Ill Informed Blog Post at AM on Advisors

[Tom Odom]

I guess I expect more from AM. This one does not cut it. The reasons for the shift to Polk deal with the congruence in training objectives at the JRTC.

Polking the Advisor Mission in the Eye
This is the third in a four part series on training advisors.

Six years into the Long War, efforts to train advisors remain mediocre. But they are improving. Fort Riley Training Mission commander Colonel Jeff Ingram deserves special plaudits for taking a thankless mission after having the combat forces gutted from his brigade and attempting to foster effective, survivable combat advisor teams.

As an advisor-in-training in October 2006, the training we received was the worst I had received in the Army to date. The training schedule seemed to be an hour ahead of our current location, and often an hour behind. The idea that operating in Afghanistan might be different than Iraq had perhaps crossed the trainers' minds, but the solutions was simply to train as though we would go to Iraq and finish by saying, "Well, this should help for Afghanistan as well." If I had ten dollars for every time an instructor said, "So, where are you guys headed in Iraq? Oh, you're going to Afghanistan. Well, its about the same thing," I could have foregone combat pay.

A really ignorant comment read:

The main reason is that Polk is looking for a mission in life vs the somewhat low number of personnel going through the JRTC---why not go to Irwin which is in fact in the desert- replicates both Afghanistan and Iraq has a 1200 role number of Iraqi/American, has a replicated IA/IP, a very active OPFOR, and a scenario built to replicate Diyala Province down to the governance piece, has HTTs, PRTs, NGOs,-has a BCT every month going through and is being strongly supported by the SOF community.

It is dumbfounding how ignorant some folks are. JRTC has trained the majority of units in both theaters for the past 5 years. Most of what goes on at Irwin replicates the JRTC.

Tom

[Cavguy]

It is dumbfounding how ignorant some folks are. JRTC has trained the majority of units in both theaters for the past 5 years. Most of what goes on at Irwin replicates the JRTC.

Tom

The one positive part of that Blog is that they do take criticism - I would send a post there.

I think Kip's overall beef is the short shift SFA is going to get in the future - with proponency to SOCOM and only an O-6 billet at Polk responsible for training it. Some validity to that.

Will be interesting to see whether the Army assigns its proponency to the SF or makes it a GPF/TRADOC responsibility. If it goes to SF, it will never be heard from again in the GPF.

[Tom Odom]

I think Kip's overall beef is the short shift SFA is going to get in the future - with proponency to SOCOM and only an O-6 billet at Polk responsible for training it. Some validity to that.

Partly true as an 0-6 will command. But a GO has the training center and the SFA will fall under him. That is the same set up for the Ops Group and it has worked quite well.

Personally I would rather see an active and civilian component approach to the mission. Why? Because when an Army unit stands up with a civilian component (DAC not contractor) that is a statement of probable longevity.
That also addresses some of the issues regarding moving to Louisiana.

I agree with your point that giving SFA in total to the SF community will essentially remove it from the lexicon of the conventional force. I have long argued that the happy bridge between the two needs to be at the MiTT training with SF providing a significant core of instructors. Perhaps that will emerge here once this gets started given our SOF role.

Tom

[Cavguy]

Partly true as an 0-6 will command. But a GO has the training center and the SFA will fall under him. That is the same set up for the Ops Group and it has worked quite well.

Personally I would rather see an active and civilian component approach to the mission. Why? Because when an Army unit stands up with a civilian component (DAC not contractor) that is a statement of probable longevity.
That also addresses some of the issues regarding moving to Louisiana.

I agree with your point that giving SFA in total to the SF community will essentially remove it from the lexicon of the conventional force. I have long argued that the happy bridge between the two needs to be at the MiTT training with SF providing a significant core of instructors. Perhaps that will emerge here once this gets started given our SOF role.

Tom

Tom,

No real disagreement. But even a 1-star being the highest advocate for SFA training seems low to me given it's agreed upon import.

My earlier on SF wasn't meant to slight them - they're true pros at what they do, but so far I have seen little desire from SF to "outreach/integrate" with the evil "big army". So if they get TAA/SFA proponency in the Army, it will lose focus. Just as COIN will if the Army does the same to it.

I'm truly hoping for different, but expecting the worst.

Niel

[Tom Odom]

Tom,

No real disagreement. But even a 1-star being the highest advocate for SFA training seems low to me given it's agreed upon import.

My earlier on SF wasn't meant to slight them - they're true pros at what they do, but so far I have seen little desire from SF to "outreach/integrate" with the evil "big army". So if they get TAA/SFA proponency in the Army, it will lose focus. Just as COIN will if the Army does the same to it.

I'm truly hoping for different, but expecting the worst.

Niel

I saw no slight on SF; the real issue is what happens with CF if that were to happen. From my perch we would be right back where we were just 5 years ago with everyone happily saying "well that's an SF mission we don't need to worry 'bout that," until another need slapped us in the face.

You are dead right when you say the same thing would happen to COIN if the Army did the same with it.

Tom

[Old Eagle]

I second CG's rec that you post straight to AM blog. You know the issues. For all we know, "Kip" may be gathering intell from thousands of miles away. He certainly did not research the background leading to the DP to move TT/PRT to Polk.

One of the really remarkable aspects of SWJ is the quality of the posts. We also do a decent job of self-policing the responses. So many of the other sites where I do research just don't have that kind of discipline.