The Army We Need

[Cavguy]

It's fine to have a dream role for soldiers...where they sit in the corner quietly and only come out guns blazing when called for and then go back again as soon as the last bullet is fired. But reality isn't like that. I can understand the desire for it to be so, but do worry that when we get too focused on what we'd like to see we end up gutting ourselves for reality. Quite often the line between war and peace is only visible in hindsight, and even then not necessarily with stark clarity.

Should soldiers be diplomats? Not under ideal circumstances, but it's a good thing if they are at least aware that they might have to act in such a role in some situations. By the same token, we've seen what happens when diplomats try to play soldier.

I almost responded to Wilf last night but was tired and cranky ....

Agree with you Steve. It may not be the ideal role, but sometimes it must be done, and often the only person with the availablity and resources to meet with 'every leader with an AK' is a soldier.

I, for one, think being a soldier is about winning. Sometimes winning means kicking people in the teeth. Sometimes it requires skilled application of synchronized combined arms maneuver. And other times it requires lots of tea drinking and civil tasks. But the bottom line task is to win.

We can tilt at windmills about what soldiers should or should not ideally be doing, but reality over the last 15-20 years for the US army is that we are employed as "armed diplomats". There is little to no political will to change that anywhere in the future, so soldiers will still be required to do "diplomat" like tasks.

For all the criticism, Nagl has a very salient point - we need to prepare our soldiers to win our CURRENT conflicts. To do this, they require better training on employment of lethal and non-lethal means, and especially skills on advising host nation forces. We can continue to stick our head in the sand and say we "don't do windows", or we can address the problem to give us a better chance of acheiving victory.

As a personal story, I took tons of grief from my soldiers in Tal Afar for the amount of local meals I ate and adopting the local habits - including the dreaded man kiss (cheek - I even worked my way up to the prestigious 4-kiss greet). However, those relations proved the basis of successful pacification of my sector, just as it later did for our BCT in Ramadi. It wasn't that we preferred, liked, or even should of been doing it - it was simply what was required if we wanted to have a chance at succeeding in our AO.

We should prepare our officers for these tasks until the policy-makers decide a better framework. The military's mission remains to succeed at whatever it is assigned to by the political leadership. Whatever skillsets are needed to accomplish those tasks are what should be trained.

I still contend we can, and must, do both.