The association of 101st AASLT alumni hereby waive all rights and claims to said commander... He was formed (oddly) well before his arrival in Clarksville...
The association of 101st AASLT alumni hereby waive all rights and claims to said commander... He was formed (oddly) well before his arrival in Clarksville...
Hacksaw
Say hello to my 2 x 4
Written by Mike Breen, a friend of mine from FAOBC.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1209/p09s02-coop.htmlThe debt we owe Iraqi interpreters
After the foolish mask ban, more protection is a must.
By Michael Breen
The Iraqi pointed at me, pointed at his watch, and mimed an explosion. He'd been shouting frantically since he arrived at our small forward operating base minutes before, but like most American soldiers, I didn't speak Arabic. Had he come to warn us or to threaten us? Car bomb? Another mortar attack? When and where? Looking around desperately, I spotted a young woman in her early 20s bounding toward us. Wissam, one of our Iraqi interpreters, had arrived. After a brief conversation with the man, she turned back to me and said, "He says there is an IED [improvised explosive device] on the main road to Haswa. Good thing you have me around, I think."
For a platoon leader on the streets of Iraq, a trusted interpreter can be the difference between a successful patrol and a body bag. At great personal risk, interpreters bridge the language gap, guide soldiers and marines through unfamiliar streets, serve as cultural advisers, and make crucial introductions. American strategy in Iraq hinges on building positive relationships between US forces and Iraqi communities, a task that would be impossible without dependable interpreters.
Sir, what the hell are we doing?
Ban was reversed sometime ago, but with caveats, apparently:
Iraqi Interpreters May Wear Masks
Pentagon Gives Battalion Commanders Discretion to Disregard Ban Policy
By Ernesto Londoņo
Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, Feb. 13 -- Iraqi interpreters working with the U.S. military in Baghdad are again allowed to hide their identity during certain missions, after a Pentagon decision to grant battalion commanders the discretion to disregard an earlier policy banning interpreters from wearing masks.Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, disclosed the reversal last month in a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). But several interpreters and American soldiers in Baghdad said they were unaware that battalion commanders can waive the mask ban for "high-risk" missions.Battalion commanders, who oversee between 500 and 800 soldiers, cannot delegate the lifting of the ban to junior officers. Wyden, as well as soldiers and interpreters, said they remain concerned that any restrictions preventing interpreters from shielding their identities put them at risk.Full story HERESome American soldiers, who often refer to interpreters as "terps," say they enforce the ban laxly or not at all. "Telling a terp that his country is safe when he doesn't feel it's safe is as pretentious as it gets," said an Army captain in Baghdad, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was criticizing his superiors. "The terp-mask thing is just the latest disconnect between what happens on the ground and what people want to be happening on the ground. We're in full-on dress rehearsal now. I think we're in such a hurry to get out of here, we're wanting this place to be safer than it really is."
My obvious concerns are:
1. What constitutes a "high-risk" mission? High risk for who?
2. BN CDR cannot delegate to junior officers...aarrrggghhhh!!!
Name a GO who has been held responsible for anything. A CPT loses a piece of gear, or a Soldier, there is a 15-6 etc, but if a GO is losing the war nobody appears to care.
I don't think that is productive criticism.
It is a fairly simple matter to determine whether a piece of gear is lost through negligence. If it is, then the individual is held accountable. If not, then it's "written off." The assignment of a very specific duty (maintain accountability for this item), the breach of that duty (failed to maintain accountability of the item, demonstrated by the inability to produce it upon demand, in a timely manner), results in an easily quantifiable liability (cost of the item, minus depreciation, if dictated by regulation), and a means of fulfilling it (statement of charges, etc, as dictated by regulation).
In order to assign blame for "losing the war" to a GO, it seems that we would need to nail down the following and I would assert that reasonable people could disagree on most, if not all of these...
1) Was it winnable to begin with?
2) How do we define "winning?" (part of the current debate regarding Afghanistan)
3) To which GO(s) do you assign any or all of the blame to, since you've got multiple GO's having RIP/TOA'd*?
Even if the first two questions are answered in the affirmative, you often don't know whether you're winning or losing until after the fact.
I think we generally recognize the reality that warfare is an incredibly unpredictable and chaotic enterprise for which we are rarely prepared. Other threads in this forum lament a CYA mentality among our leaders for things like body armor and safety precautions. Imagine how out of control this would be if we held inquisitions to assign blame to our GO's when public sentiment turns ugly on a war. If we're going to go that route, I'd say that we test it upon the civilian leaders first and see how it works.
* - I presume that RIP/TOA can be used as a verb, just as "Google" can be.
ALCON,
I recently got an email from a friend that works on a legal team that helps interpreters (and families) that were wounded or killed in Iraq. The group is helping these interpreters and their families with owed compensation from their employers (primarily Titan/L3). He told me that if I knew of an interpreter that was killed or wounded and did not (or family did not, in case of death) receive due compensation from a contractor, to let him know and he would research the case and try to help them get their money.
If any of you know of an interpreter that was wounded or killed and are aren't sure if compensation was paid, contact me via PM (if you'd like) and I'll give you my buddy's contact information. Here is his email to me:
Thanks,Hey Jake,
Something came up and I thought of you. The legal team I'm on that represents Iraqi interpreters is looking for cases where an interpreter employed by US forces was injured or killed. The injury or death doesn't need to have occurred "on the job," and the terp may have been employed through a contractor (we're especially interested in Titan/L3).
The reason for all this is that terps who are injured or killed are legally entitled to compensation (to their families in the case of death), but the contractors have so far been welshing on the deal and screwing the Iraqis. We think we've figured out how to make sure the terps get what they deserve, but we need a specific case or cases to bring.
If you're comfortable doing it, and you know an interpreter who was injured or killed in Iraq, drop me a line. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns about it, too.
Jake
Last edited by jkm_101_fso; 02-13-2009 at 07:05 PM. Reason: sp
This WaPo story
LINK says that only in Baghdad is there a 'no mask' edict and the other two area commands have no such order???
Doesn't add up...
Nor does DoD involvement other than answering the mail to Congress; though even that is odd. They used to send that stuff to the Command involved and tell them to respond directly to the Congroid.
Seems likely if the WaPo is correct and only Baghdad has done this that the problem is all in-country??? (Heaven Forbid I have to apologize to E-Ring... )
Somethings awry...
L3/Titan has a horrific finance department. They still owe me a couple grand for my last job 9 months ago, and I know folks who haven't been paid for a couple years.
Frankly, I would recommend distrusting L3 Com and its subordinates. But I attribute their not paying money owed to incompetence, not outright greed. I could be wrong, however.
We always paid our interpreters (or next of kin) directly. I think out of CERP funds, but I forget. There were about 7 classes of funds at the time - maybe it was a different fund. Regardless, it was a swift process. And I'm pretty sure that half of them were obtained via L3/Titan.
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