Green on Blue: causes and responses (merged thread)

[Fuchs]

In terms of the Brits a six month tour bestows "Afghan expertise" on a soldier. A whole six months... wow!

Expectations for learning progress must have been lowered.

Back in 1941, having seen six weeks of the French campaign easily qualified for being a Blitzkrieg expert in Britain. In fact, most who were considered experts of this then-new thing had seen it not at all or had seen only about two weeks of it, and in a secondary area of the theatre.


Presently, I am imagining how Churchill tells Montgomery to first spend a year in Egypt and learn a lot before taking any action.

[JMA]

Expectations for learning progress must have been lowered.

Back in 1941, having seen six weeks of the French campaign easily qualified for being a Blitzkrieg expert in Britain. In fact, most who were considered experts of this then-new thing had seen it not at all or had seen only about two weeks of it, and in a secondary area of the theatre.

We have a saying: "In the land of the blind the man with one eye is king."

The cycle continues:

"In Afghanistan and Iraq, army units served six months in heatre.40 Every British soldier knows the routine well: one spends two months learning the job, two months doing it and two months counting the days until you go home for ‘tea and medals’, as the saying goes."

Ledwidge, Frank (2011-07-15). Losing Small Wars: British Military Failure in Iraq and Afghanistan (p. 35). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.

Presently, I am imagining how Churchill tells Montgomery to first spend a year in Egypt and learn a lot before taking any action.

Under those circumstances you do the best you can. The general practice is to look for those with the best experience to lead new ventures (be they anything from an invasion to a patrol).

...but it is not merely time in theatre that counts it is time in combat with a variation of situations. Not sure sitting in Bagram counts for much other than for the "field hospital" there which by all accounts is the best the Brits have ever had.