Holy Crap, this has turned into a bile fest!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
infsid
At the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, we have incorporated a Human Terrain Team into the rotational brigade so they learn what the other is about. The HTT members learn what a day in the life of a Soldier is like, by going through patrols in sector and interacting with civilians on the battlefield and the brigade combat team gets an idea on what the HHT will give to them, a better understanding of the local culture along with a better ability to forsee how US actions might be percieved by the local population and how the unintended consequences might be averted or contained (long sentence I know). Yeah, these academics are helping US forces, but they are helping us understand the population so that we can end our involvement overseas by setting conditions to allow our withdrawal without a collapse of the government. As for the nay sayers, they can't get over themselves and don't have the stones to step out of the school yard and actually be apart of history instead of reading about it.
Sorry for the somewhat salty verbiage in the title. Nevertheless, I feel like we have tapped into a huge zit of discontent. And unfortunately that zit is not only particularly discontented, it also seems fairly irrelevant. Although this is a particularly heartening as it is a confirmation of my belief that there is a anti-academia bias (please remember that biases can be justified, and the biased always think that they are), although it seems to be considerably more widespread than the military. Nevertheless, whether it is a waste of time to go to college or frustrating to spend years to get a PhD. and then not be able to find a job is thoroughly outside the scope of the Small Wars Journal.
However, the use of HTT's at the NTC is germane. That we have clawed together enough knowledgeable people to help the military at least in the training box. I think this is a huge step forward. An even better option would be to allow people who are curious, or perhaps want peripheral and not as integral a role to participate in the NTC rotations. This would allow people to see that soldiers are just people like everyone else, and that indeed the military is interested in saving lives, and not taking them.
In the end, this all goes to the thesis I originally introduced, that better communication will lead to better results. Let the light shine in!
On Anthropology Goes to War
My humble response to the Marlowe article.
On Marlowe's Embed with the HTT
A potential answer is as follows: If one has an axe to grind about an organization's inability to perform its assigned function, what better way to "prove" that thesis than to join up with the organization while it is still in the throes of organizing itself.