It is official, I am heading to Iraq to help with our Country's effort in traning the Iraqi Army. My feelings...well, it's like suffering from a bipolar disorder. One side of me thinks that this is the perfect way for me to do my part as a soldier and help with some kind of exit strategy. The other side of me thinks this is another futile attempt to fix a situation that could be easily described as unfeasbile. In general my feelings on the matter are ambigous...
For the past 4 months or so, I have been in training to become a superior logistician. Have I learned what I need to be successful in my next assignment? That can be debatable. Although I know that by nature I will adapt and overcome whatever hand is dealt to me, a constant fear of incompetence and of making a costly mistake lingers in the back of my mind. I think I attest for most soldiers in my situation that the murkiness of our mission is creating an immense amount of disgruntlement among soldiers that otherwise would love to serve their Country as long as it was necessary. We have been chosen to be Logistical Advisors and Battalion Staff Advisors to the Iraqi army as part of a Military Transition Team. Keep in mind this was performed by the Special Forces but because of the overwhelming requirements—a simple supply and demand prototype—we have been picked to do the same job with much less training.
One can only imagine the training a Special Forces soldier has to endure in order to be proficient in his/her job. I mean, really, this is no joke. As an advisor to the forces of a country we are trying to put together—one can say “from scratch”—it is imperative to be a subject matter expert in your field. Any mistakes can unshackle a serious of devastating events along with the ‘ol so good blaming game. Fully aware of this then,... why are we allowing people that are not the subject matter experts, people that don’t have the training the elite Special Forces have, to conduct the same job? How can a newly pinned Captain that has mostly serve previously as a Platoon Leader—maybe have some staff experience when a Lieutenant—teach a Major what to do with his battalion?
The awful truth is that no matter how many great intentions we have, if we don’t have the proper training we will fail at this also. Albeit most advisors go and do their time without any major complaints, at this point of time, it is evident that there’s has been no real progress. Some progress,…yes, but no real progress.
This war is not close to home anymore, it is home to me.
Here's an article from CNN that gives some information about MiTT or you can watch a preview of the video but you can only see it once a day so make sure you have time to watch it when you click on the link.
