Training the US military to work with the UN and NGOs in Iraq

I've been talking to several companies that provide role players and prepare scenarios for training US military personnel to respond appropriately if and when they encounter humanitarian organizations in the field in Iraq. I thought most of the scenarios described were either too generic or out of date and recommended (free of charge) some changes.

In the case of Iraq the UN is setting up offices in Anbar, Basra, and Kirkuk. Above the green line in the KRG the UN already has an active presence although most of the international staff is still relatively confined to their way too heavily guarded camp.

The UN is sending a signal to the humanitarian community that they should be more engaged in stabilizing Iraq than they have been previously.

As stability in Iraq continues to increase the US military in the field is going to start to notice UN Agency and NGO “brandings” starting to appear in their AOs. This doesn’t mean that the international NGOs and the UN have finally arrived, they were always there in some capacity - they were just keeping a low profile for much of this time.

As the battle space changes I hope that the training that our people are receiving is changing as well.

Expanded UN and NGO presence in their AO should be looked upon as a very positive development and appropriate channels of communication established.

Creon.