"The Americans" Don't Get It (a bit of a rant)

Our parent US Brigade is in the midst of redeploying. In doing so, they are in a rush to have that last impact, that last OER (Officer Evaluation Record) bullet, that last "look at another great mission we did in Iraq." That's all well and good, but it has been a bit imposing lately.

Earlier this week I went to a breakfast meeting with the outgoing and incoming Brigade Commanders. The purpose of the meeting was to lay out the new and improved Division Idea to fix "Battle Command." (Battle Command is a western doctrine on how US units are commanded and controlled, and how Leaders see themselves, how they manage and process information, on the enemy, friendly forces, and the battlefield. US Battle Command also highlights how our Army uses technology.) The concept is to embed more Americans, US radios, and communications systems, none of which are available to the IA, in the Iraqi command posts to "help" them command and control their units. The US made the conclusion of "the IA can't effectively command and control their forces" based off of one operation executed in April.

I disagreed with the premise statement. The IA is effective in my area; they can command and control their units given the current threat. My IA Brigade Commander executes Battle Command with five cell phones, and he does a pretty good job of it. Does it meet the Western Standard? No. Should it? Nope; they ain't from the west. Is it perfect? Nope. But it is effective, and the Brigade Commander continues to evolve and develop, and so does his unit. I guess he's just not doing it as fast as "The Americans" would like.

Infusing more Americans and western technologies is not what they need. Call it what it should be called, which is a thinly veiled attempt to keep tabs on the IA and their "madness." (Artile 24 of the Bilateral Security Agreement signed between the US and Iraq requires all US forces to be out of 'cities' by 30 June.) If the Americans want to have an impact, if they want to fix something, fix logistics. IA logistics above Division level is broken. But logistics is boring, and we would rather fix problems that have quick and easy solutions so we can get more OER bullets and tabulate more instances and metrics of success. We value quantity over quality.

The US culture and mentality is that we have to fix things, and we have to fix them kinetically. We need to fix all the problems, and we need to fix them now. Every solution can be solved with technology and firepower, and if those don't fix it, we will throw money at it until it goes away, regardless of the later effects. And this is the reason why we are still here six years later, because our culture won't evolve.

I should say I respect the outgoing US Brigade Commander. He is a good guy. But we (the 10 or so MTT chiefs in attendance at the meeting) all brought up culture and how this western idea of Battle Command doesn't relate, and his response was that we were using culture as a "cop out" and that "we have to fix this problem before we leave." "I've been a Commander here twice now, and I get the culture thing." No sir, you clearly don't. Because one, we are still here after six years, and two, people who live with this culture every day are giving you feedback and you aren't lestening. At that point, everyone pretty much shut up; it was evident he didn't see the problem as we saw it, and he had already made up his mind on what he was going to to do (throw more technology and Americans at a culture that had no desire to operate that way).

Tonight my Iraqi Brigade Commander issued guidance tonight to conduct a series of clearance operations directed at targeting remaining pockets of insurgent activity over the coming weeks. He gave specific and detailed guidance to his staff on how he wanted it done, given his sources, recent events, his five cell phones, what the local populace is telling him, and his grand plan to bring sustaining security to the area. Sounds like he gets Battle Command to me.

Hopefully the new guy will get it. We'll see. Or Insh'alla, as the Arabs say.

This is the most frustrating job I have ever had. But it is also one of the most rewarding in a sense, in that I am receiving graduate level experience in negotiation, international relations, psychology, and even and sociology. It has humbled me in some ways. And it has made me both appreciate and hate my own Army and government at the same time.

Thanks for reading. Take care-
Ron