90 And a Wakeup

As of today we have around 90 days left, which is a good thing. It is a chance to refocus and see if there is anything we still want to get after. It is also a chance to reflect and start thinking about sharing the experience with others who will follow us.

T.E. Lawrence had 27 Articles; David Kilcullen had 28 articles for Counterinsurgency. Ronald of Arabia should be no different, and I am up to 12 articles for my Counterinsurgency and Advising Experience:

1. Advising is Patience, Listening, Understanding and Timing/Opportunity. (I stole this from LTC Seagrist, former 9th IA MTT Chief, and it has become my common theme.) You must invest time in a relationship to be successful. Be patient, they will tell you their concerns, their problems, and what they want help with. What they want help with isn’t necessarily what they need help with. Take time to listen and really understand their position, and then seek the opportunity to pose solutions and recommendations to what needs to get fixed.

2. Relationships at all levels (ISF, Iraqis, adjacent unit, CF, BDE, BN, other MTTs, media, logistics people- everyone) are the key to getting things done as an advisor. Plan on being an extrovert.

2. It’s not about you. It’s not about your Coalition Force (CF) unit either. It’s not about numbers of named operations, numbers of bad guys the CF killed/captured, or how great of a job you are doing. American Soldiers are doing amazing things every day, but if you are not pimping your IA unit in everything you do, you are wrong.

3. You don’t own battlespace. It’s their country, and you should consult them if you are about to do something that they will have to conduct consequence management on.

4. This is not OIF 1, 3, 4, 7, or even 9. It's not OIF two months ago. It’s not like the last time you were here, it is completely different. What seemed like a good idea in 2005 is probably a really bad idea right now. Reassess often, and accept that change is good.

5. Vengeance will not solve the problem of the random explosion. Explosions are diversions to your real mission, which is focusing on the people and building ISF capacity.

6. Give the people what the insurgent can’t provide: Help the IA and GOI build capacity by working on Water, sewage, electricity, a shot at decent medical care, representation in government. If the ISF isn’t thinking in those terms, this is now your internal PSYOP campaign to influence them in this direction.

7. The people are the center of gravity. If the people are a cookie, the Sheiks are the extra special stuff in the middle of the Oero cookie. Don’t be fooled, they still run the show. Make sure you have IA/ISF representation when you deal with them, else they will either play you off against each other, or you will make a mess that the ISF will have to clean up/conduct consequence management on. It is also a good chance to put ISF In the lead. Besides, the ISF is way smarter than you when it comes to dealing with sheiks.

8. Think hard about giving the IA an enabler: Will they really use it? Or is it American technology designed to spy on the ISF? Does its injection inhibit the IA from doing it their way? If so, then don’t apply it. If it makes them look good, if it helps teach or reinforce a lesson, then by all means, offer them the moon.

9. The easy way is kinetic. The hard way is using the brain to figure out a solution that isn’t kinetic. “The violent way is the short way, and the peaceful way is the long way.” --COL Bill Rapp, Advisor to GEN Petraeus during the surge. I am convinced that long, boring and slow is how we will win.

10. American solutions and TTPs are just that: Solutions for Americans. Don’t get offended if the ISF don’t take your advice. Keep trying, throw more spaghetti at the wall and accept some of it will stick and some of it won’t. Reinforce and exploit success where the spaghetti sticks.

11. The IA leads everywhere. They are the most effective counter IED device in country.

12. Not everyone will hit their stride or start making an impact immediately, and this isn’t necessarily bad. It will take some on your team up to 9 months to have an impact. What will matter is the persistence of the advisor when confronted with continued negativity. Patience and persistence will win out, if you are patient and persistent enough…

I'll try to come up with more. For those getting ready to make the trip, I hope it helps.

Take care-
Ron