This system is there, and would work if they chose to use it. I told myself when my boots first hit Afghan soil, to seek first to understand, then to be understood.Originally Posted by Dayuhan
That’s exactly what I did. I learned the intricacies of the system; I prepared my lessons, then reached out to teach them. Turns out my audience new a lot more than I had anticipated, they could even give me name of people at each supply/sustainment node and were all too familiar with the process. Why didn’t they use it? Why should they? Why should they have to devote the effort to writing and photo copying MOI/MOD 14s when 1. They didn’t believe it would work, and 2. The American advisors of the past gave then everything they needed. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
An argument heard many times over my friend. “why are we trying to teach them systems similar to ours” “why don’t we let them design their own systems and we will just sit back and mentor when needed” “these systems must be Aghan sustainable”. There is nothing new about this. The ugly truth is if we left it up to the ANSF, their system would involve a cell phone call to the supply warehouse to request more blankets and when they didn’t arrive, claim that system is broken also. Plus the power brokers at the top of the list are who controls the supply anyway. I don’t care how many requests you send for fuel. If the man doesn’t think you should have it, or the requesters didn’t pay enough in bribes, you aren’t getting it, and even if you did get it, you would only get a third of what you asked for because the rest has been skimmed of the top somewhere else.One mistake we often make in foreign countries (by no means exclusively in the military realm) is to assume that systems are installed or built, when in fact systems have to evolve, and they have to evolve along with those who are to use them. If people who have dealt with systems all their lives and take them for granted try to "install" systems in places where there are none (or none that the installers would recognize as systems), it's easy to come up with something that makes perfect sense to the installer, but is effectively dysfunctional for those who are supposed to use it. If people are consistently unable or unwilling to use the system, maybe the system needs to be re-evaluated
The systems must start somewhere… I man who has never seen a house, doesn’t necessarily want to learn how to build one does he?
Brother, I know where our USG thinks we're going, I know what I am trying to accomplish, and no I don't think the goals I have and goal they have are on the same page all the time. But I know I'm going back home to the home of the brave; they know they're stuck here to deal with the next regime...what would your goals be if you were in their shoes?There always is a long way to go... but are we clear on where we're going? What are we trying to accomplish here, and are those goals and the goals of those we wish to assist on the same page?.
Well said. You are absolutely correct. they do tell us what we want to hear, but what's the alternative? We want to hear they are analyzing, planning, resourcing, and executing unilaterally.Granted, my observations of US military assistance are in an entirely different environment, but sometimes I feel that what we're actually producing here is a security force that's remarkably adept at parroting out doctrine back to us and generally telling us what we want to hear while pursuing their own goals (not necessarily consistent with ours) at the same time. One consistent factor is that corruption is king here as well.
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