning was used.
"Within two interrogation sessions she was able to extract some very important intelligence and we were able to use that intelligence to conduct operations within 48 hours to strike other pockets of resistance and defeat the enemy," Keller said.
The soldier involved in that interrogation was an example of a professional "approaching her business by the book, completely within the bounds of training and the Geneva Convention, without laying a hand on him, just using questions and very good analytical work to break that detainee down," Keller said.
Staying within Army standards when interrogating is the only acceptable way to obtain needed intelligence information, he added.
The reported interrogation abuses, which he said were few, came about because some in leadership roles did not maintain the standards.
Keller emphasized no major changes were made to interrogation courses.
"We reinforced what is right so there is no doubt. The basic interrogation training and techniques that have been taught at the schoolhouse for years remain. They have been closely scrutinized and they stand the test of time," the general said.
Soldiers training to become human intelligence collectors "are being taught at Fort Huachuca the standards used by our Army and are completely within the rules of armed warfare and the Geneva Convention. As an Army proponent, we teach other tactics, techniques or procedures that are not Army doctrine," Keller said.
He said he tells soldiers, "If you stick with those rules and you sustain your moral compass by simply asking yourself if this is the way you want to be treated, you'll always do the right thing."
He also said he tells soldiers trained at the Intelligence Center that if they ever have any doubts that a superior's orders are against standards, they need to tell the chain of command.
Cultural awareness training also occurs at the center, Keller said. The main focus is on Iraqi and Afghan cultures, which have differences even though both nations are mostly Muslim.
Calling today's soldiers "the greatest generation," Keller said it is important for the American people to realize the sacrifice soldiers and their families are making to defend the nation's Constitution.
"These are men and women who are volunteering to serve their nation. They understand selfless service," he said. "I'm amazed at the dedication of these young men and women, these 19- and 20-year-olds kids who certainly could choose another life based on our economy that is doing good. But they still see how important it is to be part of that team to defend this country against these threats, and I'm extremely proud so many are willing to do it."
Using baseball jargon, the general said soldiers in the war against terrorism hit a home run every time they are called to the plate.
Or, as he put it another way, "They are beating the snot out of the enemy."
ping
Thanks for the ping!
What a bunch of PC malarkey.
Since when are Al Qaeda and friends Geneva Convention signatories?
Bump
It doesn't matter if Al Queda is a Geneva signatory or not. Good technique gets good results. Human nature remains constant.
The most Mouthy people in WWII were the SS soldiers. They (most emphatically) did not follow the Geneva convention. They would brag about the horrors that would be facing the US soldiers, and the US interogators would feign shock and admiration at their cleverness.
Oh, really, how horrible. That is clever.... How many tanks?
People who have no honor, who live in a fantasy world where they are feared and respected for their viscousness, are particularly easy to manipulate.
Now, if you put them on the rack, and stretched them, if you dislocated their shoulders, if you forced a strip of cloth down their gullet, and dripped water on it till their stomachs were ready to burst, they would talk, but they would fill their babbling with fantasy and falsehoods.
See. Just good technique, because it works. The three Ps. Polite, Professional, Prepared to kill.
They're not. Now where in the article did you see the GH cited?
Our military is required by law to operate within the constraints of the G-H regardless of whether our adversary has signed up for it or not.
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