And the second order effect is zero continuity from BCT to BCT (or even company to company). My company RIP/TOA'd with companies from two different battalions of 187. Neither company inherited our AOR. Our AOR was handed off to an IA force that we had only stood up a few months prior and lacked the training, experience, rapport with the community, and logistics support to do anything more than accompany us on low-risk missions. The companies that we RIP/TOA'd with took AORs to our north and to our battalion's north (my company was in the southern part of the AOR - none of this made any sense, but my BN CDR did the right thing and forced us to accommodate the incoming unit in order to make their transition simpler). So what did RIP/TOA consist of? Basically signing over property. I could have told my counterpart all about operations in our AOR, but it wasn't the one that he was inheriting. I was sure to pass along the info anyway, because it seemed obvious to me that they would be bailing out IA patrols that got in over their heads or simply assuming the IA mission since it was, as noted earlier, not even close to being prepared for the mission.Originally Posted by Cavguy
Two months prior to RIP/TOA I escorted two BN XO's from 187 around our patrol base and AOR and we discussed manpower requirements. I still recall one of them asking me if a company half the size of mine was sufficient for an AOR twice the size of what we were responsible for. I told him that what we had was pretty much stretching us to our breaking point and would not have been sustainable had we not reached the end of our block leave period and regained all available Soldiers. We were only able to maintain security by dispersing the company throughout the AOR in 3-man teams, which carried with it significant risk (see here for an example of the risks). During the 2005 voting we had to be augmented with Soldiers from two other battalions. The expression on his face told me quickly that he knew neither my advice, nor the obvious situation on the ground, was going to change decisions made at the BCT regarding how units were arrayed and who took what AOR.
As a side note, many Soldiers communicated with local civilians via email. They continued intermittent communication after redeployment. Most of the Soldiers said that the residents were freaking out after we left, stating that there were masked gunmen on every street corner and not a US Soldier in sight. After all of the progress that was made in that area (1st ID and 3ID slugging it out with insurgents during 2004 and the first half of 2005, resulting in relative calm in the second half of 2005) the locals were flabbergasted and asking, "why did you leave?" Sorry bro, but it wasn't our call. Ask the new chain of command.
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